New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

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dual
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New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by dual »

Edit. Mar. 2, 2023

Amazon released a software update. The Reddit group are pretty happy about it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kindlescribe/ ... me=iossmf


Edit. Nov. 30, 2022

The first customer reviews are in. Here’s one that I found particularly enlightening. I will quote Fair use excerpts in a post on this thread

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-rev ... 09BSRTHL7

———— previous post——
I just noticed this on the Amazon website.
https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-rel ... =mr060-20
Introducing Amazon Kindle Scribe—the First Kindle for Reading and Writing
September 28, 2022 at 1:01 PM EDT

Newest Kindle features the world’s first 10.2-inch, 300-ppi, high-definition, front-lit display and pen—just $339

Beautiful, large display feels like writing on paper—take notes in millions of books; stay organized and inspired with to-do lists, planners, and journal entries; and review documents imported from your phone or computer, distraction-free

Kindle Scribe includes customer-favorite features beloved for reading and now for writing—adjustable warm light, auto-adjusting front light, and USB-C charging; powered by a battery designed to last for months

Enjoy millions of books in the Kindle store—plus, Kindle Scribe comes with a fre
I think it’ll be very useful for reading nonfiction books such as those on investing and taking notes. Apparently you can also use it to create journals and other notes.

There are comparable devices but they do not have the Amazon access to books.

See the Sony E-ink tablet
https://gizmodo.com/sonys-beautiful-e- ... 832772942
And the Onyx Boox
http://www.onyxbooxusa.com/

Edit. There’s a long discussion about the device on the mobile read forum
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/show ... ?t=349378
Last edited by dual on Thu Mar 02, 2023 5:28 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by nisiprius »

Everyone to their own tastes, but at least since 1999--when I saw a demonstration of a pen computing system that let you scribble handwritten notes on top of computer text--I wondered why anyone would want to do that.

At one point I owned a Palm and went to the trouble of learning Graffiti--Palm's shorthand system which assigned simple, short, strokes to every letter--and decided that it was slightly better and faster than dealing with any kind of screen keyboard. But basically, ever since I learned to touch-type (at about age 14), I have never had any real use for handwriting.

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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by onourway »

I have been taking digital notes for over a decade, always glad to see new entrants to the space. That said, this seems like a tough sell against an iPad at $329 that is compatible with the Apple Pencil, arguably the best digital notetaking device on the market. There are multiple extremely high quality note and journaling apps on iPadOS, and you aren't locked in nearly so tightly to one company's solution.

IMO, note taking on the iPad has gotten to the point where it is considerably better than pencil and paper. It's 100% reliable and far more powerful. Typing isn't as good at reinforcing concepts in my experience, not to mention the ability to sketche and diagram ideas.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by junior »

With an Android Device or IOS device you can take notes with any app you prefer. And use any ebook store you prefer. With Amazon's device you cannot. At best it's going to be a solution with some disadvantages to it.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by junior »

onourway wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:21 pm IMO, note taking on the iPad has gotten to the point where it is considerably better than pencil and paper.
The problem with the IPAD is it has a million distracting apps. A pencil and paper isn't going to tempt you to check your facebook feed.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by dual »

I have never had any real use for handwriting.
I am curious whether you are an e-book reader. Ever since I got my first Kindle about 10 years ago, I have not bought a dead tree book. I find reading ebooks on a laptop screen to be awkward so I am limited to the keyboard on the Kindle to add notes to a book.

One good thing about typing my notes on kindle books is that they are transferred to the Amazon storage so they are available when I download and read the ebook on another reader. I do not know whether Amazon will transfer written notes also.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by dual »

