More iPad musings…

 

One of the reasons I bought an iPad was to use it as a book reader. I figured I could save a few trees and save a bit of money as some Kindle books are a little cheaper than the paper equivalents. Fast forward a few months and I’ve not completed a single book on the iPad. In fact I’ve struggled to read more than the odd page of any novel. The iPad just isn’t working out for me in that role. I find it a little heavy, the screen reflection is shocking and I’m not particularly happy about doing things like reading in the bath or in bed with it. It just doesn’t work for me. Added to that, a comment Gwen Shapira made at OOW 2010 has come back to haunt me. It’s just too easy to get distracted on an iPad. How wise you are Gwen. πŸ™‚

I’m toying with the idea of buying a kindle. It would certainly solve the weight, screen reflection and distraction issues. Whether it would feel “natural” to me is another issue.

I had a bunch of gift tokens from the last couple of Christmases, so I went out a few days ago and bought real paper books. Instant satisfaction and I’ve started reading again… πŸ™‚

Cheers

Tim…

Author: Tim...

DBA, Developer, Author, Trainer.

10 thoughts on “More iPad musings…”

  1. I found that the iPad works well for reading Kindle books on long flights – but we are all different in our likes.
    .
    The thing that gets me about electronic books is the thickness stays the same… there is no looking at the stack of completed pages and comparing it to remaining height and saying I’m 80% through this

  2. I see another “goal-oriented reader”, just like me. πŸ™‚

    If you tap on the screen you can see the progress bar, but I understand it’s not the same as seeing the pages. πŸ™‚

    Cheers

    Tim…

  3. I love reading with ‘real’ books and then putting it in my bookcase like some sort of trophy. ‘Look what I read’.

    I’m not sure I would ever want nor could ever justify buying a Kindle. My friends who have them really, really like them, but I have my iPad (which I purely bought for content consumption and web browsing) if I’m going on a flight and am squeezed for space.

  4. I’ve found I read a lot more since I bought a Kindle, it seems more natural than a paper book.

    It not great for PDFs – I was hoping it would be a good way to read Oracle Manuals etc but the text is a bit too small – but for proper e-books it works really well.

  5. I got a Kindle last Christmas as an unexpected present. It is very easy to read on, and nice and light, so ticks the boxes there. It has a bar along the bottom showing progress, so you get a sense of progress. It reads books, and that’s it, so is good for not getting distracted. Well, it has got a web browser but it’s so slow and buggy that it’s really not worth it.
    But — I hesitate before taking it out in case it gets damaged, whereas a book I would never hesitate. Rain won’t damage a book too much and if it does it doesn’t stop you buying more in the future. If it go out on the drink I don’t have to worry about leaving a book in my coat pocket in the pub … a Β£100 device I do, so I probably wouldn’t take it with me.
    Oh, and you can’t lend people books that you’ve enjoyed reading, unless you get funky with the DRM.

  6. Like Robin I received a Kindle last Christmas. I am on my 5th book and love it. While I still purchase technical books to keep on my bookshelf I have pretty much switched to the Kindle for casual reading. Also you cant beat the large number of books that are free or .99 cents. makes me wish I was traveling more so I could read more of them. πŸ™‚

  7. Hey Tim,

    I have been reading books in electronic form almost exclusively for probably 8 years or so. I started on a Treo phone. The screen was very small and not particularly easy to deal with, but nevertheless, after a little while the screen disappears and you forget you are are using it. The iPhone was a gigantic step forward for me by the way. I have tried the Kindle and but only briefly. The reason is that it’s too big. I’m just not going to carry around a device that is only for reading. I am a little on the hyperactive and so having to sit idle for any amount of time for any reason drives me absolutely crazy. Sitting in a doctors office for example. I’ll read a 6 month old People Magazine rather than just sit. Since I started reading on smart phones, I always have 100’s of books in my pocket and rarely have to sit idle (except when the plane is taking off or landing, but that rant will have to wait). It has completely changed the way I read as well. I generally have several books going at a time now and I never used to do that when I was reading “real” books. I read a lot more now than I used to as well because I can do it during what used to be wasted time.

  8. I use my iPhone and iPod touch as book readers and watching movies. Had to do some conversions but it works well now. I am waiting on next generation of the ipad to see if it does more than just a large ipod touch.

  9. I have both the Kindle (1st generation) and iPad. I’ve love reading on both. I agree the iPad is just a bit heavy but it works ok for me. The Kindle is much, much lighter so if that is the main impediment it would probably be a good choice.

    One thing to mention is that PDF’s on the Kindle just don’t work (although I’ve heard they’ve gotten better since the 1st generation). The links don’t work which makes jumping to a topic hard unless you go through and bookmark things. But on the iPad, in iBook, PDF’s work great, all the links, and table of content, are active.

    As far as the reflective screen, the first thing I did (even before getting a protective case) was to buy an anti-glare screen protector. Really makes a huge difference.

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