Anyone ever use....

[mrtr33]

A Kindle?

[badwhale]

Judging by the link, only chicks use Kindles, so no I've never used one

Will

[bigwhiteash]

Too expensive yet.

There are a couple different readers available, Maybe I'll get one when they drop to around $180.00 or less

[Silencei2]

A few guys at my local B&M use them and they love it. The way they designed it puts very little strain on the eyes compared to a computer/laptop screen. You can also download books right off the net I think without having to hook it up to a computer or something to that extent. Seems like a neat gadget but I would never use it

[mrtr33]

Seems like a neat gadget but I would never use it

This seems to be an almost universal response. I'm wondering why so many people are reluctant to use it. I wasn't aware that books could be independently downloaded.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not even considering purchasing one, I still read newspapers, for crying out loud. I'm just interested to see how others receive this new technology.

[ashauler]

I'll stick with the regular old fashioned paper book. I'm afraid I'd drop the damn thing in the crapper.

[DeeDubya]

I'll stick with the regular old fashioned paper book. I'm afraid I'd drop the damn thing in the crapper.

LOL, That'd by my luck. Electronics and toilet water never work. Assuming it floats the toilet turtles would have a place to rest.

[EGQ]

I spend a fair amount of time on a commuter train each day -- to the extent I could get the newspapers I want in electronic format, I would consider making the switch -- mainly because my papers rarely show up before I leave the house in the morning As far as books go, most of my leisure reading occurrs on vacation or on the porcelain throne -- I think I spent a bit more than a year working my way through the Bourne trilogy 2 pages at a time...

[Silencei2]

This seems to be an almost universal response. I'm wondering why so many people are reluctant to use it. I wasn't aware that books could be independently downloaded.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not even considering purchasing one, I still read newspapers, for crying out loud. I'm just interested to see how others receive this new technology.

I say that only because I don't read a lot of books

The guys I know at the local B&M who have the Kindle go through books like water.

[FactoredReality]

I would read up on the hidden ability to disable functionality that has been discovered in kindles Link. Personally with the DRM (digital rights management) mess going on in the world I would avoid the tech for now. Unless you have $ burning a hole in your pocket.

[bigwhiteash]

I was looking at a Sony reader the other day... very compact and thin, looked very nice. About $60.00 less than the Kindle.

[Silencei2]

I would read up on the hidden ability to disable functionality that has been discovered in kindles Link. Personally with the DRM (digital rights management) mess going on in the world I would avoid the tech for now. Unless you have $ burning a hole in your pocket.

Meh... disabling text-to-speech functionality on an e-book isn't as significant as they make it out to be in my opinion. If you wanted to hear a book, people would just buy and download audio books and throw them on their MP3 player which is cheaper, smaller and more capable than a Kindle. I'm pretty sure that the Kindle is marketed to people who would rather read than listen to an audio book. Just my two cents.

[cinda]

Wow it reads to you. So you tuck the kids in bed and you say kindel will read you and me a story...!

[FactoredReality]

True, but if it has a disable for text to speech, what else does it have a disable for? Will they enable the ability for you to only read something once, or what about not being able to turn back pages?

[Silencei2]

I believe they disabled the text-to-speech on the Kindle is because it basically makes it easier for people to pirate e-books. The way it would work is that text-to-speech engines on a e-book basis can be translated via a speech-to-text software.

If you have something consistently pronouncing words in a perfect manner (text-to-speech, eg. the Kindle's text-to-speech feature), there is nothing stopping you from downloading the latest voice recognition software (speech-to-text, eg. Dragon Naturally Speaking) and having it scribe the entire e-book you paid for onto a MS Word document or PDF. From there you upload that to your local file host and POOF! no more DRM.

I understand what you are saying about other features possibly being disabled, much like how they had those 1-time use rental DVDs back in the day, but I think the text-to-speech is a feature that definitely needs a killswitch due to its potential usage.

[MasterCylinder]

I remembered reading about the audio bit of the Kindle, and I think it's the only thing effected because of a possible lawsuit. Here's an article that talks about it: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs...e/?postID=8881