OK, I admit it. The first thing I did with the I-Pad was put hair on a picture of a deer. Immature, but fun. The app I used is called Hairstyle light. It's free and it's fun. I bought the I-Pad about two weeks ago and thought I would pass along my impressions to you. After all, everyone else has reviewed it. Let me start by saying that my computer expertise is limited compared to my knowledge of pumps and transformers.
My wife and I had left home intending to buy a Nook by Barnes and Noble. In fact, we did buy a Nook that day. The young guy at Best Buy who helped us told me I should really think about the I-Pad, so we walked over to the display and played with it. Sure enough it was really cool. The pictures were crisper and sharper than my LCD monitor at home could deliver and the touch screen has to be used to be appreciated.
I had done a lot of study before making my decision on the Nook and was not easily dissuaded. Things like the Nook having a battery you can replace yourself weighed heavily. The I-Pad battery is sealed and you take it to an Apple store. The replacement is $100. My wife was heavily in favor of the I-Pad 'because it was cool and heavy and didn't feel cheap made. Finally I say, ok, give us an I-Pad. They didn't have one in stock. The sales guy suggests we go to the Apple store which is a few miles away. I don't want to drive all over the city since I have become something of a recluse, so I buy the Nook and start to leave the store. The sales dude, with a smile, says "Go buy the I-Pad, take them both home and try them, then return the one you don't want." My wife thinks this is a wonderful idea but I am longing for the woods, my deck and an ice cold beer. Of course, in short order, I am standing in a very crowded Apple store, hip-deep in excited geeks. It was my first time in one of these technical meccas and I took a moment to soak in the ambience. My first thought is: there are no cash registers. Cool. Then I see a worker checking out, excuse me, completing a sale for a lady beside me. He uses an i-pod touch to ring the sale up which is cool because my wife had just bought one for herself at Best Buy. I was thrilled to know that, if need be, I could use the i-pod touch to sell computers. Hey, they keep all the i-pads closeted in the dark recesses in the back of the store, concealed from the prying eyes of foreign agents. Also, we were on vacation and had a bit of cash with us so we started to pay cash for the i-pad. Uh,uh. The dude that helped us said we had to put at least part of the purchase on a credit or debit card. The reason? He said that certain people were buying several i-pads, then selling them overseas for several thousands of dollars each. I felt a delicious sense of espionage like I was reading one of my own novels. Before I left the store I was already plotting a thriller about evil agents stealing technology from the US and sending it to their compatriots overseas. I don't mean to make light of of technology theft because I own six copyrights for novels and am well aware of the paranoia that can assert itself. So this is all in fun and please Apple, don't kick my books off i-books! I digress. We head home, after a stop for a late lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. I am deeply fried, mentally, after a day of making high-pressure decisions about things I know little about. I am so fried, in fact, that it isn't until two days later that I start to mess around with the i-pad. I suspect I might have been a little intimidated by it. The first encounter wasn't quite what I expected. It didn't take too long to figure out that the device could not even be used in the manner that I had intended to use it. My intention had been to just use it as an e-reader and plug it into my PC, download a bunch of books on it and read happily ever after; perhaps making one of my own novels the first download. Cool plan, right? Wrong. You cannot do this. You cannot even get on I-Tunes with them unless you are prepared to do so with WiFi. I am ashamed to say we were so ignorant of this that we called the Apple people and raised hell, er, expressed concern. Bottom line, I had to re-install a router on my computer before we could even use the thing. After that there were some slow downloads and some other things that were probably my fault due to the slow learning curve of the elderly mind. I hope it's not too late to say that in spite of all of this, I love the device and it seems to be light-years ahead of it's time.
I have more stuff to read than I've had for some time, most of it obtained for free from places like Guggenheim Project. I'm a big Edgar Rice Burroughs fan and have spent a lot of time and money on Amazon and in little bookshops seeking old books. I went to Guggenheim and downloaded a favorite without leaving my recliner, immediately starting to read a Mars novel.
I highly recommend the Goodreader app which costs three bucks and makes transferring files much easier.
I still have many things to figure out on this device. The Nook was taken back to Best Buy, even though it's a fine device. I like the Barnes and Noble book store best of all the options and still use it the most. Terrific selection and good prices. On their reader app for I-Pad(free) you can change to a gray screen with white letters which I like at night or outdoors. The Sony reader app has a ribbon to keep your place in the book, which is a nice little touch, right? Stanza is a nice app for downloading books, highly recommended.
On the I-Pad the touch screen is faster than a mouse and yields a sense of control that is admirable. I can't get this thing to play home made videos, which is a bloody drag. Of course you can change the size of the font. The coolest feature of I-Pages(Word substitute) is you can change the size of pics and turn them sideways with your fingers. Very cool for a children's book I'm working on, but the book came out all messed up when I tried to e-publish it. So I will send it without pictures for now.
