Mr Shields: I'm a reader not a fighter

I am having a hard time focusing on anything lately. I have read about 10 percent of six books in the last three days and just cannot get into anything.  So as a bit of humor here is an old video about what Gutenberg Tech Support might have been like.

I tweeted yesterday that I am going to take a book buying fast until the new year.  And I feel I need to include the kindle in that book buying fast.  (In case you are wondering, I am going to give the equivelent or more to http://ahomeinhaiti.org/ to build houses for orphans there.  You can give too!)

But that does not mean that you should not buy a new kindle.  This is a great time to think about it.

There are two new Kindles that were announced. A $189 Kindle that will be the Kindle 2 replacement.  And a new $139 WiFi only Kindle that will complete with the Wifi only Nook and Sony Pocket Reader.

There are good posts about the Kindle WiFi and the Kindle 3 over at http://ireaderreview.com.  I will summarize, but check them out for more back story.

Features

The new screens (still same 6 in size as the current kindle) are supposed to be 50% sharper.  And everyone I have heard that has seen them says they are noticeably better.  The background is whiter and the text is darker.  There is also some new technology that is making the text sharper as well.  As you can see in the picture there is an option for a dark gray kindle instead of white (which is also supposed to help print look better.)  The page turns are also about half the time as the current kindle.

I really like the font on my Kindle, but now there will be three font choices instead of just the one that there has been.

The storage memory has been doubled to 4 GB.  I think this is a bit over kill.  I know that some people want to keep every book that they buy on their kindle.  I do not.  Amazon keeps them all for my on their servers.  I only keep the books that I have not read.  Even with audiobooks, which take up significantly more space than a regular books (about 100x the space) I rarely ever need the extra space.  I could fit about 600 more books on my current kindle before I start to worry about running out of space.

The Text To Speech will now also work with the menus, so it will be a fully accessible device for the blind. (This is the result of a lawsuit settlement from earlier this year.)

The size is smaller (21% according to Amazon).  In order to get smaller, the bezel (the plastic around the screen) will be smaller, the keyboard will loose it dedicated number keys and the 5 way controller will move down beside the keyboard.  It will also be even thinner (although the K2 is already very thin).  The page turn buttons are also getting quieter.  I do not read mine in bed at night, but I can hear my buttons when it is quiet.  So that is a good improvement.

The other major improvement is the battery.  The length is about doubling.  So now you will get about 30 days with no wireless on, or about 10 days with wireless on.  Honestly the battery may be a bit on the overkill side.  Once you are past a week I don’t know that longer battery really matters.

$139 vs $189

The main difference is between the two is how you get books.  The 3G/Wifi ($189) Kindle uses a AT&T’s cell network to give you a connection almost anywhere in the US (and other carriers around the world).  But you can also connect via WiFi anytime you cannot get a cell signal.  The Wifi only Kindle ($139) does not connect via cell network so you will only be able to use it where you have a wifi signal.  Wifi is so pervasive at this point that I am not sure that you need a cell connection, even though I think that was the most important feature of the first and second generation kindles.  Now that I have a kindle app on my Blackberry, my iPad, my computer and can purchase and download from any browser, I do not think the cell connection is as important.  In the past if you did not have a cell connection, you had to connect to a computer via a USB cord and move your books over that way.  If you can get your books over Wifi, I think the cell connection is just extra.

Personally, if I was buying right now, I would buy the $139 and save the extra $50 for books or a case.  Especially if you have a blackberry or iphone and you can purchase books and browse Amazon over your phone.

The only negative about upgrading from a Kindle 2, other than the cost, is that M-Edge does not have a floating, water-proof case out for the new kindle yet.  My guess is that there will be one before Christmas.

On Monday Amazon announced enhanced edition kindle books for ipad, ipod touch and iphone.  These books have embedded audio and/or video.  There are only a handful of books that work right now.  Most of them  include video or audio speeches in the context of a biography.

