I love my Kindle. Being overseas, I can't just walk to the nearest bookstore and browse. Having the Kindle has turned me into an inveterate bookworm again, and I love it. Also, it means I don't have to lug the nearly 60 books I've got on it back home. Yeep!
I can definitely see where the Kindle would be a life-saver for you! I can't imagine living somewhere that I can't buy books in English - I'd go crazy if I couldn't find some other alternative.
I was just using my Touch in Canada as an ebook reader, among other things. Don't buy a Kindle; use the Kindle app that comes bundled with the Touch!
I was also using it for checking email, checking blogs, checking weather, syncing with my Outlook calendar, and listening to music. I even could download the latest Staggering Stories podcast directly from the Touch iTunes into the Touch without being near the master computer with the iTunes software. You can't do that with a Kindle.
Aside from the near impossibility of typing on that tiny pop-up screen, the Touch was invaluable. I intend to live with it constantly by my side... until Apple comes out with the smaller ipad (which will hopefully be able to do all of the above plus be easier to type on.)
ETA: You can read pdfs on the Touch too. I'm just sayin'...
I'm thinking that for reading for more than a few minutes at a time a dedicated ebook reader will be a must at some stage. My incredibly short-sighted, migraine-prone eyes will thank me.
You've just listed many of the things that I want the Touch for. It's not so much an either/or, more a "should I just get the Touch, or also get the cheapest new Kindle" and so far, both is winning for me :-)
Imve been pondering an ipod touch, glad you said 4th gen is coming so I should wait.
Starting to wonder if I want one though. My phone is better and has better app potential but just hasn't caught up with the apps yet. (N900 - 32gb linux phone - unike ipod you can just write any app you want. If you can't code, it's the nice linux open source community - ask on the comm, and someone will probably take up the request)
Kindle... hmm... a friend has the Sony one and says it's good. I'd be worried about them not having the books I want.
The word is that Apple will be making announcements at their conference on 7th September, so it's worth waiting until then at least. If the 4th gen has some extra features that you can't live without then you'll know when you can get it, if it doesn't then the prices on the 3G will come down and you'll save some money.
I don't have a smartphone (just a very bog-standard cell) and pricing here makes me reluctant to fork out the huge monthly contract fees for a phone that I'll rarely use as a phone. Long-term, the Touch will end up cheaper for me than any smartphone.
Not having books that I want is the big reason I'm thinking Kindle: if something is legally available in ebook, Amazon is likely to have it.
I have a Kindle, and I know Amazon is evil, but, uh, they're the evil that has the largest book selection? I love my Kindle to bits, and you can even put skins on it so it can be all pretteh. I didn't think I would love it so much when I got it, but now I'd much rather read it than paper. (Or computer screens.) I am rebuying my favorite books just so I can have them all searchable. (And you aren't locked into Amazon by any means! I have books from lots of places. Calibre will convert pretty much anything DRM-free to any format you like.)
I also have an iPod touch, and, honestly, while it's a perfectly serviceable e-reader with the Kindle app, I really only use it when I'm out and about and don't happen to have a book/my Kindle with me. It's too small to really curl up with, and I find the page turn swiping cumbersome (as a leftie, especially), but it is really good while you're hanging out waiting somewhere. Plus music and games. But for reading, yeah, the dedicated e-reader wins, no question.
I can't see the Touch being a primary reading device: the things that I really want it for can't be done on an ereader, the ability to read on the Touch was just a nice bonus. All the news checking, easier podcast downloading, calendar, email, access to Twitter at Starbucks (to check where my knitters are on knit night when everyone is late) and stuff is what I really want the Touch for.
Amazon is evil, but I buy 70% of my dead tree books from them just because they have the range that Chapters doesn't and independent bookshops are thin on the ground where I live.
I really can't justify the cost of an iPad! Not when I have a really good laptop. Kindle would give me access to books and I can either PDF a long fic that I want to read (for the Kindle) or use the Touch for anything in formats that Kindle can't handle. BBC News over my coffee every morning without booting the computer, though? That needs the Touch!
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I was also using it for checking email, checking blogs, checking weather, syncing with my Outlook calendar, and listening to music. I even could download the latest Staggering Stories podcast directly from the Touch iTunes into the Touch without being near the master computer with the iTunes software. You can't do that with a Kindle.
Aside from the near impossibility of typing on that tiny pop-up screen, the Touch was invaluable. I intend to live with it constantly by my side... until Apple comes out with the smaller ipad (which will hopefully be able to do all of the above plus be easier to type on.)
ETA: You can read pdfs on the Touch too. I'm just sayin'...
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You've just listed many of the things that I want the Touch for. It's not so much an either/or, more a "should I just get the Touch, or also get the cheapest new Kindle" and so far, both is winning for me :-)
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FWIW, you can set the background on ibooks to "sepia" so it's not quite as bad as looking at backlit white.
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Starting to wonder if I want one though. My phone is better and has better app potential but just hasn't caught up with the apps yet. (N900 - 32gb linux phone - unike ipod you can just write any app you want. If you can't code, it's the nice linux open source community - ask on the comm, and someone will probably take up the request)
Kindle... hmm... a friend has the Sony one and says it's good. I'd be worried about them not having the books I want.
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I don't have a smartphone (just a very bog-standard cell) and pricing here makes me reluctant to fork out the huge monthly contract fees for a phone that I'll rarely use as a phone. Long-term, the Touch will end up cheaper for me than any smartphone.
Not having books that I want is the big reason I'm thinking Kindle: if something is legally available in ebook, Amazon is likely to have it.
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I also have an iPod touch, and, honestly, while it's a perfectly serviceable e-reader with the Kindle app, I really only use it when I'm out and about and don't happen to have a book/my Kindle with me. It's too small to really curl up with, and I find the page turn swiping cumbersome (as a leftie, especially), but it is really good while you're hanging out waiting somewhere. Plus music and games. But for reading, yeah, the dedicated e-reader wins, no question.
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Amazon is evil, but I buy 70% of my dead tree books from them just because they have the range that Chapters doesn't and independent bookshops are thin on the ground where I live.
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