New Touch Edition Best Kobo Ebook Reader Until Now
by tkahuna2
Filed under Massage Chair Review
Canada fires back! The new Kobo Touch Edition from Kobo Ereader is going head to head with the favourite Kindle Wi Fi from Amazon. The recently launched Kobo Ereader Touch Edition is challenging the ubiquitous Kindle Wifi for top spot.
The Kobo Touch is an important extension of the two previous Kobos. At a time when the competition is mulling colour screens, animated graphics and video — heck, even the iPad calls itself an eReader — Kobo reviews point out the company has stuck with a founding concept.
The Kobo Touch is the most advanced pure ereader: light, small, comfortable in the hand and intuitive to use.
No, it does not play movies and music but it is great at what it does do — make your reading life a new and exciting experience.
It’s all you need. You just stick it in a pocket or a bag for the beach and you can order up whatever book you want or carry 1,000 of them around with you.
Here is what reviews say users like about the newest Kobo Ereader: the fast responding touch screen, small size and light weight, a place indicator bar that lets you jump around,and 7 bundled type fonts with the option of downloading more yourself.
And this is what people were not so keen on: a battery life of (only) one month, the appearance of ghost images from time to time on the screen, and the fact that by swiping the screen to turn pages, you have to use both hands.
Best priced Touch screen reader
The Kobo Touch is listed at $139 Canadian ($129US) making it the lowest priced touch screen ereader and it also weighs the least at 200 grams ( 7.05 oz).
It has a lot of functionality, is easy to use and comfortable to hold. Kobo reviews to date say this the easiest e-reader to hold in one hand and the touch screen navigating is simple and responsive.
Turning a page is a matter of tapping on the screen or swiping it with a finger. Highlighting text comes from dragging your finger although this does not work with all book formats. Control of PDF documents ranks among the best and includes a double-tap to zoom in or out.
The page refreshes faster than the previous Kobo Wi Fi and with less flicker. The contrast is outstanding from the 6-inch e-Ink Pearl screen.
There is so much to compare in the latest generation of e-readers that you really need to take the time to go through them all. We have made that a little easier for you here by giving you a comprehensive, side-by-side rundown of the two most popular, the Kobo Ereader and the Kindle Wi-Fi.
Select from 2.3 million titles
Thanks to the wireless Internet access you can shop for a new book or magazine directly from the ereader wherever you have web access. The Kobo Touch supports a wide range of publishing formats including EPUB, PDF as well as Adobe DRM which allows borrowing from libraries.
The Kobo Touch has only two buttons — a sliding power button on the top edge and a Home key centred below the screen. There is a card slot for adding up to 32GB of storage — the base unit comes with 1GB for book storage, enough for 1,000 books — and a USB port for loading content from your computer. The battery is rated for up to one month depending on usage.
Kobo reviews point out that the ereader scores highly with people with people who read a lot because it follows an open and global product philosophy, catering to many languages. Kobo Books was originally spun out of the Chapters book chain, Canada’s biggest, and now offers 2.3 million ebooks to browse in 200 countries.
Catering to readers can be seen in an upgraded choice of seven type fonts, each in 15 sizes, bundled in the unit. You can also download your own type choices. This is the most of any ereader.
If you want to know more about ebooks in general, you can check out what is an ebook in Wikipedia.
An Introduction To Kindle Books
by tkahuna2
Filed under Massage Chair Review
If you’re an avid reader or a lover of gadgetry, you’re probably well aware of the ebook phenomenon and the number one e-reader: the Amazon Kindle. Its ability to store thousands of Kindle books has completely revolutionized the way we read, the publishing industry and the papermaking industry to boot. Plus, Kindle books have begun to render physical bookstores obsolete, since all a Kindle owner has to do now is connect their Kindle to the web and to the Amazon kindle store to download and read books on demand.
What Kindle Books Offer That Printed Books Do Not
Perhaps the most obvious advantage that Kindle books have over traditional books is the fact that the lightweight e-reader can carry hundreds of books in the same space that one small paperback takes up in a purse or backpack. Then, of course, there are environmental benefits to the Kindle. Kindle books don’t need a bit of paper to be produced, which means less deforestation. Then, there are the benefits to the publishing industry which was previously in a slump and for literacy on the whole.
