Amazon Kindle now avaliable in Canada

[sureLoss]

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2...a.html?ref=rss

The Kindle e-book reader is now available in Canada, Amazon.com announced Monday morning.


The e-reader sells for $259 US, plus import fees, which Amazon's website says will be about $31 per Kindle.


The e-reader will be able to wirelessly download books, magazines and newspapers over 3G cellular networks. Amazon's news release didn't say which cellphone network the Kindle will work on.


The e-reader's web browser and blog subscription service will not work in Canada, according to the description on Amazon.com, but customers will have free access to Wikipedia.


The Kindle can to store about 1,500 books in its two gigabytes of memory.
"We know that Canadians are passionate about books and reading, and we're excited to make Kindle available to our customers there," said Ian Freed, vice-president of Kindle, in a statement. "Kindle enables customers around the world including Canada to think of a book and start reading it in under 60 seconds."


The Kindle Store has 300,000 book titles, which Amazon says are typically $12 or less.


As well, the Globe and Mail, the National Post and Canwest's major daily newspapers will join the list of newspapers and magazines available for purchase from the Kindle Store.

[Russic]

If I could read longer than 20 seconds in a moving ctrain without feeling like I was going to puke I'd be all over this. Unfortunately my new love is audiobooks, so something like this doesn't appeal to me a whole lot. If I was back in school and there was a way to get textbooks on it though it would be incredible.

[photon]

Yeah I'm more into audiobooks now, but so many books I want to read aren't on audiobook so I still want a reader.

Probably not the Kindle though, the smaller Sony one is about perfect I think, smaller screen and more portable. Though the new B&N one looks cool.

[Tyler]

I want the Nook way more than the Kindle.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Tyler

I want the Nook way more than the Kindle.

I'm not a nook person, sorry....couldn't resist, just wanted to get that in there.


So for eReader and audio book people, I'm curious - do you feel like you absorb and retain info from these new forms of books as effectively? I've just started using audiobooks from audible.com to catch up on some non-fiction "reading" I've been meaning to do and I'm curious for those that have used these forms of "reading" longer than me if you would say your overall benefit has been the same.

I'm sure that audio books are going to enable me to get through more content, because I can listen in the car, doing dishes, etc, but I'm wondering if that is offset by the fact that most of the time I'm mildly multitasking while listening. For sure, I've found that I can't listen to an audio book while working, its too distracting.

[photon]

I read pretty quickly so I find that audiobooks are slow compared to reading. Although I'm starting to experiment with speeding up the playback.

Though on the other hand it is nice to be forced to process every word, sometimes I skim through fiction too much and miss some important things.

I can't listen to audiobooks while I work either, but I can't listen to any music with words while I work; it has to be classical or something otherwise it's too distracting to me.

But as you say I can listen while driving, doing chores, before going to bed, etc, so I like that.

Still want an ebook reader because some kinds of books don't lend themselves to audiobooks (more technical books) and lots of books don't come out on audiobook.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

I'm not a nook person, sorry....couldn't resist, just wanted to get that in there.


So for eReader and audio book people, I'm curious - do you feel like you absorb and retain info from these new forms of books as effectively? I've just started using audiobooks from audible.com to catch up on some non-fiction "reading" I've been meaning to do and I'm curious for those that have used these forms of "reading" longer than me if you would say your overall benefit has been the same.

I'm sure that audio books are going to enable me to get through more content, because I can listen in the car, doing dishes, etc, but I'm wondering if that is offset by the fact that most of the time I'm mildly multitasking while listening. For sure, I've found that I can't listen to an audio book while working, its too distracting.

I found it took me a few hours to find a proper strategy. Once I did I'd say I can easily retain as much or more info. I have the problem when I'm reading a book of having my mind wander and my eyes just graze over the words. Next thing I know I'm 10 pages from where I was and I have no clue what's happened.

I get motion sick when I try and read in a car or on the ctrain. Audiobooks have been an absolute savior because of this. I tried to incorporate them into other areas of my life (dog walking, before bed, doing chores etc,) and it didn't work as well. I find I still need to be almost completely free of distraction when listening. Perhaps I'm not a multi-tasker.

By far the hardest thing to do for me is listen in bed. I really like the fact I can get through a book without light, but it puts me to sleep immediately. This was an unforeseen benefit ... it's like being a kid again and having somebody read you a story when you can't sleep. I usually listen to something I've listened to before, otherwise I miss out on what's going on.

I MUCH prefer the process of listening to the book over reading it. While on vacation my favorite time was sitting in my camping chair at a lake and just watching the water while listening. It sounds strange, but I also dislike the act of holding a book. Whether it's in bed or in a chair, I can never find a comfortable position. My arms always get more tired than my eyes so i find myself wanting to read more but having to constantly shift around.

[photon]

Heh, I listen to audiobooks in bed a lot, only to wake up at 3:00am with the book still going! Then it takes me 5 minutes the next day to figure out where I "left off".

[Sliver]

Do you guys have the audiobooks app for your iPhone? I downloaded it the other day but haven't used it yet. All audiobooks are free and the app was only a couple of bucks IIRC.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by photon

Heh, I listen to audiobooks in bed a lot, only to wake up at 3:00am with the book still going! Then it takes me 5 minutes the next day to figure out where I "left off".

It takes me wayyy more than 5 minutes. I must periodically wake up in the night, hear a few minutes and then fall asleep again. I did this once with a 14 hour book that ran for probably 9 hours while I was sleeping. For the next week everytime I'd listen to it I'd catch snippets that I'd already heard. It was like watching Memento ... everything seemed out of order.

