Kindle/iPad/Nook, etc. Yay or Nay?

[Conan The Librarian]

I like these gizmos a lot. Truly one of the amazing inventions of all time. I use one myself now, and was skeptical about their utility at first, but went ahead anyway sensing potential. I am amazed at how much they exceed my expectations. It's miraculous. It redefines what a book is to me.

[Pot-Bellied Stallion]

I have been considering a Kindle because I like the fact that the screen isn't backlit, so it is much easier to read in bright daylight.  That would surely reduce the stacks of books I have all around the place that I intend to read.  Several of my friends/relatives have Nooks and they are really happy with them.  I'm afraid they would be like the smart phones - habit forming and difficult to put down.

[powderman]

HEH. I have no idea what you are talking about. POWDERMAN. 

[mcwoodduck]

What I am waiting for is an integration of everything into one small device.
Add to it blue tooth to one of the screen glasses to project right in front of me.
So I will no longer have a lap top, PDA, camera, and Phone.  But one do hickey (technical term) that does it all.
Other than that I like paper and like being able to walk into my office and grab a book off the shelf and look up what I want.
Some of the electronic files are just too big to qquickly dig through.

[bilmac]

Bought a Kindle for the wife for Christmas. All the grandkids have them. I don't know anything about it yet, but it looks like books will be pretty cheap if you don't have to have the newest books as soon as they come out. Most of our reading comes from garage sales for .25 - 50 cents. It will be nice to choose what we want to read rather than pot luck at yard sales.

If we like it I plan on getting some other device that will allow us to access our library that would have different capabilities.

[MGMorden]

What I am waiting for is an integration of everything into one small device.
Add to it blue tooth to one of the screen glasses to project right in front of me.
So I will no longer have a lap top, PDA, camera, and Phone.  But one do hickey (technical term) that does it all.
Other than that I like paper and like being able to walk into my office and grab a book off the shelf and look up what I want.
Some of the electronic files are just too big to qquickly dig through.

Sounds like you're looking for something like a Droid X.  Phone, it's got a bluetooth, full web browser, camera, app support (so it'll do anything the "PDA's" of old would do, and much more), as well as full media support for music, and movies.   You can get both Kindle and Nook e-reader apps for it too, like any Android phone (Kindle and Nook are devices, but you can get the apps to access your books bought through them on other devices as well).

It, and many of the touch-screen smartphones really do do it all these days.  Heck I like to goof around a bit on my guitar, and I no longer need to even carry around a tuner.  I can bring up my tuning app on my phone (which naturally has a microphone), and then strum and adjust each string using the tuning app to tune it. 

Only downside about using the phone is that the screen is smaller.  That's kinda necessary though.  Make it too big and you reduce portability (as well as make it cumbersome to hold up to your ear).  Small screen makes web browsing a bit less fun.  You certainly CAN do it (and I've checked this forum from both my phone and my iPod Touch several times), but it's not a pleasant experience.  The new tablets like the iPad have larger screens (7" to 10"), and make much better web browsers.  They pretty much do all of it EXCEPT for phone calls, again, because you really just can't take an iPad and hold it to your ear.  Due to it's screen it also doesn't get the same battery life as a dedicated e-book reader as well (though you works well while it does have power ).  You can expect about 17 hours of usage time per charge out of an iPad.  You can get weeks out of a Kindle (or a Nook - pretty much any of them that use an e-ink screen instead of an LCD). 

I think we'll have that gap in screen size for the foreseeable future, mostly because it's not a technological or engineering limitation.  For one usage mode you WANT a small screen.  For another, you want a larger screen.  You can't have a screen that's both large and small at the same time.

If you want something that literally "does it all" though, a modern touchscreen iPhone or Android device really is hard to beat.  I still want my full computer, but I know a few people who just carry the phone now, and apparently it's VERY common in places like Japan for people to just carry a smartphone and not even own a desktop or laptop.

[Conan The Librarian]

I use the iPad. Love it. I only use my home computer for a few things now, like complex word processing and a handful of other tasks. The iPad does everything else. Since I do my reading indoors, I prefer the backlit screen. It's also a capable computer that you can do word processing with. The virtual keyboard is surprisingly good.

