Have any of you used the Kindle????

[timer lady]

I'm considering purchasing the new Kindle & wondered if any of you have used one & what you think.

I'm getting very weak & can barely hold a book; when I work about the house I listen to books on my PDA. I miss reading myself to sleep at night.

The new kindle is bigger & very light weight.

Opinions anyone?

 

[Hound dog]

What's a kindle?? Never heard of it before.

 

[GoingNorth]

A kindle is an electronic book reader. I have the older K2 kindle and I love the thing. It's recently come down in price due to competition from other companies.

Despite what Amazon says, you can easily download e-books from other freebie/inexpensive sites. The only difference is that with amazon you can download directly to the Kindle without a easy child.

For other sites you have to download the books to your easy child and then transfer them over to the kindle via the included special USB cable.

The cable is a hybrid that is also used to charge the Kindle. Provided you only turn Whispernet (Amazon's kindle network) on when you are actively downloading books or synching the Kindle with your Amazon account, the battery life is excellent.

Another neat feature is that you can have up to five Kindles on one account provided they are all purchased under the same account name (let's say you and a friend want to go the kindle route. You set up your order and account. You order your Kindle and then order hers as well.)

Associated accounts can share books. If one of you buys a book, the others on your shared account can 'synch' to Amazon and download the new book)

 

[slsh]

I got husband one in Feb. He loves it. It takes a bit of getting used to - I still every once in a while try to physically turn the page, LOL. Not only can you get books, but you can get periodicals - we love Ellery Queen and.... can't remember the other mag but it's a short story mystery mag too.

GN is right about the battery life - as long as you don't keep it online, it lasts forever.

I haven't played with- it much but I believe it also can "read" to you. One of these days when I can pry it out of husband's hands long enough, I'm going to figure out how to get it to do that for Boo. You can also adjust print size - very disability friendly.

 

[GoingNorth]

Unless you regularly read newspapers and the like, there is no reason to pay the extra for the larger Kindle. It's also not as easy to handle.

If you get a Kindle, you MUST get some sort of cover for it. I have a leather one I ordered from Amazon. You can also get "skins" for it from other sites if you want to individualize your kindle.

Just a serious suggestion: if you want to read or eat while using your Kindle, put it into a ziploc baggie. Keeps everything clean and dry.

The latest and greatest Kindle handles PDF files natively. The earlier ones required downloading a hack from an outside site.

Just search Kindle and PDFs and you should find plenty of them.

 

[KTMom91]

I have a Sony reader, and I love it. I don't need Internet access, or newspapers, or textbooks, and the Sony does what I need it to do. We got it at Target several months ago.

 

[timer lady]

Sue, do you have the new one - the big one? That's the one I'm looking at for the font size & the reading capability.

Kinda hoping the price will go down a bit.......

I didn't know Sony had a device like this - going to check that out as well.

 

[GoingNorth]

I don't have good eyesight at all (retinal damage in one eye and an early cataract in the other).

I've actually compared the two Kindles and didn't find any benefit to the larger version. There'sno real difference in readability between the two.

 

[timer lady]

GN, thanks for that...there's a $200 difference between the 2. I'm leaning toward the larger version but am glad to know that the reading experience is no different.

Thanks, lady

 

[GoingNorth]

Timer, if you are looking at using the Kindle primarily to replace reading paperback books, the K2 should be more than sufficient for your needs.

in my opinion, you need the bigger Kindle if you have to deal with scientific papers, lots of PDFs (you can get hacks to make a K2 display PDFs, but things get a bit crowded).

Also, the bigger, new Kindle is considerably heavier and more awkward to hold and the covers cost quite a bit more as well.

I have heard about voice capabilities over the Kindle, but haven't looked into them because I have problems understanding verbal stuff. The written word is my thing, LoL.

One thing you will probably want along with your "book style" Kindle cover is a reading lamp designed to work with it. The Kindle is not backlit and the background is a pale gray as opposed to white. It is actually pretty easy on the eyes, but in lower light the little light helps a lot.

