Amazon Kindle discussion

Hi everyone,

I'm a new member, and a new Kindle user. I love my Kindle, but I think it will change the way we read. I started out downloading long books, the kind I like to read in print. However, I get frustrated by not knowing where I am in the book. And by constantly pushing the "Next Page" button. Now, I think I like the Kindle best for shorter works. I think collections of short stories are best, because you can read them in small bites. Anyone agree? Do you think the Kindle is changing your reading tastes?

It definitely feels different not being able to leaf through the pages in the book to know how many pages are left in a chapter or where you are in the book. However, I feel like I've adapted to the progress indicators at the bottom on the screen. In fact, I find myself less prone to rushing through the end of a chapter before I get off my bus commute.

In terms of suitability of materials, I feel like the Kindle works well with both long and short works. The size and weight of a long book can be quite daunting when you're on the go.

Also, I do especially enjoy non-fiction on my kindle since I am able to annotate and highlight passages. I find it much easier to search and review information from the books that I've read.

John - I thought the same thing when I read my first book on Kindle. What I didn't realize when I downloaded the book was that the hardcover was almost 1000 long! Although I enjoyed the book (Snowball/Warren Buffett), I kept thinking - when is this ever going to end?

With Kindle 2, I love the percentage progress indicator, and a long length for a book no longer bothers me. It's kind of fun gaining a few % points with each reading. :)

Ernest - I agree completely about the ability to add notes and highlights - even for quotes in fiction books.

I love the Kindle 2 percentage progress bar. I think I'd go crazy without it, not knowing how far I've made it.

In my opinion, the Kindle is wonderful for longer works. I do a lot of my reading in bed, and I find larger books awkward to hold for long periods of time. Kindle solves this problem for me.

Maybe my problem is I don't have the Kindle 2. I have the earlier version, and there doesn't seem to be a way to measure your progress in a book. It drives me crazy, because I like to know where I am in the book. What am I supposed to do, buy a Kindle 2 now?

I have a Kindle 1 and I have the progress bar. It's just a series of dots across the bottom of the screen. The dots darken depending on how far into the file you are.

Catherine M. Wilson
http://www.catherine-m-wilson.com

I've had both K versions
The K1 since day 1
I've read long and short
and my reading habit
is still developing
Recently I dropped television
What will be next?
Wine? Women? Song?
:>)

I am actually sending a suggestion to Amazon to have the option to "hide" the progress bar at the bottom of the screen because I often like to read a book and not know where I'm at in the book. Jeffrey Deaver has so many twists in his books that I hate knowing that I have another 30 pages to go because then I know more twists are coming and the ending I thought I just read isn't really the ending. I would like this option to be accessed via a ALT command..not part of the books menu because I know not many people will use it.

I do admit that it is different viewing the progress bar instead of "page 30 of 300". I think Amazon could probably add a page feature and have it auto adjust with font size changes...I'll add to my email suggestion.

The progress bar isn't bad but it can't hurt to ask for more options, ya know?

Thanks,
Mike

....those would be great suggestions for Kindle! I for one, would love to be able to know the actual page numbers instead of weird numbers they have on there now.

p.s.

Does anyone else hope that they will put the Harry Potter books on the kindle?

The problem with actual page numbers is the fact that the text reflows when you change the size. Mean there would be 6 different page numbers for every group of text in the book, which is why they use locations. Locations stay the same through all the reflowing.

As for the Potter books, it is not likely that we will see them any time soon on the Kindle. J. K. Rowling is very anti-ebook. She believes it'll lead to people being able to steal the books. What she doesn't realize is that most of the people are honest enough to actually buy it in that form and are already "stealing" it because they want a digital version.

I think it is more of not being able to see the progress on longer works as opposed to shorter ones. For example, I'm reading "Bleak House" and it takes about 25 Kindle pages before the % rises, where as a regular 300 page book, may only take 7-10 pages. But no matter, I will get to 99% one day.

I love the Kindle for all sizes of books; in fact, there are some books (ahem, George R.R. Martin's bricks) that I'm happier to read on the Kindle because they're so unwieldy in person.

