Product Review: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2nd Generation)

No, I am not a professional photographer.

Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite Wifi plus 3G.  With special offers.  That was what I purchased last March from Amazon with their once-a-m0nth payment plan.  It seemed like the safe thing to do as I liked the idea of having mine own dedicated e-reader that I could read at night without having to turn on the nightstand light at potentially disturb Conklederp.  I had also been using Conklederps Kindle Fire so I had some experience using an e-reader and by then I had gotten used to swiping to turn pages and having an entire shelf worth of library books in the palm of my hand.  

I've become a sitting advertisement for Amazon.

But wait, there's more!

There is more, actually.

The other reasons for acquiring said Kindle was that it was the second generation of Paperwhite, which I was holding out for after reading some known issues with dead pixels and the backlight doing things it wasn't supposed to be doing.  Additionally, there was the XKCD comic from god knows how long ago.  Plus, the touted eight week battery life, so I could, hypothetically bring a hand-crank usb charger and have a good number of my books at my disposal come the apocalypse.  Or you know, intergalactic hitchhiking.

So I bought the Kindle Paperwhite with Wifi and free 3G (while 3G signals are still active) and presently I love it, but it took a while before my feelings reached their current level of feelings.  My first hang up was transitioning from the Kindle Fire to the Paperwhite.  I knew, somewhat, what I was getting into technology-wise in that the Paperwhite uses Amazon's "E Ink" technology whereas the Fire uses a standard LCD tablet-type screen.  Turning pages on the Paperwhite looked nothing like the Fire and that took me the longest time to get used to.  I liked seeing pages turn when I swiped the screen and now instead of the screen would do a little flash and the page would change.  I am now perfectly content, but that effect was one of my biggest concerns that I may end up not liking the Paperwhite.

Another feature that I knew about, but was a little disappointing was the "Experimental Browser" that is used to view webpages.  I do not mind the black-and-white and reformatted look of the web pages and I realize that browsing web pages using the Paperwhite is going to be much different than using either my phone or my computer, so those aspects I am fine with.  A couple of times while using the web browser, I have had the program close itself due to "an unexpected error" occurring.   At least one time I had to force close my Kindle because the webpage froze and I could not get back to the home screen.  I only hope that Amazon has occasional firmware updates that fixes the known issues with the program. 

Browsing Wikipedia can be cumbersome at times too.  While I do wish that there was a dedicated button that opened up a Wikipedia browser (similar to the dedicated Goodreads button on the home screen), I am perfectly fine with using the Experimental Browser to look up articles.  The issue I have is when using the search field is that the screen zooms in and the "search" button cannot fit on the screen so unless there is definitely an existing article that opens a search results tab below the topic,  I am unable to search and be directed to a list of Wiki articles that are/might be connected.

The eight week battery life is a bit of a misnomer too.  The requirement for the Paperwhite lasting eight weeks on a single charge is to have the backlight set at 10 (to note, in the dark, I have the light set at 6 and in any other light, at 0), the Wifi set to off (Airplane Mode) and only reading for 30 minutes a day.  I usually read for more than 30 minutes and I usually have the Kindle in Airplane Mode if I am not looking up a book or downloading one and I have never had the light set at more than 6, even in bright sunlight and I am positive that a single charge has not lasted me 8 weeks.  While a bit disappointing, it was not a reason to return the Kindle as a defective product or false advertising.

Let us move onto aspects that I either did not realize or had forgotten about after having purchased this electronic reading device.  Upon purchasing the Kindle, I was given an email address so that I could email format specific documents to read.  I was kind of surprised that that bit about having Amazon convert documents to the MOBI format automatically upon emailing documents to yourself was only listed in that little second-t0-last sentence at the end of the page.  I think this is amazing.  I was able to take a PDF version of I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream that I had acquired through Gog.com, emailed it to my Kindle with "CONVERT" in the subject and received a MOBI formatted copy of the story.  Granted the converted book does not contain a searchable table of contents and is not navigable to the extent that a standard ebook is, but for what it is, I find the service great.

Lastly, once a month, Kindle owners who are also members of Amazon Prime receive a free book, out of a choice of four ebooks that will be published the following month.  Books that I have picked up (and have yet to read) include I Am Livia, Moving Day: A Thriller, Supreme Justice and As Red As Blood.  I do plan on reading these at some point, possibly after I finish the Summer Reading BINGO, but in the meantime, they will be among the many free books that I have acquired because they are either in the public domain or because they simply looked interesting.  Then there is the Humble eBook Bundles which is looking to be a permanent thing, which is both exciting and terrifying, especially for my bank account.

And, if you call within the next 30 minutes, one of our operators will be happy to take your order.  Or something along those lines, you get the picture.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Unclosing an Enthralled Door

Game Scores: The Elder Scrolls Online (PC)

Just to get this out of the way beforehand, yes I enjoy this soundtrack and yes, I believe that it fits in very well with the music from the rest of the Elder Scroll series.

Now that that's out of the way, we can get down to brass tacks.

