Old, real book vs. Kindle alternative: Which wins?
"Hylozoic," the physical book: saying good-bye.
(Credit: Scott Stein/CNET)It's been widely debated since Amazon's Kindle began redefining the e-book space: when will e-books become more compelling than the physical books they were meant to replace?
For me, it happened. Today, at 2 p.m. Eastern, I went to Borders and returned a book I bought just a week ago. The reason was this: I found the book had popped up on the Amazon Kindle store for less. So I pulled the trigger.
The funny thing is I don't even have a Kindle. I have an iPhone 3G running the Kindle app. Yet, for me, in a crowded New York ecosystem where I barely have time or room to pull a book out of my backpack while crammed onto a subway, quick-fix iPhone reading does the trick better than anything else.
The book in question was "Hylozoic" by Rudy Rucker, an excellent and weird science fiction writer whose works I've become addicted to. I had tracked the release of his latest, a sequel to his equally odd "Postsingular," for months. I should have ordered on Amazon in the first place, where it was far cheaper than Borders' full retail, but I wanted instant satisfaction and got trigger-happy. Hylozoic wasn't available on the Kindle store when the book first hit the streets.
I submitted a "this should be a Kindle book" request to Amazon and went back to my life, when yesterday I discovered that "Hylozoic" had in fact been added...for $14.95.
Although I gave myself credit for helping this book become digital, it didn't conform to the $9.99 standard Kindle books normally are. Still, it was 10 dollars cheaper than the hardcover.
The iPhone Kindle version of "Hylozoic" (screenshot).
(Credit: Scott Stein/CNET)I dug up the crumpled receipt and headed uptown to 59th and Lexington. Borders took the book back, no question (I had a story ready), and I instantly purchased it on the iPhone on my way to the subway.
To my surprise, the typesetting seemed different on this book than other Kindle releases. I didn't realize fonts could be selected by the publisher. The layout was nicely achieved, unlike my download of Stephen King's "UR," which came out looking like a format-stripped .rtf file on my Kindle app.
Since switching, I wondered how many other books would fall to bits in my phone, limited by DRM to only my hands but with the benefit of slightly lower costs and the convenience of pocket-size access. Eyesight be damned, I've fallen in deep. Since announcing this to friends, some have condemned me for abandoning "pulpy books." I'm a writer, and a lover of fiction, but I say bring it on. As a urban parent and a commuter, if it weren't for phone reading, I wouldn't be reading at all.
Now, will adopting Kindle books before an actual Kindle eventually push me over the edge to a full-on Kindle purchase? I worry about that...Amazon, your plan's brilliance is abundantly clear.
Do you use an e-book reader? If so, which one? Let us know.
Scott Stein, a New York Jets fan and CNET senior associate editor, has written about tech, entertainment, video games, and viral culture for outlets including Laptop, Wired, Maxim, Esquire Online, Asylum, and Men's Journal. He also appears on the Digital City podcast. In his spare time, you might see him performing improv in New York City (when he's not being a dad). 
It's also a lot more expensive than getting the book used on Amazon.com or ebay.
There are thousands of free ebooks available. The DX offers the advantage of excellent pdf rendering but it is bigger and heavier. I got the first Kindle when it first came out, but I really started to like the reading experience with Kindle2. I much prefer the ebooks. They don't take up as much room. The Kindle fonts are easier on my eyes. I like the dictionary function where highlight a word gives a definition. I like being able to pick up my phone and read where I left off on the Kindle.
I also load pdf documents that I need for business on the Kindle.
So I didn't justify my purchase based on price, but instead on convenience. And I do expect the Kindle's price to come down as other competitive products come out.
However, I'm surprised that you're fond of what Kindle did to Hylozoic. The word-width white space between words because of the lack of variable kerning, coupled with full justification? Geeze. That looks like crap.
I agree, the reading at night factor is also key. In fact, it's what I like in my iPhone Kindle over the actual one.
I would really like a Kindle, but I have other things I want to convenience myself with before I shell out the amount for the Kindle 2.
So public libraries will have to provide newer services, including e-book rentals, which is entirely possible.
To me, the price of Kindle seems excessive. I suppose if I had lots of disposable money I'd consider it. But it made more sense to go lower tech and spend my $$ on food.
But I still buy several books per month. I'd rather read them when I'm at home
Yes, you can get audible.com books onto your Kindle. There's a special folder for those and they're heard via two stereo speakers on the bottom edge or, if you prefer, with headphones.
The Kindle can also read to you but you woulldn't like it !
- Andrys
http://kindleworld.blogspot.com
If the book is $25 and on the bestseller list and it's $10 at Amazon in Kindle format, do you prefer to buy it at a higher price so that you can loan it out to friends?
However, if it's not on the bestseller's list, then the Kindle price may be too close to that $25 (seldom) and then that would definitely be bad. Most people I know are not buying when it's above $10 or even $15 for the pricier $40 books, and it seems to help keep prices down.
- Andrys
If you start reading a free sample of the book before you buy it, you'll probably reduce the chances that you'd want to return a Kindle book.
Yes, I've had a similar reaction. I'm a news addict so that was my main reason and still is, to a point.
But once I got a Kindle, I have a ton of books on, plus a few subscriptions and a lot of non-Amazon feeds, which I choose from to suit my mood and it's great that it keeps my place for me.
If there's been too much time in between, I use the Search feature to get reminded who the person is when I can't remember the character, and it brings up a series of results with context around it, in in a series I can read one after the other to get a full sense of that person's part in that book so far. Amazing to me.
Worse, I was looking for a book, in my house, and found it and then decided to buy the Kindle version to make sure I actually finish reading it ! That's sort of sick. But I prefer reading on the Kindle. i can control the fonts, the spacing between lines, and I can search it.
What's addictive: The words.
You're not distracted by the pretty, or ugly, jacket, the 'feel or smell' of the book, as some insist is important to their experience, but by the author's words. The actual thoughts. It's almost like a mind to mind thing and the look&smell just don't matter. At least not to me.
But I still love hard copy for special travel or photography books .
- Andrys
http://kindleworld.blogspot.com
- by jpmccloud01 June 15, 2009 8:02 AM PDT
- Here is the problem for me about e books vs pulp. E books are great unless there is a problem downloading with the service, while not common as much as just a few yrs ago it still has the possibility of doing so and with so much stuff electronic and less hard printout we run the possibility of loosing some great stuff in the process. The flip side to electronic media and E books is that people I think read more even if spelling still lags and there is to much acronym, tech speak, and people doing to much multitasking. The pulp book on the other hand is hard, it's weighty, you don't scroll, you flip a page, and if your trying to read and it's to loud you can easily through the book at someone with out crying about the thing costing 100 plus dollars. Lol! I hope hard copy in some safe quantities doesn't go the way of the dinosaur, though for the environment it probably is a good thing if there is less of it
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