Amazon Now Selling More Kindle Books Than Print Books

[erictank]

In the 1982 movie, Star Trek II; The Wrath of Khan, there was a scene in which Mr. Spock gives Admiral Kirk a copy of Dickens .... book form.  How quiant.  Old fashioned -- like the glasses Kirk used to read.  
Only three decades later (not three hundred years) we are now approaching a time in which the old fashioned printed book (I have a million of 'em) is -- possibly -- going out of style.  
A shame really.  

Someone get back to me when Scotty invents the warp-drive .....

First-edition/heirloom-edition books, IMO, will *NEVER* go out of style.  There will always be people for whom the feel of an old, leather-bound, beautifully-finished book is itself a thing of necessary beauty.  If I had room, and the budget for it, I would have the classic library seen in the Rich Guy's Mansion in movies and TV - and I am one of the bigger cheerleaders here for ebooks.

Textbooks and other books with diagrams or art, IMO, also tend to work better in dead-tree, although as technology continues to advance, that might change.  I will not, at this time, purchase an e-textbook for any of my classes, and the US history class I'm currently taking which is all online (no required text, which I thought was pretty cool!), I find I'm printing out the online lessons and such for offline review.  Sometimes, I really do just want to flip back and forth between actual, physical pages.

That {"Oh, John Ringo, no..."} is a running joke with my GF and I.  That and Kratman is watching...

Heh.  I'm pretty sure I have all of Ringo's offerings in e-formats - and most of Kratman's, excepting perhaps a couple of Tom's most-recent releases.  I would not buy most of them in dead-tree, although there are some of Ringo's that I would.  But the Ghost series?  Nah.  Baen's promotional CDs are a Godsend, for voracious readers - once again, for those interested, check out Joe Buckley's Baen CD site (baencd.thefifthimperium.com - currently not coming up for me here at work, but it's worked in the past).  I've gotten a bunch of them there, after getting several via hardcover purchases.

[S. Williamson]

Someone get back to me when Scotty invents the warp-drive .....

*ahem* Zephram Cochrane.  

I mean... what?

[Harold Tuttle]

1973 Encyclopedia Britanica full set marked in pencil on the inside cover with a National Geographic Editors name.

keep or toss?

[TommyGunn]

*ahem* Zephram Cochrane.  

I mean... what?

OK, OK, picky, aren't we?!?!   I think a lot more non Trekkers know who Scotty was than Zephram Cochrane.

[roo_ster]

1973 Encyclopedia Britanica full set marked in pencil on the inside cover with a National Geographic Editors name.

keep or toss?

Keep.

Likely not too ate up with PC in 1973 and sounds collectible.

[Doggy Daddy]

And now, to fire up the Nook vs. Kindle debate, there's a new Nook: The Simple Touch Reader



http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp?PID=35699 

DD

[dogmush]

I'm seriously considering dropping coin on an e-reader in the next week or two.  I guess the contest is between the Nook Touch Reader and the Kindle 3.  I like the Nook's ease of PDF support.  I have a bunch of digital TM's I'd probably throw on any e-reader I got.  Kindle has 3G though.  Tough call.

Does anyone know whether you can share books amongst the family with these things?  i.e. Say my wife buys an e-reader too. If I buy a book and read it can I take it off my reader and put it on hers without buying it again?  Not really thinking about Nook's 14 day lend thing, more like the electronic equivalent of my reading the book and then handing it to her to read.

Tough decisions.

[Regolith]

I'm seriously considering dropping coin on an e-reader in the next week or two.  I guess the contest is between the Nook Touch Reader and the Kindle 3.  I like the Nook's ease of PDF support.  I have a bunch of digital TM's I'd probably throw on any e-reader I got.  Kindle has 3G though.  Tough call.

Does anyone know whether you can share books amongst the family with these things?  i.e. Say my wife buys an e-reader too. If I buy a book and read it can I take it off my reader and put it on hers without buying it again?  Not really thinking about Nook's 14 day lend thing, more like the electronic equivalent of my reading the book and then handing it to her to read.

Tough decisions.

If it's non-DRM'd you can. Don't know what happens with DRM'd books. And I think I read something about you being able to link two or three Kindles to the same account and share books between them, but I don't know for sure. I'm going to have to track that down...

[Regolith]

Found it.

From Amazon's Kindle FAQs:

Can I share content with other Kindles?

You can enjoy your Kindle content on Kindle devices or Kindle applications that are registered to your Amazon.com account. There may be limits on the number of devices (usually six) that can simultaneously use a single book. Subscriptions to newspapers or periodicals cannot be shared on multiple devices. You can see all your Kindle content and send downloads to your registered Kindles or Kindle applications from the "Your Orders" section of the Manage Your Kindle page.

[Doggy Daddy]

And I think I read something about you being able to link two or three Kindles to the same account and share books between them, but I don't know for sure.

Pretty sure that's the case with Nook.  I downloaded their owner's manual some time back.  It referred to (IIRC) starting to read a book on one device, picking up where you left off on another, then continuing on yet another. That certainly implies that you can have multiple devices on the same account (Nook, P.C./laptop, smartphone...).  Of course, you'd want to only link devices that can only be accessed by someone trusted.  Wouldn't want just anyone to have access to the debit or credit card linked to that account.

DD