That said, this seems like a tough sell against an iPad at $329 that is compatible with the Apple Pencil, arguably the best digital notetaking device on the market.
Do you know whether the Kindle app on the iPad allows you to create written notes? Otherwise it may be difficult to access ebooks from Amazon on an app that supports writing.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by dual »

junior wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:27 pm With an Android Device or IOS device you can take notes with any app you prefer. And use any ebook store you prefer. With Amazon's device you cannot. At best it's going to be a solution with some disadvantages to it.
I have an iPad with an Apple Pencil and I just tried to take notes on the Kindle app but was unable to do it. It just acted as a pointer like my finger to flip pages etc. is there anything special I have to do to allow notetaking on the Kindle app with a pencil?
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by Freefun »

dual wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:45 pm
junior wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:27 pm With an Android Device or IOS device you can take notes with any app you prefer. And use any ebook store you prefer. With Amazon's device you cannot. At best it's going to be a solution with some disadvantages to it.
I have an iPad with an Apple Pencil and I just tried to take notes on the Kindle app but was unable to do it. It just acted as a pointer like my finger to flip pages etc. is there anything special I have to do to allow notetaking on the Kindle app with a pencil?
hold down the pencil and drag. then select an option such as writing a note.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by Freefun »

I have every size iPad and love taking notes w/ kindle app.
but I usually dictate which is much faster than pencil or typing,
I also export all my notes.

I can't imagine paying > $300 for a much more limiting device.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by rockstar »

I read and watch videos on a Kindle Fire. It's not good for much else. I paid about $75 for it.

These devices are really limited. But if you want to download shows to watch later for an airline flight or read some books, they're fine. VLC works great with my Synology media server. And most of the streaming services have apps.

Apple Devices have had a pen like device for a while now. I'd probably go that route if I wanted to write on it.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by dual »

Freefun wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 2:03 pm
dual wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:45 pm
junior wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:27 pm With an Android Device or IOS device you can take notes with any app you prefer. And use any ebook store you prefer. With Amazon's device you cannot. At best it's going to be a solution with some disadvantages to it.
I have an iPad with an Apple Pencil and I just tried to take notes on the Kindle app but was unable to do it. It just acted as a pointer like my finger to flip pages etc. is there anything special I have to do to allow notetaking on the Kindle app with a pencil?
hold down the pencil and drag. then select an option such as writing a note.
I was unable to do this. I tried editing a note that I had added using the Kindle keyboard but again the pencil just acts as a pointer with no writing.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by onourway »

junior wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:29 pm
onourway wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:21 pm IMO, note taking on the iPad has gotten to the point where it is considerably better than pencil and paper.
The problem with the IPAD is it has a million distracting apps. A pencil and paper isn't going to tempt you to check your facebook feed.
That's true, but that's more a matter of learning to control your distractions than a mark against the device. How many people reading on a Kindle don't also have their phone within arms reach the vast majority of the time?
dual wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:45 pm
junior wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:27 pm With an Android Device or IOS device you can take notes with any app you prefer. And use any ebook store you prefer. With Amazon's device you cannot. At best it's going to be a solution with some disadvantages to it.
I have an iPad with an Apple Pencil and I just tried to take notes on the Kindle app but was unable to do it. It just acted as a pointer like my finger to flip pages etc. is there anything special I have to do to allow notetaking on the Kindle app with a pencil?
The Kindle app would have to be updated to allow direct overlay notetaking on other devices. Right now it's more limited in that you can highlight text and/or insert a note.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

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Freefun wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 2:05 pm I have every size iPad and love taking notes w/ kindle app.
but I usually dictate which is much faster than pencil or typing,
I also export all my notes.

I can't imagine paying > $300 for a much more limiting device.
Many of the books I read are technical and the notes I add include diagrams and mathematical symbols.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by dual »

The Kindle app would have to be updated to allow direct overlay notetaking on other devices. Right now it's more limited in that you can highlight text and/or insert a note.
AFAIK I have the latest version of the app installed. If you mean that Amazon would have to redesign it, that is a possibility but I’m not holding my breath.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by runninginvestor »

I would consider this once it's our and can see reviews. Mainly to see how responsive the writing actually is. I also can't use a fancy pen like the iPad has.

