Kindles

[angie]

What's the brick 

Angie

Massive old mobile phone on a shelf in one of Mark's photos. I might not have spotted it but I was blowing the pic up to see how much info I could glean from Mark's computer and other stuff for my identity thieving hobby.

Thanks Martin, just couldn't think what he was meaning.

Angie

[Anthony Darby]

I have a Kindle for fiction, and the occasional non-fiction (illustrations can be annoying until you find out how to view them all). Also, the way one chapter merges into another (this was pointed out to Jeffrey Deaver at an evening with and he promised to talk to his publisher about it - he was shaken, but not stirred). I also have the leather cover but haven't used the light much. My daughter borrowed it and broke the glass screen. Amazon replaced it free and sent a new one to NZ free of charge.

[Lesley Cox]

So a kindle's a sort of ebook? I'd like one for fiction too but would have to talk to bank manager.

[Anthony Darby]

So a kindle's a sort of ebook? I'd like one for fiction too but would have to talk to bank manager.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Y27P3M/ref=r_kdla_h_i_gl

[Casalima]

Via a similar discussion on Kindles: http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/05/stop-its-a-really-bad-time-to-buy-a-kindle/

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Anthony and also Chloe. It might be possible after all. How does one get the books? Are they bought Online and uploaded or what? My knowledge of things technical ended with the 1960s.

[Martin Baxendale]

I'm in the process of trying to convert a couple of my books into ebooks for Kindles and it's a pain in the bum. You'd think they'd have the coversion software sorted, wouldn't you. But no. According to Amazon, pdfs, which is what most printers require to print from, so publishers tend to have those ready and to hand, don't convert very well. WHY NOT?!!! Surely Amazon could afford to get the bloody software de-bugged and working properly! They recommend you start with the text in Word format! But even that doesn't work very well. The conversion software seems to do all kinds of odd stuff to your formatting. In one book, all the Slovak words with a c that has a certain kind of accent over them have lost that c with an accent - just blank space! Now I have to go through the whole book changing the accented c where it occurs to an ordinary c!

[David Pilling]

In one book, all the Slovak words with a c that has a certain kind of accent over them have lost that c with an accent - just blank space!

Character set or font problem, like final font does not have the character you've used?

[Martin Baxendale]

In one book, all the Slovak words with a c that has a certain kind of accent over them have lost that c with an accent - just blank space!

Character set or font problem, like final font does not have the character you've used?

I don 't know what the problem is. It's a č character that I copied and pasted into the text from the symbols selection in Word. All the other Slovak accented characters that I copied and pasted into the text seem to have converted okay in the ebook format. But where there should be a č there is just a blank space.

[Martin Baxendale]

Another thing - why do you have to pay VAT on ebooks? Paper books, magazines and newspapers are zero rated for VAT, on the basis that governments haven't wanted to be seen to be taxing reading, and that taxing reading might mean people reading less. But ebooks have VAT on them. WHY? They're still books - just in a different format. Sneaky taxation on reading by the back door, that's what! Hoping no-one will notice or kick up a fuss because it's only ebooks and they're not a big thing are they? But they will be!

[mark smyth]

Can Kindles show photos?

[fermi de Sousa]

I thought these sorts of e-books had been around for ages because I was very used to seeing them on "Star Trek New Generations" over a dozen years ago! Yet another incidence of technology catching up with Sci-Fi!
cheers
fermi

[mark smyth]

Further back Fermi. I remember people bring them to Kirk to have a quick read.

[Anthony Darby]

Mark, they can show photos, but they only work in monochrome, so no good for plants books. Kindles are 3G so you just order using your Kindle and your Amazon account. Type in the Author and it lists the books available and the price. You then click "buy" and the book is downloaded on to your machine.

[Mick McLoughlin]

Classic titles and out of copyright books are available free here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/
Cheers
Mick