26 replies to this topic

[Righty007]

Ian Fleming's 14 Bond novels were released for the Amazon Kindle in 2008.

Do any of you want to see them and the continuation novels released for the Apple iPad and/or other e-book readers (Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble nook, etc.).

Or am I the only person at CBn with an e-book reader?

James Bond: Give me an old leather-bound book any day, Quartermaster.

Q: Yes, but it's called the future, so get used to it.

[zencat]

As soon as I scare up something that resembles an income, I will be getting a iPad. So, yes, I want my iBookshelf filled with ALL the Bonds. Bring on the future!

[Righty007]

As soon as I scare up something that resembles an income, I will be getting a iPad. So, yes, I want my iBookshelf filled with ALL the Bonds. Bring on the future!

I plan on getting one eventually too.

Disclaimer on reading on a iPad: Since it's backlit like a computer screen, reading for long periods of time may result in eye strain. The Amazon Kindle, for example, uses E Ink, which is not backlit and thus does not result in eye strain.

[Loomis]

James Bond: Give me an old leather-bound book any day, Quartermaster.

Q: Yes, but it's called the future, so get used to it.

Loomis: Give me a paperback any day, Righty.

Righty: Yes, but it's called the future, so get used to it.

Loomis: Don't care. I'm a dinosaur. And I like to read books the old-fashioned way.

[doublenoughtspy]

Disclaimer on reading on a iPad: Since it's backlit like a computer screen, reading for long periods of time may result in eye strain. The Amazon Kindle, for example, uses E Ink, which is not backlit and thus does not result in eye strain.

Disclaimer on reading on the Amazon Kindle - it only does black and white/greyscale.

The iPad is full color.

Color - it's called the future, so get used to it.

And yes, I realize that for novels, etc. greyscale is fine. But not all books are just text.

[Righty007]

Disclaimer on reading on a iPad: Since it's backlit like a computer screen, reading for long periods of time may result in eye strain. The Amazon Kindle, for example, uses E Ink, which is not backlit and thus does not result in eye strain.

Disclaimer on reading on the Amazon Kindle - it only does black and white/greyscale.

The iPad is full color.

Color - it's called the future, so get used to it.

And yes, I realize that for novels, etc. greyscale is fine. But not all books are just text.

The iPad may be full color but that doesn't lessen the eye strain and headache risks for long-term reading.

Regarding the Kindle, color E Ink technology is still in the works and most books (excluding textbooks) are B&W/grayscale thus making reading a Kindle as close as you can get to reading an actual printed book in terms of visual presentation.

While I do own a Kindle, I'm not being biased when I say the iPad is an inferior e-book reader when it comes to reading. I absolutely love Apple products and plan on getting an iPad eventually but I will not be buying it for the iBooks feature.

Yes, the iPad will have access to textbooks (the Kindle doesn't) and yes, it allows you to have a million other apps (the Kindle is solely an e-book reader with a experimental Web browser) but we've all gotten eye strain from looking at a computer screen too long and it sucks.

Final Verdict:

Want a glorified iPhone that you can also read e-books on? If so, buy an iPad.

Want an e-reader that reads just like a printed page with no glare/backlight? If so, buy a Kindle.

[Jim]

Some of the gentle pastime of mooching around second-hand bookshops looking for early editions and the odd surprise here and there seems to be evaporating. Just doesn't seem as special a thing, holding some sort of computer. Books don't need batteries.

[K1Bond007]

Disclaimer on reading on a iPad: Since it's backlit like a computer screen, reading for long periods of time may result in eye strain. The Amazon Kindle, for example, uses E Ink, which is not backlit and thus does not result in eye strain.

Disclaimer on reading on the Amazon Kindle - it only does black and white/greyscale.

The iPad is full color.

Color - it's called the future, so get used to it.

And yes, I realize that for novels, etc. greyscale is fine. But not all books are just text.

Righty's correct. I'm sure it's fine in moderation, but the iPad being an LCD isn't good for the eye. The Kindle and the BN Nook are much better because they're E-Ink. Color E-Ink is right around the corner anyway. The next Kindle is speculated to have it since color goes into mass production later this year. Much longer battery life, thinner than LCDs, and can do all that brighter than an LCD without destroying your eyes. Or so they say about color E-Ink.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Some of the gentle pastime of mooching around second-hand bookshops looking for early editions and the odd surprise here and there seems to be evaporating. Just doesn't seem as special a thing, holding some sort of computer. Books don't need batteries.

One of my favourite pastimes is rummaging around in secondhand bookshops, but unfortunately they seem to be closing down by the day. I have to travel far and wide to get to one now. The digital age is slowly but surely killing the analogue book.

[TheSaint]

Good luck finding Alligator, 007:A Report, The James Bond Dossier, The Bond Affair, etc. for the Kindle or iPad.

I'll stop reading books when they remove them from my cold, dead hands.

[Goodnight]

Some of the gentle pastime of mooching around second-hand bookshops looking for early editions and the odd surprise here and there seems to be evaporating. Just doesn't seem as special a thing, holding some sort of computer. Books don't need batteries.

I agree, I hate the idea of ebooks. Ebook or no ebook, if it doesn't have paper pages it ain't a book!!!!!

[zencat]

Some books I'll still read in print. Some I'll read as eBooks. It's all about the book. If it's a book I want to enjoy and own, like a new Bond book, then I will get the print edition. But if it's just something I want to read just to get information, or a topic I'm a little curious about (like political or historical stuff), then the eBook is a great way to go. Even though I'm a book collector and love books themselves, I'm fine with having an eBook option.

