Favorable reviews by those I've shown it to
So back to the crux of my question I posted over at the forum, what are your reviews like when you show it off? Are they favorable? I had one neutral review that I did not count in my review as it was by a person whom I know to be contrary to all of my technical positions. I am a Mac fan, and he is a mac hater, he immediately went into a that's an ugly ipod, when I showed it to him he changed tact when he discovered it was not an apple product. All he had seen was that it was supposedly the ipod of books and assumed it was from Apple, that is hilarious to me. It shows that Apple advertising works too well as apparently people now just assume interesting products come from apple, great if your Steve Jobs or an apple shareholder I suppose.
But for all my positive comments I have received why did the Kindle info die so much from amazon? Why not tell us they sold 500 or 50,000? Wish the silence would be broken. Have you heard anything?
Yahoo kindle group down temporarily?
I am sure not happy that
the yahoo group is down but Welcome any newcomers to the
kindlechat site. I would imagine it will be
back soon as Yahoo is normally very reliable and
responsive. Until then, by all means, the more the
merrier.
I was wondering if there was room for two strong
kindle forums and I guess my answer came with the
fact that we have 46 members while the initial yahoo
group grew to over 700. Hopefully it will be back
online soon, but until then maybe we will get the
critical mass we need to really get the kindlechat
forums going.
The kindle image to the right is the link to the
discussion forums over at google. Click there or
Click here.
How to skip more than 1 page on a Kindle
That is a great feature that I can't believe I missed, is it documented? Perhaps, but I found it while trolling the amazon discussion pages. The Amazon discussion pages are horrible, I would prefer google or yahoo to them any-day, you can't follow what's up most of the time. Anyway just a tip you might not have discovered.
Alt + prev or Next page skips 5% of the books length.
Kindle Battery Life
As Amazon put's it "Long battery life. Leave wireless on and recharge approximately every other day. Turn wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging. Fully recharges in 2 hours." It does recharge pronto, but I had hoped to last longer. Yeah that sounds reasonable doesn't it... longer... but in any event how long are you seeing it last?
I let it charge completely and turned it on this morning at 9am, wireless is on so I'll update with how long mine lasts this time until it gives me the Yeah, I'm shutting down again message.
The need for a hard case
So if you know of a case maker give them a nudge or if you are aware of a case that is out there respond here and in the discussion pages. I bet they could sell at least 3/4 of us on an alternative tot he default case, which by the way is now out of stock as well.
The Current state of Bible reading on the Kindle
Why only adequate? Mainly because so far none of the publishers have had time to release a version that makes use of the Kindle's ability to hyperlink anything and create a wonderful wiki-like experience. So what is it like right now? If you want to read it is wonderful, I love the single column and the ability to adjust the font is a great feature that has allowed me to rest my eyes from the strain I used to have with my little Cambridge Pitt-minion (The name is from the smaller 9 pt font face and location it originated) NASB I carried before. The shortcoming is if you want to hop over to a parallel passage or even know exactly where you currently are in the text. The NET version is superior to either NIV in it's embedding of the existing chapter and verse throughout, but it lacks the links to actually get to the chapter from the book opening page, so if you want to get to chapter 10 of 1st corinthians your paging quite a while to eventually get there. In either of the NIV versions the chapters are located under the book name and then at each chapter.
So between the NIV and the Today's NIV the later has better typesetting currently, in the standard NIV the chapter numbers are the same font and size as the regular text and that makes it difficult to pick out where the chapters begin. Additionally in the TNIV the book headings and chapter hints are set off in a different font and I think it looks a little better. I have high hopes that when the publishers do an update that we will be able to benefit from the ability to re-download the versions to our kindles and have a change made by the publishers reflected. This is contrary to how real books work, you buy a book with a typo and it's there forever. We'll just have to wait and see.
I am currently working with two very special fellows over at Bible.org to produce an improved readers edition, the current one is only .99 at amazon and does not have the chapter links yet but at least is available. I have some ideas on how to make the experience better that I hope to test this week and then describe to Todd and Dave. If you have not tried the NET translation I would recommend buying it at the current .99 cent price and using it to simply read the bible as I am currently. The folks over at Bible.org are not trying to profit from the sale of this quality translation and even if the ability to release updates is not available I plan to purchase multiple copies to support their efforts in the ministry of spreading a translation that is available for free for teaching and instruction. If you want to see a number of pictures of the three versions I have tried with comments click on this link to see my photo page of Kindle Bibles.
Check in with your experiences at the discussion pages or here in the comments.
How to fill your Kindle for FREE
There is a large number of books at manybooks.net that I wouldn't bother with but I plan on grabbing many of the classics that I haven't read or haven't read since I was much younger. "Frankenstien" by Mary Shelly or Bram Stokers "Dracula" were a few that I have never read the book but have obviously seen ton of retread movies related to them. One I do want to get is Treasure Island and Gulliver's Travels that I haven't read since I was 10, but there are really too many to list here. A large number of Shakespere's works, Poe, well far more than I had expected. So Kudos to ManyBooks.net for hopping on the bandwagon early and getting their collection converted so quickly, go check it out, I can't image you won't find at least one book you'll download.
