Kindle: good for reading, not for anything else

But then, it doesn't need to be.

When I first tried out the Kindle, a few things made for a jarring introduction:
(1) the screen flashes black-with-white-text when you turn the page, (2) the large button on the left-hand side turns forward one page (sorry, left-handed folks, this is just too weird), (3) you can't adjust the zoom/amount of text per screen (or, I couldn't easily figure out how to do so) and (4) the square controller is small and it's far too easy to hit "Back" instead.

Once I got past these peccadilloes, though, the Kindle was a surprisingly enjoyable experience. The varied screensavers of authors and illustrations warmed my literary heart, the lack of backlight was a nice change, and it's incredibly light and sturdy. In fact, in one way it's actually superior to a print book -- I could read it while walking to and from the Metro. (Travel at your own risk.)

I read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and found myself able to focus on the story and mostly forget that I was reading it on the Kindle. Trying to navigate to another book, do anything interactive ("Tweet that you have finished this book"? "Rate this book?"), or find any features or settings (see zoom issues above) was considerably more difficult, or at least not immediately intuitive. I'm not particularly tech-savvy, but it can't be too complicated - can it? (Help me out here, Kindle users.) Bottom line, though: I really enjoyed the Kindle as a device for reading.

Who needs technology? Just give me a book - electronic or otherwise.

More Free ePublishing Related Stuff

My dad is seriously a rockstar when it comes to finding free design things.

Here's a link he sent me today from Smashing Magazine, an online magazine for designers and developers. While the site itself is a pretty cool one, right now they're doing something even cooler.

In celebration of their 5th anniversary, the are giving away a free ebook!

The "Best of Smashing Magazine" anniversary ebook promises to...

"contain the best articles that have been published on Smashing Magazine in the last five years — and by “best,” we mean the most useful, most interesting or most inspiring. The articles have been carefully edited, proofread and updated for your convenience and reading pleasure on your eBook reader. 

It discusses usability issues and the principles of effective Web design. It covers the guidelines for beautiful and effective typography, and it spotlights methods of responsive Web design. In addition, you’ll learn how to master professional Photoshop techniques, explore storytelling in your designs, and focus on three key areas to polish your content strategy. Never thought that harmony between designers and developers was possible? Dig in to see how the two camps can collaborate productively and learn from each other."

It's available in PDF, ePUB, and Mobipocket formats and you can either download it through iTunes (for convenient viewing on an iPad, iPod, or fancy-schmancy iPhone) or directly on the page I've linked to (for viewing on everything else).

I don't know abut you, but I'm pretty excited and can't wait to check this out.

Free Webinar

If anyone's interested, Allen Press is offering a free webinar on Publication Ethics (mostly as it relates to scholarly publishing, but still of interest):

http://allenpress.com/events/webinar

November 16 | 11:00 am CST
Publication Ethics: Plagiarism, Misconduct, and Retractions

You have to register, but it's free to participate.

Cruel to be Kind-le

Okay, first off, I don't like technology. I wrote a whole blog about my first experience with the Kindle and I made sure to save my progress when I couldn't think of what else to save. I go to click "Publish Post" and it takes me to the log in page (even though I'm already logged in), so I log in again but it says ERROR and takes me back to the home page. I go to the draft where it should have been saved and all I find is a blank blog! >:o (GRRRRRR!!!!!!)

So here it goes again....

I have been shopping around for a Kindle before I received this one for a test run. At first, I could not find the on/off switch (why is it located on the bottom?). I don't like the flicker of the screen between "pages;" I kept freaking out that the device was going to crash. It took awhile getting used to. As my apartment got darker, I expected the screen to automatically brighten (since family members kept telling me that the screen brightness adjusts to its atmosphere). Also, I kept trying to flip the page with my finger (since I'm so used to playing with my aunt's iPad). In addition, I couldn't figure out how to change the screen saver (or background picture). I would just keep turning it on and off til I found a picture I liked. How do you change the picture? No one would tell me how and I couldn't find the time to figure it out (midterm and various projects to do). I had difficulty highlighting at first, and I couldn't figure out how to see other people's notes. Also, I noticed that the ride side buttons on the device are really easy to push and a little sensitive. I would be reading one page and my hand would accidentally brush up against it and it would change pages on me. The left side button were hard to push, and sometimes when I would press < it would not recognize the command, and it would stay on the same page.