It’s Easy To Download Kindle Books
Downloading Kindle books is really easy. Clearly, Amazon.com is the most obvious place to seek out new titles. There are other sites where you can get new ebooks too. What’s more, the Kindle can read online newspapers and magazines and newer versions can even play audiobooks.
Pricing For Kindle Books
Just like any other type of shopping, it’s a good idea to comparison shop for your Kindle book titles. Some books are free while others can cost as much as a hard cover, so finding sites that offer discounts is useful.
How To Save On eBooks Like Kindle Books
Some ebook sellers actually have you subscribe and pay for a number of credits which you can put toward ebooks instead of paying full price. For the most voracious Kindle book readers, this can save a lot of cash. Like regular books, another easy way to save money on Kindle books is to simply wait until after the launch of the book is over. New books tend to cost more than older ones, so you’d be waiting for the price to drop. Another, less savory way to save money on Kindle books, is to illegally download ebooks that have been stripped of their protective copyright infringement encoding.
Check out this website as we explore on:
Kindle and Blogging 101
Amazon’s Kindle Ebook Reader Continues To Sell In Volume
by tkahuna2
Filed under Massage Chair Review
Now that the dust from the festive sales season has settled, it seems obvious that it has been another phenomenally successful year for the Amazon Kindle reader. The latest generation Kindle, released at the end of August 2010 has pretty much continued where the Kindle 2.0 left off and maintained it’s position as Amazon’s number one selling product.
Over the Christmas sales period (November 14 to December 19) it outsold all other items on the Amazon website. Aplle’s iPod Touch (the 8GB version) took second place.
As per usual, Amazon are not confirming any specific numbers. However, industry analysts have increased their prediction for 2011 Kindle sales from 5 million units to 8 million. It’s also noteworthy that Amazon currently has an estimated 90% of all ebook sales.
It’s the tag team of the Kindle reader and the huge choice of Kindle books which seems to make the difference. Currently, there are more than 800,000 Kindle books available for sale for the Kindle. In addition to those paid titles there are a further.8 million out of copyright titles – including classics by the likes of Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Virgil, Sir Arthur Conan doyle and Emily Bronte – which are all available as free downloads. You can increase your library and save money at the same time.
Amazon was also rather clever when it released a whole host of free Kindle “apps” onto the market. These allow Kindle books to be read on other devices, effectively making any concerns about being left with a library of incompatible ebooks redundant. Currently, there are Kindle apps for the Windows PC, the Mac, the Apple iPhone, the iPad, Blackberry’s smart phone and any device which uses Android. And, just in case you didn’t notice, all of these apps also function as an effective route to market for Kindle books.
Whatever you may think regarding the comparison between ebook readers and traditional paper books, it seems fairly clear that the Amazon Kindle is the top ebook reader by a long way. The very fact that the Apple iPad, a tablet computer which costs more than three times as much as the Kindle, is Amazon’s only credible competition at this time.
Analysts are predicting that Amazon’s share of the ebook market will drop off in the coming years. However, that’s hardly a damning indictment considering that their current market share is, as mentioned previously, 90%. It’s hard to imagine that such a high level could be sustained for any length of time in a free and open market. Best estimates suggest a three way split between Apple, Amazon and Google by 2015. Of course, based upon current growth, Amazon will have a smaller percentage of a very much larger market.
For the moment at least, there is little sign of the dominance of the Kindle diminishing. The potentially increased competition following the launch of the iPad doesn’t seem to have knocked Amazon of its stride. As the market develops and matures, some degree of rationalisation seems inevitable – but, for the time being at least, Amazon look set to capitalise on their dominant position and will most likely continue to be one of the key players in the ebook market for a long time to come.
Down-Loadable Training Books For Your iPad
by tkahuna2
Filed under Massage Chair Review
From paper book to iPad book is a huge step in progress. This technologies will not only have an impact on the publishing and printing industry but on book stores and paper and magazine vendors. My favorite is that the forests of the world will be preserved, as just think of how much less paper the world will need. Downloadable books are indeed the answer to saving the forests.
