Duchess of Evil

I have had a Tivo since sometime in 2005. Fandom made me do it, really. Our VCR had broken, and those were still in the days of Alias, first fandom love of my life. Many on my f-list kept talking about "Tivo" and it seemed like such a cool device. I got one, my husband grumbled about the monthly fee, but it was without a doubt one of those pieces of technology that changed our lives. Maybe not in any big, foundational way, but still. Entertainment was never the same.

So, thinking about that - 2005 - you can imagine how old that Tivo is. It records 80 hours of TV...if you record it at the worst possible quality. We don't, and so that box fills quickly. We are constantly playing this game of what to watch to delete off, in order to make sure everything records properly. Each year when the networks rearrange their schedules, I cringe at something that I can't watch. This year, it was Chuck and Nikita. Star Wars: The Clone Wars and to a lesser degree of importance, Thundercats are pretty much the two shows my husband never misses. they are non-negotiable, and so other things paid the price when their networks inexplicably moved them to Friday night time slots. (Seriously, why Friday night??)

Added to this mix, we actually have an HD TV (mostly for my husband's xbox gaming) but even with an HD signal, our Tivo only records at standard quality. This might have been fine on our old television, but I've gotten used to a slightly grainy appearance since we acquired the lovely new television a few years back.

All of these frustrations end this weekend! Some friends of ours, who we (evilly, I'm told) introduced to Tivo, got us possibly the best Christmas present ever! A Tivo Premiere Elite! 300 hours of recording time in HD! Four shows at once! Lifetime freaking subscription! I will never have to sacrifice one show in favor of another again! I will never have to pay that stupid monthly fee! Best Tivo ever!

We don't have it set up yet, but we soon will. And then...bring it, network television, with your inconsistent scheduling. HAhahahahahahahahahaHAHAHA!

Hmm, that got a little crazy sounding. Maybe I've been even more frustrated than I realized with these issues.

My Kindle arrived at lunch time today, and I have been playing with it ever since:




There are a LOT of readers and writers on my f-list, so let me start this by saying, I have a lot of reasons for getting a kindle. I was very against the idea when it first came out, being very much a part of the "look, feel, smell" of real books crowd, plus the added bonus of "I buy a book, and it goes on my bookshelf forever". But the simple, sad fact is, that unless I win the lottery some time soon, my small house can only hold so many actual books. In the past few years, my bookshelves have gone from neat, alphabetized, and orderly, to a towering mess of books stacked three deep with no good way of finding any damn thing. I hate not being able to find a book when I want it, and we simply have no space to add more bookshelves. Yet every month, I buy more books to read, and it seems I want to keep most of them.

That being said, the number of "special" books I would actually cry over if lost in a house fire is much, much smaller. I could have manageable book shelves with them, even adding more every year. I am not giving up my beloved paper books, but I see the Kindle as a way to save me (and my husband, who graciously puts up with my book buying habit) from being buried under stacks of books. I read a book, on average, in two to three days. I'm reading all the time, unless I'm writing. This is far from my only reason for buying a Kindle, but being unhappy about the state of my books is the main reason. There will always be hard copy books I will buy. Just not all of them.

(That, and how cool will it be to read my own books on this thing? Hee!)

Okay, enough of that.

First impressions

~ First, it truly is the approximate size of a mass market paperback (as you can see in the above picture). It's about an inch wider and half an inch longer, but makes up for that by being slimmer and lighter.

~ It is impossible to describe the screen. You just have to see it for yourself, as pictures do not translate the look of electronic ink/paper well. You look at that pic above, and think "monochrome...yuck". But the reality is this: the technology for producing, particularly at a reasonable price, full color E-Ink screens is just not there yet. And also, the black on gray here is shockingly easy on the eyes. Guys, I am on a computer practically 24/7. I sit at one for work 40 hours a week, I write, edit, check LJ and e-mail at home...I can actually feel a difference when reading on the Kindle, the E-Ink is really that remarkable. I have seen people complain about it being black on gray instead of black on white. Have you picked up a paperback lately? Do so now, flip it open. What color is the paper? Yes, gray. Black on gray. I have no real evidence to support this, but - I actually wonder if the black on gray is easier on the eyes that the more stark black on white would be? An interesting question.

~ I have read the first two chapters of the newest Mary Janice Davidson hardcover (for the Kindle friendly price of $9.99), and I can already tell I will be in love with this product. I d/led it in under 30 seconds on my lunch hour, and started reading. I didn't have to drive to the store, or pay the hefty $23.95 HC price. And when I'm done with it, I can move on to one of the other new books I d/led. This is unspeakably convenient. You should seriously see the stack of books that is ALWAYS on my nightstand. I love the idea of having all of those books in one handy, slim package.