A couple of notes:
1) A $15 per month data package for 3G communication allows me to use the computer almost anywhere because it uses AT&T cellular to communicate. This works very well, and it is useful for things like getting detailed driving directions. Since there's a GPS built into the iPad, it makes navigation while on the road easier. It's comparable to an automotive GPS. The iPad is really smart about switching back to WiFi if it detects a WiFi network. Realistically, the $15 plan is good for checking e-mails and some web browsing. There's a 250 megabyte per month limit, so watching movies and similar things is not practical.
2) With the latest version of the operating system, you can use a head set to make phone calls via a Skype-like application. I have not tried it, and probably won't, but it's there. That would make long distance calls free if you don't have a cell phone.
3) It turns on instantly, and manages power very well. You can read continuously for about 10 hours before needing a recharge. This has never been a problem for me. If you just use it a little at a time, it will shut off and the battery charge is preserved.
4) The iPad is extremely stable. No windows-like blue screens and reboots. It doesn't nag you to constantly upgrade some software. It doesn't crash.
5) The iPad is expensive. I can justify it because I use it a lot. I know a guy who has one that doesn't use it much. Ouch!
6) The iPad requires access to a conventional computer that has iTunes on it. You can't even turn it on for the first time unless you plug it into a computer and get it set up via iTunes. It's an accessory to a computer, not a stand-alone computer. You could use it without a computer after initial setup, but then you'd have no way to back it up or get software upgrades.

The bottom line for me is that the iPad has completely redefined what a personal computer, a book, a magazine, and a map is for me. It's a phenomenal invention that far exceeds my original expectations of it. I characterize it as an iPod for people who like to read. But it's much more than that.

On a related note, my son went to college and I thought a Windows PC would be a lot of trouble because of viruses and such. We got him a Mac notebook. Faublous! I'm jealous. It's really good and I can see that our home PC is the last Windows based machine we will ever have.

[Victor3]

 Wait a minute.... You're the "Librarian."

You tell us! You wanna go back to the card file? 

[Conan The Librarian]

Absolutely not! Although I recall a particularly pleasant afternoon at the library of congress sifting through their massive card catalog back in the 1980s. Mmmm! That old paper smell, and the delights of just rummaging through the cards! Then there's the' exquisite pleasure of requesting a book. They retrieve it for you from the stacks below the library. At the time there were 15 miles of stacks literally beneath the library, and thus giving the US capitol literally a foundation of books symbolizing learning. It gets the book lover's blood rushing!

I resisted the concept of the electronic books, but now that I actually see them, they are fabulous. Libraries are beginning to allow checking out electronic books, and the books automatically delete from your device after the return date. Pretty cool.

[MGMorden]

Absolutely not! Although I recall a particularly pleasant afternoon at the library of congress sifting through their massive card catalog back in the 1980s. Mmmm! That old paper smell, and the delights of just rummaging through the cards! Then there's the' exquisite pleasure of requesting a book. They retrieve it for you from the stacks below the library. At the time there were 15 miles of stacks literally beneath the library, and thus giving the US capitol literally a foundation of books symbolizing learning. It gets the book lover's blood rushing!

I resisted the concept of the electronic books, but now that I actually see them, they are fabulous. Libraries are beginning to allow checking out electronic books, and the books automatically delete from your device after the return date. Pretty cool.

That I will say that I miss a bit .  Particularly our library in college.  When I was in high school our library was pretty tiny.  Maybe 3500 sq ft.  The local county library was about double that.  Then I got to college and the library was enormous (at least to my backwoods eyes - some other students actually said our library at Clemson was smaller than many college libraries).  The floor space was about the size of department store, and it had 6 floors - four above ground and 2 below.  Even at a large school, I remember being able to go down to the lowest basement level with my laptop and it was nice, quiet, and mostly empty (the upper floors were always much more busy).  Truth be told I read very few BOOKS in the library - I really spent a lot more time there with my computer working on stuff.  As the physical books go though, so does the need for the libraries.  That's the only thing sad I see in this.  Still, no use hanging onto an institution for purely sentimental reasons I guess (not that I think most libraries will go away in our lifetimes anyways - just something that will EVENTUALLY happen).

One perk of my current job though is that since I work for the county, the county library is literally in the same building as I work.  It's a separate entrance so I have to go out and back in, but it's easily accessible if I want to spend a lunch break there or whatnot.  It's a newer one that was built after I got out of school so it's a bit bigger than the one from my childhood, and it definitely pales in comparison to the university library, but it's still nice to visit sometimes .

[Brett]

No more libraries.  Man the college library was the place to meet nice girls.

[bilmac]

I was in hog heaven when I discovered that the library at Univ of Wyo had ALL issues of American Rifleman from their very first issue bound up in books. My grades kind of suffered after I made that discovery.

[nessmuk101]

I get my books from the library, batteries not included.  When I am finished they go back.  None of that $9.99 for an electronic "book" that you have to store after you read it. 

[Conan The Librarian]

There are a lot of free e-books from the Gutenberg project. Most of the true classics are available this way because they are now in the public domain.

People with PCs can use books.google.com. Lots of hunting and fishing books there that your local library probably doesn't have. Old magazines too.

[bilmac]

Frankly, I'm getting kind of tired of the new books. Seems like they are all mass produced. Some super hero saves the world, and then there are 15 sequels where he does essentially the same thing over and over again. Then it seems like many other aspiring authors just copy this "winning" formula.

Some of the best books I have read lately have been old books. I am reading   Rabble in Arms   at this time and it is a great book about the revolution written in 1933. Books like this are available free on the internet.