Comments on: Nietzsche on your Nokia

Nietzsche on your Nokia

desjardins — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:29:27 -0800

Need a little Tolstoy while you're waiting in line? How about some Mark Twain on the subway? Booksinmyphone puts - surprise! - books in your phone, for free.

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:55:31 -0800

I sense a marketing opportunity.

By: ChurchHatesTucker

ChurchHatesTucker — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:56:49 -0800

For java-enabled phones, which does not include the iPhone. Fortunately, there are a bunch of alternatives out there.

By: caution live frogs

caution live frogs — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:58:56 -0800

Hooray! Another reason to ignore the iPhone! Playing around with a short story now, and it seems to be very well-thought out. Now I have something to do on the train...

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:05:17 -0800

Bookmarked and favorited. Awesome.

By: Manhasset

Manhasset — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:12:02 -0800

Hooray! Another reason to ignore the iPhone! Um.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:20:37 -0800

For iPhone users, check out Stanza.

By: The Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:31:42 -0800

Yeah, I've been reading 1984 on Stanza, and I am very much getting used to it. I have a book in my pocket at all times, and it's very readable and user friendly and keeps my place between syncs, unlike how the iphone is always losing my place in audiobooks, which drives me crazy. So far I'm only reading classic freebies from Project Gutenberg. I haven't been able to come to terms with paying paperback prices for digital downloads of new releases. Maybe I should just get over it, but whenever I consider buying a digital book I keep thinking I would rather just buy the book.

By: flipyourwig

flipyourwig — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:35:09 -0800

But what about Booksinmypants? That's what the world really needs. Books in pants.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:45:53 -0800

But what about Booksinmypants? That's what the world really needs. Books in pants. I have to confess, I keep hearing the site name to the tune of this song (NSFW).

By: Manhasset

Manhasset — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:03:37 -0800

I have a book in my pocket at all times, and it's very readable and user friendly and keeps my place between syncs, unlike how the iphone is always losing my place in audiobooks, which drives me crazy. Do you have them selected as audiobooks and the "remember playback position" checkbox checked?

By: ford and the prefects

ford and the prefects — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:26:30 -0800

The Iliad as it was meant to be appreciated: on the tiny screen of my Samsung. Ladies and gentlemen, in the words of Randy Newman, you know we ain't livin' right.

By: The Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:29:54 -0800

Do you have them selected as audiobooks and the "remember playback position" checkbox checked? Yes--to be fair, it doesn't exactly forget my place so much as what I was playing. When I open Stanza, it always opens the book to exactly where I was. I don't have to choose the book, it's just right there, even after a sync. With audiobooks I can usually just click the headphones with the phone in my pocket and it starts me up where I was. If I sync, however, it forgets what I was listening to and starts playing the first song in the playlist, which is a song I used to like but now dislike because it reminds me of wanting to throw the phone out the window. I also frequently click the headphones to pause, but if the phone is being ornery it sometimes interprets my click as a double-click and jumps to the next chapter. It would be neat to have some sort of "go back to where I was a second ago" feature. But this is all mostly off topic. Back on point: yay for book on mobile devices.

By: The Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:37:19 -0800

The Iliad as it was meant to be appreciated: on the tiny screen of my Samsung. Ladies and gentlemen, in the words of Randy Newman, you know we ain't livin' right. Didn't the Iliad exist originally only in oral retellings? If the standard is how it was meant to be appreciated, we wouldn't be reading it at all. Also--and this is just me--but I have never equated larger fonts with quality reading. You may have read Anna Karenina, but you haven't really read it until you read the large type edition.

By: Huck500

Huck500 — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:51:11 -0800

Stanza on the iPhone has grown from a moderately interesting app to my most used... they've added all kinds of support, from Fictionwise to Gutenberg to a desktop program that can convert pretty much any text format to one readable on the iPhone app. Also, why ignore any kind of tech? Try it out, decide for yourself whether or not it meets your needs, but ignoring is just willfully keeping yourself ignorant, imo.

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:57:53 -0800

This brings to mind the article in this week's New Yorker -- I ♥ Novels -- about the "cell-phone novels" in Japan which held four of the top five spots on the literary best-seller list this year there. Fiction Writing for Japanese Cell Phones. Big Books Hit Japan's Tiny Phones.

By: Ike_Arumba

Ike_Arumba — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:28:07 -0800

Just thought I'd put in a plug for DailyLit -- get books emailed to you in quick-read installments every day. I'm reading Moby-Dick right now via DL, and loving it.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:44:37 -0800

I was about to mention the "cell phone novels" and ericb beat me to it. It's an interesting article. (What's the percentage of MeFites who read the New Yorker every week, honestly... like 200%? Feels like it sometimes.)

By: zardoz

zardoz — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:27:36 -0800

Looks cool, but I've been hankering for an e-ink book reader, and might just plunk down some cash for the eSlick. It's not really cheap, unless you compare it with every other e-ink reader out there, then it's quite cheap.

By: vorpal bunny

vorpal bunny — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:43:06 -0800

This will increase the length of my trips to the bathroom at work four fold!

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:22:17 -0800

re: eSlick, looks, er, slick, but a 6" gray generic font screen quickly becomes tiresome on the eyes. Until there is a 8x11" two-page 100% scale full-color e-ink device, books are worth the extra cost. I suspect my dream will come true within 24-36 months.

By: Lesser Shrew

Lesser Shrew — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:13:01 -0800

I will never, ever forget the joy of getting on a plane for a very long trip carrying a teeny tiny gadget full of text, instead of hauling a carry on bag full of heavy books and magazines. Plus - backlit!