I can't use paper or really write with pens/pencils. Everything I read or interact with is digital. My Paperwhite Kindle is great relief for my eyes. Bring able to write again and read in one device that is not an LCD screen would actually be a huge benefit. For me at least.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by onourway »

dual wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 2:21 pm
The Kindle app would have to be updated to allow direct overlay notetaking on other devices. Right now it's more limited in that you can highlight text and/or insert a note.
AFAIK I have the latest version of the app installed. If you mean that Amazon would have to redesign it, that is a possibility but I’m not holding my breath.
Looking closer at how the Scribe is handling notes, it's not all that different than how it's handled in the current iPad app. Because the layout of an ebook must be responsive based on device and user-selected text size, you aren't actually annotating direct on the page like in a paper book, it's simply inserting a note, which you can already do on the iPad. What you can't do currently on the iPad is take free hand notes in that space. You can write with the Pencil, but it attempts to covert everything to text.

Personally, I don't find this method of inserting notes in the page very effective, so my method is generally to either extract a screenshot of the segment to insert into my main note taking app, and annotate there, or convert the book to pdf and annotate direct on that, again, in the note taking app.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by dual »

runninginvestor wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 2:27 pm I would consider this once it's our and can see reviews. Mainly to see how responsive the writing actually is. I also can't use a fancy pen like the iPad has.

I can't use paper or really write with pens/pencils. Everything I read or interact with is digital. My Paperwhite Kindle is great relief for my eyes. Bring able to write again and read in one device that is not an LCD screen would actually be a huge benefit. For me at least.
A big advantage of the device for me is that I would be able to take notes on any e-book that I buy from Amazon without having to download the file, de DRM it, convert it to another format, and upload it to another app.

Edit. I noticed that onourway does this. Seems like a lot of hassle to me.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by Freefun »

Here’s a,good demo of things you can do with an iPad and pencil

https://youtu.be/HfaRbiHxzcs
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by SuzBanyan »

It looks like the Scribe allows notes to be hand-written in a Kindle book, but the Note just shows up in the book as a footnote. You need to click on the Note to see the actual text of your note.

The same functionality is available using the Kindle app and the Gen 2 Apple Pencil with “Scribble” enabled. As Free Fun noted, dictating the text is probably faster than hand writing.

Edited to add: I added nothing new to what Onourway already posted. If you need the note to be in your hand-writing, the iPad does not offer that option; it converts to typewritten text.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by mhalley »

I am interested mainly do to the size, I would love to have a 10 inch kindle. Wonder if they will come out with a cheaper one that is the same size, but without the note feature?
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

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rockstar wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 2:12 pm I read and watch videos on a Kindle Fire. It's not good for much else. I paid about $75 for it.
Kindle Fire devices are low budget Amazon tablets based on some modified version of Android. This thread isn’t about them. The Scribe is an e-ink device, like the other dedicated kindle readers.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

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if only I could read my own handwriting…
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by ScubaHogg »

Man I’m pretty excited about this! I don’t care a thing about the taking notes function, but I’ve wanted a much larger kindle display for reading at home (I’ll still take my oasis on the road). Ive been googling for a year for rumors of a larger kindle and never saw a whisper about this, so they did a good job keeping it under wraps.

But I’m pretty instantly disappointed there are no page turn buttons like the kindle oasis has. Dang.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by JoeRetire »

dual wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 12:22 pm I think it’ll be very useful for reading nonfiction books such as those on investing and taking notes. Apparently you can also use it to create journals and other notes.
It's intriguing. But I can't imagine I would ever need to take notes on books often enough. And of course, I have other devices for journals and notes.

I still love my Kindle Keyboard and use it every day. When (if?) it ever dies, looks like I'll have a lot of options for a replacement. But I'm not sure it will involve a writeable e-reader.

I can imagine some viable use cases for the Scribe. None that would apply to me personally.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by Bagels »

dual wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 12:22 pm Kindle Scribe

Newest Kindle features the world’s first 10.2-inch, 300-ppi, high-definition, front-lit display and pen—just $339

Beautiful, large display feels like writing on paper—take notes in millions of books; stay organized and inspired with to-do lists, planners, and journal entries; and review documents imported from your phone or computer, distraction-free

There are comparable devices but they do not have the Amazon access to books.

