DS Forums

 
 

Kindle Fire HD - UK Release details


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 10-09-2012, 09:15
noise747
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,798
How are Amazon forgetting their eInk readers when they are launching a new one?
I did not think they was. Saying that I still prefer my Kobo, I can get books for more places and not stuck with amazon own format.

Nothing against amazon, i buy music from them now and again and other stuff.
noise747 is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 10-09-2012, 09:26
alan1302
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: West Yorks
Posts: 6,180
I did not think they was. Saying that I still prefer my Kobo, I can get books for more places and not stuck with amazon own format.

Nothing against amazon, i buy music from them now and again and other stuff.
The new one is the 'Paperwhite' - may be a while before it gets a UK release but it is on its way.

I've only ever used my wifes Kindle but she has books from elsewhere on it - and you can easily convert files using free Calibre software if you have a book ina format that the Kindle can't read.
alan1302 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 10:01
Anika Hanson
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 14,219
I did not think they was. Saying that I still prefer my Kobo, I can get books for more places and not stuck with amazon own format.

Nothing against amazon, i buy music from them now and again and other stuff.
I've had a sony reader and it was a chore trawling around all the different bookstores to buy books and then having to connect my device to the computer faff around with adobe to get them onto my device.

I prefer Amazon as getting books is straight forward, there is usually more selection than individual stores like kobo, whsmith, waterstones etc and books are generally cheaper.
Anika Hanson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 10:04
Anika Hanson
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 14,219
I suppose that is all what a tablet is a device made to run apps from a closed system, maybe I thought they offered more than that, maybe that is why I have not got that excited about tablets.

E-Readers I have got a Kobo wi-fi, the E-ink screen is great for reading and it don't pretend do be anything but a E-reader.

The ones who make these e-readers need to make up their mind where they want to be?
Thankfully kobo still developing E-ink readers as been proved over the last week, amazon seems to be hell bent on tablets now and seems to be forgetting their E-ink readers.
Doesn't kobo have a tablet themselves?

The vox?
Anika Hanson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 10:09
alan1302
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: West Yorks
Posts: 6,180
Doesn't kobo have a tablet themselves?

The vox?
yeah, they do
alan1302 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 10:25
alanwarwic
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: the wild world web
Posts: 28,132
What is interesting is that Amazon is the main music competitor to iTunes.

In the US LaLa was another big competitor which had competitive deals with record labels.
Apple paid $80 million to buy and close LaLa down so Amazon is now the main competitor for streaming etc.

This should signal further expansion of Amazons music offerings.
alanwarwic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 11:43
noise747
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,798
The new one is the 'Paperwhite' - may be a while before it gets a UK release but it is on its way.

I've only ever used my wifes Kindle but she has books from elsewhere on it - and you can easily convert files using free Calibre software if you have a book ina format that the Kindle can't read.
that is true, I have used Calibre myself to convert a kindle book to epub, it works well most of the time.

The only problem I have with my Kobo is the screen could be a bit whiter, the Kindle is just bit more clearer sometimes.

but I would still not buy one.
noise747 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 11:48
noise747
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,798
Doesn't kobo have a tablet themselves?

The vox?
And a new one called the Arc, but they are still developing new e-ink readers.

But even so it worries me that these companies will eventually go away from the E-ink readers and concentrate on LCD ones, which I detest, useless in the sun and make my eyes ache if I use them for too long.

I am pretty sure that colour E-ink should be a a stage where it is possible, to get it to the consumers.

i understand that colour is useful, certainly for some fact books, but LCd is not meant for long time reading.
noise747 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 12:04
alan1302
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: West Yorks
Posts: 6,180
And a new one called the Arc, but they are still developing new e-ink readers.

But even so it worries me that these companies will eventually go away from the E-ink readers and concentrate on LCD ones, which I detest, useless in the sun and make my eyes ache if I use them for too long.

I am pretty sure that colour E-ink should be a a stage where it is possible, to get it to the consumers.

i understand that colour is useful, certainly for some fact books, but LCd is not meant for long time reading.
Yeah, I do hope that they will keep making the eInk screens…and I am under the impression there will be a colour eInk based screen reader sooner rather than later – I think the Nook is meant to be getting one and I am sure other makes will introduce one as well.