I picked up Lullaby Baby to try it out.  The Amazon description is:

Every new parent, whether musical or not, needs a good repertoire of lullabies. Filled with 50 classic songs, this beautiful, lavishly illustrated songbook lets parents learn each song as they sing along with the melody. The unique sound component makes for a unique package, perfect for sitting by the crib, and also works wonderfully on the road, putting little ones to rest anywhere, anytime. A timeless gift, Lullaby Baby celebrates the joy of sharing music with children.

Kindle Edition with Audio/Video includes:

• 50 well known lullabies
• Written lyrics and audio track
• Full color illustrations

________

And that is all it is, a song book.  If you are looking for a song book, with lyrics and a very digital accompaniment track then this is a good option.  I thought there might be more in it.  The quality of the music leaves something to be desired.  It is very digital and it is only accompaniment, no vocals.

I do not think every book would be made better with audio or video.  But there are some.  Textbooks with video examples or history with news reels or music instruction books are all good examples.  This book was ok, but nothing special and certainly not a great example of a new technology.

NOTE: These do no work on a regular hardware kindle, only on an iPad or iPhone.

I do not have an Android phone so I cannot review this.  But Kindle reader for Android is now available.  All the same basic features of the readers for blackberry and iphone.

If you have an Android phone but not a Kindle this is a way to try out ebooks without any cost.  There are tons of free books and more offered all the time.  If you have an Android, or Blackberry or iPhone try it out.

This is a mix of a Free Book post and Reading Tools post.  When I first started reading a lot of electronic books I had two main sources.  One was Project Gutenberg and Christian Classic Ethereal Library for public domain books.  The other source was Baen Publishers.

Baen is a Science Fiction and Fantasy publisher that has been around for a couple decades.  I first found Baen when I was told about their free library.  Baen started giving away free ebooks just short of a decade ago and now have more than 100 free books.  Many of them are early books in a series.  I explored many new authors this way and have ended up reading probably close to 200 Baen books over the past decade.

In addition to the regular free library, Baen has CDs that they put some of their hardcover books.  These CDs have extras like artwork, some audiobooks and even more free ebooks.  The great thing about the CDs is that several series of books have the whole line on the CD.  The CDs have been creative commons lisensed so you can give them away as long as you do not sell them.

One kind webhost has compiled the now close to 30 CDs (lots of duplicate content) on his website so you can just go browse the CDs virtually and download what you want.  The site is called The Fifth Imperium.

If you have any interest in science fiction or fantasy this is a great site.

Here are some suggestions:

Honor Harrington – Military Science Fiction – big epic space battles – 13 books free so far.

Legacy of Aldenata – Another military science fiction but based in the near future when the Earth is invaded.  First four books are very good, rest of the series is very mixed.

Empire of Man – This is more of a fantasy than science fiction series.  Traditional coming of age story with a spoiled prince that becomes a real leader over the course of four books. (Look for the Empire of Man section.)

Council Wars – This is a fantasy/science fiction mix of a future Earth that had achieve a utopia status and then was taken down by an evil plot.  Virtually all technology was lost and there is a fight to regain control over the Earth. (Look for the Council Wars section on the right.)

Paladin of Shadows – This is modern military/terrorism series.  The writing is good, but it gets sexually explicit and I stopped reading after a couple books.

There are another half dozen series of books on these CDs that I have not read yet.  As you can see, the focus is mostly on military science fiction, but there are lots of good books.

There were two significant announcements in the ebook world yesterday.

Barnes and Noble  announced a new Nook Lite (a wifi only reader) for $149 and a lower price for their regular Nook for $199.  There was also a software upgrade for the regular Nook.  Both are available now with free shipping.

Amazon countered with a price drop for their Kindle 2 to $189. It is available now with free two day shipping.

The competition is great for everyone, but the Kindle is the better buy.  The updates over the past couple weeks have made the Nook a much better competitor to the Kindle.  But the Amazon bookstore still pulls the Kindle out front.

Update: I saw that Amazon has their refurbished Kindles (which come with a same as new warranty) are now $139 with free shipping.  I am seriously considering getting one for my wife.

