rowanf | More Kindle musings

librumhf.jpg
Originally uploaded by rowanf.

So back on September 18th, I wrote about using a kindle. It has been almost another month and I thought I'd capture a few more thoughts.

I do still really hate the UI, wtb folders. At a minimum I want a folder for samples and a folder for finished books.

Samples have been a really interesting affordance that I hadn't considered. To some degree, I am using it as a reminder of books I am interested in reading. If I have the kindle with me in a used bookstore I can look up authors I am having trouble remembering! The amazingly stupid thing about samples is that they don't end with a "buy this book now" button. What's up with that, Amazon?

I find myself really reluctant to buy books on the kindle because they can't be shared. I have been reading mostly free books or trashy dark fantasy which is a guilty pleasure of mine. I don't believe I've ever shared one with anyone. I currently have paperback books 1, 2 & 4 of a murder mystery series and when I hit the end of #2, I was tempted to kindle the third one... but then Russell couldn't read it. And we share our mysteries. So, no. I will have to hunt for it and not start #4 until I find it. *sigh*

The theory that you can order things directly from the Kindle doesn't really work for me with the clunky UI. I have to go to my laptop to the Amazon store and have things sent to Kindle.

Mostly, having a kindle is inspiring me to put books on my Palm from my Fictionwise account. I love that (since I only buy multiformat books and not mobi or other drm stuff) I can get the prc file for my palm and the pdf to read on my laptop. Fictionwise rules.