I agree that for reading there is no comparison compared to an LCD screen…the LCD is no where close and can be very tiring on your eyes to read.
alan1302 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 12:38
Anika Hanson
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 14,219
Yeah, I do hope that they will keep making the eInk screens…and I am under the impression there will be a colour eInk based screen reader sooner rather than later – I think the Nook is meant to be getting one and I am sure other makes will introduce one as well.

I agree that for reading there is no comparison compared to an LCD screen…the LCD is no where close and can be very tiring on your eyes to read.
I also hope they continue with e-ink readers. I couldn't read on an LCD display. If e-ink devices become obsolete I'd have to go back to paper books.
Anika Hanson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 12:42
Anika Hanson
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 14,219
Not keen on kobo readers mainly due to the availability of books in the kobo store. If I ever deviated from the kindle it would be to the Nook which is launching in the UK later this year. The Barnes and Noble store is probably compare to amazon's store.
Anika Hanson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 13:50
c4rv
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Essex
Posts: 16,218
Thanks for the information. It is just that I have not purchased an ebook reader of any kind before. I have been waiting and researching which one is the best to buy. So I think I will wait for the Kindle Fire to come out. You are right it does seem a peculiar jump from the touchscreen to a much more advanced model. Thus, they should have promoted the fire as a release in it's own right, but if you go on the Amazon website they categorize the fire with the Kindle models released beforehand. So, they obviously place emphasis the advanced techonologial features that the Fire can produce.
The fire is not designed for prolonged book reading, kindle reader uses e-ink which is MUCH better for reading and battery life.

The fire uses a LCD display and is a general purpose tablet that happens to get its content from Amazon store.
c4rv is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2012, 10:53
noise747
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,798
I've had a sony reader and it was a chore trawling around all the different bookstores to buy books and then having to connect my device to the computer faff around with adobe to get them onto my device.

I prefer Amazon as getting books is straight forward, there is usually more selection than individual stores like kobo, whsmith, waterstones etc and books are generally cheaper.
and you are stuck with one format, that is the problem these days people are too lazy to look around.
i like looking at different stores, you may find something you will not find in another store.

Sure you can convert Epub to Kindle, but you would find that a chore.

You could be missing out on books that may never get to be on a kindle.

Loads and loads of free stuff on Epub as well.

This one company having control is not good, we have it all too often.
noise747 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2012, 10:57
noise747
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,798
Yeah, I do hope that they will keep making the eInk screens…and I am under the impression there will be a colour eInk based screen reader sooner rather than later – I think the Nook is meant to be getting one and I am sure other makes will introduce one as well.

I agree that for reading there is no comparison compared to an LCD screen…the LCD is no where close and can be very tiring on your eyes to read.
I also hope they continue with e-ink readers. I couldn't read on an LCD display. If e-ink devices become obsolete I'd have to go back to paper books.
agree with both of you, I tried reading on a LCD screen, a Ipad and it was fine for about 15 mins and then that was enough.

it is different with a computer monitor as you are not looking at it all the time, you tend to look around or look away from the screen, but when reading a book you don't.

sure there are some people who it don't affect, a lad at work got a binatone reader which is LCD and it don't bother him.

A colour E-ink display would be nice I suppose.
noise747 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2012, 11:03
noise747
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,798
Not keen on kobo readers mainly due to the availability of books in the kobo store. If I ever deviated from the kindle it would be to the Nook which is launching in the UK later this year. The Barnes and Noble store is probably compare to amazon's store.

so another format, all these different formats are getting stupid, I know they want to sell their own E-readers, but can you imaging what would have happened if we had loads of formats for digital music?

Ok we do have different formats, but only one with most people use and is used by 99% of websites, apart from Itunes,

Epub is available from many stores and many sites, it was going to be a standard, like PDF is for documents.

i am not saying my Kobo is perfect, and hopefully the newer versions will be better, but if I do change my reader which I am not planning to at the moment it will be another Kobo.
noise747 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2012, 11:15
alan1302
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: West Yorks
Posts: 6,180
and you are stuck with one format, that is the problem these days people are too lazy to look around.
i like looking at different stores, you may find something you will not find in another store.

Sure you can convert Epub to Kindle, but you would find that a chore.