I thought it was funny to see Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on the Kindle since I just bought it from Amazon. I selected the novel and started to flip through it, but I didn't see any illustrations. My print copy includes the original illustrations and I thought it was sad that the Kindle edition did not include the beautiful pictures for readers to enjoy. Even though the Kindle had the novel I wanted to read, I couldn't find myself to read it on the Kindle. I have never read Alice before and I wanted my first time reading it to be with a print edition, not an e-version. I decided to flip through Stars Collide and I found many mistakes, such as large breaks in sentences and a few grammatical errors.

Overall, I can see why the Kindle has appeal; it is cool and sleek, and easy to read off of the screen. I also like that I had many novels in one easily portable device. I could see myself on traveling with it. However, I do not think that I'll be buying one anytime soon. I don't think that I am ready to switch over just yet. Don't get me wrong; I am still shopping around for a Kindle that will fit me (or maybe a Nook). I think that if I had a Kindle right now, I would only be using it for school and reading textbooks off of it. Sadly, many textbooks are not available for the Kindle. Oh well... Maybe I will buy it as a graduation gift? =]

Oh and I was wondering what it would be like to read a poem or a Shakespeare play on the Kindle. Whenever I purchase my Kindle, the first thing I am buying is The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Yes, I am a dork. Yes, I'm proud of it.

Kodansha Files: Manga in Uncharted Waters

Ten years ago, manga took the US by storm and cemented its place in pop culture. Kodansha Ltd, in particular managed to beat out its Japanese competitors by licensing its vast library to numerous overseas markets. However, with the global recession, declining manga sales and shrinking retail outlets, Kodansha along with other manga publishers needed to go back to the drawing board.

It no longer made sense for manga publishers to solely license their titles to TokyoPop; they no longer needed an intermediary to re-release their work. With the introduction of new technologies and scanlations incidents increasing, Japanese publishers needed to upgrade their "traditional business model." Viz Media, a Japanese manga publisher, responded to the new developments by making their presence in America a focal point. (More on that later)

Kodansha Ltd, on the other hand, had yet to take the lead. That was until July 1, 2008 when Kodansha USA was incorporated.

Kodansha USA Timeline - July 10, 2008
1997 – Mixx, before it became known as TokyoPop, started translating Kodansha titles and publishing English editions of the Sailor Moon, Ice Blade and Magic Knight

2003 – Del Ray Manga and Kodansha create a “creative partnership. This came about following an alliance between Random House and Kodansha.

July 1, 2008 – Kodansha USA was incorporated.

Article: The Kodansha Fallout: More Manga Changes?
By: Benjamin Ong Pang Kean
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080710-Kodanshamanga01.html

The Changing Manga Scene-What Does the Future Hold - July 21, 2008
Jake Forbes, a former TokyoPop editor states, “I think the days of licensed-based publishing being big business are over.”

He continues,”…Japanese publishers don't need a middleman. Viz [Media] is the evidence and exception to this – they are perceived as a licensee, and to a large degree they function like one, but they are also owned by the companies that provide most of their content, the biggest manga publishers in Japan, Shueisha and Shogakukan (which in turn share the same ownership, but maintain the appearance of competitors in Japan).

By: Benjamin Ong Pang Kean
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080718-MangaFuture.html,

Kodansha Sets Up to Publish Manga in U.S. - Oct 05, 2009
“In recent years speculations over its plans have grown as Kodansha allowed many of its American licenses to expire. Indeed, in recent weeks Kodansha announced that it would not renew any of its licenses to Tokyopop—among them such hit series as LoveHina, Chobits, Rave Master, Beck, Initial D and Sailor Moon.”

By Calvin Reid
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/15206-kodansha-sets-up-to-publish-manga-in-u-s-.html

Random House to Shift Manga Publishing to Kodansha USA Publishing - October 4, 2010
"Kodansha and Random House announced that the US division of Kodansha will take over publishing over all Del Rey Manga titles as well as their own manga, starting in December [2010]."

"[It] will be under the direction of president and CEO of Kodansha USA Publishing, Yoshio Irie."
Reid continues, "...The Del Rey Manga list has been licensed entirely from Kodansha Ltd. under a co-publishing agreement between the two houses.

While Irie emphasized that KUP will gradually take over Del Rey’s licensed manga, he also said that they will evaluate each series on a per-title basis to decide which series KUP has “the capacity” to continue."

• Remember this name, he will play a bigger role in reshaping Kodansha Ltd. in the future. He will also play a large role in making Kodansha USA a force to be reckoned with. (hopefully).

