garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5207 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish
| Message 17 of 64 08 October 2010 at 3:33am | IP Logged |
I'm VERY tempted to get a Kindle or similar after reading Benny's post on the subject. Seems like the best of both worlds in terms of computer vs. book. I like the idea of being able to get rid of all my paper books and get that bit closer to minimalism :). I found a bilingual copy of L'étranger on the net, as well as a bunch of other freely available ebooks, but I just can't face the prospect of staring at the screen for hours reading them. Similar for various PDF ebooks I have. I guess it's not too hard (for someone very computer literate like me) to convert various document formats (PDF, RTF, etc.) to something readable on the Kindle?
Anyway, perhaps a Christmas present idea for me as well.
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jables Newbie United States Joined 5371 days ago 30 posts - 30 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 18 of 64 08 October 2010 at 4:27am | IP Logged |
My favorite part of my Kindle 3 is that I can buy books in German with no shipping. This
was always a pain when trying to order non-electronic versions. The selection isn't the
same of course, but with my reading speed, I have years of material available to me.
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oceankyle Newbie United States Joined 5241 days ago 28 posts - 32 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 19 of 64 08 October 2010 at 4:28am | IP Logged |
Kindle reads PDF, and you can convert most documents easily, although frequently
converted documents don't display as nicely.
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Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian
| Message 21 of 64 08 October 2010 at 4:16pm | IP Logged |
garyb wrote:
I like the idea of being able to get rid of all my paper books and get that bit closer to minimalism :). |
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I even take my handwritten notes on the iPad -- I've become as close to paperless as can be.
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Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian
| Message 22 of 64 08 October 2010 at 4:16pm | IP Logged |
oceankyle wrote:
Kindle reads PDF, and you can convert most documents easily, although frequently
converted documents don't display as nicely. |
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And tables tend to display pourly.
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dleewo Groupie United States Joined 5818 days ago 95 posts - 131 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin
| Message 23 of 64 08 October 2010 at 4:43pm | IP Logged |
I just got a Kindle and what I like most is that I can read German text and simply move my cursor and have it look up the word. I did have to buy a German-English dictionary for about $7. Here is a screenshot showing the lookup:
As you'll see in the screenshot above, the dictionary lookup can even figure out that the word is a verb and it shows me the infinitive.
I'm also using the Calibre software (free) which has the ability to download news from a ton of sites, include Der Spiegel and others and make an ebook out of it. The screenshot above is from a Der Spiegel article.
I know an iPad can do all of this, but I also enjoy reading books in my native language and spending $139 for the device is a lot less than the cost of an iPad.
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oceankyle Newbie United States Joined 5241 days ago 28 posts - 32 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 24 of 64 09 October 2010 at 12:18am | IP Logged |
Personally, I think the "gray on gray" is not a detriment, but a positive aspect of the
kindle. The kindle display format is much easier on the eyes for reading.
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