The Campaign Builder's Guild

Does anybody here have a Kindle or other e-reader? Any thoughts on the matter? Comparison between the options?

Personally I haven't used one. This is what I've heard.

Kindle 2 is good for reading, apparently its more like reading from an actual book than from a computer screen, even when it's backlight.

However, Amazaon did something pretty sketch. They removed 1984 from their downloadable database or w/e. But they also deleted it off everyones Kindles who had already downloaded it, so.. buyer beware I guess.

Quote from: LlumHowever, Amazaon did something pretty sketch. They removed 1984 from their downloadable database or w/e. But they also deleted it off everyones Kindles who had already downloaded it, so.. buyer beware I guess.

Indeed. Think of the Kindle as an expensively obtuse library - you get a book for as long as Amazon wants you to have it.

I would like to hear what folks have to say about Barnes and Noble's nook.

I'm actually looking into the nook myself, if I get one for Christmas, I'll let you know what I think.

Quote from: LlumHowever, Amazaon did something pretty sketch. They removed 1984 from their downloadable database or w/e. But they also deleted it off everyones Kindles who had already downloaded it, so.. buyer beware I guess.

Wow...

Yeah, I read about that back when it happened. Slightly more complicated though, because the company that uploaded the books didn't have the rights to them, so the copies were illegal.

Quote from: New York TimesAmazon effectively acknowledged that the deletions were a bad idea. 'We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers' devices in these circumstances,' Mr. Herdener said.

Customers whose books were deleted indicated that MobileReference, a digital publisher, had sold them. An e-mail message to SoundTells, the company that owns MobileReference, was not immediately returned.

Digital books bought for the Kindle are sent to it over a wireless network. Amazon can also use that network to synchronize electronic books between devices '" and apparently to make them vanish.

An authorized digital edition of '1984' from its American publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, was still available on the Kindle store Friday night, but there was no such version of 'Animal Farm.'

Of course, that's small comfort if you paid for said illegal copy and Amazon up and takes it away. Apparently the command that deleted them also refunded the money paid for them (which was .99).

I own an iRex DR1000S, which has probably the largest screen on the market. It was very expensive, but overall I am quite happy with it.



It displays PDFs with a clean and simple layout (such as GURPS books) very well, and unless the font size is really small, you won't have to zoom. However, it frequently chokes on PDFs with very complex layout and lots of background images - the Eclipse Phase PDF was the worst offender in this regard. On the other hand, it allows you to make hand-written annotations to PDFs, which is a very neat feature indeed.

My personal recommendation is to wait until the "Que" by Plastic Logic comes out next year - it will also be suitable for PDFs, it might be cheaper, and it might trigger another round of price reductions.


However, I definitely recommend starting a digital library now - ebook readers are only going to get better in the future, and you will still be able to use all your old PDFs with it.

Quote from: Elemental ElfMost of the books I've been looking into (what my AP English teacher would have called 'trash Fantasy novels') are running roughly the same price as the normal paperback. Why should I pay so much if we're cutting out the paper?

The Orc King - 7.99 for eBook and Paperback. ST:TNG - Losing the Peace, 7.99 for both. etc.

What incentive do I have for a 300 dollar eBook reader?

This is true. If you buy books mostly used or paperbacks, you don't save money. You save a lot on new hardcovers. But many of the times when I'd buy new hardcovers on release date, it's because I already love the author and would want to collect the book (as oppose to just reading it).

But, for many older releases, the price is about the same or still cheaper (some classics have gone for a dollar, or are even free online), so the money you'll save from new books will still add up. Also, non-fiction never really gets all that cheap. Imagine if you could get college text books for twenty instead of eighty, or anything similar.

And cost isn't the only advantage. There's also portability and searchability (more important for non-fiction). Not only does it mean you can take your entire library anywhere with you, but you don't have to lug a million books every time you move. And as someone that travels a fair amount and has moved several times in the last few years, that's a big deal to me.

Quote from: Elemental ElfMost of the books I've been looking into (what my AP English teacher would have called 'trash Fantasy novels') are running roughly the same price as the normal paperback. Why should I pay so much if we're cutting out the paper?

The Orc King - 7.99 for eBook and Paperback. ST:TNG - Losing the Peace, 7.99 for both. etc.

What incentive do I have for a 300 dollar eBook reader?

And then when the apocalypse comes and the massive EMP wipes out your data the book owners will laugh at you (at least until the great world wide fire burns their books up).

Quote from: NomadicAnd then when the apocalypse comes and the massive EMP wipes out your data the book owners will laugh at you (at least until the great world wide fire burns their books up).

I figure that when the apocalypse comes, I will have bigger things to worry about than my collection of gaming books - digital or otherwise.

Relevant to the discussion (Bransford is a literary agent). Original post.

Quote from: Nathan BransfordMonday, November 23, 2009
The Top 10 Myths About E-Books
After my recent post about the inevitability of e-books, I was surprised that there were so many misconceptions in the comments section about e-readers and e-books.