Apple, the manufacturer of the iPad, has brought eReader books to the screen. Once you have read a book on the multi-touch screen you’ll not likely be buying paper backs again. You can download e books by means of the iBook app onto you iPad. Your eBook download can be carried out instantly once you have made a option of the books you want. You can buy an eBook on-line or get many of them free on numerous web sites. MyPadMedia.com is one of these.
Publishers aren’t being left behind as they’re all clamoring to get their books as downloadable eBooks. Literally thousands of e books from all categories are available on-line. The large rush is now to get textbooks for colleges and universities on iPad. This isn’t only an advanced way for students to utilize their textbooks, but is a back saver for them as well. Just think, no much more lugging a bag full of books around with you on campus, you’ll only have to have your slim iPad tucked under your arm.
The user friendly iPad turns non readers into readers. You can navigate from one page to the next by the touch of a button. You can bookmark your page and even note and highlight it. Reading on a screen is far much more enjoyable than on paper pages as you are able to adjust the font size and the lighting to suit you. The folds in the carrying case are in just the best locations so that it can turn out to be a stand for your iPad. Now you’ll not have to rest it on your stomach while reading.
I buy eBooks, or get my eBook at a discount or free depending on which site has the books I am looking for. Keep in mind that thousands of books are being added to the already long list of eBooks available on-line, every day.
To Find Out More About free ebooks for ipad or go to http://books-for-ipad.net
Amazon’s Third Generation Kindle Continues To Rule The E-Book Reader Market
by tkahuna2
Filed under Massage Chair Review
It seems highly probable that, when the sales returns are tallied up at the end of the 2010 festive season, it will prove to have been another record breaking year for Amazon’s flagship e-book reader. In spite of the premature rumors of the Kindle’s impending demise as a result of the launch of Apple’s iPad, Amazon’s top selling ebook reader just seems to go from strength to strength.
Even without the introduction of a color screen, the release of the Kindle 3 in the autumn of 2010 opened the gap between the Kindle reader and the following pack even further. As well as a variety of technical enhancements, including a better contrast display, a lighter and smaller case and increased memory capacity, Amazon introduced a WiFi only entry level model.
The entry level Kindle sells for just $ 139 – less than a third of the price of the most basic iPad. The WiFi plus 3G model is available for $ 189 – still well below the iPad price level. The fact that the Kindle has no monthly download or connection fees associated with it is another big selling point.
Another big selling point of the Kindle has always been the enormous collection of Kindle books available for download from Amazon’s website. Currently there are over 750,000 Kindle books for sale on the Amazon Kindle store. In addition to this, there are a further 1.8 million out of copyright titles – including many classics – which can be downloaded for free.
Many potential e-book reader purchasers are concerned about being tied to a particular brand of reader. They feel concerned that, having amassed a collection of e-books in a particular format, they may not be able to port these over should they opt to buy a different type of reader at some point in future.
This has been cleverly addressed by Amazon, who have released a variety of apps to allow Kindle books to be read on a range of different devices. Currently, there are free Kindle apps for the PC, the Mac, the iPad, the iPhone, the Blackberry smart phone, the Windows phone and any device which uses the Android operating system. It’s a very smart strategy for Amazon. Over and above doing a good job of addressing the concerns regarding the portability of books, each one of these apps acts as an outlet for Kindle books. It’s estimated that around 20% of all Kindle books sales are the result of transactions conducted using non-Kindle devices. That’s a number which seems likely to increase as time goes on.
Rather than having been “killed” by the Apple iPad, or any other device, 2010 has seen the dominant position of the Kindle becoming even more firmly established. The only credible competition to the Kindle comes from a tablet computer which costs more than three times as much as the Kindle – and that tells a story in itself. It seems clear that the Kindle will continue to be a major factor in the development of the e-book market into 2011 and beyond.
Are We Set For Another Kindle Christmas This Year?
by tkahuna2
Filed under Massage Chair Review
The festive season is an important time for any retailer. Depending upon the type of goods being sold, up to 40% of yearly sales (and profits) might be made in the weeks before Christmas. For Amazon, Christmas 2009 was an extremely important period, for a number of reasons in addition to the normal sales surge.
