Uneven lighting on Kindle Paperwhite...normal?

Hi
Finally decided to move into the 21st century and buy my first ever ebook reader. Received my Kindle Paperwhite (wifi only) yesterday and just noticed that the lighting is very uneven at the bottom...its like someone has left 4 equally spaced fingerprints. Reading this article it appears this is normal for the paperwhite, however when i called up Kindle support they they said its not normal and have agreed to send me a replacement. Am i i likely to get this 'issue' on the replacement?
Cheers

Edited by deleted (Tue 04-Dec-12 07:38:17)

Unfortunately you will generally find this to be the case with cheap knock off copies of the only decent tablet/ereader out there.

I know I shouldn't ask but "which one"?

I have a Sony eboot reader and find it is brilliant - an e-ink device so a passive device and multiple open standards (not tied to Amazon) which is exactly what I want.

Others are happy to use the Kindle formats (tied to Amazon) or to use backlit devices (i.e. pads) but these are not for me.

Am I bothered - no - I have the device that suits me!

In reply to a post by greenglide:

Others are happy to use the Kindle formats (tied to Amazon)

What makes you think that the Kindle format is tied to Amazon?

Many of my eBooks, which I read using a Kindle, come free from Project Gutenberg, and I've also had a few from other sites (listed on Amazon as sources of free eBooks...)

I agree. There is nothing to touch e-ink for a reading device. I love my iPad but, when it comes to reading ebooks, my Sony is just in a different league.

"Many of my eBooks, which I read using a Kindle, come free "

Quite so! I also regularly make use of the facility to email various documents to the email address associated to my Kindle and convert them to ebook format in the process. Works really well.

I've never used that option, don't Amazon make a charge for using that address? (Me skinflint )

I use that invaluable little app Calibre, I regard it as an essential adjunct to the program.

Yes - Kindle reads non DRM formats "free" books but I thought that the only "bought" books were in the Kindle format so you effectivly had to buy them from Amazon?
.
Don't disllke Amazon (corporation tax is between them and HRMC) but the concept of never owning the e-books never appealed to me.

The Sony e-reader is brilliant! The touch screen is what I really like - Kindle didnt have it then and when I tried the kindle I wanted to swipe the pages as I was used to with Android.

The only downside with e-book readers so far as I am concerned is that you can't read them in the bath ;-( Shame that!

In reply to a post by greenglide:

Don't disllke Amazon (corporation tax is between them and HRMC) but the concept of never owning the e-books never appealed to me.

A simple plugin into Calibre allows you to convert the e-book into a different format, thus 'owning' the book

In reply to a post by greenglide:

Yes - Kindle reads non DRM formats "free" books but I thought that the only "bought" books were in the Kindle format so you effectivly had to buy them from Amazon?

No, the books from Gutenburg are in Kindle (MOBI) format (as well as many other formats), anyone can use it.

I think you're misunderstanding how the DRM works... essentially, Amazon have made owning an ebook as much as possible like owning a "real" one. It can only be read on the Kindle associated with the account, just as you only have one copy of a book. It can be transferred to another Kindle, but then it will stop working on the first one. You can even lend it to someone else for a while- whilst they've got it you can't read it, just like a real book.

There's no question of your not owning it.

Unlike real books however, if you accidentally delete it (or the Kindle goes belly up and you lose the lot) you still own it/them and can download again for free.

I think it works well, and unless it's someone's intent to deprive authors of their copyright income then it's perfectly fair.

All that only applies to books you pay for of course, you can do as you like with the free ones as the copyright on those has either expired or been waived.

(That's only in the US, ideally you should check the UK copyright position before downloading from a US site)


edit- I'm not knocking the Sony or any other e-reader, I just like the Kindle

Edited by billford (Tue 04-Dec-12 21:22:21)

In reply to a post by billford:

I've never used that option, don't Amazon make a charge for using that address? (Me skinflint )

Not if you use your @Free.Kindle.com addy. Docs sent to that addy are only sent over Wi-fi. It's the other @Kindle.com addy that is charged if the docs are sent over 3G (but you can still make it happen to be sent over Wi-Fi for free).

I didn't know about that, thanks.

The .mobi is a general format, whereas the amazon kindle books come as .azw which, AFICT is peculiar to amazon/kindle and has DRM associated with it.

I use, as sources for my reading,amazon, gutenberg,baen and a few others - nobody but amazon supply in azw

Azw isn't really a format, it's more like a container and doesn't necessarily imply DRM:

In reference to wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/AZW:

It is basically the MOBI format using the high compression option. The AZW extension is used on both eBook files that are protected with DRM and files that are not protected.

My bold.

Afaik the DRM-free files from Amazon are also .azw, but I've never looked so could be wrong.


edit- a parallel could probably be drawn with the .m4v and m4a files used by Apple for iTunes- they're just containers for other formats and data which may or may not include DRM.

Edited by billford (Wed 05-Dec-12 08:48:07)

I use Caliber for organising my e-books - it is great and allows conversion of formats, inserting keywords, front pages etc.

The comment about "owning" e-books was about the Amazon fiasco over deleting books that had been purchased when Amazon didn't have the rights to sell them. I believe they have promised not to do it again!

In reply to a post by billford:

.. don't Amazon make a charge for using that address?

No, I bought the Kindle from a high street outlet although I did have an Amazon account already. As part of the set-up process it just gave me an email address. Up to now I've sent pdf and doc files. Once converted to ebook, the functionality of ebook format is available e.g. text to speech (with the Kindle Touch). There hasn't been any additional charge.

p.s. bit late with this reply - didn't read Page2 of replies where it all seems to have been said - sorry.

Edited by longedge (Wed 05-Dec-12 09:26:49)

Got the replacement today and pleased to say this issue does not exist at all on the replacement. I know you can email pdf files to your kindle email addy and get these converted to Amazon format automatically, but someone recommended using pdftoepub software (currently free) which does a better job.

In reply to a post by greenglide:

I use Caliber for organising my e-books - it is great and allows conversion of formats, inserting keywords, front pages etc.

The comment about "owning" e-books was about the Amazon fiasco over deleting books that had been purchased when Amazon didn't have the rights to sell them. I believe they have promised not to do it again!

Indeed - and they've restored said account and purchases. Do you believe they'll never do it again? My purchased books from Amazon are 'backed up' as ePub format.

In reply to a post by dandnsmith:

nobody but amazon supply in azw

http://Manybooks.net/ does! E.g. just d/loaded this: The_Adventures_of_Sherlock_H.azw for free and it has no DRM

A nice bit with Gutenberg (and others) is the RSS feed of new titles, saves a lot of searching.

I wish Amazon would do the same

Edited by billford (Thu 06-Dec-12 08:18:49)

Thanks for the info.

I'm not sure at what point something becomes a new format - after all using a container changes the apparent nature of it.

Another thing is the point at which one would say 'it has no DRM' - the fact that the thing isn't restricted as to opening and use doesn't necessarily mean there is no DRM , merely that no restrictions have been applied?

It's really a matter of semantics on both of those issues, eg if the file has capabilities for being managed but they are disabled, is it DRM-free? My attitude is that if it looks, walks and quacks like a duck...

But I take your point.

It's either managed or not managed regardless of whether it was capable of being managed.

You may regard it as management has been disabled.