Kindle: I have to report a fault
I wake. I reach out for my kindle. I switch on. There, in the middle of the text is a faint line.
Strange, I think, I've not seen that before. I turn over a page. The line is still there. After just two pages it is slightly irritating.
I phone kindle support. There is nothing they can do and a replacement unit will be with me on Monday.
Alas, poor Caradoc, your days are numbered. We will, no doubt, soldier on together over the weekend. I shall ignore your line, if you will ignore all of mine. I expect that you will.
Strange, I think, I've not seen that before. I turn over a page. The line is still there. After just two pages it is slightly irritating.
I phone kindle support. There is nothing they can do and a replacement unit will be with me on Monday.
Alas, poor Caradoc, your days are numbered. We will, no doubt, soldier on together over the weekend. I shall ignore your line, if you will ignore all of mine. I expect that you will.
posted by Clare Dudman at 8:11 am
12 Comments:
I've had probably 5,000 (paper-based) books in my library and as I'm not a book-scribbler, never once has a book developed a line in the middle of the page, let alone a line on every page on every book. Perhaps there's something to be said for this 'paper' stuff after all!
This is true Brian.
But now you've set me off imagining - what if you opened all those books and inside each one there was something? Maybe an odd word, or a picture, scraps of information telling you that someone else had been there. Maybe someone had broken into your house but you couldn't tell - all they'd done was to rifle through your books - a kind of literary robbery or violation.
Perhaps there's a story brewing! I did hear that the Charles Manson group used to spook people out like this: they broke into houses but stole nothing and made no damage nor leave any sign of their passing - except that they'd rearrange the furniture, very slightly.
I think there might be, Cromercrox. That would certainly spook me - if I noticed, that is (which is doubtful). It is an excellent idea, though - and slightly disappointed that Manson thought of it first :-)
Why didn't you buy an iPad...
— Gilles
Gilles: Ipads are much heavier, much more expensive and do not have the 'like-page' quality screen. A Kindle (or a Sony reader, I think) have pages that are much more relaxing to the eye.
"iPads […] do not have the 'like-page' quality screen."
I disagree. Here is an eBook I created:
http://a.imageshack.us/img84/2594/captureluard.jpg
But I agree the iPad is heavier than a Kindle.
— Gilles
I choose the iPad over a Kindle (I tried using one for a week) because of the colour pictures in books and interactive periodicals (such as the New Yorker) and being able to receive Le Monde and the Guardian each morning on the device... and "[...] what is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversations?"
http://a.imageshack.us/img299/4611/captureepubboileau.jpg
— Gilles
That's very impressive, Gilles, and does indeed look like a page, but still the image will not be as restful on the eye. It is created differently. In an ipad the display comes from a combination of a light source and a liquid crystal; in a Kindle the display is unlit and is the result of minute dots which are polarised - one way they will display back, the other white. It is close to ink on paper and more restful on the eye.
In answer to your second comment, Gilles: Yes, again very impressive, but I can fit my Kindle in my handbag and it weighs very little (without its case). It does what I want very well. I know an ipad has more functionality, but as an alternative to a paperback I think the Kindle performs very well. Maybe I shall get an ipad later when I can afford one.
"It does what I want very well."
I agree that that's the best reason for buying an iPad or a Kindle, of course. I choose the iPad for the reasons I pointed out, and also it replaced my two laptops. I was hoping to get rid of my desktop also but that's impossible ; the iPad has to be synchronized with iTunes once in a while to update downloaded ebooks, audiobooks, periodicals, etc.
Do one need to synchronize a Kindle with a computer?
— Gilles
No, Gilles - it is completely self-contained, I think. Though I sometimes like to investigate the book I'm buying more fully on my desktop mac - just because it is easier to navigate the pages.
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