Kindle News: Special 1-day Deal on 8 World Literature Titles, The Nook's glow. Lightning on the bridge

"Eight great works of world literature" make up the Kindle Daily Deal today.

The intro for Kindle deals that change nightly is at the usual Kindle Daily Deal

Here's the direct link, though, to the world-literature special, which is good for Sunday only.

  The one that caught my eye was "The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations, by Zhu Xiao-Mei.  They're not the usual fare.


What the last few days have been like in my area

Lightning struck the Bay Bridge towers 9 times, which happened to be when I was ON the bridge from 8:30pm to 10pm with many cars caught in deep puddles in the tunnel that you couldn't steer in, so the speed was less than 5mph, while the Sound and Light! show kept our attention. It was pretty hairy. There were 750 lightning strikes in the bay area.
  There are additional shots in the slideshow there.


There's a news videoclip of some of it.  Not a tornado, but it was something.   I have to be away from the blog for one more day and back on that bridge, in better weather though.


Glowing Nooks
So now we see why we saw the "leak" of the glowing Kindle that isn't ready.  B&N announced it is coming out with theirs, due sometime in May.  In the meantime, a few have had a look at it, though very briefly.  It'll be 8 Led lights under another layer above the display layer but the ereader will be lighter and the battery will still last a month or so at 1/2 hr of reading a day with the light on. (Do people really read a book for less than 1/2 hour a day?)  The photo is from The Digital Reader.

This should be very attractive for people who have asked for years why there is no light for the screen. One article in Gizmodo by a writer (Kyle Wagner) who is keen for the current non-glow Nook as well, mentions there is a fall off in contrast due to the added layer but that it didn't bother him and he feels the slightly uneven light was no problem either.

TIME's Techland (Harry McCracken) writes that the illumination "isn't perfectly even -- I could make out discrete beams emanating from the LEDs along the top edge -- but it's bright enough..."  He'd prefer it to the "grayishness of standard E Ink, "although it does make it more obvious that you're looking at an electronic display."  He is partial to the iPad for reading, however so is not an E Ink devotee.

The long name given this new unit is "The Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight" which signals what others have been writing -- that there is no other change in functionality from the current non-glow Nook Touch.

  If you read the features-comparison between Nook and Kindle Touch devices and if you don't miss all that the Nook is lacking in features relative to the Kindles (even before the latest, large Kindle Touch software update), this will be a no-brainer to try.

I don't like external add-on lights myself, but I've used the Beam N Read light that you wear around your neck (good for 120 hours on a recharge) and I use it for everything else around the house, so I never have to attach a light to the Kindle.



Kindle Touch 3G, US-only   Kindle Touch WiFi (US)   Kindle Touch WiFi-Only, outside US    Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

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Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

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-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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BACH Birthday special, FRIDAY ONLY - 9 hrs for 99 cents, Bach Guild - full albums on mp3

Celebrating Johann Sebastian Bach's 327th birthday (but he doesn't age), eOne Music (formerly "Koch" label) has a one-day promo of 120 tracks of finest Bach works on an mp3 album for 99 cents total.

Excellent researcher Nancy Picchi sent this tip and it's from The New York Times Arts Beat, blogged by Daniel J. Wakin.  This is how Wakin describes it:

' The company, eOne Music – the label formerly known as Koch [and Vanguard is involved] – says it is selling the downloads to publicize its plans to reissue recordings by the Bach Guild, a label started in 1948 to make the composer’s works more widely available.  EOne Music said it also planned new recordings.

This promotional issue covers 120 tracks, and includes the B minor Mass, harpsichord and flute works, the “Italian Concerto,” orchestral suites and the “Brandenburg” Concertos.  Many of the versions hail from an earlier era of Bach interpretation, before a tendency to reduce the size of choruses and orchestras and play with a sharp eye toward period practice had set in, and they may sound dated to some ears.
  After Friday, the price goes up to $9.99 on digital retailers, eOne said. '

This includes the complete B minor Mass performed by the English Chamber Orchestra and Amor Artis Chorale, led by Johannes Somary, with other (concerto) works performed by I Solisti di Zagreb (this group was huge in 1960).  This music is timeless, as they say, and while I love the 'later' period-performance style and sound, I also enjoy, for different reasons, many late 19th C. interpretations almost as much.  In fact, many prefer the massive forces and slower tempi of late-19th C. style performances.  Some sections of that Bach B Minor are really beautiful (Crucifixus)

The somewhat thin-toned but expressive violinist Szigeti does the Partita No. 2.

Andras Schiff performs the Italian Concerto and French Suite No. 5 on the piano, and I've always liked his Bach.

The Vienna State Opera Orchestra does the complete set of four Orchestral Suites, under Felix Prohaska.

These were all first-class forces.  For 99 cents, how can you miss with this kind of material?

Remember, this promo ends around midnight tonight (Friday).



Kindle Touch 3G, US-only   Kindle Touch WiFi (US)   Kindle Touch WiFi-Only, outside US    Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!