Thanks for info. I have passed it to Leanna.

By Ken Burnside (Ken_Burnside) on Tuesday, October 06, 2009 - 02:06 pm: Edit

A dedicated eBook reader is high on my list of gadgets to buy. I utterly dislike Sony as a consumer products company, and only marginally dislike Amazon.

I am waiting until they can get one of these to show full color PDFs, but being able to get the full text searchable, clickable cross reference linked SFB MRB on this would be a strong tipping point for me on which one to get.

I would *cheerfully* pay $50 for that (same price as a paper MRB) and I'd pay $20/year to have it updated automatically when new rules get inserted into their proper sequence.

By Brian Evans (Romwe) on Tuesday, October 06, 2009 - 02:12 pm: Edit

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Quote:

I am waiting until they can get one of these to show full color PDFs, but being able to get the full text searchable, clickable cross reference linked SFB MRB on this would be a strong tipping point for me on which one to get.I would *cheerfully* pay $50 for that (same price as a paper MRB) and I'd pay $20/year to have it updated automatically when new rules get inserted into their proper sequence.

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By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Tuesday, October 06, 2009 - 06:10 pm: Edit

Considering the cost of the Kindle, the cost of the e-book should be trivial. Why copy it when you can own it legally for a few bucks?

Same reason that there are large numbers of people who have only ever believed in paying for hardware and not software.

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 - 10:00 am: Edit

Amazon has dropped the list price of the KINDLE down to $259.

Link to an AP News story where I saw this.

By Tos Crawford (Tos) on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 - 11:06 am: Edit

That's the 6" Kindle that can't read PDFs. I haven't seen a Kindle, but if its got sufficient resolution that these tired old eyes can read an SSD on 6" of screen without zooming, then I'm in. Otherwise I think we will have to wait for the Kindle DX to mature and drop in price.

By Ken Burnside (Ken_Burnside) on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 - 12:46 pm: Edit

Tos, the Kindle's DPI is pretty high. It's a lot closer to reading paper than reading on a computer monitor.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 - 01:12 pm: Edit

I don't think there would be any useful function to having SSDs on Kindle (can you print from Kindle?).

Searchable Rules (by rule number and all instances of rule numbers being links to their rule). That is MY dream.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 - 01:16 pm: Edit

Amazon would do well to put out a color Kindle because you'd then start to see a way to do electronic magazine and comic book subscriptions. Then Kindle would take off like a rocket (and brick and morter stores would take a nose dive).

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 - 03:15 pm: Edit

I don't see color coming anytime soon.

The big thing with book-readers is they are supposed to be super-legible and have fantastic contrast, with or without backlight, along with really good battery life. All of those are tough to do with current color display technologies.

It took them at least a decade to "get it right" with black and white to where I am seeing folks like my mother actually buying them (much as mp3 players were toys for geeks until Apple pushed them into the mainstream with the iPod).

It may happen someday, but not with LCD's or plasma.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 - 03:54 pm: Edit

I wonder it the technology in the Kindle dispay is the same used on my Samsung Alias 2 cell phone keyboard. It's totally awsome. The keys change according to context and either opens as a flip phone or to a landscape mode with numbers or QWERTY keyboard. The keys change right before your eyes as needed.


Color or not, it would be a smart move for Amazon to team up with a comic book company to produce B/W comic or graphic novels for Kindle.

Such a distribution might be the way to make an SFU comic more viable.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 - 04:44 pm: Edit

Loren, Do you mean a place like this? http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/

They also do game downloads similar to e23:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Saturday, October 24, 2009 - 07:51 pm: Edit

The Barns and Noble e-book reader is going to stomp all over the Kindle, I beleive.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp

Check it out for yourself folks. The feature on this one have me wanting one now.

Check out the "Compare" page.

By Thomas Mathews (Turtle) on Saturday, October 24, 2009 - 08:57 pm: Edit

Loren, if it will play my existing audio books, I can see myself getting one when I have the cash.

Definately looks to be better than the Sony E Reader.

I like the touchpad and the highlight and bookmark feature. Really handy for rulebooks.

It does have an app for IPhones, and Ipod Touches and the Windows Mobile devices.

It says it does play MP3s. But doesn't menition other audio formats.