See the Sony E-ink tablet
https://gizmodo.com/sonys-beautiful-e- ... 832772942
And the Onyx Boox
http://www.onyxbooxusa.com/

Edit. There’s a long discussion about the device on the mobile read forum
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/show ... ?t=349378

e-ink is very easy on the eyes.

Admittedly, I switched to reading kindle books on my ipad, because I do everything there.
I was very excited about the Onyx Boox mentioned above, because it looked like I could do the opposite: have a kind of e-ink laptop that lets you navigate the web without eye strain. A “Web Kindle.”. The China factor precluded buying it. Don’t want to take personal notes on something like that.

The Scribe could be very attractive if the price came down.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

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Bagels wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 7:00 amThe China factor precluded buying it. Don’t want to take personal notes on something like that.
Meaning, you don't want to take personal notes because you imagine that China might spy on them?
Or meaning, you don't want to buy devices manufactured in China?
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

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JoeRetire wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 7:05 am
Bagels wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 7:00 amThe China factor precluded buying it. Don’t want to take personal notes on something like that.
Meaning, you don't want to take personal notes because you imagine that China might spy on them?
Or meaning, you don't want to buy devices manufactured in China?
The former. The reports on it are inconclusive, but I am a privacy minded person who uses protonmail and signal. It would be weird if I used an e-ink device for things like email addresses and the most personal of notes on a device that I don’t quite trust.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

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Here’s the Amazon video introducing the scribe. I learned that on ordinary Kindle books you cannot mark up the text. You can add notes similar to the current text notes but you can draw on them in addition to enterng text. To see the notes you tap on a little number and the note pops up. That is why they call them sticky notes. That is no substitute, in my opinion, to underlining or drawing on the text.
As far as I know, no one has gotten a review machine to try out.

https://youtu.be/MVA-JFTkBtk
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

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Bagels wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 7:22 am
JoeRetire wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 7:05 am
Bagels wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 7:00 amThe China factor precluded buying it. Don’t want to take personal notes on something like that.
Meaning, you don't want to take personal notes because you imagine that China might spy on them?
Or meaning, you don't want to buy devices manufactured in China?
The former. The reports on it are inconclusive, but I am a privacy minded person who uses protonmail and signal. It would be weird if I used an e-ink device for things like email addresses and the most personal of notes on a device that I don’t quite trust.
I'm not sure I'd depend on Reddit for my security conclusions. Particularly when it talks about a different device. But we all draw conclusions our own way.

By that same token do you make sure your phone and your computer aren't made in China?
Last edited by JoeRetire on Fri Sep 30, 2022 12:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

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Bagels wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 7:00 am
e-ink is very easy on the eyes.

Admittedly, I switched to reading kindle books on my ipad, because I do everything there.
Especially outdoors I prefer to read on eInk even though the iPad is more flexible and I use it all the time (including this very moment). I have had eInk readers since the original Sony Reader.

Someone else mentioned another benefit of the dedicated eInk readers: less opportunity for distractions.

I don’t have really demanding requirements for note taking, though. My note keeping happens in an app called Joplin- an open source poor man’s replacement for Evernote. Entered on a keyboard (screen or physical) on my phone, iPad or computer.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

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dual wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 11:53 am Here’s the Amazon video introducing the scribe. I learned that on ordinary Kindle books you cannot mark up the text. You can add notes similar to the current text notes but you can draw on them in addition to enterng text. To see the notes you tap on a little number and the note pops up. That is why they call them sticky notes. That is no substitute, in my opinion, to underlining or drawing on the text.
As far as I know, no one has gotten a review machine to try out.

https://youtu.be/MVA-JFTkBtk
Is that something you would do regularly, dual- markup the text? I haven’t written in the margins, let alone write over the text, since college. I guess I’m used to library books, leaving the original document alone, and digitizing my notes so I can find them. If I’m recording a sample sentence for an obscure word, I like that a search brings up sentences from notes on previous books. (This is not a kindle search, but a search of my notetaking software).
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by Bagels »

JoeRetire wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 11:56 am
I'm not sure I'd depend on Reddit for my security conclusions. Particularly when it talks about a different device. But we all draw conclusions our own way.

