Lovin my Kindle.. what about you? whats on yours?

[welasharon]

I really love the smell and feel of paper/books so I don't think I'll give that up but for cheap reading that I don't want to keep on a shelf I am hoping I will like this.
sharon

 

[thaiturkey]

I did a little bit of research on Kindle and its competitors. You can find user reviews by Googling.

It seems that the hardware stands up well against its competitor machines for functionality and ease of use. However, users have highlighted some drawbacks.

Kindle, it seems, can be used only with Amazon downloads whereas some other devices, for much the same price, can read ebook downloads from most sources.

It's screen is monochrome so it's not good for magazines, periodicals or material with colour images.

You cannot easily flick to and fro'. That's probably not a drawback if you're reading a novel but it is with reference books.

I haven't checked the list of available titles but I heard that downloads are cheap. Does that mean Amazon are using Kindle to breathe life into old titles or are authors being forced to work for a very low return?

It seems that Kindle is OK for novels, especially when one is travelling, but it has a long way to go before it matches the versatility of printed material.

Perhaps those of you who have Kindle will correct any wrong impression that I have formed.

 

[PippyChicken]

My mom has one and it's soo cool!! I really like it

 

[welasharon]

I checked to reviews and that is pretty much what I got from it as well. I don't want to look at magazines so didn't feel like I needed the color...otherwise I may have gone with the nook I think it was. I was intrigued by the ad on tv showing them looking at a childrens book in color but I realized that I did not want my grandkids messing with it and I dont want them not to love real books.
sharon

 

[freezefamilyfarm]

This is an old thread, but just wanted to say that even if your Kindy (our pet name for them in our house), should quit, you still have Kindle for iPhone and Kindle for PC as back ups. Kindle PC can be downloaded to any PC and you can log in your account. We have two Kindies. One is mine, one is my thirteen year old son's . Our bookshelves are full and he still makes me visit the library weekly. Some things you can't get on Kindle or I would just rather check out than buy, but Kindle is great when you have a sudden urge to purchase a book and read it now, or you are on a trip and would go through 5+ books. We love our Kindies, that's all there is to say.

 

[Camelot Farms]

I dont have a Kindle

, but DH got me a Pandigital Novel for my Bday and I looooove it.

I have tons of stuff on it. My 1st was Jeannette Walls...Half Broke Horses followed by a bunch of reduced price BN mystery thrillers.

Never thought digital books would wow me, but I am hooked.

 

[welasharon]

Okay so you didn't warn me...I have spent the longest time trying to decide what to get first!!!!!!!!!!!
sharon

 

[woodmort]

I've had mine now for over a year and have so many books on it that there isn't room to list them all--just added Mark Twain's autobiography and a great time waster called Every Word. I also have the iphone and PC apps so can read my stuff either place. Hint: If you are going from one device to another you need to sync to get to the last page read.

The biggest problem is that you can't share a book with others but I see they're about to make that possible come the spring. You will be able to share some books--the publisher will be the determining factor--between kindles for a period of 2 weeks but only be able to share a particular book once. Aside from that the newer version does allow you to highlight and send passages from one kindle to a PC so you can send quotes if you want. Of course all books published prior to 1927 are no longer copyrighted so they are free through Amazon so most classics are easy to get. That means on a cold, snowy night when there is nothing in the house to read you can curl up in front of the fire and download Jane Eyre to read for free.

ETA: Most of what I have on mine is nonfiction--I'd say 75-25%--much of which contains pictures and I have no problem with them. If there is a drawback it may be that often a picture is on one page and takes up so much room that the information about it is on the next page, i.e. the names of the people pictured, so you have to flip back and forth. I'm from an era where our pictures were all in b/w anyway so have no problem with that. I have found that it is kind of a pita to flip around but that may be because I've never taken the time to master the ability to bookmark pages. On the other hand, the kindle has a built in dictionary so if you come across a word and want to know it's meaning, highlight it and go to the dictionary, it'll give you this information right at the bottom of the page.

Also another thing I like is that I am an author and when my publisher sends the pdf of my books for proofing I can download them to the kindle and work from there--much easier than using a computer screen and saves paper as they don't have to be printed off.

BTW, as far as availability of books is concerned, Amazon.com has every book published for sale. That doesn't mean all are downloadable to the kindle because that is a author/publisher agreement with Amazon and there are some authors that aren't interested in doing it. On the other hand, while Amazon charges less for a book, it pays a better amount in royalties than most publishers do since they have very little cost.

 

[MaggieRae]

Quote:
I cut out the other thoughts because I either agreed with them or didn't think they were too far off.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Actually at one point they were offering 90% as opposed to 10 or 20 on a regular book.