By Jason E. Schaff (Jschaff297061) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 12:01 pm: Edit

Replaceable battery and memory upgrade card look really nice, but you end up stuck with AT&T wireless. If their 3G service is as bad as their cell phone service, that would be a major turn-off.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 12:39 pm: Edit

You can always go to any B&N to shop, and I believe Starbucks uses 3G as well (an offers it free for two hours to anyone with a Starbuck card).

I don't mean to advertise for this. I'm just saying I think this is the bigger wave behind the Kindle and I think ADB should consider this device before commiting to Kindle.

I do wonder about its data security. I noticed that it is possible to "lend" a book to a friend. So, on one hand, ADB may want to work towards the device that will be more mainstream (which I predict this will unless there will soon be a Kindle 3), but if its security is not what ADB needs then there is no choice.

I would rather go with this device for my typical needs, but only ADB can determine if it will work for them and not kill the company. So I'm just pointing out that it's coming soon.

And yeah, replacable battery, upgradable memory, and PDF reading is a big deal making it hugely more useful to business types. It becomes useful for work as well as news and book reading. Broader range of use will equal braoder sales, no doubt.

By John Sickels (Johnsickels) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 01:01 pm: Edit

COGLEY: What’s the matter? Don’t you like books?
KIRK: Oh, I like them fine, but a computer takes less space.
COGLEY: A computer, huh? I got one of these in my office. Contains all the precedents. The synthesis of all the great legal decisions written throughout time. I never use it.
KIRK: Why not?
COGLEY: I’ve got my own system. Books, young man, books. Thousands of them. If time wasn’t so important, I’d show you something. My library. Thousands of books.

By John C. Barnes (Nitehawke) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 03:44 pm: Edit

I will not be getting ANY eBook reader until I can get one made with a hundred or so pages of ePaper so I can actually turn the #@$% pages physically. Reading is as much a tactile experience as it is transferring information from the medium to the mind. If all I wanted when I read is to get information, I can do that on a computer, with no need for an eBook reader.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 05:27 pm: Edit

e-book readers are about mobility. With 10+ days of battery life, you can take it anywhere you can a paper back book, and e-ink is just as readable (same lighting works the same as paper).

What I'd like to see is a reading assistant that has a little botton that underlines the line you are on. Each line you touch the touch sensative button and the next line is underlined.

There are times, particularly when I'm tired, when I sometimes skip a line or start reading the same line over again. It slows me down and I read slow enough (I read via speaking in my head which is pretty slow but at least comprehession is high). An underline reading assistant would be helpful and would probably speed my reading up even further.

By John Sickels (Johnsickels) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 05:42 pm: Edit

I will never use an E-reader. You can't trust whoever distributes the E-book not to "edit" things or "disappear" the book. Amazon has already gotten in trouble for doing this with the kindle.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 07:19 pm: Edit

I don't think anybody ever said anything about ADB "committing" to Kindle as the only book reader. We're looking into Kindle and may or may not sell books that way, but doing so does not mean we would not sell in other formats as well.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 07:25 pm: Edit

"I will never use an E-reader."

Anyone who feels that way need not take part in this discussion. You're just cluttering it.

By Stacy Brian Bartley (Bartley) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 07:48 pm: Edit

What Amazon did was apparently an accidentally and they have apparently corrected it. I will say that it troubles me that they HAVE that kind of power. If I had one of these I'd want total control of what goes ON it and what goes OFF of it.

I won't say categorically I'd never have or use one of these. I won't anytime SOON due to the cost associated with it. I will say that I do NOT do much pleasure reading on my computer because I find it difficult to absorb info from it on a large scale. However at least part of that is that I can't hold it in the same manner as a book and the same distance from my eyes the various readers seems to speak to this problem.


I will say that a searchable set of SFB rules in electronic media would solve a lot of problems in the game systems...wieldiness ...

regards
Stacy

By Sean O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 09:21 pm: Edit

Now that Amazon has made Kindle available in Australia, my main objection now is the price of the Kindle... though that may come down. I agree wholeheartedly with Stacy on the "wieldiness" issue. A searchable MRB would be very handy, and much more portable - a lot easier than lugging all your gaming materials to the game store/friends place.

Edit: I think the product line most likely to benefit from eBook-reader-compatible products is Prime Directive. The line is only going to grow and it can really be a nuisance dragging all your RPG references around.

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Monday, October 26, 2009 - 07:55 pm: Edit

Probably wont. We get treated with contempt by most retailers/sellers/online stores/etc.

Despite near parity with the USD they still charge us basically double whatever it costs in the US.