--------------------------
Dear Amazon.com Customer,
Our customers have told us that they love being able to add highlights and notes to their Kindle books. We want to make it possible for you to access your highlights and notes directly from a Web browser too. So we've released http://kindle.amazon.com, an online tool that enables you to do just that.
To try it out, go to http://kindle.amazon.com, sign in with your Amazon account, and simply select one of your books where you have added highlights or notes.
We hope you enjoy this new feature. If you have feedback please send it to us at amazonkindle-feedback@amazon.com.
The Amazon Kindle Team
---------------------------
Tellin' ya, I love the Kindle. The more I use it, the more I know that anything remotely resembling a backlit laptop, netbook or otherwise, isn't a substitute. You can use it anywhere and it's never inappropriate, because for all intents and purposes, you're reading a book or a notepad. I only refrain from using the keypad now and then, like in crowded, subdued situations, e.g. when you're in a conference session, around people eating dinner in a restaurant, etc; it can be distracting.
A while ago, I got into an online back 'n forth about the usability of a Kindle compared to a real book. One of the forum commenters said that it's harder to take notes on a Kindle, and that he'd rather just use a book.
I respect books, I own a lot of them; but fact is, we waste a LOT of paper on them, and many kinds of books aren't intended to convey that aura of "book". Technical manuals, programming books, general paperbacks, reference guides, blogs, etc., are about conveying information to me; I just want the content. For that sort of thing, if you can make a better book, which makes annotation, highlighting, clipping, bookmarking, and searching faster and more robust, you've got my interest.
The highlighting and annotation feature of a Kindle is essentially, pushing a button and moving a cursor. It can be a little awkward across pages, otherwise it's easy and fast, certainly faster than carefully drawing long horizontal lines. Clipping articles and taking notes is essentially the same thing; hit Menu, select Add Note or Clip Article, and it's done. There's keyboard shortcuts I'm sure, but the menu options don't bother me, so I haven't really explored them.
What happens to these notes, highlights, and clippings? They get stored in a sort of "book" of their own. On your main book list, you open "My Clippings", and lo and behold, there they all are. This information is actually saved to a .txt file on your Kindle (right in the root directory), so if you want, you can even move it to your computer and print or edit it. I find this VERY handy. If I could print right from the device that might be welcome, but again, the Kindle is supposed to be a better book, not a laptop or tablet; I appreciate the distinction.
All this data gets backed up to your Kindle account online via the free "Whispernet" 3g wireless access you get with the device. So, if you ever lose your Kindle, or want to view the information on a different Kindle, your good to go; just sync it to the new device. I was disappointed to find that "My Clippings" didn't seem to be on the iPhone though. Well, at least I can grab the txt file...
...no need anymore. Now I can just use any browser-enabled device, access my Kindle account, and get to My Clippings. Here's a shot of it on the iPhone, this not being possible until today.
Note: To get it REALLY right, you should just be able to access "My Clippings" from any Kindle reader, iPhone-based or whatever. It's still not on the iPhone native app as far as I can tell.
The below shows a book I read on my Kindle, which had a music exercise (you had to write down the key a piece is written in based on a the chords used to create the music). I just did it with the keypad on the Kindle while on the subway. Below you can see the chords I entered (got 'em all right btw yay).
No comments:
Post a Comment