Hope this rather lengthy missive helps you with your decision.
CE Wills
My wife and I had left home intending to buy a Nook by Barnes and Noble. In fact, we did buy a Nook that day. The young guy at Best Buy who helped us told me I should really think about the I-Pad, so we walked over to the display and played with it. Sure enough it was really cool. The pictures were crisper and sharper than my LCD monitor at home could deliver and the touch screen has to be used to be appreciated.
I had done a lot of study before making my decision on the Nook and was not easily dissuaded. Things like the Nook having a battery you can replace yourself weighed heavily. The I-Pad battery is sealed and you take it to an Apple store. The replacement is $100. My wife was heavily in favor of the I-Pad 'because it was cool and heavy and didn't feel cheap made. Finally I say, ok, give us an I-Pad. They didn't have one in stock. The sales guy suggests we go to the Apple store which is a few miles away. I don't want to drive all over the city since I have become something of a recluse, so I buy the Nook and start to leave the store. The sales dude, with a smile, says "Go buy the I-Pad, take them both home and try them, then return the one you don't want." My wife thinks this is a wonderful idea but I am longing for the woods, my deck and an ice cold beer. Of course, in short order, I am standing in a very crowded Apple store, hip-deep in excited geeks. It was my first time in one of these technical meccas and I took a moment to soak in the ambience. My first thought is: there are no cash registers. Cool. Then I see a worker checking out, excuse me, completing a sale for a lady beside me. He uses an i-pod touch to ring the sale up which is cool because my wife had just bought one for herself at Best Buy. I was thrilled to know that, if need be, I could use the i-pod touch to sell computers. Hey, they keep all the i-pads closeted in the dark recesses in the back of the store, concealed from the prying eyes of foreign agents. Also, we were on vacation and had a bit of cash with us so we started to pay cash for the i-pad. Uh,uh. The dude that helped us said we had to put at least part of the purchase on a credit or debit card. The reason? He said that certain people were buying several i-pads, then selling them overseas for several thousands of dollars each. I felt a delicious sense of espionage like I was reading one of my own novels. Before I left the store I was already plotting a thriller about evil agents stealing technology from the US and sending it to their compatriots overseas. I don't mean to make light of of technology theft because I own six copyrights for novels and am well aware of the paranoia that can assert itself. So this is all in fun and please Apple, don't kick my books off i-books! I digress. We head home, after a stop for a late lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. I am deeply fried, mentally, after a day of making high-pressure decisions about things I know little about. I am so fried, in fact, that it isn't until two days later that I start to mess around with the i-pad. I suspect I might have been a little intimidated by it. The first encounter wasn't quite what I expected. It didn't take too long to figure out that the device could not even be used in the manner that I had intended to use it. My intention had been to just use it as an e-reader and plug it into my PC, download a bunch of books on it and read happily ever after; perhaps making one of my own novels the first download. Cool plan, right? Wrong. You cannot do this. You cannot even get on I-Tunes with them unless you are prepared to do so with WiFi. I am ashamed to say we were so ignorant of this that we called the Apple people and raised hell, er, expressed concern. Bottom line, I had to re-install a router on my computer before we could even use the thing. After that there were some slow downloads and some other things that were probably my fault due to the slow learning curve of the elderly mind. I hope it's not too late to say that in spite of all of this, I love the device and it seems to be light-years ahead of it's time.
I have more stuff to read than I've had for some time, most of it obtained for free from places like Guggenheim Project. I'm a big Edgar Rice Burroughs fan and have spent a lot of time and money on Amazon and in little bookshops seeking old books. I went to Guggenheim and downloaded a favorite without leaving my recliner, immediately starting to read a Mars novel.
I highly recommend the Goodreader app which costs three bucks and makes transferring files much easier.
I still have many things to figure out on this device. The Nook was taken back to Best Buy, even though it's a fine device. I like the Barnes and Noble book store best of all the options and still use it the most. Terrific selection and good prices. On their reader app for I-Pad(free) you can change to a gray screen with white letters which I like at night or outdoors. The Sony reader app has a ribbon to keep your place in the book, which is a nice little touch, right? Stanza is a nice app for downloading books, highly recommended.
On the I-Pad the touch screen is faster than a mouse and yields a sense of control that is admirable. I can't get this thing to play home made videos, which is a bloody drag. Of course you can change the size of the font. The coolest feature of I-Pages(Word substitute) is you can change the size of pics and turn them sideways with your fingers. Very cool for a children's book I'm working on, but the book came out all messed up when I tried to e-publish it. So I will send it without pictures for now.
Hope this rather lengthy missive helps you with your decision.
CE Wills
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