Weather and Tech

[chrystalline]

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow - the stormfront moving through is worse than usual (understatement, I suppose, as I'm told it's the remnants of the tropical storm coming up from the Gulf) and I'm really feeling it. I don't know if I've really mentioned it online much, but when I was a kid, I dislocated my elbow, leaving me with permanent arthritis in that

Comments

[chrystalline]

I've never understood the eyestrain thing, actually. I have poor vision, so I have to wear corrective lenses just to function, but I've never really noticed any difference (to my eyes) between reading my computer screen and curling up with a book. My back definitely prefers curling up in the recliner;) The Libre Pro is B&W, but it is an LCD screen, so I don't know if it would still be a problem for people with eyestrain problems or not.

Yeah, the color thing is mostly of interest for me because of the color cover images and comics; I really like manga lately, and there are occasionally color images in there. Not often, so I think the B&W will work all right, but it's a "would be nice to have" element. Price definitely weighs heavily in the decision.

I certainly understand the appeal of having a centralized location like a server (3TB is nice) but between not being able to afford some of the hardware and not understanding enough about setting up and running a server, I don't really see that as a viable option for me. I tried doing something of the sort with external hard drives, but they fail too frequently, leaving me in a panic (I was so glad the free trial of the drive recovery software fixed it long enough to get my stuff off). As for the online storage and re-download-ability - I'm a control freak. I have to keep my data here, with me, and not out there, where I'm dependent on someone else. Plus, I hate DRM, so I'm inclined to ignore their books in favor of places like Baen; I'm not sure if they offer the same re-download policy, but there's no DRM, so it's possible to archive it in whatever form I want.

[mellymell]

I don't know, my eyes just feel tired after reading on my laptop or phone for too long. I seem more susceptible to things like lid twitching, too. B&W vs color doesn't seem to matter. If it's lcd, it's going to bug me after a while. I think it's the backlight. The eink screen is the way I will probably always go for myself. We have an android tablet for all else.

I totally understand a central server not being a feasible solution for most people. If I weren't married to a software developer, it wouldn't be feasible for me either. ;) I've become more and more comfortable with cloud storage though, especially since I switched to linux which has their own service that integrates with Ubuntu. But I understand what you mean about wanting a tangible copy you can hold.

For what it's worth, B&N ebooks are drm free. It's one reason why we went with them instead of Amazon. I wouldn't be surprised to see Amazon drop their drms at some point as well. After all, their mp3s are drm free.

[chrystalline]

Hmm. I sometimes have eyelid twitch problems, but it seems to be more related to my overall exhaustion level than anything else. I'm also rather sensitive to sunlight, which makes it ironic that one of my objections to Michigan is their weak sunlight - a full sun in summer there is only about as bright as a winter day here. I guess I'm just used to staying indoors and using artificial light. That said, I think the Libre Pro isn't backlit, even though it is LCD, which means I'd still need a light on it in a dark room or car or wherever.

Oh? I'll have to take another look at B&N. I'd heard Amazon dropped the DRM on MP3s, but I've been leery of testing it. My understanding was that customer irritation drove Apple to drop it first and Amazon followed suit, but the publishers were holding out for it because they think it helps protect their stuff. There are a lot of cranky authors out there who totally don't get the tech revolution and think the 'net is out to get them.

[drunkitty]

To me (with MI) it's not the weak sunlight it's the overall lack of it. I'm with you on being sensitive to light (any of it), but I have to have real sunlight in order to function. I just got totally depressed up there without the sun. Granted, here, I hide inside half the time and can't leave the house on a rainy day without my sunglasses, but at least I don't look outside and see nothing but clouds 90% of the time.