ha. A fair point, except I’m not “relying on reddit.” As with wikipedia, there are links to articles and sources, not just the random opinions of anonymous members. I had added a note to my post that it was about a different device and then deleted it because (1) Same manufacturer. Same issue. (2) That was a device I was considering. (3) This is really a thread about the Kindle Scribe, so I kept it short.
By that same token do you make sure your phone and your computer aren't made in China?
I’m not sure if this is a light jab, but we all condescend in our own way. Taking your question at face value:
• there are numerous compromises that I make for convenience at the expense of security, including operating systems and other software.
• As I told you, “Made in China” is not the issue. Apple is made in China, but the process is at least partially overseen by American and Taiwanese managers.
Bottom Line: it may be naive or arbitrary to think that my notes with an Amazon device like the Scribe are safe, but I already use such Amazon services as Amazon Photos — thanks to Bogleheads in fact. So far, so good. But, if I feel bad from the start about using any Boox product because the devices are known to phone home (China), well, why would I want to buy a device that makes me uncomfortable? Ok?
Last edited by Bagels on Fri Sep 30, 2022 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by dual »

Is that something you would do regularly, dual- markup the text?
I also have an aversion to marking up dead tree books. That is one of the reasons I have completely changed to ebooks. With those, it does not bother me. My notes do help to remember the important points in sections of books that I am returning to.

Apparently, the Scribe allows writing and drawing on PDF documents. But I am concerned with sharing my notes with Amazon from a privacy point of view. At this point, the negatives of the Scribe are building up. I would like to see detailed reviews from people who have had the device.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by Bagels »

dual wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 12:37 pm Apparently, the Scribe allows writing and drawing on PDF documents. But I am concerned with sharing my notes with Amazon from a privacy point of view.
I would be very interested to to learn if we could export those notes for our own safekeeping.
If memory serves, a young student once sued Amazon because they had removed the notes he took on a run-of-the-mill pre-Scribe kindle. I don’t recall why the erasure happened, but he lost the notes before his exam and had no other copy of them.
Imagine if all your personal notes on a PDF and not just notes on a book were to vanish.
I still think the Scribe looks very attractive if expensive. But, it’s something to think about.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by nisiprius »

dual wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:32 pm
I have never had any real use for handwriting.
I am curious whether you are an e-book reader. Ever since I got my first Kindle about 10 years ago, I have not bought a dead tree book. I find reading ebooks on a laptop screen to be awkward so I am limited to the keyboard on the Kindle to add notes to a book.

One good thing about typing my notes on kindle books is that they are transferred to the Amazon storage so they are available when I download and read the ebook on another reader. I do not know whether Amazon will transfer written notes also.
I am an eBook reader.

I bought my first eBook device late 1999 or early 2000, a NuvoMedia "Rocket eBook," later marketed as the RCA REB1100. What was revolutionary about the Kindle was not the device, but Amazon's cutting deals with publishers that, for the first time, resulted in very broad title availability... and brought the price down to something sensible. Before the Kindle, most publishers set the price of eBooks equal to the price of the hardbound edition, even if the title was available as a mass market paperback!

I love books, and had most of our living room wall covered with built-in bookshelves. But my love is mostly for the material, not for the smell or the silverfish in the binding or anything like that. (I miss the look of letterpress in printed books, though. When they started doing everything in offset the print never looked quite as clear or crisp).

However... I have almost never marked up or made marginal notes in a book, so I've never cared about eBook functionality in that regard.

I love the e-Ink technology, and find reading on an e-Ink Kindle to be just as "ludic" as reading ink-on-paper. And as my eyes age, the fact that every book can be a large-print book is becoming more and more helpful.

What I regard as a terrible deficiency in eBooks is the lack of any equivalent to page riffling. Probably not technically feasible on an e-Ink device, but definitely feasible today in a "normal" display. The ability of the eye and brain to do a useful search while page-riffling is really amazing.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by runninginvestor »

dual wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 12:37 pm
Is that something you would do regularly, dual- markup the text?
I also have an aversion to marking up dead tree books. That is one of the reasons I have completely changed to ebooks. With those, it does not bother me. My notes do help to remember the important points in sections of books that I am returning to.

