A second edition of my first book, KEEPING UP WITH THE WAR GOD, will be coming out very soon in a Kindle version. If it isn’t properly prepared, I can provide the email address, Forumosan ID, full name, passport number, street address, cell-phone number and likely movements of the person responsible!
Update: It was Kindle DX, and it is 17K (Amazon sells it for 389 USD). They also have 3G and 4G, cheaper -7K.
A second edition of my first book, KEEPING UP WITH THE WAR GOD, will be coming out very soon in a Kindle version. If it isn’t properly prepared, I can provide the email address, Forumosan ID, full name, passport number, street address, cell-phone number and likely movements of the person responsible![/quote]
Congrats. Hey, why don’t we start a separate thread on this and you can share your experience self-publishing through Kindle and Amazon?
[quote=“mabagal”]Is it the light from the LCD or the screen resolution that’s tiring on the iPad vs the Kindle?
I haven’t read much at all on a Kindle, but just went through four color-diagram-heavy books (on mobile UX, reputation systems and gamification) and a whole bunch of related decks from Slideshare this weekend on the iPad and I find myself holding the iPad at computer-monitor distance because eventually you start to notice the jaggies when holding it book-close. I find reading on the iPhone 4 more comfortable on the eyes because the screen just makes it that much better. Volume reading of anything more than a few pages, however, I switch to the iPad. Will a retina-level display on an iPad help here or is it simply the light from the LCD?[/quote]
Here is actually an interesting article about this proposing that there is no difference in eye strain between LCD and e-ink reading: reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-20021227-82.html
Passive (e-ink) displays are nicer in fully lit environments (sunlight). Other than that there seems to be little difference. I read documents on my Mac as well as on my Kindle. The Kindle display has a better resolution and I therefore prefer it. Nonetheless, if I read a lot my eyes get tired. On both devices 
I bought my Kindle in the UK, 109 pounds for the one without 3G. Still seems to be cheaper than the 7000 NTD I saw mentioned here somewhere. with WiFi being available everywhere I think you can easily do without the 3G connection. I love the fact it’s so thin and light and I can change the font size. This makes it great for using in the gym! I do think navigation through the books is a bit slow…now that I have over 900 books on it it’s sometimes difficult to find a specific one. It helps to spend some time making subgroups and sorting all the books into the different groups.
So if you see a white girl in the XinYi gym reading on a Kindle while on a cardio machine, don’t hesitate to say hello
[quote=“swisskogame”][quote=“mabagal”]Is it the light from the LCD or the screen resolution that’s tiring on the iPad vs the Kindle?
I haven’t read much at all on a Kindle, but just went through four color-diagram-heavy books (on mobile UX, reputation systems and gamification) and a whole bunch of related decks from Slideshare this weekend on the iPad and I find myself holding the iPad at computer-monitor distance because eventually you start to notice the jaggies when holding it book-close. I find reading on the iPhone 4 more comfortable on the eyes because the screen just makes it that much better. Volume reading of anything more than a few pages, however, I switch to the iPad. Will a retina-level display on an iPad help here or is it simply the light from the LCD?[/quote]
Here is actually an interesting article about this proposing that there is no difference in eye strain between LCD and e-ink reading: reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-20021227-82.html
Passive (e-ink) displays are nicer in fully lit environments (sunlight). Other than that there seems to be little difference. I read documents on my Mac as well as on my Kindle. The Kindle display has a better resolution and I therefore prefer it. Nonetheless, if I read a lot my eyes get tired. On both devices :-)[/quote]
I think you’re right on that it’s mostly a matter of preference. What strikes me the most about the Kindle is the ultra-sharp contrast of the e-ink and the sharpness of the text. The color e-ink displays that were on display through Computex last year seemed to be good for newspaper content, but not any glossy-magazine type of stuff. I think it will be interesting to see how these color e-ink displays improve.
Wow this thread has been ongoing for years.
My Kindle 3 is on its way now (with the expensive Amazon Lamp-Leather-Case) from the US with UPS.
Regarding foreign books I found there’s a lot of free and foreign books (in epub format) at Feedbooks
You can easily convert it to a Kindle-compatible format using the free software Calibre
They got much more free French books (totally 913) than German books though.
You can also buy and download french ebooks from FNAC
I’m going for the Kindle cause cheap tablet PC’s are getting warm, and have slightly less contrast.
If you go for a expensive IPad 2 the Kindle 3 is still lighter: 247 grams vs. 613 grams.