By Calvin Reid
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/comics/article/44698-random-house-to-shift-manga-publishing-to-kodansha-usa-publishing.html

Conclusion
Traditionally Japanese manga publishers used an intermediary such as TokyoPop and Del Ray Manga to release their titles overseas. At the time this made perfect sense-- these publishers had a presence in US markets. However, Viz Media broke against the grain by making their presence in the US market a center focus.

Kodansha Ltd. may have taken longer to follow, but this eventually followed suit. The creation of Kodansha USA is a clear sign that Kodansha Ltd, intends to break uncharted ground and become a force to be reckoned with.

Will this shift in the business model pay off? Can Kodansha USA truly rival Del Ray Manga? And how will emerging technologies affect its success?

Those answers and more in The Kodansha Files Oct.30 entry (well at least some of those answers will be).

Latesha Goodmna
An Unconventional Publisher Confesses

BTW: Image is courtesy Wikipedia, the US title is Tramps Like Us. I heart this cover it screams forbidden.

Me and The Pad

Day 1: Me Against the Metro

The Crystal City Squeeze

Class entry coming Monday night. Here's some of my adventures in the meantime. Don't be mad Professor Grossblatt.

Me Against The Metro...Lived to Tell the Tale

My First: Experiencing the Kindle

I had never really used an e-reader before, so when I got the Kindle for a week I figured I would either want to go out and buy one immediately, especially since books are so much cheaper through e-pub, or I would stick to my printed copies. Sadly, my experience has left me in the latter category, for now.

Upon looking at the Kindle, I thought, "This is not aesthetically pleasing at all." It wasn't shiny nor was there any color - anywhere -. However, the cover page reminded me of Renaissance art, which I am a big fan of, so I figure maybe I'll be more inclined to like this device if I turned it on. I liked the ease of turning it on, just a simple slide of the button; that was a plus; however, there was not hold button to keep it from accidentally turning off or on, and then I realized that the setting of the screen hadn't deviated much from the cover; it was still just a dull gray background and black font. It took me a while to get acclimated to having the keyboard right at my fingertips and how to use the "Home," "Back," and arrow keys without completely losing my place in the book. I thought it was rather strange that the full keyboard was missing numbers, especially when the idea occurred to me that I could use folio as my page marker.  After a little prodding, I found the numbers under the "Sym" key, but why couldn't they have placed the numbers on the keyboard as most devices do?

On the bright side, it was very easy to read on the device, a major plus, but I just couldn't read on it for very long, whether it was boredom from the gray and black or me just not being use to reading on e-readers, I don't know. I don't even know what I was expecting the Kindle to be able to do or what kind of experience it was suppose to leave me with. But, what I do know is the Kindle isn't going to replace my prints because, for being the first, it wasn't very satisfying.

On using the iPad2

The iPad2 reading feature simulates the look of a physical book by displaying two side-by-side pages, with a hint of the rest of the book behind it. The illusion causes the reader to view something more like a photo of a book, rather than just the text you might see on other e-readers. While I initially liked this concept, what this means in practice is that the margins are larger, the gutter is disproportionately large, and there is less space for text. I found myself turning the page more frequently than necessary. I thought they could have put more text on each page.

I did however enjoy the simulated feature of 'turning the page' because the reader can see the 'digital' page folding back as you move further into the book. While it's a completely unnecessary feature, I have to admit it is cool.

One of the pre-downloaded items on our iPad (not all iPads) is an awesome interactive book, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, which at its core seeks to redefine what a book is; combining an assortment of typical media-associated elements (video, audio, interactivity touch screen) with the text of the story. The reader hears audio, sees video and text as they move through the book; and they are REQUIRED to interact with the touch screen to progress in the story. It was reminiscent of the Jolly Post Man books we had when we were younger, which sought to bring the reader further into a story by adding tactical elements required to move the story forward (taking letter out of envelope, unfolding, reading, placing back into envelope). Flying Books of course goes several steps beyond that, (several light years beyond that), but the feeling is somewhat similar. I'd be interested to see what the future holds for this type of mixed-media book.

To Summarize:
The color and text clarity is fabulous and what you would expect from an Apple product. I can see the real value in using an iPad to read the newspaper, magazine, Internet articles, and consume multi-media items. I don't see the necessity for reading a completely textual novel in color, and therefore the necessity for using an iPad to do so. [It's akin to using your car as a storage unit; yes you can do that, but my god it can do so much more! Just turn on the engine.]