[Righty007]

I personally enjoy collecting new and old James Bond books but I'd rather read them on a Kindle to avoid causing damage to them.

[zencat]

Yes, I could sell off my "reading copies."

[Jim]

Paper cuts vs. Radiation sickness. Hm.

I refute any accusations of being a luddite. Although I suddenly do have the urge to smash a loom.

Everything was the future, once. Until it gets replaced by whatever we are told is the next future.

[Professor Dent]

I have a Kindle & also picked-up an iPad. While Penguin Publishing is providing books on the iPad, there are no Fleming books available in the iBook store as of yet. I do have the Kindle versions of the Fleming novels & the Kindle iPad app is good. All of the books I purchased synced with no issues. For me, it is a convenience factor to have the books in an electronic form. I will always buy Bond in novel form but prefer to leave the novels at home & not get them beaten up from travel. Plus, I'm usually reading a few books at a time so it is definitely nicer not to have to carry all of the books around.

I read on the iPad about the same amount of time I used to read on my Kindle. I don't find it to be tiring on my eyes. I typically read at night so it is convenient not to have a book light clipped to the device. Also, you can turn the brightness way down so it is more comfortable on the eyes. For me, my eyes tend to get tired when I read for extended periods of time anyway, no matter what the format the content is on. Another things is that the Kindle is good for reading books & that's it. The iPad is good for so much more &, so far, I'm willing to give up the eink display for that added functionality.

One of my biggest gripes with ebooks is that, if you see someone with their Kindle, you don't see the cover of the book they are reading. I like seeing what other people are reading because it often times prompts me to check out the book for myself. Beats reading reviews on Amazon.

[Kilroy6644]

The idea of having an entire library at my fingertips is appealing to me, and the thought of it being fairly compact even more so, but the possible transient nature of said library offsets any appeal an e-reader may have. If anything happens to your machine, *poof* your books are gone. With an actual physical library, that's much less likely to happen. Plus, I'm a rereader. So I'd have to repurchase all of my books just to get them on a Kindle/Nook/iPad/whatever. Certainly they're much cheaper, but why do that when I already have them?

[Righty007]

If anything happens to your machine, *poof* your books are gone. With an actual physical library, that's much less likely to happen.

Actually, Amazon.com keeps a record of every book/newspaper you've ever purchased so that if you ever lose your Kindle, you don't lose your content. I've deleted books that I've already read off of my Kindle because I know that I can get them back (via the Kindle's wireless download feature) if I ever want to re-read them.

[Kilroy6644]

I was not aware of that. That's a point in their favor.

[doublenoughtspy]

Actually, Amazon.com keeps a record of every book/newspaper you've ever purchased so that if you ever lose your Kindle, you don't lose your content.

But that works both ways. Amazon also can go in, at any time, and delete content off your Kindle. They famously did so with, ah the delicious irony, Orwell's 1984. There was a licensing issue and rather than working it out with the Orwell estate - they just went in and deleted the book remotely off everyone's Kindle.

Big Brother much?

What that demonstrates to me is that you are really only "renting" the book in some ways.

I'm not a luddite - I'm all for e-books in whatever reader works. But I still prefer the dead tree version.

[JLaidlaw]

I think e-books are a great idea, but I wish publishers would start by releasing material the majority of their customers don't already own on paper. E-books can really exploit niche markets and franchise literature, and their pricing structure can open up such markets to new consumers at a fair price. I'd therefore be far more interested in e-books of the Wood, Gardner and Benson novels, and far more interested than I would be in new paperbacks.

[Loomis]

Everything was the future, once. Until it gets replaced by whatever we are told is the next future.

Exactly. Last year, I purchased an HDTV, which has given me much pleasure and continues to do so. Now, though, I'm given to understand that I'll be a contemptible old caveman till the day I buy a 3D telly. Apparently, one doesn't know one's born until one's undergone the illusion that Wayne Rooney's foot has almost clocked one in the chin. Well, if that's the case then put me in uniform and call me Colonel Blimp, for I want no part of it.

[RufusCobb]

Ian Fleming's 14 Bond novels were released for the Amazon Kindle in 2008.

Do any of you want to see them and the continuation novels released for the Apple iPad and/or other e-book readers (Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble nook, etc.).

Or am I the only person at CBn with an e-book reader?

James Bond: Give me an old leather-bound book any day, Quartermaster.

Q: Yes, but it's called the future, so get used to it.

I've got a Sony PRS 505. I think it's great. The concept I like is you can go on a holiday/business trip and just take one device instead of several books.

In practice though I tend to buy some hardback books as soon as they come out, i.e. Terry Pratchett's, as I can't wait for an electronic version.

[Double-0-7]

I have read a few of the fan-fiction novels from CBn on my Windows Mobile smart phone, but do not have an ebook reader. I was checking out Professor Dent's iPad a week ago and the Kindle app for it really looked great. I can see him selling that Kindle at some point and just moving completely to the iPad - especially since it is backlit and fully adjustable.

[Righty007]

I wonder if IFP has given any thought to making Young Bond e-books available? It makes sense considering the younger fan base and the fact that they themselves (Ian Fleming Publications Ltd.) have already published all 14 of Fleming's Bond novels for the Amazon Kindle.

[Professor Dent]

I'd definitely welcome the Young Bond books in e-book versions. I've used the Amazon links to "tell the publisher" we'd like an e-book version. Not sure if those links really matter but figured it couldn't hurt.

[doublenoughtspy]

According to Amazon's CEO - color for the Kindle is a long way out...

http://news.yahoo.co...c_amazon_kindle