Kindle 3 is still easier to read under bright sunlight. And with one single charge, Kindle 3 can run up
to 4 weeks (maximum), while iPad 2 can last 10 hours (maximum). I’ll only use it for book reading.
For magazine reading the tablet might has the advantage that it can show pictures, illustrations better (but then I would use my PC)…
Not sure where the eye-strain discussion is going but I’m surrounded by computers that light my face all day.
I’d prefer something less bright when relaxing or that I can easily use on the couch.
How do you guys susbcribe to magazines for e-readers? I mean, any restrictions from Taiwan?
For instance, the Food magazine I like has an iPad version. You get it free if you subscribe to the paper one. Since it takes so long to get here, it would be a nice thing to have the electronic version in the meantime.
[quote=“Icon”]How do you guys susbcribe to magazines for e-readers? I mean, any restrictions from Taiwan?
For instance, the Food magazine I like has an iPad version. You get it free if you subscribe to the paper one. Since it takes so long to get here, it would be a nice thing to have the electronic version in the meantime.[/quote]
I’ve tried but don’t really like reading magazines on a Kindle: I’m able to get The Atlantic on my Kindle a month or so before it gets to my mailbox, but I just don’t wind up reading it. There’s no colour and rather poor graphics; somewhat to my surprise, while I don’t particularly miss the tactile experience of reading a book, I do miss it for magazines.
That being said, you can get magazines on a Kindle in different ways: you can subscribe to a few dozen titles through Amazon, or you can use a program like Calibre to download many more magazines separately; Calibre can then put them on your Kindle.
Through Amazon: as far as I can tell, you can’t use an already-existing dead-tree subscription; you need to get a new one. There are region restrictions: the Kindle has different “stores” depending on where you are. “Americans” have more magazines available than people in other regions, although it’s possible to get around this.
At Amazon, the only Kindle magazine with “Food” in the title that I can see is “Food and Family” - on behalf of Kraft Foods?!
Through Calibre: the program can extract whatever text is on the magazine’s website; if you have an ID, you can set up Calibre to automatically make use of it and get everything accessible to subscribers, depending on how the website is set up. For example, I do use Calibre to download content from The Economist, and since I’m a subscriber it gets everything; this way I can get the content a full, oh, 24 hours before the magazine shows up in my mailbox. This seemed cool when I figured it out, but I haven’t used it; it’d be a lot more useful if I lived in Canada, where that magazine doesn’t get to the mailbox until Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week, rather than on Saturday. (The Economist iPhone app has also rendered this redundant for me.)
Calibre comes with a whole bunch of pre-set magazines you can download from, but I can’t find any food titles. The program doesn’t have to work with a Kindle or even an e-reader: you can download it and see if it works for you.
My Kindle 3 is in customs now (Thursday). It was shipped with UPS on Tuesday (ordered it Monday night)!
With a bit luck I should have it for the weekend…
UPS paperwork was extensive again for receiving something from the US. I always seem to get this trouble with UPS and Fedex only.
Here is what they mailed me to fill (as PDF): NCC Declaration and Power of Attorney.
I had to correct the model name and description as my device doesn’t do 3G, its not a Kindle DX but the Kindle 3 (WiFI-Graphite) model…
Luckily I have no problems with those forms as I can send faxes comfortably from my desk and got a good PDF editor
My contact was hilta(at)UPS.com - UPS LITA 夏S / TEL：03-3987521 #7521 - FAX：03-3987502, 03-3987518
Hope this helps
[quote=“Icon”]How do you guys susbcribe to magazines for e-readers? I mean, any restrictions from Taiwan?
For instance, the Food magazine I like has an iPad version. You get it free if you subscribe to the paper one. Since it takes so long to get here, it would be a nice thing to have the electronic version in the meantime.[/quote]
Only restrictions I can see so far is:
- You can only use it on the Kindle (most books also work for the Kindle PC version but not magazines/newspapers)
- Some work for other mobile devices (such as the German Handelsblatt works on my HTC Desire/Android for me)
- There’s a huge price and choice difference if you select US or Asia/Pacific as region.
- Magazines don’t have all the photos (it depends how much you are into eye candy).
- Content wise I found it covers like 90%.
That I can get Handelsblatt (reasonably cheaply) each day was actually a reason for me to get it.
Lostinasia, it is this one: bbcgoodfood.com/content/magazine/good-food/
For what they are asking as subscription, I’d like to get as much “juice” out of it -no pun intended.