Netflix kills plan to separate Qwikster, streaming services - Oct. 10, 2011

Breaking News:

I'm changing my article to

Kodansha Debuts Manga iPad App at New York Comic Con

See ya next class!
UPDATE: Calvin Reid from Publishers Weekly viewed The Kodansha Files and liked it! I have to pinch myself, this is a HUGE compliment. He wants to keep in touch, very excited.

Just wanted to share that tidbit of info.

I heart Sailor Moon (Calvin Reid's Kodansha articles)

ePublishing and InDesign

My dad (a huge technology nerd) just sent me this link to several podcasts that demonstrate how to take a book you've designed in InDesign and create an ePub version and I thought I'd share it in case anyone was doing InDesign/book design for your skills project.

You'll have to create a username to login.

Free Book Offer From Scholastic

I just posted this on my tracking a publisher blog, but I thought I'd post it here too, just in case any of you know any little people (or their parents) that would want to know how to get $5 to use with Scholastic Book Club orders or the online Scholastic store...

Check out this spectacular offer from Kellogg's, Walmart, and Scholastic...

Right now, Walmart's shelves are filled with free books. Well, technically, they're filled with boxes of food, which have codes that when entered online will give you a $5 coupon to buy books.

There is a code on specially-marked boxes of Kellogg's products — the good ones that you would buy anyway, like Frosted Mini Wheats, Fruit Loops, Eggo Waffles, Pop Tarts, Cheez-its, and tons of others — that you can redeem on the Scholastic website for a free $5 coupon. It takes two codes to get the five bucks, but you can redeem as many as you want... so if you buy 10 boxes of Cheez-its (my personal favorite) you get $25 to use at the online Scholastic Store or Scholastic Book Clubs.

The downside? You can only use one $5 coupon per transaction. So, while you can get a $5 book for free (plus shipping at the online store), you can't get $25 worth of books for free all in one go.

But hey, it's $5 for books from things you'd buy anyway.

So get shopping! All you have to do is figure out which book to get. Good thing Scholastic has thoughtfully selected their top picks for under $5. Just make sure to redeem your coupons by July 1.

Kindle Experience Reinforces First Impressions

I’ve never really been interested in joining the Kindle craze. When I recently had the opportunity to try it, I decided to read an entire book on it to give it a fair assessment before final judgment.

When I was a third of the way through the book, I had to put the Kindle in my bag to pick up later. When I pulled it out to read, I found that it had turned on in my bag and had skipped all the way to the end of the book. Since I hadn’t bookmarked the page I was on, I had to start over and page forward until I finally found where I had left off. The page buttons and the power button are too easy to accidentally hit.

Also, the keyboard at the bottom not only looks stupid, but it makes it awkward to hold when you’re reading. I didn’t like the pictures on the screen when you turned it off. I couldn’t find any way to turn them off all together or pick a specific picture to use each time. About the only thing I liked about it was the screen when I was reading, but I can get that on the Sony e-reader.

I have used the Sony e-reader and the different e-reader apps on my tablet, and both are so much nicer to read on than the Kindle. I was disappointed when I couldn’t go to the table of contents and skip directly to a specific chapter like on the Sony or my tablet.

So now that I’ve tried the Kindle, I’m sticking with my first impression. You won’t see my waiting in line for the next Kindle. Instead, I’ll be checking out the new Sony e-readers when they come out later this month.

It's not you...

So, I'm going through my work day routine, and I decided to look over some documents that were posted on Google Docs. I clicked on the Documents tab and up pops this sterile white and gray page with lackluster coloring.  My first reaction was, "Umm, this isn't my Google Docs, and definitely don't remember changing my layout." So, why then does my Docs have this new look? What was wrong with my old looks, which I like better, might I add? Then up pops this drab burn/washed out orange information box that proclaims,

"Google Docs has a new look! " 
"Not ready for change? Choose the classic look from the gear menu."

Since I was not ready for change, I chose to go back to the classic look. Once my Google Docs was back to the way it was meant to be, another drab burn/washed out orange information box appears and says,

"You switched back to the classic look."
"Get back to the new look from the gear menu."
"Tell us why you switched."

Ohh, I was more than happy to tell them why I switched back to the classic look. I simply explained, in 500 characters or less, "I am not ready to make that kind of commitment." Google's reply was, "Thank you for helping us improve Google Docs." This was followed by only a Help home tab. I'm sorry, did I not just leave my Google Docs home page because I was generous enough to give feedback on changes that were made to my layout without my consent, and all I get is the Help home page that again informs me that "Google Docs has a new look!" At least take me back to my classic Docs home page.

