Feedbooks’ new Kindle library of classics and CC works is bliss for K-owner Mary Minow—plus iLiad and FBReader info
“All the Kindle user has to do is email Feedbook’s ‘Kindle Download Guide’ to [user]@kindle.com one time. That’s it. The Guide has live links that then give you instant Kindle access to works by Thoreau, Tolstoy, Austen, Swift, Robert Louis Stevenson as well as Doctorow and Sterling. Searchable by using the Kindle search function.” - Mary’s blog entry, pointing to an earlier TeleBlog item.
The TeleRead take: As disappointed as I am with Kindle-related eBabel, my problem is with Amazon—not the Kindle buyers. I’m always delighted when Feedbooks and other sites help people cope with the Tower of eBabel, all those conflicting e-book formats. But of course, as Mary herself would say, the real solution will be full .epub compatibility for the Kindle.
The iLiad angle
In a related development, I tried Feedbooks’ experimental service to make e-book more iPoddish on the iLiad. I indeed succeeded in downloading a few titles that way. The service is far from seamless at this point, and I didn’t succeed with an RSS feed of the New York Times’ book section; but it’s a start., I hope that Hadrien will continue his good work. Ideally iRex Technologies and other hardware vendors can team up with companies like Feedbooks on Kindle-easy approaches. The iLiad at lest has the advantage of built-in WiFi, which isn’t the same as Amazon’s wireless arrangement but has advantages of its own.
…and the iLiad/FBReader .epub angle
For iLiad owners with at least a little tech savvy, I’d recommend trying out AdamB’s port of FBReader for the iLiad. Unfortunately, for some reason, perhaps my fault, I can’t get .epub files to display in the “add books” window. Anyone have better luck?
FBReader on the iLiad works with RTF files at the very least (I haven’t had time to try HTML and what not). Lots and lots of font choices. The main negative, beyond the possible .epub issue, is that the page refresh rate seems to be slower than with other e-reading programs. But again, that just be my setup. Other perspectives?
Related: Part I of Dr. Ellen Hage’s Kindle writeup—plus Chicago Sun Times review (thanks, Don Smith).
December 19th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
David,
I’m as frustrated as you are about the present multiplicity of ebook formats. The thing that excites me the most about the Kindle is all the discussion that it has created on the internet about ebooks and their future.
I listen to the TWIT podcasts often and one of the guests recently was Jerry Pournelle, (of BYTE magazine and many science fiction books) who says: “I think the next iteration of the iPhone may be the beginning of the end of the paperback book business.” He states, that most people don’t buy a dedicated bookreader, but if they are “already carrying something, that is good enough to read a book on” they would consider buying an ebook instead of a paperback. Further he says “I think the paperback book industry is already in trouble”.
Another contributor to TWIT is Andy Ihnatko whose review of the Kindle on the Chicago Sun-Times is worth a read. The podcast that he reviewed the Kindle on really changed the other “TWIT’s” attitude toward the Kindle and ebooks in general.
It’s people like Jerry and Andy who will create interest outside our present “ebook world” and educate and tease the general public. I feel Amazon has frightened many in the paperbook field enough in the last month that there is finally a reassessment happening in the publishing world that may bring about a move toward standardization.
The important result of all this is that hopefully these advancements will keep the general public reading. We can’t afford to allow our citizenry and educational systems to not have easy access to as much information as possible.
December 20th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Upcoming features for the Kindle Guide:
- Update link: you’ll be able to update the guide for new books & authors using a link inside the guide
- Lists: I really love our list feature on Feedbooks, it’s a very easy way to group books together. Currently in the guide there’s books by alphabetical order and authors by alphabetical order. I’ll add the lists too, this way if you look for “Creative Commons” for example, you’ll find all the Creative Commons books available (another example would be “Utopia”, or book series like “Remembrance of Things Past”)