Update: This is a picture of my kindle in a hot tub.  I used it over several days and left it floating once for quite a while.  No water in the case.  The power button issue discussed below is a very big and very real pain.  But if you want a floating/waterproof kindle case, this is it.

I have been looking forward to the release of this case since it was originally previewed (at CES in January.)  I was not all that patient in my waiting.  I almost bought several other cases during the long wait (it was promised spring 2010 and it made it, but barely.)

I ordered it within an hour of its release and received it quickly after.  If it had been released only two days earlier I would have had it to take on a four day canoe trip.  I brought my kindle on the trip anyway, but would have much preferred to have the guardian case.

After playing with it for two days I am in general pleased.  As promised it is waterproof and it floats.  I have a hot tub and our family usually spends at least one week at the beach each year.  I have a membership to our community pool, but do not anticipate reading much there as I will have my two nieces with me the majority of the time.

I like the case and am glad I got it, but there are several negatives about it that you might want to know.

First, and by far biggest, is that there is no way to turn on the kindle without opening the case.  The makers wrote a response to complaints on the Kindleboards that essentially said, they tried but could not figure out a way to access the power button and stay waterproof.  M-edge asked people to petition Amazon to either make an option to not turn on the screen saver, or better yet have a keyboard short cut that would turn on the kindle.  The K1 has an option to do this, but the K2 does not.  I have to say, the fact that I will have to open up the case to turn the kindle on every time I do not change the page for 5 minutes is a major disappointment.  I knew this when I ordered, but I am still disappointed.  (One way to help with this is make the font slightly bigger and you will change the page more often.)

The second disappointment is that the 5 way controller does not work easily.  It takes a good bit of force to make it move.  The positive of this is that it does not overshoot your spot very often.  But the negative is that if you do not have fairly strong hand I am not sure you will be able to actually use the 5 way controller well.  Part of this is a kindle problem.  While I think the 5 way controller is better than the option on the K1, it is still not perfect and I frequently have a hard time making it go where I want on the first try.  The guardian case just makes that worse.

The third issue is the weight.  It actually weighs almost twice as much as kindle itself (17.1 oz for case and 10.2 oz for kindle).  The case and the kindle weights more than an ipad, which I find too heavy to read for long periods of time comfortably.  I have not had time to read for long periods of time yet, so maybe that will not be an issue.  But it is heavy.

The good part is that the page turn buttons and the keyboard work well.  I have not had a problem with either of these.

I have not used the case that much as this point.  I am going away for a long weekend with a cabin that has a bed side hot tub and also plan on going tubing down the Chattahoochee.  I will report back if my review changes at all.  I will also take some “action shot” pictures so you can see how it works.

Final grade: B-
Cost: $79.99 (pretty costly for a case)
Pros: It is actually waterproof and it does float, very sturdy case
Cons: Have to open the case to turn on the kindle, 5 way controller is very hard to move, high cost

Here is the official video

I am a little over half way through my first Overdrive Audiobook. Like my previous review of NetLibrary. Overdrive is a system that your local library system must subscribe to. Luckily I seem to have a progressive library system because they work with both Overdrive and Netlibrary. I thought they were the same system initially.

Once I realized they were different I surfed through Overdrives system. Once I found out that they have an iphone/ipad app to directly download audiobooks I had to try it out.

The checkout system is a little convoluted. If you are using a computer and want to listen on a computer then it is straight forward. Go to your local library site and click on the link to your local library’s overdrive page.  Checking out an audiobook depends on what you are doing to listen to it on.  It is easiest, and least mobile, to listen to it on your computer.

I wanted to try out the ipad app, so I had to install the app, open the browser on the ipad and find a book I wanted (it had to be an mp3 file, which really limited the number of books).  Once I found the book I wanted, I checked it out.  This initiated a file download, which opened the ipad Overdrive app.  Then it asks you if you want to download the files (all of them or just individual parts of the audiobook.)