 

[SRL]

Barnes and Nobles just came out with a new e-reader called Nook and it's getting a lot of positive chatter so you may want to check it out.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/?cds2Pid=30919

 

[KTMom91]

My Sony has a magnifying button to make the print bigger, and you can set the screen to read either vertically or horizontally, whichever is more comfortable for you.

 

[witzend]

husband chose the Sony Reader because you can use other applications on it, like Word, Excel, etc.

 

[timer lady]

Okay, I ordered the Kindle 2 - hoping that it's the right move. I want to read again & don't have the strength to hold a book for any length of time. (checked the ratings on the Sony, consumer reports (or something like that); I don't need/want to run any other apps except for reading. It's my "new book". I'm already a member of audible so I can use the books I've purchased over the last 18 months & can read them versus listen to them. I bought the car charger so I can listen in the car as well.

The size of the kindle diagnosis seemed just too large to handle while lying in bed or for any period of time. I'll let you know how it works for me.

I'm kind of excited.

 

[skeeter]

I went with the Sony because I didn't need the blue tooth, and because I could load other files (word, excel) on it. The Sony ebook also can have pictures (various file types) and mp3's on it, so you can read and listen to music from the same device. The Sony can take extra memory chips- but I've got quite a few books on it and have come no where near maxxing out the memory yet.

 

[timer lady]

I got my Kindle yesterday! It's wondeful, light enough to hold & the font sizes are great.

And the way I can configure the thing is helping me get thru pages with-o losing my place.

I'm reading JD Robb's latest book - haven't read an entire book in I can't tell you how long. We'll see how I get thru this one & if I will remember the content. The memory thing may just be wishful thinking.

 

[GoingNorth]

Timer, that's funny. I am also reading JD Robb's latest "in Death" book. The Kindle may be great, but I am kind of disappointed in the latest Robb book. They were always sort of "popcorn for the mind", but this one comes off as really trite and formulaic.

Roberts uses some sort of team writing approach to put out these books on the type of schedule she does, and it is very apparent in this novel.

It reads to me as if she is getting tired of the whole thing and is writing them now because she is under some sort of contractual obligation.

She has another one due out in January. I hope it is better. If not, I hope she'll end the series.

 

[Mattsmom277]

I'm so psyched that FINALLY amazon has launched it for Canada.

AND I"M GETTING ONE !!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!

S/O and I were not going to exchange Christmas gifts. But I was raving about the kindle and that it finally launched here, and he told me tonight he's ordering it next week as a birthday gift for me

I can't wait. I was reading on it and it does hold word and some other types of files (not excell though I don't think). It seems to do everything I want it to, and since I"m housebound alot, ordering right from my bed via WiFi sounds amazing. I've been sleuthing the internet for free eBooks as well. I haven't been this excited for a present in years and years.

Since they are new here, I don't know the difference between the larger one or smaller one. Newer or older ones. I'm getting the latest one they have, whichever that is. I do know it is the one that weighs 10 ounces.

I was browsing accessories and found a cover for it that includes a built in book light for reading in bed.

LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BusynMember]

I am a multi-published e-book author finally starting to make some decent money and am THRILLED to learn how many new people are starting to use Readers!!!! I would like to get one myself, but I don't know much about them.

 

[timer lady]

I'm really enjoying using this digital reader. While I miss holding a "real" book, the weight of the book had me listening instead of reading.

I've finished the JD Robb book (yes GN, sounded like it was rushed) & found many free books. Lots of F. Scott Fitzgerald & I ordered one (can't remember the name).

So my ritual of reading myself to sleep each night is back & comforting. I'd so missed it.

Mattsmom, I'm so glad for you - you'll really appreciate this. MWM, just check out Amazon - they carry both the Kindle & Sony readers. Then google & check CNET (I believe that's the sight husband used to check anything digital).