For the record, I don't think everyone is going to or should or will like e-books and converting people is not what this post is about. But I do think people should at least have the facts.

Now would also be a good time to state for the record that I have no financial interest in e-books or e-readers whatsoever and in fact, my job would probably be easier if they didn't exist. But they do exist, I genuinely like them, and I don't think this industry can afford to be behind the curve on technology.

Here's my personal Top 10 list of the mistaken beliefs people have about e-books:

1. "They strain your eyes" / "They're bad for people with poor eyesight" / "I'll go blind."

Aside from reading on an iPhone, which I personally love but realize isn't for everyone, most dedicated e-readers use e-ink displays, which are very different than the backlit screens of computers and televisions and phones. E-ink literally looks like ink on paper, you can read in sunlight, and it's crisp from any angle.

Also, all e-readers have the ability to change the text size, so you can instantly turn any book into large print if you have difficulty with small fonts.

2. "You can't back up your files" / "If you lose or break your e-reader or if a new e-reader comes out you lose all your books"

Different devices do indeed favor different formats, but even still the above statements don't accurately reflect the landscape.

Let's start with Amazon and the Kindle. Amazon stores the information about all of the titles you have bought centrally, which means that you can access the titles on any device that has a Kindle app, whether it's a Kindle, iPhone, or a PC (coming soon: Macs). Better yet, Amazon syncs between the different applications so that if you stop reading on a Kindle and open up the app on your iPhone it will turn to the page you left off on. If you lose your Kindle or it breaks or you want to get a new one you can still read all of the titles you bought on a computer or another device.

Now, Amazon usually uses its own proprietary e-book format, and some people want a more universal format. If so, you might consider the Sony Reader or nook. Their stores use the ePub format, which can be read on most e-reader devices, so you're not beholden to one device or vendor after you have purchased your books and you can always take your library elsewhere.

3. "I don't want to have to scroll endlessly through a book" / "I'll miss turning the pages" / "I like taking notes"

Most e-readers, including the iPhone apps, have pages that you "turn" either by clicking a button or tapping/swiping your finger. While I know some people view this as a sign of the apocalypse, you'd be surprised how quickly it becomes second nature.

And most e-readers allow you to take notes, bookmark pages, search within the text, and highlight sections you want to come back to.

4. "They require a lot of power" / "They're hot to the touch like laptops"

When they're not using their wireless function, e-readers using the e-ink display consume very little energy, and you only have to charge them once every few weeks, even if you read often.

They're also completely cool to the touch.

5. "You can't check e-books out from the library"

According to the NY Times, about 5,400 libraries now offer e-books, and more are signing up every day. Most library programs work like with physical books - you "check out" an e-book onto your e-reader and "check it back in" when you're finished, and only one patron at a time can "check out" an e-book while you're reading it.

6. "You can't lend to friends or family"

Amazon allows up to six users to access the same account for most titles, and nook has a LendMe function that allows you to share a title for 14 days (if the publisher allows it).

Admittedly these aren't the freest means of sharing content, but my wife and I share a Kindle account and are able to read each other's books whenever we want.

7. "E-Readers are bad for the environment"

A Cleantech study asserts that e-readers have a much smaller carbon footprint than physical books when book production and shipping physical books are taken into account, though one blogger felt that the Cleantech study didn't adequately address paper recycling programs. Although, it's not as if it's impossible to recycle electronics.

8. "You can't read an e-reader in the bathtub" / "I would never take an e-reader to the beach

Put it in a Ziploc bag and it's more waterproof/sandproof than a paper book.

9. "They're too expensive."

E-readers may be relatively expensive now for a wide swath of people, but prices will inevitably come down. And because e-books are (usually) much cheaper than print books, it doesn't take long before an e-reader pays for itself - since most hardcovers that sell for $25 or more are available for $9.99, all it takes is roughly 20 e-books for an e-reader to pay for itself. You save even more if you read e-books on a phone or computer you already own.

For a casual reader: yeah, a dedicated e-reader probably doesn't make the most sense. But for people who read a lot, especially new books, it can result in actual savings relatively quickly.

10. "E-books are bad for publishers and authors"

While most agents I know are not thrilled with the royalties authors are currently receiving from the major publishers, so far the deep discounting has been absorbed by the e-book sellers and publishers have little to lose from e-book sales, at least in the short term. According to reports, most publishers still receive roughly 50% off the list price for every e-book sale, meaning that a $9.99 e-book is a loss leader for Amazon and the other e-book publishers, while the publisher receives the same amount as they would for a hard copy.

And while, again, we agents would like to see authors get a fairer split, authors still receive royalties for e-book sales. The low price points of e-books have attracted some of my cost-minded friends who used to mainly buy used books, for which authors of course don't receive any royalties, so from that standpoint they are much more author friendly than used books.

Still think I'll wait to see the price come down a bit, though.