Okay, whatever, so, I guess I was ready for this next step in our relationship, but apparently you were. I just wish you would have talked with me about what you wanted before you sparng it on it and just expected me to go along with it. That was definitely not the way to go if you really want this to work between us. But, since we talked about it, and this was the first time, and we've taken a step back to the original confines of our relationship, I'm going to give you a second chance and overlook this one. I know relationships grow and things change, but

. . . I'm just not ready.   

My iPad experience...

If I summed up my experience in trying out the iPad in one word it would be “meh”.

Let’s break that down a little more, shall we:

Pro’s:

It has interactive e-books.

Reading The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce was very cool. You could touch various objects on the screen to make things happen, have the words read to you, and even play a song on a piano keyboard! I could definitely envision a kid-friendly device with interactive e-books like this for my niece. However, I would never give my 3 year old niece a $500 iPad.

It has a touchscreen.

It has a color screen.

I can use it to read e-books.

Con’s:

I can use it to read e-books.

What do I mean by this? Well, when I want to read a book, I want the experience of reading a book. So when I read an e-book, I want it to be as close to reading a real book as possible. The features available are similar to what I have on my Nook Simple Touch Reader; note-taking, dictionary look-up, book-marking, etc. However, when I sat outside for my lunch break in the beautiful late-summer sunshine and wanted to immerse myself in the world of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I couldn’t. I felt incredibly cheated that the glare on the screen kept interrupting my thoughts as I read about Elizabeth & Mr. Darcy. I kept thinking how I wish I’d brought my Nook with me instead. I prefer the non-glare, realistic-looking E-Ink to any beautifully colored screen.

While interactive books will surely flourish on the iPad, I found the normal e-book reader to be annoying. I didn’t like typing on the screen either; I prefer the tactile feel of pressing real keys. I know you can get various apps on the iPad, but it doesn’t seem to offer any features I can’t use just as well on my smartphone, and it can make phone calls! In short, I would consider it a waste of money for someone who already owns devices that serve these purposes to purchase an iPad.

Getting the No out of Nook

In only minutes my mind was made and up I knew, the color Nook is not as cool as it sounds. If only e-ink screens could come in color. How is it possible that in all this time color hasn't been incorporated with non-backlit e-readers? (See examples of e-ink technology here.)

My experience with the color Nook confirmed my thoughts that any e-reader with apps and backlit screen is just not for me. To me and many others reading is almost sacred experience. What we read becomes a part of our lives one way or another. Having "extras" are simply distractions. Well, truly, they are further ways to get us to spend more money with our device. Additions such as games and email access interrupt my reading flow and strongly deduct from my reading experience.

Frankly, I don't see the appeal of e-reader magazines. It seems like on big, inconvenient way of looking at what would be better off as just a regular webpage. Let's face it, dragging the mouse to turn a page doesn't match up and I cannot stand the constant need to zoom in and drag entire content around.

I am a nighttime reader and I cannot see myself ever falling asleep reading with a brightly lit screen. I am not opposed to using e-readers and the new Kindle Touch is more along the lines of what I would purchase for myself and recommend to others.

Ponderings on the Nook Experience

After my hopes of obtaining the iPad were dashed on Monday, I was offered the Nook Color to fill the void of my broken heart.

To my surprise, not many of my classmates have tried to obtain more free e-books or apps other than the few that were loaded on it previously. At first I thought

sweet, let me see what fantastic books I can get for free

I quickly realized, there is a reason these books are offered for free. Besides the Barnes and Nobel Classics (Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights etc.) that are offered merely based on their educational merit and "classic" nature, there are few ebooks that I considered worthy of my downloading them at all.

The browsing and searchability on the Nook was very good, and once I skimmed past the erotica and romance novels thinking..

Someone should warn parents their teens can download not so PG-13 titles for free!

I finally found some titles of moderate interest... such as "Smoothies for Health", "The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook" and "100 Quotations To Make you Think!"

After browsing through these books, although the readability of the screen was comfortable, I found myself glancing over the words quickly, falling subject to my technology ADD. I found this wasn't because of my distraction from the source I was reading from, but more because like we suggested in class, the writing is not intriguing enough to keep my attention.

These Free ebooks are not of any good quality and therefore, although addictively easy to download, not worth anyone every buying them.