Amazon’s Kindle 2.0 e-book reader, which hit the market in February 2009, and which had already shown itself to be a very successful product for Amazon, became the online retail giant’s number one selling item, and their most gifted and most wished for product ever. It has held the position of number one selling product on the Amazon website ever since.
Amazon actually sold more Kindle books than traditional printed books for the first time ever on Christmas day of 2009. This would almost certainly have been influenced by those lucky people who received a Kindle as a Christmas gift trying out their Kindles by logging on to the Amazon website and downloading one or two Kindle books. A lot of these were probably free Kindle books (there are 1.8 million of these available).
However, it was still a very good achievement for Amazon and a sign of things to come. Currently, Amazon regularly sells more Kindle books than hardcover books – by a factor of 1.8 to 1. It seems probable that it will only be a matter of time before Kindle books are outselling paperbacks as well.
In the autumn of 2010, Amazon revealed their improved Kindle 3 reader. There were a number of technical upgrades – including increased memory (enough space for 3,500 Kindle books), an improved e-ink technology display with higher contrast and a smaller and lighter casing. The new, entry level Kindle – which can be yours for just $ 139 – was also revealed. The Wi-Fi plus 3G model is still available at $ 189 – still significantly lower than the $ 359 launch price of the Kindle 2.0.
The Kindle, with a $ 139 price tag, is very close to being a personal electronics “impulse buy”. You could pay quite a bit more for something such as a mobile phone or a mid level mp3 player!
Despite the launch of the Apple iPad – widely hailed as a “Kindle Killer” – the Kindle 3 quickly became the fastest selling Kindle to date. Not for the first time, demand far outstripped supply, and customers had to wait for up to five weeks for their new Kindles to be delivered.
The Kindle was already the market’s top selling e-book reader. The release of the improved Kindle 3 opened the gap between Amazon’s reader and the chasing pack even further. The very fact that main competition to the Kindle comes in the shape of a tablet computer which costs over three times as much as the Kindle speaks volumes.
Amazon must surely be looking forward to another set of record breaking festive season sales figures for their newly updated Kindle reader. It will be interesting to see whether or not Amazon run out of Kindles again in the run up to Christmas. Currently, there is a three Kindles per customer limit – surely a sign of Amazon’s confidence in their top selling reader. Christmas 2010 looks set to be another record breaking season for the Kindle reader.
Kindle Owners Will Shortly Be Able To Lend And Borrow Kindle Books
by tkahuna2
Filed under Massage Chair Review
A recent Amazon announcement confirmed that Kindle reader owners will soon have the ability to lend Kindle books to other Kindle users. The exact date is, as yet, unconfirmed – but it will be sometime this year.
It’s a very positive move which will help both e-books and e-book readers to become even more widely accepted. The public seems to have adopted e-books very rapidly. Kindle books are now outselling traditional hardcovers by a factor of 180 to 100, according to Amazon. It seems probable that e-books will be outselling paperback editions before too much longer.
The Amazon lending scheme will let Kindle users lend e-books to other Kindle owners for up to a fortnight at a time. For the period of the loan, the borrower will be able to access the book in exactly the same way as if they had bought it themselves. The purchaser won’t be able to access the book whilst it is out on loan. Just the same as lending a “real” book to someone in fact.
Amazon has released a number of free Kindle apps which allow Kindle books to be read using a variety of other devices. At the moment, there are apps for the Windows PC, the Apple Mac, the iPhone, the iPad, the Blackberry smartphone and any device which runs the Android operating system. It may, at least at first glance, seem a little strange that Amazon has gone to so much effort to make their Kindle reader dispensable in this manner. Currently, 20% of all Kindle book sales are made via non-Kindle devices. As more and more personal electronic devices running Android are released onto the system, this percentage looks set to increase.
These free Kindle apps have, up until now, allowed only Kindle books to be read. Amazon has now announced that they will shortly make magazines and newspapers available in this manner. Again, the release date has not been firmed up – but Amazon has advised that they plan to start with the Apple devices and follow up with the Android devices and then the desktop applications in due course.