Apparently, the Scribe allows writing and drawing on PDF documents. But I am concerned with sharing my notes with Amazon from a privacy point of view. At this point, the negatives of the Scribe are building up. I would like to see detailed reviews from people who have had the device.
My 2 cents on jumping to new technology:
Wait for a few updates

You basically pay for a beta version of a product nowadays. If there is a lot of traction for the product in the beginning, new features will develop as they decide to funnel more money towards the product. These new features are usually things that should have been there before launch. If the product is overall just terrible, they may just scrap the product altogether. In which case you are left with more or less a non-finished device that will never get any more updates to make it better.
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quantAndHold
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by quantAndHold »

nisiprius wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:12 pm Everyone to their own tastes, but at least since 1999--when I saw a demonstration of a pen computing system that let you scribble handwritten notes on top of computer text--I wondered why anyone would want to do that.

At one point I owned a Palm and went to the trouble of learning Graffiti--Palm's shorthand system which assigned simple, short, strokes to every letter--and decided that it was slightly better and faster than dealing with any kind of screen keyboard. But basically, ever since I learned to touch-type (at about age 14), I have never had any real use for handwriting.

To those who think it's wonderful, peace.
I think with the older tech you were right. But teaching college in the past couple of years, a lot of the students now have those laptops with touchscreens that can be turned around into tablets, and they load up the lecture slides and take notes on top of the slides. It works really well for them.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by quantAndHold »

This looks brilliant for people who read technical books. The biggest issue with ereaders and technical books is that the screen is so small that it’s hard to see the charts and diagrams. A 10.2” screen would be really helpful. Being able to take handwritten notes would just be a bonus.

That said, I’m retired and don’t need anything like this anymore, so I won’t be buying one.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by Bagels »

quantAndHold wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 1:20 pm ...
The biggest issue with ereaders and technical books is that the screen is so small that it’s hard to see the charts and diagrams.
...
Many years ago, there was an e-ink newspaper device that was coming out. Large enough to read the front page of a newspaper, "buffet" style, and see different headlines and snippets at a glance as if you were reading a traditional newspaper's front page. I don't think the product ever got launched. (two words, had the word "plastic" in it?)

EDIT: PLASTICLOGIC https://goodereader.com/blog/?s=plastic+logic, https://goodereader.com/blog/category/e-paper
I thought of Taylor Larimore when I saw the "smart sailing jacket."
Here's their page on the Scribe: https://goodereader.com/blog/electronic ... ote-taking
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by JoeRetire »

Bagels wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 12:31 pmwhy would I want to buy a device that makes me uncomfortable? Ok?
Comfort is important. We each get to decide what scares us, and what we are willing to do about it.

Good luck.
Last edited by JoeRetire on Fri Sep 30, 2022 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

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Bagels wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 12:43 pmIf memory serves, a young student once sued Amazon because they had removed the notes he took on a run-of-the-mill pre-Scribe kindle. I don’t recall why the erasure happened, but he lost the notes before his exam and had no other copy of them.
I remember the incident.

The student purchased an unauthorized version of the novel "1984" that was still under copyright. It was sold as "in the public domain" by a non-Amazon seller through the Amazon platform.

When Amazon learned that the version was actually still under copyright and thus should not have been sold, it decided to remotely delete all the unauthorized copies. That deletion also deleted all associated notes taken by purchasers.

The student sued. Amazon settled for $150,000. Others who purchased unauthorized books that got deleted, received legal copies and $30.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by Bagels »

Ah yes, that’s it. Thank you.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by Raraculus »

ScubaHogg wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 5:56 amMan I’m pretty excited about this! I don’t care a thing about the taking notes function, but I’ve wanted a much larger kindle display for reading at home (I’ll still take my oasis on the road). Ive been googling for a year for rumors of a larger kindle and never saw a whisper about this, so they did a good job keeping it under wraps.