Day 2 - A possible problem & How many kindles are there?
Now serving 11,501...
When doing this it has not locked up yet again. And on another occasion I thought it had locked up but it was merely playing possum as my grandfather would say and just as I was about to pop the back cover it sprang to life turning the page. When speaking with the support rep we discussed several things but one of them I found very interesting. When your Kindle has a problem the EVDO modem allows them to remotely access the logs to determine what is happening. They are also able to upload patches and make changes to the firmware via this mechanism. Interestingly enough the front line support staff is unable to do any of this as they merely "Ping" as he put it the device and gather the logs in a format they are unable to read and forward them on to the "production support" group for review. So I thought that was pretty interesting.
The last thing I got out of the conversation was that the initial run of the units have the same serial number up to the last 6 digits, so there are definitely less than a million kindles running around out there. He said they had shipped a little more than 11,500 in their first shipping batch. I was part of a batch well after that, so again I wonder how many are running around out there now. My serial number ends in 73 1xxx, what are your first 3 of the last 6? That might tell us how many are out there. I'll post this in the discussions groups for your answer, head over there to reply. Let's see if we can find any 74 xxxx numbers, or greater to see if they actually mean what they imply. Don't post your entire serial number by any means just in case you could do something with them I am unaware of.
Initial kindle unboxing images & thoughts
Additionally I purchased the NIV bible and as far as reading it it is Awesome. Yes that was a capital letter inappropriately placed there to draw attention to it. Was it awesome because of what I was reading it on, partly. I have always wanted a single column everything out of the way just let me read the word of God version and they are extremely elusive. To make it easier I was able to jack up the font and take off my glasses and burn through some pages getting lost in the story of Joshua taking the Israelites into Jericho and crossing the Jordan with dry feet. For that it was great. Now the part that dragged down the experience, I am pretty quick at being able to flip over to another area and refer to something. That's where the problem lies currently. The Kindle is really not just a book, it is in fact an electronic book with indexing capabilities and hyperlink capabilities that as of yet have not been taken advantage by the publishers. I am thankful that the International Bible Society and Zondervan have released a valuable text for christians to be able to read and enjoy. But I can't wait for a second generation version to come out where the possibilities of annotation, bookmarks, notes and hyperlinks are fully utilized.
That comes to my own experimentation, for several hours last night I tinkered around with the NET or New English Translation that was available in a doc format online from bible.org and was pleasantly surprised how readable it was with just a straight translation. Having spoken to a fellow there they are currently working on a new version for the Kindle that will take advantage of some of the features of the Kindle initially, followed by a release of their full blown annotated with over 60,000 translation notes and helps. When that becomes available I will definitely be moving to it as my daily reading translation. If your unfamiliar with the NET translation you owe it to yourself to take a look at the video explanation of what all is going on there. (Link to page with video and info) I included a shot above with my own efforts at allowing myself to switch sooner than latter.
I am extremely excited to have several book with me to read when I can. I am a little disappointed in the Time subscription I am trying an suspect I will cancel it before I have to pay for it. Ironically I have too much else to read. The Wall street journal will probably also go as soon as a local paper is available, but for now I have read yesterdays news and the days before and enjoyed the experience. If your waiting for your Kindle I suspect it will be smaller than you imagined unless you thought it was the size of a standard paperback. It is not is is the size of the larger paperbacks but was smaller than I feared when I saw the box it comes in. If you want to see my unboxing it is available here.
What has your initial experience been? Pop over to the Discussion forums and share your thoughts and experiences if you have the time.
Kindle hits ebay
Perhaps the fact the device has eluded really being pinned down yet as to what the buyer profile looks like is very telling. They either aren't shipping very many at all, or there isn't a stereotypical buyer established yet. What kind of buyer are you?
Click on the link to answer in the Discussion pages.
Anticipation... the common Kindle ailment
Update: IT'S HERE!
Yeah! Check tomorrow (SEE ABOVE) for my pictorial of the un-boxing and news of an upcoming new release of the NET Bible for Kindle.
Amazon says it is on it's way, a Photo slideshow of un-boxing if it indeed arrives today before lunch. (SEE ABOVE ARTICLE)
Still no kindle, apparently it did not arrive on our early AM shipment. It may just be taunting me but a Fedex truck just drove by. Drat, just a false alarm... (IT FINALLY ARRIVED AT 3:13PM... That's what 2nd day air will probably get you if your at an office like I was.)
A new age of self publishing
If you have access to anyone that knows the print industry and can comment on these conditions please send me an email as I would be very interested in interviewing them perhaps for their thoughts on the agreement. Apparently it is a modification of the self publishing that was available for mobipocket books, but it seems to me having your work available at amazon.com would be a much larger incentive to electronically publish than a site that I head never heard of before the Kindle.