These changes may appear to be relatively small. However, they bring e-books closer into line with the functionality of conventional books, which is psychologically important for anyone making a buying decision. Kindle readers can now do everything with an e-book that they would with a printed book – apart from marking their place with a dog-ear that is. It makes it easier for even the most conservative bibliophile to make the switch to electronic books.
What To Look For In Electronic Book Readers
by tkahuna2
Filed under Massage Chair Review
It’s been roughly three years since Amazon released their first Kindle reader. Notwithstanding the massive influence of the Kindle, it’s worth bearing in mind that it wasn’t the first ebook reader on the market. However, ebooks are now becoming firmly established – due in large measure to the influence of the Kindle. It’s debatable whether or not ebooks will replace “real” books in future – but they certainly appear to be here to stay.
However, many people are getting themselves an ebook reader. The recent ebook reader price cuts from Sony, Amazon and Barnes and Noble has made ebook readers a much more affordable option for a lot of consumers. The Kindle may be the market leader, it’s not the only available option. So, if you’re thinking about getting your first ebook reader, what are the main points to take into account?
One of the most critical factors that you will need to consider is the quality of the display. E-ink technology displays are used in the majority of ebook readers. This provides a reading experience which is very close to reading standard text printed on paper. It’s very much easier on your eyes than a back-lit computer screen. It’s also easy to read in brightly lit conditions – and even in direct sunlight. A further advantage of e-ink technology displays is that they use power only when “turning the page” – so battery life is extended.
In terms of size you may be tempted to go for the largest screen possible. Obviously readers with larger screens cost more than those with smaller displays. They are also physically larger of course – and they weigh more. This will have implications on the device’s portability. If you intend to read mainly at home, then you may not consider that to be a problem. Even so, a bigger reader will be more difficult to operate with one hand – something which most users will wish to do.
One of the major factors in the success of Amazon’s Kindle was its ability to browse and download books in under a minute from virtually anywhere. However, Amazon and Barnes and Noble have now released Wi-Fi only versions of their readers. The selling price is a little less than the 3G readers and they may be a good option for anyone who doesn’t anticipate the requirement to download books without using a computer or connecting via a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Obviously there’s little point in having an ebook reader unless there’s a good selection of books to read on it. At the moment, no industry standard format for ebooks has been agreed. The ePub format is used by Google – but Kindle books are in a format which is unique to Amazon’s reader. However, Amazon has released a number of free apps that allow users to read Kindle books on a wide variety of different devices.
The cost of exactly the same ebook can be quite a bit different from one reader to another. In fact, if you choose the right reader, the money you save on ebooks could cover the cost of your reader in just a few months – depending upon how many books you read. It’s worthwhile checking before making a final decision as to which reader to opt for.
How Much Further Can E-Book Reader Prices Drop?
by tkahuna2
Filed under Massage Chair Review
There can be little doubt that the dominant force in the e-book reader market is the Amazon Kindle. The recent launch of the third generation Kindle has simply served to reinforce Amazon’s dominance. It’s interesting to note that the only serious competition which the Kindle has seen to date comes in the form of a multi-functional tablet computer which costs three and a half times the price of the Kindle – Apple’s iPad.
However, even the iPad’s entry to the market doesn’t seem to have caused any reduction in demand for the Kindle. The new and enhanced Kindle 3 has been selling like hot cakes since Amazon unveiled it at the end of July. Amazon advise that it’s selling considerably faster than any previously released Kindle reader did in the same period post launch.
One of the huge advantages which Amazon has over its competition – including the iPad – is the massive selection of Kindle books available for customers to choose from. At the moment, there are in excess of 670,00 titles to choose from on Amazon’s Kindle store – and that number is increasing on a daily basis. In addition to this, there are 1.8 million out of copyright books available which Kindle users can download for free!
Apart from making the Kindle reader a more attractive choice for potential customers, this enormous collection of e-books means that Amazon can operate with a slightly lower selling price for their e-book reader hardware based on the fact that customers will be buying Kindle books during the lifetime of their reader. For Amazon, it’s a clear competitive advantage over their competitors.