~ Yes, the page fwd buttons are in the worst possible location. But I've already figured out how to hold it to read without accidentally hitting them, and I've only had the thing a matter of hours.

~ I've also already sent a couple of books I owned as html files to amazon for conversion. They came out just fine, which opens up the possibility for buying ebooks not yet available on the Kindle (though amazon is adding more titles every day.)

I haven't yet tried taking notes or browsing, but so far, I am very pleased with it, and believe it will function very well in the capacity for which it was purchased. I see people bitching all over the place about "if only it were $100 cheaper" and I shake my head. That $359 is the last money you'll have to spend. There are tons of sources for free ebooks - the classics, anyway. And I won't be spending anymore on Kindle books than I already was on actual books. You don't have to pay a fee to download, or a fee for the always connected wireless. As far as techie gadgets go, I think $359 is pretty reasonable. Other, comparably priced e-readers, or even more expensive ones, don't do everything the Kindle does. And ironically, the same people who think the price is too rich for their blood probably own an Xbox, or a Playstation, or an iPod, or a Tivo...techie gadgets aren't cheap, and if you love to read, I think the kindle is worth it. (As an aside, you can bet that if I worked in the publishing field - ie editor or agent, reading tons of manuscripts - I'd have one and use it every single day.) And I can't tell you how nice it is that I will no longer have to pack three or four heavy books to get me through when I travel. :)

I'll write a more in depth review as I use more features, but for now, I'm extremely happy with my new gadget. :D

Because I am obsessive like that...

Currently available titles that would be "musts" on Rhien's Kindle:

Anne McCaffrey's entire Pern bibliography, but most notably The Dragonriders of Pern and The Harper Hall Trilogy

(Why in the hell do they have Dune Messiah available for kindle, but not the original Dune? Also, no Harry Potter as yet. FAIL, Amazon!)

J.D. Robb's ...in Death series

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books.

Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books.

Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series.

Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books.

Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series.

Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series.

Anything and everything by Neil Gaiman.

So many, many more.

Also, there are free places to d/l Kindle compatible Jane Austen, Alexander Dumas, Shakespeare and other "classic" must-haves. Free is good.

Apparently Coinstar offers amazon gift certificates in place of actual $$ - this may necessitate rounding up of all the copious loose change in my house. I don't know how long the siren lure of the Kindle can be denied. Blast and dang that this has hit halfway smack in between my birthday and Christmas, or you can bet I'd be hitting up family and friends for Amazon gift cards.

Sooooo....those of you who know us IRL, we're not exactly advertising it, but Mark and I have new laptops - make that MacBooks. We've been circling around the idea for some time; our IBMs are starting to do odd, old-laptop stuff, and mine is so fraught with spyware and crap that I'm tired of dealing with (not to mention the 'z' key that doesn't work)...well, the upshot is, we've splurged and bought new laptops.

I am both excited and apprehensive. I have never used a Mac before, ever, but I'm not sorry to say good-bye to viruses, spyware and other associated Windows foibles.

So far, my MacBook is very pretty, but I'm starting to get nervous about not being able to use certain, beloved programs.

Semagic, for posting to LJ. In fact, I use Semagic to post simultaneously to my LJ, GJ, and IJ. Is there a similar Mac client that will do the same? I've d/led iJournal, but so far I can't see how it would llow me to post to multiple journals at once.

Photoshop...how will I make icons?! I've had PS 7 since I joined fandom. It took me months to figure out how to do cool stuff with it. I am biting my nails wondering what I'm going to do now.

Word - I'm not too worried about this one yet. Supposedly, Open Office allows you to save things as Word docs, which is my primary objective. My work computer is a PC, and I HAVE to be able to easily swap files back and forth between the laptop and work.

Those are my biggie concerns. I've already d/led and installed Firefox for Macs. Nothing against Safari, but I love Firefox. *clings to familiar*

Um, any advice, Mac users?

ETA: Well, I've installed Office Mac and Photoshop for Mac.  I've copied over all of my files and bookmarks, and I gotta say, this baby runs very. very smoothly.  With all my old programs (in new incarnations) it even almost feels like home. 

But I still haven't found a client for it like Semagic that allows me to post to multiple journals at once.  :((  And there are some things I'm definitely 'learning' how to get use to.  The keyboard feels very different from my thinkpad, and that's really my largest concern.  Above all, my computer must be a tool for writing.  I'm sure I'll get used to it.  I hope.