Jeremy Soule, the composer of the scores from the other games in the Elder Scroll series composed only the main theme, "For Blood, For Glory, For Honor."  This theme does not contain any semblance of the "Nerevar Rising" theme that has become the theme that most people know from The Elder Scroll series.  I feel like Jeremy Soule's contribution is to get the player into the mood to play an Elder Scrolls game in the 2nd Era, that this will be an epic adventure in a familiar world during an unfamiliar period of history.  It's basically an overture in the perfect sense of the word.  

The rest of the 47 soundtrack is broken up between three other artists. 

Brad Derrick, who wrote 43 of the 47 tracks is the most obscure composer on this soundtrack.  By "obscure" I do not mean that his music does not fit in with the overall tone of the game or with the setting that Jeremy Soule set with the main theme, but that there is very little information that I could find about him.  His last.fm profile is pretty stark while what looks to be the right Brad Derrick's website simply has "meep."  I was unable find a listing on IMDb.  All the obscurity aside, what Brad Derrick has composed fits very well within the Elder Scrolls universe.  Simply listening to his music, and not knowing that it is him, you might easily assume that you were listening to a Jeremy Soule score.  Similar to how if you listen to the score from Speed or Transformers you might assume that you were listening to Hans Zimmer and not Mark Mancina and Steve Jablonksy, respectively. 

Back to Brad Derrick, sorry for the diversion.  While I do feel that what Mr. Derrick has composed fits very well within the world, what he has written is not overly memorable.  That is not to say that the music is not any good, but I could not hum you one theme from any of the songs.  Now when a particular song comes on, say "Y'ffre in Every Leaf" or "The Tower Casts Long Shadows," I'll recognize certain elements and be able to hum/sing/whisper parts of the song.  But, but, BUT, there are a few songs that move beyond the usual "atmospheres" such as "Weapons Drawn" and "A Peril Upon the Sands," which sound more action oriented.

Rik Schaffer, the second composer wrote only two songs that appear on the album.  Rik Schaffer on the other hand has a bit more of a discoverable background when compared to Brad Derrick.  That fact aside, his contributions to The Elder Scrolls Online soundtrack is no less because of only two songs being included.  Both "The Heart of Nirn" and "Northern Nocturne" compliment both the Elder Scrolls as a whole and the music that Brad Derrick wrote.  I would almost go so far to say that their two styles are so very similar hear that they are practically indistinguishable, but maybe I just haven't listened to the soundtrack as much as previous soundtracks.

The final artist included on the soundtrack is also the final track on the album.  The song "Beauty of Dawn" was composed and performed by Malukah, a Mexican musician known online for her guitar and vocal covers of video game music from series such as The Elder Scrolls, Halo,  Mass Effect and more.  She posted a video back in November 2011 of a cover she did of "The Dragonborn Comes" from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim which, to date, has 12,009,584 views.  Apparently she attracted the attention of Zenimax Online Studios and was hired (?) to write an original song for The Elder Scrolls Online.  "Beauty of Dawn," while itself is a pretty song, I do nott feel that it has the *oomph* that her covers of "The Dragonborn Comes" or even "The Age of Aggression," both from Skyrim.  I have heard both this song and another (not included on the soundtrack) sung by a bard in-game while wandering around one of the various towns/villages in TESO, but a stripped down version that doesn't include the vocal layering that Malukah often includes in her compositions.

As a whole, I really enjoy the soundtrack and am very happy having purchased it from the store that sold it to me.  I first saw the album advertised through one of Bethesda/Zenimax's newsletters as being on sale through the iTunes store which had it (and still does) priced at $15.99.  I then thought I would check Amazon and they have the exact same album, all 47 tracks for only $8.99.  While I refrain from pandering to one storefront over another, I will not say were I bought the soundtrack, but as previously stated, I am very glad that I did and am satisfied with the price that I paid.

I will say that the soundtrack falls very heavily into the atmospheric category.  Maybe with the exception of the main theme, most of the tracks work well as background music for adventuring and exploring the landscapes of Tamriel, so I do not think that many people will be blasting the music during a backyard barbeque with the bros.  Maybe I'm wrong though.

If you are looking for a rollicking soundtrack that's akin to Hans Zimmer's King Arthur score, then you should and go and buy that album because that is an awesome soundtrack.  However, if you are looking for beautiful background music to put you near 950 years in the past before your 250+ hour video game, then this will probably be perfect for your collection.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

The Eternal Dilemma: To Buy Used or New?

This is a topic that will get people fired up on both sides.  Side A hates the idea of buying used games because it takes money away from the developers and puts it into the hands of Middleman Stores.  Side B loves buying used games because of their reduced price.  I like to consider myself as part of Side D.  We'll skip Side C for the moment, as they're probably on their lunch break.

Side D.  I want to purchase games as new products.  I like having a way of telling a game company that I like the products they're putting out and the stories they're telling.  Sadly, this isn't always feasible as games cost money.  And not just any money, typically $30-$40, at least for DS and PSP games.  PC games can average $40-$50 for a new game.  Being an adult with financial responsibilities (gas, car insurance, rent, food, phone, electricity, car maintenance), there always isn't a lot left from my paycheck to go out and buy a $40 game.  For this reason, I wait.  I'll wait for the game to drop in price or to think, "You know what self, I will go buy that game!"

