Anyone have the Kindle 3 yet?

I just got my shipping confirmation today...have a friend back in the US at the moment, so he is bringing back for me. Got the wifi one, Vietnam's 3G is pretty embryonic, but free wifi is everywhere, so it wasn't worth it to me. One of my best friends has one as well, played with it today for the first time...really can't wait to get mine now.

Originally Posted by aleksandr

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I went with the 3G one because it would automatically sync where I am for the particular book is reading, which is useful because sometimes I read on my iPad as well.
Hadn't thought of that, but it's a good point. I loaded the software onto my PC so that I can reference tech books on a bigger screen when i'm in front of one, but also always have them with me on the kindle. I can see myself buying a DX one day for large format books. Most publishers allow you to have the books on up to 5 devices (that are attached to your amazon account).

love it. take the train to nyc everyday, finished a book on the train, browsed, downloaded a new book and started reading. This is my first kindle and if I have a problem with the device, it's that I'm a fast reader and it seems like I'm pushing the next page button every 10 seconds.

Got mine on Thursday with the leather-ish case as well. So far, I really like it. If you use Instapaper, it'll send you a daily collection of articles that you've archived for later reading. The browser is good for emergencies and quick look-ups.

Being able to have book samples sent to the device is another big plus.

Originally Posted by AgentQ

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Got mine on Thursday with the leather-ish case as well. So far, I really like it. If you use Instapaper, it'll send you a daily collection of articles that you've archived for later reading. The browser is good for emergencies and quick look-ups.

Being able to have book samples sent to the device is another big plus.

Screw the book samples. Almost every piece of well respected literature is on there, free of charge. I get to get my snob down on the cheap.

So has anyone (ahem) messed with the idea of taking the 3G SIM card from their Kindle 3 and put it in a 3g dongle, to see if the worldwide unlimited data usage will work sans Kindle (ahem)...?

Can you load your own books on one of these e.g. I download a PDF or ePub onto my computer?

Originally Posted by Infrasonic

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So has anyone (ahem) messed with the idea of taking the 3G SIM card from their Kindle 3 and put it in a 3g dongle, to see if the worldwide unlimited data usage will work sans Kindle (ahem)...?

There's a 3G SIM card in there?

No, I have an iPad, like every other intelligent consumer on the planet.

/burn!!!

Originally Posted by Rambo

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Can you load your own books on one of these e.g. I download a PDF or ePub onto my computer?
you can load a pdf, but depending on the physical the pages that the pdf contains, it probably won't be a lot of fun to read. Better to get a DX for most pdfs imo. I'm not sure about epub files... Obviously, most public domain stuff is available. Sometimes you want different translations than are available for free and those you obviously have to pay for. Also, sometimes public domain stuff is poorly formatted and it's worth paying for a better copy.

Originally Posted by Rambo

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Can you load your own books on one of these e.g. I download a PDF or ePub onto my computer?
I was playing with PDFs and Kindles (still waiting for my Kindle, but did this with my mother's)...they can read them, but you get no control over font size (when you magnify, it magnifies off the screen), and the contrast can be an issue as well (ends up gray on gray). However there are a bunch of free converter apps that can make mobi or azw files from them, and that solves all. I use a Mac, and have used Calibre to this end. Don't know what the Windows equivalent is, but no doubt there are dozens. ePubs I don't think they can natively read (could be wrong), but again, the converters will chomp them out for you. edit - I guess I should say - the above is assuming you are using PDF version of text only/predominantly books...I doubt the converters could successfully parse a Powerpoint deck saved as a PDF - and even if it could - the fact that it is black and white won't leave you with much worth presenting....

Originally Posted by GQgeek

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you can load a pdf, but depending on the physical the pages that the pdf contains, it probably won't be a lot of fun to read. Better to get a DX for most pdfs imo. I'm not sure about epub files... Obviously, most public domain stuff is available. Sometimes you want different translations than are available for free and those you obviously have to pay for. Also, sometimes public domain stuff is poorly formatted and it's worth paying for a better copy.

Originally Posted by Matt

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I was playing with PDFs and Kindles (still waiting for my Kindle, but did this with my mother's)...they can read them, but you get no control over font size (when you magnify, it magnifies off the screen), and the contrast can be an issue as well (ends up gray on gray). However there are a bunch of free converter apps that can make mobi or azw files from them, and that solves all. I use a Mac, and have used Calibre to this end. Don't know what the Windows equivalent is, but no doubt there are dozens. ePubs I don't think they can natively read (could be wrong), but again, the converters will chomp them out for you. edit - I guess I should say - the above is assuming you are using PDF version of text only/predominantly books...I doubt the converters could successfully parse a Powerpoint deck saved as a PDF - and even if it could - the fact that it is black and white won't leave you with much worth presenting....
Thanks for the info guys. I'm holding out until early next year when the IPad2 and HP/Palm tablet will be out before I dive into the portable time waster market.

I just got a Kindle 3.


I lost my Kindle 2 by leaving it on top of the mailbox. I JUST got a new Col Hann cover for it that was about $65 and had used it for one day. I usually dont lose things.


Anyone have a good case for it?

The Col Hann cover for Kindle 3 is smaller and cost a lot more, $99. I'm not willing to pay that for a $140 device.
http://www.amazon.com/Cole-Haan-Hand...465054&sr=1-46

Originally Posted by Matt

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I was playing with PDFs and Kindles (still waiting for my Kindle, but did this with my mother's)...they can read them, but you get no control over font size (when you magnify, it magnifies off the screen), and the contrast can be an issue as well (ends up gray on gray).

However there are a bunch of free converter apps that can make mobi or azw files from them, and that solves all. I use a Mac, and have used Calibre to this end. Don't know what the Windows equivalent is, but no doubt there are dozens.

ePubs I don't think they can natively read (could be wrong), but again, the converters will chomp them out for you.

edit - I guess I should say - the above is assuming you are using PDF version of text only/predominantly books...I doubt the converters could successfully parse a Powerpoint deck saved as a PDF - and even if it could - the fact that it is black and white won't leave you with much worth presenting....

Nook does a pretty good job of scaling PDFs using the different font options. Biggest problem I have run into with converting PDFs using Calibre or any other OCR is that any multi column books get fucked up in the order as most OCRs read left to right straight across and dont compensate for columned text. You should try to see if you can convert the PDF in google docs first. If it is small enough it will do a pretty decent job, then convert it to mobi or whatever. Speaking of google docs see if your web browser can access those or attachments on emails. I was surprised to find my nook could open word docs that were attached to email on Gmail.

Originally Posted by Rambo

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Thanks for the info guys. I'm holding out until early next year when the IPad2 and HP/Palm tablet will be out before I dive into the portable time waster market.

They're totally different devices. Kindles are for heavy readers. I could never spend 8 hours reading off an ipad. With kindle, it's totally fine.