If you Hate the terms or Love them pop over to the discussion forums and leave your feedback. I have been toying with a book for almost a year now and can see myself plunging into it with a bit more enthusiasm now that I can really see it getting published. Self publishing is always an option but it was too expensive and I suspect that getting a self published book onto Barnes and Nobles shelves would be quite hard much less having the funds to front the creation of sufficient copies to get any momentum nationally. This format offers a new hope for people that would love to get their work out there, and if it is any good then it may actually prosper and see physical print publishing. For some reason that still seems like my ultimate goal as I am prejudiced to think that an e-Book is somehow less permanent than a true printed one. What do you think? Will that ever change?
Calling Amazon Kindle Support, come in Kindle support
My problem was I had just sent an
email with an 11 MB word doc attached to it to
the free conversion site at amazon. For those of
you like me who thought it was .10 cents to
convert any document, that is only true if you
want it emailed to your Kindle directly. If you
happen to be at home with your Mac or PC for
that matter you can email it to your kindle name
@free.kindle.com it will convert the doc nd send
you back an email letting you know it is done.
There lies the rub, it was a little to easy. The
email says "?????@gmail.com has sent the
following files to your Amazon Kindle free
conversion account:"NETBible_Noteless.doc"". The
email address is a mail link and the doc name is
a link as well, but it never occurred to me to
click on it. That was why i had called to find
out where my mystery doc had gone, I had
expected it to be at my Amazon library. But no,
it just a link, click on it and your getting the
file to your Mac, too easy.
I was amazed at the size of the converted document, it was 11 MB now it is only 3.8MB which makes me think the format is a compressed one. In any event the impressive feat was the ease at which i got a human to talk to me, and they had the answer, albeit a fairly easy one in a snap. Kudos to amazon for creating a non-800 number or toll number support solution that undoubtedly is making use of a voip back end, but who cares I was helped jiffy quick.
How hard is it to return an ebook?
Hello from Amazon.com.
Thank you for writing about returning "Holy Bible, Today's New
International Version", which you recently purchased for your Kindle.
You can return any item purchased from the Kindle Store within seven
days of purchase.
I've requested a refund for the purchase and removed the item from
Your Media Library. If the item is still on your Kindle, please delete
that copy. After the refund is issued, you will no longer be able to
access it. I've included instructions for removing an item from your
Kindle below.
Refunds are issued to the payment method used to make the original
purchase and usually complete within 2 to 3 business days.
You can purchase the correct ASIN # B000FC2KBU at your earliest
convenience.
Information about making purchases and managing your content is also
available in the Kindle User's Guide on your Kindle or on our Kindle
Support pages here:
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport
Also, I appreciate that you took the time to include your feedback in
your email to us. It is very important for us to hear about your
experience using Kindle and shopping in the Kindle store. Strong
customer feedback like yours helps us continue to improve the service
we provide, and we appreciate the time you took to write to us. I've
passed your feedback along to the Kindle team.
I hope you found this information useful. Our goal is to help you get
the most out of your Kindle experience. If you need further
assistance, please contact customer support at 1-866-321-8851.
Thank you for choosing Kindle.
*****
HOW DO I DELETE AN ITEM FROM MY KINDLE?
To move or remove an item from your Kindle, follow these steps:
1. If you are not already on the Home screen, press the Home key.
2. Scroll the cursor to the Menu selection, and press the Select wheel.
3. Select "Content Manager" from the Home screen menu.
4. Select one or more of the items listed using the check boxes to the
right of each item.
5. Scroll down to the Menu selection, and press the select wheel when
you have finished selecting items.
6. Select "Remove Selected Items" from the Menu.
7. Select "OK" to confirm removal or "Cancel" to abort.
*****
This may seem like a small thing but making it as easy to return a book as buy it was really important to me. If I wander into Barnes and Noble and get a p-Book (Paper Book for those of you like me who didn't realize there was such an abbreviation, but I was exposed to it recently and thought it funny
The only surprising thing that was said was alluded to in the beginning of their reply... "If the item is still on your Kindle, please delete that copy. After the refund is issued, you will no longer be able to access it." That would seem to indicate that items that are in the protected .azw format somehow phone home and see that they should not be used. At first blush I was mortified by this apparent phoning home, but upon reflection realize that is the nature of DRM (Digital Rights Management) and really should have expected it.
Since I did return the book it is only fair and correct that they have some way of insuring I do not continue to use it. I think that despite my Orwellian tendency to dislike any type of phoning home that this is exactly why I don't have to pay for the wireless portion of the device. I can see this type of action occurring in a great number of devices and portends the ability for a MP3 device to truly be a subscription device shutting off access on a timed or tethered function in the future. But more on that perhaps later.
For now buy all the books you want, if you really hate them within the first 7 days you can return them, pretty much hassle free. How long will that policy remain unchanged? With the ability to shut them off by DRM perhaps a while, but there are some pretty fast readers out there. How long before we can simply rent a book?




