Coyote Blog

Thinking about getting my niece a Kindle or Nook for her HS graduation. But, is it something she'll want to replace quickly w/ a tablet?

I've looked at the Nook, it's impressive to play with, I grant. I will NEVER own a Kindle -- sorry, the Animal Farm fiasco revealed its Orwellian flaws.

Not only do they have the capacity to remotely remove stuff, as I understand it (though I can't find reference to it any more) they have the capacity to remotely alter the contents of a Kindled book itself.

That's right, they can take that quotation in your Kindle, toss it down the memory hole, and make it an unquotation.

Without informing you of the change in any way, shape, or form.

We have located MiniTrue, and its real name is Amazon.

I have no idea if the Nook has this capability as well. Until I do, I might consider a Nook, but I repeat, I will NEVER EVER trust Amazon with my library -- and I do mean ever. That a company could not see the moral and ethical flaw in this -- before the hue and cry -- is beyond reprehensible.

This is the part I found most amusing, though:
After the move prompted outcry and comparisons to Nineteen Eighty-Four itself, Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener stated that the company is "[c]hanging our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers' devices in these circumstances."

Note the VERY specific nature of the language used there. There's nothing there that says that they are removing their capacity for altering things on your Kindle. The only thing that they need do for the statement to be true is change their policy in regards to such an action.

One can presume they can still perform such an action, and that the Federal government can order them to do such an action for whatever reason it deems acceptable. Chances are, Amazon wouldn't even put up a public fight if ordered to do such a thing is my bet. They'd just do it quietly and it would be up the other customer to prove it. And what happens 20, 30 years from now when more people have the umpty-ump generation of these things, and use them to the exclusion of real, hard copies? Right. Amazon WILL BE in truth fully capable of performing the exact same role as MiniTrue.

No thank you.

I love my kindle, but I would never download a book from Amazon to it, and I keep my wireless turned off nearly all the time.

Amazon only has access to the books you buy from them and download through the kindle, and only while your Kindle is connected to the internet. As an example, when I bought BMOC I downloaded the *.mobi file from Amazon to my computer and stripped the DRM before loading it on my Kindle.

There is no possible way that a tablet will ever be able to effectively replace a dedicated e-reader in the foreseeable future, the e-ink display is what makes it readable.

I have neither iPad nor kindle. But from my friends who have both, they describe that the kindle is much more useful when trying to read outside or in very bright light. While the iPad is better for reading in the dark. In other words they each have unique use cases. For some this means having both.

I have an ipad2. It is not a kindle replacement in any sense. Heavier, harder to read, and piss poor battery, relatively speaking.

@ErisGuy

As I said in my first comment, there are no borrowed books on my Kindle. You are confusing the service with the Kindle itself. The Kindle itself is a computer with a highly specialized e-ink display, running Linux with a proprietary wrapper. If you really really hate Amazon you can even install duokan. http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Duokan_Kindle

The advantages of a Kindle over a tablet computer are mainly it's battery life (measured in weeks) and it's screen (not backlit and very nearly like reading paper.)
These two advantages, combined with the facts that the Kindle is many times cheaper than a tablet, and a tablet is basically a keyboardless netbook, are why I love my Kindle, but will probably never own a tablet.

I'm honestly confused over how carrying around a portable keyboard along with your tablet doesn't just make it clunkier than a light netbook or laptop.

"You are confusing the service with the Kindle itself. "

No, I'm not. That the device can be used in ways other than its creators intend doesn't invalidate my observation. I have the Kindle application on my computer, phone, and iPad. Almost all the books for which I use the Kindle application (which is neither the device nor service), I haven't paid for: those books are also generally old. If Amazon had tied the service, device, and application tightly together, they'd be sued. And lose (that situation would resemble the 1930s studios+distributor+theatre integration). Same for Apple's iBooks app. They intend me to use it one way, and it is worthwhile to analyze that intent and (probably) overwhelming usage. I use it, however, to read free books and computer documentation. I've never bought a book from the iBook store.

I had hoped that installing the Kindle application on my computer would allow me to read from the couch using the large-screen TV. Hasn't quite worked out--too difficult to turn the pages.

"The Kindle itself is a computer with a highly specialized"

So specialized, it's crippled when compared to a general-purpose computer, which is what a tablet (even when it's called a phone or a pod) is. Which is what I said.

"I’m honestly confused over how carrying around a portable keyboard along with your tablet doesn’t just make it clunkier than a light netbook or laptop."

The keyboard isn't necessary all the time, thus when carrying or holding the tablet it's much lighter. The tablet can be positioned for reading and writing better than a laptop, in which the two parts are fused. (These are not trivial matters when your wrists and eyes are 40+ years old.) Even with the keyboard it's much lighter than a useful notebook.

Tablets may evolve into better devices. The Kindle is a dead-end unless it becomes a tablet: by running full-blown linux, having a real keyboard, a color screen (books come in color as any child can tell you) etc. That dead-end can still be useful. I want one. As soon as the screen is bigger (although denser might do). It's screen is like paper only in that it's black-and-white. It's dim, fuzzy, and difficult to read without eyestrain. Not enough like paper.

A tablet simply isn't a straight replacement or upgrade for a dedicated reading device. The difference in reading comfort is that important to me and numerous others. Someday, technology improvements will make that a moot point but for now I cannot imagine using any shipping color display technology for prolonged reading.

Even after reflective color screens are functional and affordable enough for the mass market, there will remain a market for dedicated reading devices. Price alone will guarantee that. Convenience of carrying will supplement it. I take my Nook or Kindle with me a lot of place I wouldn't lug anything larger. (I have both because I do e-book conversion work.)

I've been reading books on laptops, convertible tablets, etc. since the mid-90s. It was always a time-killer of last resort when there was nothing better to do because I knew I'd regret the eyestrain later. The e-ink display has changed all of that.

Nor do I get worked up about Amazon's misadventures with their backend service. Anything I buy gets stored on my media and isn't subject to anyone else's whims on whether I can keep it. This would be the case even if there hadn't been the overblown scandals. For much the same reason I don't buy much off of XBLA or PSN because I cannot back it up and move it around freely like I can products distributed on disc or silicon.