I then began to browse the free apps that Nook had to offer and was pleased that you can use your Nook to organize yourself, keep track of appointments and also browse the latest news. I then stumbled upon a free app titled "RUN PEE".

Naturally, I HAD to download it.

Upon further investigations, I realized its purpose---for those of us who enjoy going to the movie theater but also buy the obscenely large soda which inevitabily causes you to have that GOTTA GO urge during a pivotal scene.

ALAS our worries are over.... now "RUN PEE" app gives you the not-so-exciting parts of the movie to run out and use the facilities so you no longer have to hold it....

Now, I know what you're thinking.. WTF?! and so was I...so I realized yet again, that free doesn't always mean awesome, and that the reason these things are free is because no one would actually PAY to have that on their Nook....


Or I guess the question is...would they?

Not In Love with This Kindle

Sooo, I've had this kindle for not even twenty four hours and I'm already over it. Maybe it's because I love my Nook and I'm bias but the arrow keys are confusing and I could live without the qwerty keyboard. I've spent about half an hour trying to figure out how to make this thing read to me (just curious to see if it will/won't work) but maybe I'm challenged and it's staring me in the face but I refuse to learn how to do it. Overall, I'm over it. But then again, I might like it if there was a book on here I'd actually want to read....

Tracking an Author

This semester, I will be tracking the famous author J. K. Rowling on my blog - http://kamer001.blogspot.com/

My reason for wanting to track this author is that in June 2011 Rowling announced that she was launching her own website Pottermore.com, which she describes as an "online reading experience unlike any other," and that the website will be built in part by the readers. The website will include: interactive activities (wand choosing, potion making, learning spells, sorting into a Hogwarts House, etc), additional information about the Harry Potter world that Rowling has kept to herself for years, and e-reader versions of the Harry Potter series available for the first time ever. General asccess to the website will be available in October 2011. The list of things that I plan to track are sale volumes of the electronic versions of her books, use of social media (updates on Facebook, Twitter, etc), general news, and updates on the website itself (when the e-books are available and whether all will be available at once or one at a time, new interactive activities, new plot lines and whether they were written by Rowling or by fans/readers, news updates, etc).

Dear Diary, I was thinking of replacing you with an iPad, but...

Here is my experience using the iPad.

I do not have an iPhone or an iMac, but I do own an iPod. I have never used an iPad.

Overall, my disappointment outweighed my delight with this device.

Pros

1. The iPad lets you hilite, make notes, easily look up words in the dictionary and search for words throughout a text. These functions are all very nice.
2. I like the different ways you can turn a page. In print books, I often begin to turn a page before I am completely done with the page I'm reading, and I discovered you can do almost the same thing on the iPad.

Cons

I encountered several things that, for me, were broken.

1. I did not know how to turn on the device. This is kind of a big deal. I figured you simply hit the small button on the bottom of the device, but I had to be told how to turn it on (I won't spoil it in case you don't know, either). I consider the on-off button to be a broken design.
2. Upon getting the machine on, I was struck by the clarity of the screen, its crispness, but also how it reflected back at me in certain lights. Also, I found myself tiring easily reading the device in dim light.
3. I poked around the Apps store. It was easy to navigate. However, when I chose to view the listings by name, there was only one option: alphabetical from A to Z. There was no option I could find that would let me search from Z to A, or even to skip ahead to B or see the listings under C without having to go through ALL the A and B listings. I give this feature a B for broken.
4. Some of the apps offer a link to the developer website. This is a nice option, and upon selection it quickly opens the Web browser to the site you chose. However, there is no "back" button to return to your spot in the Apps store. So I had to close out of the Web browser and go back and open up the Apps store again. This is annoying and broken.

Here are few broken things I encountered while reading. I opened up a sample of "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," by Jonathan Safran Foer (which I have not read, but it's on my to-read list!)

1. There are a few illustrations in the print edition. In the e-version sample, the illustrations do not appear in the same places, and they run over to two screens, so the second screen has just a sliver of the illustration, and the rest of the screen is blank. This is weird (and broken).
2. I could not figure out a way to change the view to landscape format (broken for landscape lovers).
3. There is a section in the print version where the narrator is looking at a newspaper clipping, which has been marked with a red pen. In the print book, the marking is red. In the e-version, the marking is not red (it looks like something in color that is printed in grayscale).

So overall, I would be hard pressed to purchase an iPad primarily as a reading device.