e-books are not really ours
 

http://www.slate.com/id/2223214/


And that is why I ALWAYS prefer having a hard, paper copy :)

Anyway, reading from a laptop in bed is not even half as comfortable as reading a paper book. And no one can delete it :)
Yet, I have nightmares from time to time about the fire in my flat and my books left aside...

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

what is a Kindle anyway? Is it a device for e-books only? Kind of a mp3, only that with words instead of music?

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

No idea, never used that. But I assume it's something similar to Adobe Digital Library, only ADL is free of charge for academics - a software that you install and it lets you read things in a specially designed format. The British Library sends ordered articles in this format. I hate it, they give only two weeks for using ordered texts :(

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

I saw an ad on the train and it looked like a cell phone, so I think it's a device not software. I can imagine reading an e-book from my laptop but from a tiny thing like that? That would kill my eyes. (unless I'm mistaken and a kindle is actually something else :P)

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

Even worse, who would like books like that? I mean, it's perhaps handy to be able to carry the whole library with you, for travelling and so on. But how on earth can you read on such a tiny thing with all those poor lights in buses, trains and plains, jumping on a road's bumps or shaking because of turbulences? Nah, not for me, definitely :) I'm not a pig-headed traditionalist, but book is a book.

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

my brother reads books that way - not on a kindle precisely, but from his palmtop ;) so I guess it's destined for people like him - who are constantly doing something, moving a lot from one place to another and like to have something to read with them but don't want to carry books around, cause the lighter the better - you know ;)

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

Well, I do know, I DID take my laptop several times when travelling and read books on it... but the case was that I had to take the laptop anyway (for conference presentations), and I didn't want to take books on top of it. An electronic device for reading books ONLY seems pointless to me.

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

I read our forum using my phone :) But I'd rather listen to an audio book than tire my eyes reading small print for as long as it takes to finish reading a book.

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

No, it is bigger, about the size of a small book. And pages look the same as in the book - and you scroll down to change the page. I saw it on the plane :) - a woman next to me was reading.
BEsides, there is a picture of kindle in Judyta's link :)
And here is another one:
http://www.tcnj.edu/~technj/2008/images/kindle.jpg

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

Looks fine, actually. But does it really serve only the puropose of reading books and newspapers? It just doesn't seem comfortable, to carry ANOTHER fancy toy around :)

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

That's it Judyta. This is the kindle. You don't need anything else.

Odp: e-books are not really ours
 

I fancy the whole idea :) I read our forum on my PA in States and it was alright - a bit to tidious to use the stylus to type things in (I never bothered making it get used to my handwritting, as it breaks to often anyway - I've had 3 in the last year, and I just can't be bothered to do it each time they exchange it.
Anyway - I like my fancy toys, so I would like Kindle :D