Here's the second problem, after the whole spending money part.  Waiting.  I like to wait at least six months before buying a game, although, honestly, it usually ends up being at least a year.  For some games, the wait is even longer for any number of reasons.  Such was the case with SEGA's Infinite Space.  I first read about this game in issue #248 of Nintendo Power and thought it looked and sounded pretty awesome.  One of my roommates, Vortlynx, had very much been into EVE Online and a space building/exploration game for the DS sounded pretty awesome.  Even with the comment about the game having a "steep learning curve" wasn't a deterrent.  With Infinite Space, though, I apparently waited too long.  The games sales didn't do very well, but was received well by critics.  It then became hard to find at Gamestops and I never saw it at a Target.   Eventually, I checked Amazon and have had prices set pretty consistently at $74 for new and $23 for a used copy.  Buying from eBay is the same as buying used and at that point I was still somewhat hoping to find a place that had a new copy for under $30.  Gamestop's website has a new game for $34, but it's not available online and their "Pick up @ store" function is unavailable.  Which is why, last month, I settled for a used copy from Gamestop, as I was able to find one that was within 100 miles.

Another example, is that I currently want to purchase Castlevania 64: Legacy of Darkness.  Now, there's not going to be any new copy of that game that Konami's going to see any profits from.  Any new (shrink wrapped) game is going to be priced out the ass by some collector who's more interested in making money than actually caring about games being played.

It basically breaks down to, I'll buy new if I can at the time I want to buy the game.  If a new copy of the game is unavailable, I'll try to hunt it down in a way that the company still sees that I like their products.  If I still cannot locate a new copy, I'll try to find a used copy.  So, until the day that game companies start sending Dr. Potts and/or myself games to review, we'll both have to settle for purchasing games from any one of multiple stores (online/physical).

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Go Ahead And Toss My Name Around

P.S.  Side C got back from their lunch and their response to this topic is, "Meh."

Today's Hipster Title: The Price We Pay Will Be Our Own

Super Sweet MS Paint Art!

So it's Veteran's Day, or at least, the day we observe it, as opposed to the actual Veteran's Day, which was yesterday, Sunday November 11th.  Part of me felt that I should post something Veteran related, but I don't know much of anything about that world.  I've had some friends over the years that were in varying branches and degrees of the military although those topics never readily came up.  So now I'm going to talk about something I will claim to know about.

The stock market.  That's something that I don't really know anything about either.  I know there's the NYSE, there's the NASDAQ, the S&P500, and there's some over in Europe and Japan too.  It's not the stock market itself that I'm conjuring, but just the way that the value of stocks moving up and down and how people will wait.....wait......SELL!SELL!SELL!!!!  That magic price, whatever it is in that magical number that tells them that now's the time to either sell or buy.  It's a bull market.

I'm that way with video games at Amazon.  Whenever I find a game I want, I'll put it in my shopping cart, then click the "save it for later" link so that I can watch the price fluctuate multiple times every day.  I've recently done this with Radiant Historia for the DS.

First off, Radiant Historia is a game by Atlus and the "gimmick" for this game is somewhat similar to Chrono Trigger in that you're able to move back and forth through time to alter events.  That's the extent of the information that I've looked up.  I don't want to know anymore than that.  So the game comes out at the regular DS price of $29.99.  At some point, the game jumped up to $75.99, possibly because it came out at the tail end of the DS's life, just as the 3DS was being released (RH: February 2011 & 3DS: March 2011) and because that's what seems to happen with niche RPG's from Japan.  Limited release in the US because distributors aren't sure if a popular game in Japan will sell well in the US.  Then it becomes popular with low stock.  I even checked at Gamestop, both new and used and the price was higher than I wanted to pay for a game.

Within the last week though, I noticed the price of Radiant Historia was dropping.  It went from $29.99 to $25 something to $22.  The morning of the 10th (Saturday), I told myself after waking up, that if the price was under $20, that I would purchase the game.  The price was $18.10.  I purchased it.  The conundrum was weather or not the price would continue to fall, or if it would jump back up to some insanely high price, which for me, is over $25.  The morning of the 11th, after Amazon told me my order had been shipped, the price dropped again to $16.20.  Sure I was annoyed, but not mad.  This morning when I checked, the price was again $29.99, which is still what the price is, 12am on the 13th.

I have absolutely no explanation for why the price at Amazon will fluctuate so drastically over the course of a week.  Maybe it works like the stock market?  Someone mentions something good about Atlus, the price goes up, metacritic hates the game, the price goes down.  Rotten Tomatoes thinks the guy who did voice acting for a game is a sell out tool because he forgot his indie roots when he signed with Warner Brothers, the price stays the same.  I can't say.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

First World Problems Abound

P.S.  I also have the same train of thought when it comes to buying gas.  One day the price will be $3.89 a gallon and it'll drop down to $3.65 the next day.  I'll need gas, but wait just in case it drops the following day.  That next day, I forget to buy gas because it's my two days off and I'm not driving anywhere.  Then, the day I get back in my car, I remember about the gas, and the price jumps up to $3.99 a gallon.  Stuff like that.