[NSFL]

Originally Posted by Russic

I found it took me a few hours to find a proper strategy. Once I did I'd say I can easily retain as much or more info. I have the problem when I'm reading a book of having my mind wander and my eyes just graze over the words. Next thing I know I'm 10 pages from where I was and I have no clue what's happened.

I get motion sick when I try and read in a car or on the ctrain. Audiobooks have been an absolute savior because of this. I tried to incorporate them into other areas of my life (dog walking, before bed, doing chores etc,) and it didn't work as well. I find I still need to be almost completely free of distraction when listening. Perhaps I'm not a multi-tasker.

By far the hardest thing to do for me is listen in bed. I really like the fact I can get through a book without light, but it puts me to sleep immediately. This was an unforeseen benefit ... it's like being a kid again and having somebody read you a story when you can't sleep. I usually listen to something I've listened to before, otherwise I miss out on what's going on.

I MUCH prefer the process of listening to the book over reading it. While on vacation my favorite time was sitting in my camping chair at a lake and just watching the water while listening. It sounds strange, but I also dislike the act of holding a book. Whether it's in bed or in a chair, I can never find a comfortable position. My arms always get more tired than my eyes so i find myself wanting to read more but having to constantly shift around.

You've given me an idea. I'm going to start a podcast. I'm going to pick a book, read a chapter for each podcast and post it. People can download it as a sleeping aid and I get practice with my diction. And I know I've got a great speaking voice, the stalker that constantly calls work tells me so.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Russic

I MUCH prefer the process of listening to the book over reading it. While on vacation my favorite time was sitting in my camping chair at a lake and just watching the water while listening. It sounds strange, but I also dislike the act of holding a book. Whether it's in bed or in a chair, I can never find a comfortable position. My arms always get more tired than my eyes so i find myself wanting to read more but having to constantly shift around.

I don't know how many times I've been lying in bed reading, and drifted off daydreaming about building some kind of contraption mounted on the ceiling that I could put my book into and move around so that I could read lying on my back or either side, and only have to move to flip a page every minute or so.
5 minutes later, I realize that I've read a bunch of pages of my book and was not paying attention at all.

[Burninator]

I am pretty tempted to get one of these. Especially now that the hardware is improved and it works in Canada, obviously.

I like the idea of having the "book" I am reading to be the same small size. I do the majority of my reading on the train, so I tend to avoid hardcovers since they can be harder to hold. This looks like it can be easily held in one hand.

My book shelf at home is almost full and I don't really have the space to buy another one. I seldom re-read my books, so if the format happens to be lost in a couple years I don't think I would be too upset. I do, however, like the idea of displaying my books. Although I did think the same with my CD's and DVD's, but now I don't really care, especially with my music. I am more concerned with my music with how I have digitally organized rather than displayed on a shelf.

Downloading a book in 60 seconds seems fantastic. Currently I have been buying my books in bulk, so to speak. I have a huge list of books I want to read and then I select a dozen or so, buy them online and then have them shipped. On one of my last orders I bought Dune by Frank Herbert. Well I wanted to read the next book in the series right after, but I had a shelf full of other books I had already bought. So I am having to wait until all those books are read before I could justify buying more. This wouldn't be the case with an e-reader.

However the upfront cost of the Kindle (or other e-readers) is kind of steep. I calculate that the Kindle would cost about $335 after shipping and exchange rates to get to my door. Obviously the books are cheaper to buy, but it would still take a couple (several?) dozen purchases to make up the cost. Now I do read about a book a week but even still I think buying the Kindle on it's book saving price alone, probably isn't worth it. But that isn't the only reason to buy it.

[The Ditch]

Yeah I asked for one for Christmas from a couple of people, I don't really care much for having the actual book, I have really no where to put my books anyways after I'm done reading them and it can be annoying when you have a book on your list and you can't find it anywhere and you have to get it ordered in.

[Homer_J]

We use this crazy thing called a library card. It's a really good deal.

Seriously though, the Kindle looks really cool. If we had some cash to burn I would definitely buy one for my wife. She reads more books in a month than I do in an entire year. I just don't make the time to read. I might have to try audio books.

[Slava]

I thought that I would bump this old thread. I was surprised with a Kindle for Christmas and it doesn't disappoint! I love reading on it so far and its very cool. Once all of the features are up and running in Canada (which will hopefully be soon!) it will be even better. To me the best things about it are:

1. downloads books fast. In less than a minute easily I'd say.
2. you can read PDF's on it pretty easily. In the US you can email them to a dedicated Kindle address and they convert them. Here I had to plug it in through a USB and move it over. Either way if you have a lot of these things to read its a nice addition.
3. I read multiple books at a time, and this always holds your spot. Again, just a nice additional feature!
4. No more going outside for the morning paper, or hoping that the paperboy has made it or didn't throw it off into the snowbank!

Some drawbacks as well. For some reason in Canada you don't download photos in the newspaper...which means no ads (awesome!) but that also means no photos accompanying articles (not so awesome).

The kindle can also do audio books from audible.com if you're into that sort of thing. I usually buy these on iTunes if I want one for a drive or something like that, but I guess for some people this might be of interest.

Overall, I think that its awesome. Once they make these full colour and with all of the images and everything included they'll be an absolute must have!

[The Ditch]

Yeah I have no complaints about my Kindle. The screen is very easy on the eyes probably the one thing I was worried about.

[metallicat]

I got my mom one for Christmas, and she seems to like it. I set up her amazon kindle account, and added my iphone as a secondary unit. The iphone app is free, and I get every book she buys on my iphone as well. One thing I haven't figured out yet though, is if she's reading a book, does it save that spot on my iphone as well? I wouldn't want to screw up her spot in a book because I decided to start reading it as well.