e-Readers

Grasshopper

Grasshopper

Senior Jockey
Joined
Nov 14, 2006
Messages
16,050
Can anyone recommend a good one? The only real requirement is that it needs to be backlit for reading in the scratcher (I've already predicted all possible gag combinations arising from that sentence, so save yourself the bother ;)).

All help greatly appreciated.

Ta
Grass
 
Just to piggyback on your request for information ...

As an e-reader, how does the i-pad with a reader app compare to real e-readers?
 
I hear the kindle is the way to go, and have seen a lot of them on the tube and trains around London (seem nice and compact). You also have the tie in with Amazon (think of the ipod and itunes/itunes store).

Personally, I wouldn't buy one for love nor money. A book is more than words, and there's nothing like wandering around second hand bookshops for hours in and around Charing Cross Road.
 
A friend recently got the Kindle with the 3g option and is more than impressed. He's previously tried out an iPad and it had given him eye-strain during weighty novels.
 
It is so old fashioned not to still enjoy a good book rather than a slab of plastic?

I can understand downloads edging out fiddly and scratcable cds (dont they just scratch easier these days too?) but this doesnt work for me at all.
 
Looked at this in an effort to learn how to stay slightly au courant, and it's like trying to decipher hieroglyphs. My colleague showed me how to send Text today, as after five years of owning the same mobi, I thought it was time I learned some of these fancy modern ways. I was surprised to see "thank you come" when it was supposed to be "thank you Anne", but I think I can cope with it now. Just have to remember to actually keep the blasted device switched ON!
 
Thanks for the gen, everyone. Kindle3 was what I had homed in on, so glad it's supported here and in the review (thanks Hamm).

Clivex, this will complement the real thing, rather than replace it. Mrs Grass wants something portable for holidays. :cool:
 
Are they weatherproof? I think they're quite a nice idea if you've loaded up 5,000 books you've always wanted to read, but how are they in direct strong sunlight, getting a bit of sand kicked in their face, or getting splashed with the third American-size Harvey Wallbanger? Books can take an awful lot of abuse, but I wonder if these e-readers are as robust?

And a really silly question - how do you bookmark them?
 
Kri, the Kindle does it for you.

The thing I find useful is the ability to chose a font size that meets the the limits of your eyesight.

I haven't tried the harvey wallbanger test or burying it in sand but you can read it in strong sunlight, sadly it can't be read in the dark.
 
Last edited:
Colin Phillips said:
Kri, the Kindle does it for you.

The thing I find useful is the ability to chose a font size that meets the the limits of your eyesight.

I haven't tried the harvey wallbanger test or burying it in sand but you can read it in strong sunlight, sadly it can't be read in the dark.
Click to expand...

Hi Colin - great to see you around the parish again.

If the Kindle can't be read in the dark, then it's not much cop for Mrs Grass. The review of the Kindle 3 suggested it had enhanced e-ink features which I interpreted as better contrast and therefore ok for reading in the dark. Shoukd I look to swerve it?

All the best, Nick
 
Colin Phillips said:
Kri, the Kindle does it for you.

The thing I find useful is the ability to chose a font size that meets the the limits of your eyesight.

I haven't tried the harvey wallbanger test or burying it in sand but you can read it in strong sunlight, sadly it can't be read in the dark.
Click to expand...


Good to see you back, Colin.

Amazed the Kindle isn't backlit - what's the point of that ?!? Daft.
 
Thanks both.

You can get a version that has a light attached but there is nowt on the standard one.

From what I've read, the light can cause problems so I gave that the swerve.

I was hoping that I would be able to read it in bed without disturbing Bron but I can't.:(
 
krizon said:
Looked at this in an effort to learn how to stay slightly au courant, and it's like trying to decipher hieroglyphs. My colleague showed me how to send Text today, as after five years of owning the same mobi, I thought it was time I learned some of these fancy modern ways. I was surprised to see "thank you come" when it was supposed to be "thank you Anne", but I think I can cope with it now. Just have to remember to actually keep the blasted device switched ON!
Click to expand...

I wonder if we are related? :lol:
 
Clivex, this will complement the real thing, rather than replace it. Mrs Grass wants something portable for holidays. :cool:
Click to expand...

Something portable and electronic to compliment the real thing.....
 
Tx 4 tht Col. Ys, its vg 2CU back o t forum! Or whatever a textspeak greeting is. Hope you can be on lots more than of late.

Red - we could be cousins! I'll text you some family history... :lol:
 
Buy a book - much more pleasure to be derived from it. Stuff like Kindle is absolute blasphemy so far as I'm concerned.
 
We should use Kindle-ing and burn them all as works of heresy!

Imagine the masses of job losses, worldwide, if books disappeared into the ether: jacket designers, typesetters, book binders, publishers, warehouse packers, whole peripheral industries like bookshelf/case makers, bookmarks, and WH Smith and Waterstones wouldn't have that lovely 'fresh paper' smell. What does a Kindle smell like? Probably you can wipe the accrued food smudges and fag ash off them, but there's nothing like the smell of that first, fresh page.
 
Last edited:
I would use an e-reader if staying away from home for some time as I couldn't possible choose just one book to take with me!

However, at home in my office, bedroom, sitting room with (almost) wall-to-wall books, an e-reader just wouldn't get used. As Krizon and Shadow Leader have just said, can't beat a good, old-fashioned book. I love them.

Apart from which, many of the older books have memories attached. I have my great-grandmother's copy of Black Beauty, my grandfather's copies of All Quiet On The Western Front and How Green Was My Valley, not to mention all the old (increasingly tatty) friends that I have accrued since I was much younger. I am able to take a book from the shelf and remember where I was and what was happening in my life and the wider world when I bought it.

I don't think an e-reader would evoke those memories, so a book will always win hands down for me.
 
Not on topic but just finished Ruby Walsh's book by Malachy Clerkin - Desperately boring and gave absolutely no insight into the man - what a drone!! This book is so bad it wouldn't burn in the fire.
 
Back
Top