As for changing reading habits, I'm also reading more, thanks to the Kindle iPhone app; at night, it's easy to keep reading on the iPhone without waking the baby or spouse sleeping next to me.

i like reading books of all sizes on my Kindle. in fact there are some long books that i have put off reading because i find their size so daunting. they have been downloaded to the Kindle.
last night i was reading and i didn't even notice that i was hitting the button to turn the pages. i think after a while it becomes no different than having to fold the book and thumb to the next page. maybe even less noticeable.

I like the % notification on the K2. I read everything on Kindle that I can, except newspapers.Currently I'm reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, which is about 500 pages long. I really prefer books this long on Kindle, which is lighter and easier to read.

The book, by the way, is terrific - I highly recommend it!

John wrote: "I started out downloading long books, the kind I like to read in print. However, I get frustrated by not knowing where I am in the book. And by constantly pushing the "Next Page" button. Now, I think I like the Kindle best for shorter works. I think collections of short stories are best, because you can read them in small bites. Anyone agree?"

I actually totally disagree. I like not having to schlep around a heavy large book, or hold such a behemoth in my poor, cramped hand (and I have big hands)! I use my K2 for reading basically everything I would have otherwise read somewhere else :)

Kindle keeps your page in the book. How can you not know where you are in the book? I love my kindle for just about everything!

Excuse me, Diannerj, but have you not read every other comment in this thread? Of course the Kindle keeps your page in the book, that's not the point. I like knowing what page I'm on in a book, and the Kindle 1 only gives you black dots on the bottom of the screen to give a very rough idea of where you are in the book.

John wrote: "Excuse me, Diannerj, but have you not read every other comment in this thread? Of course the Kindle keeps your page in the book, that's not the point. I like knowing what page I'm on in a book, and the Kindle 1 only gives you black dots on the bottom of the screen to give a very rough idea of where you are in the book."

Oh. Is Kindle 1 different from Kindle 2 in that way? Because my K2 also tells me what % of the book I have completed. I do think it would be irritating not to know how far along in the book one was.

I also like to see how far I am in a book. Once I see my percentage in K2, I go to the Amazon page of that particular book to see how many pages the entire book has, and I have a good idea where I am.

I am not really bothered by not knowing the percentage. Whenever i start a new book I go to the last page and see how many lines there are... for example, in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies there are 4707 lines, and then I do the percentage myself, and I think it is a bit more accurate to the actual page number. For example, I am on line 1247/4707 = 26.49245...% * 320 (goodreads page count) = 84.77. So I am on approximately page 85. It is not quiet as accurate, but it doens't take as long as I might have made it sound.

I'll read any kind of book on the Kindle. One of my first reads was Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver, which I thought would never end!

My big issue is that I'd like a waterproof one for reading in the tub! Although none of my DTBs have ever gone for a swim, I'm convinced that if I take my Kindle into the bathroom I'll either dunk it in the water or knock it off a countertop onto the tile floor and destroy it.

Hi Stormhawk
An idea from another site is place your kindle in a ziplock bag actually this person placed it in 2 ziplock bags just to be careful and take it into the bathtub..This person states it is easy to read through the bags...

Anything $9.99 and under. I've been having issues with books that I want to purchase being over $9.99...not happy.

Michael Connelly THE SCARECROW = $15.39
Jeffery Deaver ROADSIDE CROSSES = $14.82

I think they are increasing the prices. I was looking at a book that is on paperback out there and remember being shocked by the price being higher than what I have been paying.

I was on a plane last week and didn't like having to turn off my Kindle :( specially since we were on the runway to take off for 1/2 hour.

Definitely, those door stopper fantasy books are the best to read in Kindle!

I've noticed that some prices are a bit more than $9.99 and lots are less.....I would still pay more for a "paper" book, so I'm not complaining! BTW, I have never turned my Kindle off on a plane and no one has ever asked me to! I keep the wireless off, but my Kindle on!

I love my K2, the progress bar is nice but I love the instant dictionary feature also. I read children's books also because I am a middle school media specialist. The newest action for me has been the convenience of re-reading books. I have re-read the Twilight series, the Outlander series, and on and on. With printed books I never felt the urge to re-read them. Probably because i loaned them out and didn't get them back!