You could be missing out on books that may never get to be on a kindle.

Loads and loads of free stuff on Epub as well.

This one company having control is not good, we have it all too often.
Surely though this could work the other way round as well…if you have a Kobo eReader then if there is something on Amazon you want then you can’t have it unless you want to be converting files etc.

And there is plenty of free Kindle books available from Amazon – my wife can download more free books each week than she can read.

I do agree that it would better to have one standard file format that all readers accepted though – would be good to use a Kindle on a different store easily and vice versa using the other readers on Amazon.
alan1302 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2012, 11:35
noise747
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,798
Surely though this could work the other way round as well…if you have a Kobo eReader then if there is something on Amazon you want then you can’t have it unless you want to be converting files etc.
You are right, but converting files for me is not a problem, not a chore, I will do so if I need to.
so far I have nothing on kindle that I can't get on Epub that I want to read.

And there is plenty of free Kindle books available from Amazon – my wife can download more free books each week than she can read.

I never said their was not, i know plenty of people with a Kindle and I think it is a nice bit of kit and they get a load of free books, after all a lot fo them don't have that much money to keep buying them.

There are just more sites with free epubs.
I do agree that it would better to have one standard file format that all readers accepted though – would be good to use a Kindle on a different store easily and vice versa using the other readers on Amazon.
I agree, i also wish they would bring the prices of e-books down, sometimes they are the same price as the physical book
noise747 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2012, 12:07
Anika Hanson
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 14,219
Yes it's not hard to convert books to different formats even if they have DRM. You, don't even need to know anything about code or programming. All you need is a calibre and a few plugins. It's adobe digital editions that I find the biggest chore.

In terms of freedom and availability Barnes and Noble probably have the right balance. They have their own store through which they sell their propitiatory form of epub books, but the nook also reads regular epubs so you can go to other stores.

There are some online stores that you can purchase mobi books which can be read on the kindle.
Anika Hanson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2012, 12:10
alan1302
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: West Yorks
Posts: 6,180
I agree, i also wish they would bring the prices of e-books down, sometimes they are the same price as the physical book
Definitely with you on that – I know that there is VAT on an eBook but the prices should still be less than a paper book
alan1302 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2012, 12:18
neo_wales
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: South Wales/Gran Canaria
Posts: 8,297
When I first got a Kindle I looked online for ebooks and was staggered at the amount of 'pirate copy' books easily available, not one or two books but complete collections. I don't advocate illegal downloads, the likes of Amazon must be loosing many millions of pounds a year... one reason why prices are high I suspect.
neo_wales is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2012, 12:23
alan1302
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: West Yorks
Posts: 6,180
When I first got a Kindle I looked online for ebooks and was staggered at the amount of 'pirate copy' books easily available, not one or two books but complete collections. I don't advocate illegal downloads, the likes of Amazon must be loosing many millions of pounds a year... one reason why prices are high I suspect.
I would not say it is as simple as that.

Yes, it is easy to get a lot of books from free from certain places. And there will be people that do that – but even if the ‘free’ source was not available then that person may not have bothered with the book to start with and are only reading it because it was ‘free’.

A company will lose some money because of pirating but it’s not clear cut on just how much a company loses as you never know if someone would have purchased the book.
alan1302 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2012, 12:55
Anika Hanson
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 14,219
Amazon's ebooks used to be a lot cheaper, more in line with the pricing of their paper books. However prices went up after apple colluded with the major publishers to fix the prices on ebooks.

The agency model was recently declared illegal in the US, and as a result Amazon have already began to reduce the prices on some books sold by one of the big six publishers. I hope we see similar cases and outcomes over here.
Anika Hanson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2012, 12:37
neo_wales
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: South Wales/Gran Canaria
Posts: 8,297
I would not say it is as simple as that.

Yes, it is easy to get a lot of books from free from certain places. And there will be people that do that – but even if the ‘free’ source was not available then that person may not have bothered with the book to start with and are only reading it because it was ‘free’.

A company will lose some money because of pirating but it’s not clear cut on just how much a company loses as you never know if someone would have purchased the book.
I'd say its not as simple as that, a lot of people will just take for free even when they could afford to buy.
neo_wales is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 16:33.