[quote=“engerim”]UPS paperwork was extensive again for receiving something from the US. I always seem to get this trouble with UPS and Fedex only.
Here is what they mailed me to fill (as PDF): NCC Declaration and Power of Attorney.[/quote]
Those are the exact same files I was emailed (including the “Hi my e-mail address is…” etc.) so it seems UPS and/or TW customs are treating every package with a Kindle in it the same. After all the stories of delays and back-and-forth with Amazon discussed earlier in the thread, I didn’t bother arguing the model number or “3G” part of the forms, since I figured that would just cause more delays.
I used PDF-XChange Viewer (free) to digitally fill in the forms and “stamp” a scanned copy of my signature, and emailed them back. My package was delivered the next morning.
Similar here. What I actually do is export it to PNG (from PDF-XChange Viewer), then add my stuff in Microsoft Paint or Photoshop including signature,
then save as PDF 
EDIT:My kindle arrived on Friday noon as projected
I think I need one of these. A few Kindle questions:
- Earlier in the thread, people mentioned seeing Kindles at Guanghua. Whereabouts in Guanghua was that? (Or has anyone seen them anywhere else in Taipei?)
- Are people on this thread using a screen protector in case of scratches?
- Is there anywhere in Guanghua or elsewhere that sells flip-open cases for the Kindle? I saw the Jlick’s photos of the cover he had made, but I prefer the flip-open style.
Thanks for any tips.
Joesox
There are Kindles selling for NT7,000 from a store on Bade Rd. in front of the market. I didn’t see any cases.
However, it is much cheaper to order directly from Amazon in the US. I got a Kindle with the lighted case for US$240 (about NT7000) including shipping and customs charges, which is the same price as the you pay in Taiwan for just the machine.
The lighted case is definitely worth the money …
amazon.com/gp/product/B003DZ … B5Y03082S7
[quote=“Mawvellous”]Joesox
There are Kindles selling for NT7,000 from a store on Bade Rd. in front of the market. I didn’t see any cases.
However, it is much cheaper to order directly from Amazon in the US. I got a Kindle with the lighted case for US$240 (about NT7000) including shipping and customs charges, which is the same price as the you pay in Taiwan for just the machine.
The lighted case is definitely worth the money …
amazon.com/gp/product/B003DZ … B5Y03082S7[/quote]Thanks, Mawvellous. Was that price for the Wi-Fi only version or the one with 3G too? I think I’d be fine with the Wi-Fi only one, which is on Ruten for 5,200 – not too bad. The main reason I wanted to find a physical store was that I’ve never actually tried a Kindle before, and I’d like to do so before buying.
The case with the light looks nice but sounds a bit heavy. I’m actually not sure whether to get a case at all or just use a padded envelope for when the Kindle’s in my bag. Either way, I guess it might need a screen protector though.
I haven’t used a screen protector for either of my Kindles and both have scratch-free screens. For my Kindle 2 I had a nice M-Edge case but decided that it added too much weight and bulk. Now for my Kindle 3 I just use the custom handmade sleeve bought from a local craftsperson as mentioned earlier. Despite often being wedged deep within a crowded backpack it has managed to survive fine. Plus the prices are low enough now that it won’t be too painful to replace if something happens, whereas back when the Kindle 2 was well over $450 after shipping and taxes I was much more paranoid about protecting it carefully.
You can easily cut a laptop screen protector in the right dimensions but because you won’t touch the screen (its not a touch screen) you won’t risk scratching it by your fingers as easy. Since the device is more like a tablet you also want to avoid sheer stress so I found the cover more handy. The leather cover (with the integrated light) weights as much as the Kindle itself but I wouldn’t miss it cause it makes the whole thing feel very decent There are many alternatives it seems to the original leather casing.
[quote=“Joesox”]
Thanks, Mawvellous. Was that price for the Wi-Fi only version or the one with 3G too? I think I’d be fine with the Wi-Fi only one, which is on Ruten for 5,200 – not too bad. The main reason I wanted to find a physical store was that I’ve never actually tried a Kindle before, and I’d like to do so before buying.
The case with the light looks nice but sounds a bit heavy. I’m actually not sure whether to get a case at all or just use a padded envelope for when the Kindle’s in my bag. Either way, I guess it might need a screen protector though.[/quote]
That was the price for a Wi-Fi only version. I agree, the 3G is not worth it - it is easy to stock up on all the books you need when you have access to wireless.
You are welcome to try out my Kindle if you are in the Taipei area…send me a PM.