From this point you just use the overdrive app.  It is a basic player and works fine.  It is an iphone app that works on ipad and not a native ipad app so it doesn’t look that good, but it works fine.  It also does not play through the ipod software, so if you go to another app, the audiobook stops.

I have listened to about 10 or 11 hours of Orson Scott Card’s Lost Boys.  But my two weeks is up and the files expired.  I went back to check the book out again, but someone else has it on hold so I have to wait until another copy is available.  Unlike a regular paper library book you cannot just keep the book until you are done and pay the fine later.  There are no fines, but there is no book to listen to either.

Overall I like Overdrive as a system.  There are more books than NetLibrary and the checkout system with the ipad app works well enough.  On NetLibrary the mp3 files did not actually expire, I just had to be honest and delete them when I was done.  On Overdrive the files work the way they were intended by the publishers but I lost access to the file before I was done.  I guess that is the way DRM works.

Ok, I know I am expanding the reading tools idea a bit much, but as my wife says, “he is a bag whore.” 

I like just the right bag for how I am going to use it.  For my ipad I was looking for a bag that was big enough for the ipad and a few essentials, but no bigger.  I did not want a traditional messenger bag or backpack.  I wanted some type of over the shoulder sling so I could just grab it and carry it around town.  Most of the time I will grab it was I am running around town, taking my nieces to the park or store or other short trip.

I am a part time consultant/full time nanny.  So I need to have access to my files and email all the time.  If I am at the park or pool with the girls I want to have my ipad to I can answer questions or respond to problems quickly and get back to playing with my nieces.

The outside pocket is designed for a phone or mp3 player.  I keep a pack of pocket tissues, a stick of sun screen and a wallet.  You can see next to the tissues is a water resistant hole for headphones. The pocket is big enough that I can keep all three things in a single layer.

The center pocket is the largest.  I keep my kindle (in an internal pocket) and the grid-it panel.  The grid-it panel (right) is the best part of the bag.  It uses a bunch of flat bungy cord to keep all your stuff in place.  The main thing I do not like about the bag is that the grid-it panel is not larger.  The pocket is large enough that you could have added about 2 inches to the width and about an inch or inch and a half to the hight.  As it is I am thinking about getting a second panel because I think there is enough space in the center pocket to put two panels back to back.  It is hard to see how much stuff that is holding, but as you can see on the picture on the left, it holds a lot.

I have two blackberry batteries, an extra battery for my clear spot.  The software to load on the usb modem if I need it, a pen, a medicine bottle, a 4G usb modem and a microusb cord to charge or connect to my kindle or blackberry.

Then here are two more views of the inside the the middle pocket.  There are some pen loops and a business card holder and a larger velcroed pocket.  Then the large pocket, which will fit the grid-it panel, but I use to hold my kindle.

The third pocket is the ipad pocket. It is well cusioned. I turn it so the glass is into the rest of the case. There is not much extra room. I can fit my kindle in there if I need to (so it will take something a bit thicker than an ipad). But the demensions of the pocket are pretty much exactly the size of the ipad.

There is a coupon (Anniversary2010) for 20% off any of cocoon innovation’s products until May 31, 2010.  I missed the coupon so I paid full price ($54.99) and shipping.  You can find this bag at cocoon innovations.  Amazon carries most of Cocoon’s bags, but not this one.  If you get the bag from Amazon the shipping will be free.

One of the best uses I have seen on ipad are the comic books.  I have been a fan of comic books, but I never wanted to pay for them, so I have not collected or read that many.  Ipad is a perfect comic book reader.  Marvel has digital subscription that allows you for $60 a year to have access to their library.  But that is only available on a regular computer, not on the ipad. (This is because of a lack of flash support by the ipad.)

On the ipad you have to buy the invidiual comics, which puts me right back at not wanting to spend money on a 25-30 page comic book.  Most of them are $0.99-1.99, but I have a hard time justifying to pay for 5 to 10 minutes of entertainment. I might re-read a couple of the comic books, but I just have a hard time justifying the cost.

