I once read something to the effect that Kindle books have no page numbers. Is that true? And, if so, are there any Kindle-like devices that do show page numbers?
Ted, I'm not sure about the Kindle, but I have a Nook by Barnes and Noble, and it has page numbers on the bottom right corner of the screen.
Ted, it is true. The kindle books allow you to zoom the text without scrolling the page. This makes it impossible to have true page numbers. You can try it out online with the Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader. The lack of physical page numbers is a non-starter for using the book as a reference in a class. Thats why most text books I use are hosted on course smart dot com or VitalSource. They read like pdf pages and don't reflow the text.
While not all Kindle books have this feature, some books have true page numbers. Here's an Amazon link discussing the feature. http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_k3read_format?nodeId=200505500&#pages I also rented this textbook for one of my recent classes on my Kindle Fire, and it is formatted exactly like the real book. So the page numbers were the same. I also bought the print book, which was like having the best of both worlds. I kind of like having both print and electronic versions.
Good discussion of the ebook page numbering issue here. You can download free Kindle software (from Amazon) or Nook software (from B&N) and run it on your computer. This will allow you to buy, read, and reformat Kindle or Nook books on your computer, and you can see how the page numbering is handled. Of course, a "virtual" Kindle or Nook on your computer won't duplicate the portability of a "real" Kindle or Nook device. And you will have to use your mouse, instead of your finger, to turn pages.