Amazon has given out a clear signal as to how they see the e-book market developing by making free apps available which allow users to download and read Kindle books on a wide range of devices. They clearly feel that, going forward, e-book sales will be more important than the sales for e-book reader hardware. Up to now, this seems to have been a very successful strategy for them. They currently enjoy a market share of somewhere between 60% and 80% of the US e-book market (depending upon which estimate you want to believe) and approximately 20% of their total sales of Kindle books are destined for use on a variety of non-Kindle devices.
When you consider the strong downward price movement of e-book reader hardware in general, and the Kindle reader in particular, you have to wonder whether we may even see Amazon giving Kindle readers away for free in the not so distant future. It would probably be a gift that came with strings attached. Members of Amazon Prime (Amazon’s premium express delivery service) could perhaps qualify. Perhaps they could launch some kind of e-book club where a commitment to buying a certain number of books in a given period of time would qualify members for a free Kindle – a sort of digital book of the month club. There are a number of different options which could, very possibly, make this a feasible business model for Amazon assuming that e-book reader prices continue to trend downwards.
The simple fact that this option is achievable for Amazon, but not for the vast majority of their competition, must make it a scenario which they will need to give serious consideration to. It’s certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility.
Amazon’s Kindle Reader Is Selling Like Hot Cakes
by tkahuna2
Filed under Massage Chair Review
The newly upgraded Amazon Kindle reader is flying off the shelves. Amazon advise that it is selling quicker than any earlier version of the Kindle did in the same post launch period. It’s a long way from the demise of the Kindle which was predicted by many reviewers following the appearance of the Apple iPad on the market.
Regardless of all the hype surrounding the iPad, and despite sosme adverse reaction to the omission of a color screen, the inability to play video and a browser which is rudimentary at best, Amazon has steadfastly retained the position that the Kindle is a device which is intended for use as a specialist e-book reader. The result of this is that the Kindle reader is, far and away, the best and most popular e-book reader to be found on the market today.
The new third generation Kindle has a variety of upgrades and enhancements. However, it’s clear that these are all targeted at improving the performance of the Kindle as an e-book reader rather than introducing new functions in different areas which might make the device more multi-functional (like Apple’s iPad for instance).
For any e-book reader, the display is definitely one of the key characteristics. Amazon’s e-ink technology display, which was already excellent, has had its contrast increased by 50%. This makes it better than ever to read on. The display size is maintained at 6″ – across the diagonal – but the overall weight and size of the device has been reduced.
In addition to the reduced physical dimensions, a revamped QWERTY keyboard – which now has four rows of keys instead of previous five – the use of smaller buttons, to turn the page and the repositioning of the D-pad control, mean that the Kindle is even easier to use with only one hand than it was previously. Navigation is a breeze on the new Kindle.
The available operating time between battery charges has also been prolonged. With the Wi-Fi turned off, it’s now possible to go for up to as month between charges. Memory storage is doubled from 2GB to 4GB. That’s enough capacity for up to 3,500 books.
One of the most important new features must be the introduction of a new Wi-Fi only model for just $ 139. This is ideal for anyone who doesn’t anticipate the need for 3G connectivity. The Wi-Fi plus 3G model is on sale for $ 189. Which one you select will be dependant upon your own personal requirements – but the fact that both models include lifetime internet access in the selling price, and that there are no monthly fees, remains a massive advantage for the Kindle.
Although the Kindle success story looks pretty much unstoppable right now, Amazon are not getting complacent about its ongoing development. They are currently researching color e-ink technology screens, looking at options for touch screens that maintain the readability of the current e-ink technology and working on more rapid refresh rates for their displays. It’s even rumoured that they might be thinking about developing other personal electronic items. Amazon certainly show no signs of complacency.
However, it’s quite obvious that Amazon will only release new technology when it has been developed to a point where it will genuinely enhance the user experience. Amazon won’t be releasing a color display model simply because the iPad has one, or a touch screen because the Sony reader has one. They seem content to make their best selling e-book reader the best – of its kind – on the market. It’s a policy that seems to be paying dividends for them.