Here is a review of the Marvel Comic book app on ipad so you can see how it really works. (It was originally on BoingBoing, not my own review.)

If only Marvel, or someone else, will set up a reasonable cost subscription service, I will be there.

After three weeks with an ipad I have a variety of thoughts.  First as a device, I love it.  I carry it with me all the time.  I think it is the perfect size to really use walking around the house and in the car and at the park.  I have the wifi version, but carry a hotspot so have internet access most everywhere.  This is my first Apple product and mostly I am a big fan.

The negatives

First, it is expensive.  Most people really shouldn’t spend this much money on a device that is mostly a toy.  But if you have the money to spend…

Second, it is locked down.  This is also a positive because it works well right out of the box.  But I don’t have access to the file system, so it is hard to create a file in one app and use it in another app or share it with another use.  Mostly what you have to do is email files to move them from one app to another or to another computer.

Third, most everything is web-based.  Again this is partially a positive because you do not need a large drive, or as much processing because you can off load some of the processing requirements to the web.  But it means you always need web access.

The positives

The best thing about is the screen.  It is a beautiful screen.  It streams movies well, pictures look great.  Apple has done a great job making it a delight to look at.

It is also a great size, just big enough to make it easy to use.  It is a good balance between being able to work on it and small enough to carry around everywhere.  I am still trying to find the right bag to carry it around in, but that is mostly about my bag fetish.  (It does seem heavy for its size.)

Like the iphone, it all comes down to apps.  The iphone and ipad are worthless if there are not apps that you want.  Right now there are a bit over 6000 apps that are designed for ipad and thousands more that are designed for iphones but can be used on ipad.  It is still missing a good office program,  iwork from Apple is ok if you have an apple and use the full version on iwork on your macbook.  But if you are a windows person and use MS Office, there is not a great option yet.  It will be there, but not yet.

It also has a great battery.  With a larger form factor comes a larger battery (and is probably responsible for the heft.)  I routinely go two or three days with light use and have never used more than 60 percent of the battery in a day even with very heavy use.

Cultural ramifications

I am a reader.  I love to read.  The ipad is bad for reading.  You can read on it.  Although I have not finished a book on it yet.  The main problem is the distractability.  This may not be a problem for others, but with an ipad, I can stop reading and check my email, or twitter, or play a game, etc.  I just do not keep reading.  I read for 10 – 15 minutes and get distracted and do not get back to it.

My two nieces, age 14 months and 2 and 1/2 years, love it.  They will be digital natives.  The older one understands how to change programs, go to her books, color, play games, etc.  The younger knows how to change the pages in the couple of programs that I have for her (mostly book-like picture apps).  But both of them are as distracted as I am.  They zoom through programs, rarely staying and playing with something for more than a couple minutes at a time.  There are several very good children’s books, but rarely does the 2 1/2 year old finish a book before she moves onto the next activity.  The 2 1/2 year old has had problems using a mouse or touch pad, she just does not have the physical dexterity and the understanding of moving your hand in one place to make the other place move.  But she has no such problems on an ipad.  She touches it and it moves.

The children’s books have lots of movement.  They read to you (or if you can actually read, you can read them yourself).  There is a mix of video, still images that move around or zoom in, and pan and scan images of regular children’s books.  Again, I think people are doing a great job drawing people into the books, but at the same time creating a culture of entertainment that will lead in the long term to issue engaging in any one activity.

Other uses

In the next couple weeks I will review the ipad as a ebook reader, a comic book reader, an office companion, a travel computer, etc.

I bought an ipad.

I have no real idea how good it is to read on yet because I am still playing with it.

I will write a reading review someday, when I actually finish a book on it.

The best thing about lack of multi tasking, is that you have to close the reading app to check your email/twitter/facebook/rss feed.

I will say my two nieces (13 months and 2 1/2) totally understand it.  Both have played a lot with it.  But the 13 month old plays with it for 5 to 10 minutes and then want me to read her a paper book.