I might eventually get around to buying one, just to supplement my physical library collection.  But I’ll probably end up waiting for quite a while, until the initial flurry of formats and such dies down.  I don’t want to end up investing in what will turn out to be the e-book version of eight-tracks, and find myself with a whole three selections of books that are in the right format.

I discovered a web page that converts ebooks and other files to the epub format. I haven’t tried it and I’m not sure how legal it would be to use in the case of ebooks with drm.

I was just thinking before how at least with the music I’ve bought from iTunes I have the option of backing them up to CDs. So in the unlikely event of Apple going under I’d still get to keep the music in my iTunes software. There really needs to be the same safeguard for ebooks.

EDIT: I also found Calibre. Apparently it too converts ebooks to different formats. I’ll look at it more properly later.

Somebody’s recommended the Kindle DX to me. It’s bigger and it looks like it would be better for my eyes as I’m short sighted.

Of course it would take up more space in my bag and it’s more expensive. The thing is I want to buy an iPad at some stage and I’m just concerned about the Kindle DX being a bit redundant in that situation. I guess I’ll have to put off my decision while I have a think about it. I can still read Kindle e-books on my iPhone in the meantime.

Then again a Kindle would suit me in some situations while the iPad would suit me in other situations.

Nyeh, the Kindle DX is bigger in size, but I believe it still has the same capabilities of the smaller eReaders.  And they usually all have some form of zoom or text enlargement function.  Heck, with mine, I can enlarge the text so much that I can only fit one or two words on the screen.

You can supposedly use the iPad to read books.  So, theoretically, you could just get the iPad and get a book-reading app (probably the same thing you’ve got on your iPhone) and you’d be right to go.

I just read here there might be a new Kindle DX coming out later this year.

As I do want an iPad it probably does make sense for me to buy one of those first. In which case it might be as well to buy a smaller Kindle if I buy one. I’ll have more of a think about it.

I’ve been reading books on my iPhone 4 using both the Kindle software and the iBooks software. While it’s an OK size for reading what I’ve got I’m thinking it might be good to have a combination of a Kindle 3 and an iPad. A Kindle 3 would be a good size to carry around and as it is I’m interested in the iPad for other reasons so I guess that would be good for larger books or magazines.

What do people think of that idea?

Just how many gadgets are you willing to carry round?

Smerk - 07 April 2011 11:15 AM

Just how many gadgets are you willing to carry round?

Mmkaay

This morning Erik sent me the new Kindle that Amazon is going to sell at a significant savings.  He wanted me to see the article about it because I’d asked for one of my own for my birthday.  I have to admit that I was more than just a little annoyed with the idea but I guess some people would find it acceptable:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/technology/12amazon.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

SAN FRANCISCO

hulitoons - 12 April 2011 01:58 PM

This morning Erik sent me the new Kindle that Amazon is going to sell at a significant savings.  He wanted me to see the article about it because I’d asked for one of my own for my birthday.  I have to admit that I was more than just a little annoyed with the idea but I guess some people would find it acceptable:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/technology/12amazon.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

SAN FRANCISCO

For what it’s worth, today’s Woot is a refurbished Nook for $100.

www.woot.com