But I’m pretty instantly disappointed there are no page turn buttons like the kindle oasis has. Dang.
AFAIK, the Kindle Scribe has a premium pen with a programmable button. Maybe that can be used as a page turn button?

My favorite Kindle was the Keyboard model! It had the perfect size and page turn buttons. I didn't have the DX model.

I'm not sure of the utility of the pen interface and note taking capabilities of the Kindle Scribe. It sounds like I will not be able to underline text and passages directly into the book. I will not be able to jot down some words or a sentence next to the text. From what I understand, the user clicks on the page with the pen, and a separate note-taking interface takes place.

I wish Amazon would release a bigger model with page turn buttons. The Kindle Scribe somewhat misses the mark.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by dual »

From comment #80 on the mobile reads thread. I have also noticed that the images on many Kindle eBooks are poor quality. Including high resolution images will increase the file size and require more powerful processors.
There are already lots of kindle books which don't do that well on the smaller kindles. They basically have been there since the beginning of the kindle, and pretty much every kindle since the DX has been bad at presenting these books and so this solves all those issues without having to go buy an iPad.

I have plenty of those books in my library already.

Those are also the kind of books you're most likely to take notes in.

Now there is another separate issue that amazon needs to start doing things to enforce authors/publishers to put high quality images into the kindle books, and even actually include all the images from the paper book. I just read a book that had all kinds of maps that were so low res you couldn't read them on an Oasis or Paperwhite despite the high res screen. And some of the photos were deliberately replaced with "Photo intentionally left out of electronic book, see the paper book."
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by mnsportsgeek »

junior wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:29 pm
onourway wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:21 pm IMO, note taking on the iPad has gotten to the point where it is considerably better than pencil and paper.
The problem with the IPAD is it has a million distracting apps. A pencil and paper isn't going to tempt you to check your facebook feed.
The phone sitting next to it will though. :D :D
Apple has focus modes so you can disable apps when you are writing.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by dual »

It will be interesting to see how writing on the scribe compares to say the remarkable two. One big difference is the scribe has a backlit screen. Here’s what the Remarkable website says about it
reMarkable does not come with a backlight. This means you need light in the room to read or use it, just like you would with paper. reMarkable is all about giving an excellent writing and sketching experience, and a backlight would make the surface layer thicker, something that would create more distance from the pen tip to the ink layer, which in turn would make the writing experience worse.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by nisiprius »

dual wrote: Sun Oct 02, 2022 12:03 pm From comment #80 on the mobile reads thread. I have also noticed that the images on many Kindle eBooks are poor quality. Including high resolution images will increase the file size and require more powerful processors.
No, it's just laziness or sloppiness on the part of the publisher. They pay no attention to preparing the images and graphics. It's particularly annoying in e.g. Jeff Shaara's novels about the Civil War where you really want to be able to see the maps.

I have a silly self-published Kindle book under my real name--a 1901 public domain novel with my annotations--and I used Amazon's self-publishing Kindle tools and all the illustrations, both line drawing and photographs, are just fine on every Kindle I've tried it on. Of course photographs don't do well on an e-Ink technology device, but there's no excuse for "jaggies" and low resolution.

One egregious example occurs in one of John C. Bogle's books, not sure which--I think it's Clash of the Cultures. There is a table in it that is oriented sideways. If you turn the tablet to view it right-side-up, it senses the change in orientation and just as you think you've got it, it reorients it so that it is sideways again. That's not a technology issue, that's just bad production.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe

Post by nisiprius »

junior wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:29 pm The problem with the IPAD is it has a million distracting apps. A pencil and paper isn't going to tempt you to check your facebook feed.
Tangentially, if you were to get a couple of tally counters and add up how many times your devices are doing something you asked them to do, and how many times you are doing something your devices have asked you to do... I suspect that as of Common Era 2022 the latter would be more than the former.
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Re: New Kindle Scribe: writable e-ink reader

Post by Lou Sevens »

I ordered the bundle- as the Kindle along with my pianos/music recording equipment is my favorite item.
The larger screen alone will benefit me. I do have the current paperwhite and Oasis and might trade one later
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