The Amazon Kindle : As a RPG Resource

[Farcaster]

Display: E-readers are formated portrait, an advantage when reading. The Kindle at least is designed to be read in full sunlight. Laptops have full color screens. However they suffer in full sunlight with the backlit screen. For reading, I'll call it a draw.

Just to point out, typical reading speed off of a computer screen is slower than paper. It also produces far more eye strain. The Kindle has a HUGe advantage in that department.

Specificity for Farcaster: You have one of these little widgets. What is the storage capacity? They give very little information on the website other than "book capacity". That does not say much. I assume solid state with the battery life. Hard drives are energy vampires.

On my first generation Kindle, I think the total space is something like 200MB? I'd have to take a look. My current free space is somewhere around 130MB. However, you can load a SD card in it and add as much room as you need.

[tesral]

On my first generation Kindle, I think the total space is something like 200MB? I'd have to take a look. My current free space is somewhere around 130MB. However, you can load a SD card in it and add as much room as you need.

That is pretty lame for the price they want. I carry 16 gig around my neck. It was under 30 bucks. As cheap as memory is they could put a bit more in there. My cell phone has more than that. No wonder the website doesn't give you straight up information.

[Farcaster]

I guess in your old age you are hard of hearing and missed it when I said that you could add more memory. SD memory is CHEAP, CHEAP! Not to mention that the later generation ones have far more.

[PhishStyx]

That is pretty lame for the price they want. I carry 16 gig around my neck. It was under 30 bucks. As cheap as memory is they could put a bit more in there. My cell phone has more than that. No wonder the website doesn't give you straight up information.

Farcaster and I both have the older Kindle, and I'm not even close to filling it up yet. I have maybe 10 books and samples (which are 1st chapters) of about 6 more. Farcaster, how many books are on yours?

What's lame about carrying 2,500 books around in your hand? I doubt that my collection of physical books is that large!

[tesral]

I guess in your old age you are hard of hearing and missed it when I said that you could add more memory. SD memory is CHEAP, CHEAP! Not to mention that the later generation ones have far more.

Nope, not hard of reading at all. Sure I can spend more and get more. But at the price of memory and the cost of the unit, they could at least toss a few gig in the thing.

And yes, it holds a lot of e-books. PDFs (now that they are readable) take up much more space. Second, I don't like singletaskers. Using the Kindle as a mass storage device to hold and move files is a possible use of the device. It would mean one less thing to carry around. My PDF collection is 10 gig, and is 1146 files. I have yetot see a SD card that large.

[Harwel]

Nope, not hard of reading at all. Sure I can spend more and get more. But at the price of memory and the cost of the unit, they could at least toss a few gig in the thing.

And yes, it holds a lot of e-books. PDFs (now that they are readable) take up much more space. Second, I don't like singletaskers. Using the Kindle as a mass storage device to hold and move files is a possible use of the device. It would mean one less thing to carry around. My PDF collection is 10 gig, and is 1146 files. I have yetot see a SD card that large.

This sums up my beef with the Kindle in four words. For the price of a Kindle, I can get a crappy laptop on ebay that does tons more.

As Alton Brown would say, "There's only one unitasker allowed in my kitchen:"

[PhishStyx]

Nope, not hard of reading at all. Sure I can spend more and get more. But at the price of memory and the cost of the unit, they could at least toss a few gig in the thing.

And yes, it holds a lot of e-books. PDFs (now that they are readable) take up much more space. Second, I don't like singletaskers. Using the Kindle as a mass storage device to hold and move files is a possible use of the device. It would mean one less thing to carry around. My PDF collection is 10 gig, and is 1146 files. I have yetot see a SD card that large.

Neither of the 6" versions of the Kindle directly support PDF's a fact that was stated earlier. Also as stated earlier, I use the iRex DR 1000s which has no hard drive; its memory is entirely on the SD Card ( See this 32 Gb SD Card Last I checked, 32 is larger than 10, though it's possible that I'm wrong.)

Also, neither the Kindle nor the DR are uni-taskers. Among its features is a web browser, MP3 player, and in the Kindle 2 is a text-to-speech feature. The DR allows you to also view pictures and even handwrite notes on its screen and has available computer software that converts written words to typed text.

[tesral]

Neither of the 6" versions of the Kindle directly support PDF's a fact that was stated earlier. Also as stated earlier, I use the iRex DR 1000s which has no hard drive; its memory is entirely on the SD Card ( See this 32 Gb SD Card Last I checked, 32 is larger than 10, though it's possible that I'm wrong.)

OK, now I've seen one bigger than four gig. Pricey though.

[PhishStyx]

You guys should definitely check out http://www.mobileread.com/forums/ before deciding that e-readers aren't worth it. It's a good site with a lot of great information and plenty of good people to talk to.

[ronpyatt]

Laptops make poor Kindles. All this boasting about how great the laptop is? It's a shame laptops don't have the integrated technology to do the things the Kindle can do. A handheld with a manageable screen, easy page turning controls, and a slender frame to read by. Not to mention the free internet access and long battery life.

So far, I have not read any posts about some magical laptop performing like a Kindle. A laptop that can display with digital ink would make a better comparison, otherwise it's just complaining to be contrary.

Laptops are too all-in-one. You have to be computer literate to use one. If your hard drive fails or your video fails or any number of softwares or the operating system fails or a nasty little virus gets hold, well, you've lost the ability to read off it anyway. Should I mention how easy it is not to curl up with a good laptop?

The following points have been made, but since the do-it-all laptop keeps cropping up, these points deserve another mention: Kindles are focused on books and reading. They're light in the hands and easy on the eyes. You can download books as needed without a computer or internet access.

Other companies are putting out their own digital readers. As the competition widens, the features and prices will get better. Perhaps future generations of the Kindle (or other readers) will get more and more like laptops, but with one big advantage. Yes, you know what THAT is! That wonderful Digital Ink (or something similar) that is so easy on the eyes.

Get it? Easy on the eyes.

[tesral]

They are not there yet. I've never been an early adopter. I'm not arguing that laptops are e-readers. I'm saying that e-readers are too expensive for what they are.

Time and competition should change that.

[Baldwin Stonewood]

I am considering purchasing one but I have a few questions. What is the difference in the Kindle DX (practically speaking)? How much are the downloads (or the average cost of new release novel or gaming material)?

[Farcaster]

You should review the Kindle DX page because it could go into detail a lot more, but the biggest advantages I see are that it is has a larger screen (just under 10 in), and handles PDFs natively. As to the average new release, the books currently out in Hardback usually run about $9.99 on the Kindle. That price drops to about $5-$6 for the mass market releases.

[PhishStyx]

For RPG PDF prices, I would recommend going to check them out at http://drivethrurpg.com to get a clear view of the games you play and might want on PDF.

[Baldwin Stonewood]

I appreciate the quick responses.