I would like a Kindle but I can’t convince myself that it’s worth getting one. They’re pretty cheap now but I still don’t really want to drop £150 on something that I don’t need.
Below is how I see them comparing to paper-based books.
Kindle pros:
can hold lots of books on the Kindle and it’s small so space saving
can get books when you want, no need to go to a bookshop
lots of classics are free
internet access?
Kindle cons:
more difficult to share books with friends and family
more annoying if lost/stolen
more likely to be stolen
new books seem to cost the same or more on Kindle which doesn’t seem right
would like to read magazines/newspapers on it but they have limited functionality and are expensive as I would only want to read them now and again but you’re forced to subscribe
Is there something great about them that I’m missing? Convince me to buy one!!
I’m getting one for my birthday next week. If you can wait a little I will be happy to give you my feedback.
The reasons I want one? I travel a lot with work. It will be much more convenient to travel with 1 x kindle rather than 6 - 7 books. Also the more expensive model can download books for free from most anywhere in the world. That with the ability to get books without having to go to town/ wait on amazon to deliver swings it for me. I am also fast running out of available spacr for new books.
I bought myself one a couple of weeks ago as I like to read on my daily commute and it seemed like a good idea. I put off buying one for quite a while because I wasn’t sure how much good it would be to me, as opposed to buying “real” books.
My main consideration was simply that it holds a lot of books and I have a nasty habit of finishing a book in the morning and then have to travel home without any entertainment! I also like the idea that when I’m travelling, I just take one small device rather than having to cram a load of books into my suitcase and take that off my baggage allowance.
Whilst I like the idea that you can browse the bookstore and download free samples of books that take your fancy, I also like to wander round a proper shop and pick up books to see if I will like them. I have used the search facility on the Kindle but of course it relies on me remembering which authors I’m keen on, what books are on my wishlist and what random things I might like to try. Here the samples are great because you get a short extract and can make your mind up without committing yourself to the expense of a book you might not really want.
Having the Kindle won’t stop me buying paper copies of books, there will still be some that I read on there but want to physically have in my collection. It will cut down on what I spend in the bookstore but at the same time, I am not planning to give up proper books and go totally electronic.
All things considered the Kindle fulfils a need, it has a purpose but it’s not to the exclusion of other things. I’ll still buy books, particularly recipe books, as there are things that I don’t think translate so well to the Kindle. And not having to sit at home waiting for Amazon to deliver, or traipse to the post office to pick up parcels? Bonus!
I’ve got the £110 version with wi-fi but not 3G. Another pro is that you can get free Kindle reader software for PC, iPhone, and Android. So if you always have your phone you can always read even without the Kindle itself. Say I was reading at home last night and had the Kindle wireless turned on. I stop reading at the beginning of chapter 3 and turn it off. Today I unexpectedly have some time to kill so open the Kindle app on the phone and the book opens exactly where I left off.
Some cons you don’t mention is that the Kindle is a bit fiddly for reference books where you want to flip back and forth between sections. There are bookmark and annotation tools but they’re not nearly as good as sticky notes in real books.
I’ve also heard that some PDF documents are hard to read and some diagrams hard to see.
Might or might not be a “pro.” Potentially handy if you want to look something up, but not really convenient for normal internet usage.
It depends on the book. Some books are significantly cheaper on the Kindle; others are actually more expensive, at least if you consider buying used books.
You could get a free (2-week, IIRC) trial subscription, and cancel if you don’t like it.
Here are some things that you can add to your lists, though they may or may not matter to you:
Pros (compared to print books):
makes it easy to carry a book, or rather, lots of books, with you when you’re out and about
easier to hold and read than many books: you can hold it in one hand, or leave it lying on a tabletop while you read
you can adjust the font size
you can use the “text-to-speech” function to have it read to you
you can download free samples/chapters of books you’re considering buying
easy access to other e-books (not just classics) that get offered as freebies
can highlight passages from books and save them to your “clippings” file
Cons:
more fragile than an actual book: could get broken
the smallish, black-and-white screen doesn’t work well for things with lots of color and/or pictures
many books are not (yet) available on Kindle
can’t re-sell, trade, or give away books once you’re done with them
Here’s the way I convinced myself to get one: Download the Kindle application for PC. Then go looking around at places like the Kindle Store on Amazon, www.gutenberg.org, www.manybooks.net, and www.baen.com/library/, find some free books that interest you, and download them to your PC or bookmark them or make a list of them. Then tell yourself that, if you buy a Kindle, you’ll have an easy, convenient way of reading all those books for free.
Most of the books I buy are about 40% off the price on Amazon. And I get them immediately and don’t pay for shipping. So if I finish a book in Starbucks, I just download a new one.
Its very light, the screen is a dream to read (unlike the iPhone/iPad).
I have the WiFi version, non-color. very cheap (I think it retails for $130 or something).
There are WAY better devices to use for internet access. I have not yet come across a better ereader.
I got one for Christmas. I would never have thought to buy it for myself, but honestly, since I got it, I haven’t put it down. The screen is great for reading from (far better than the iPod Touch), it’s just the right size (will fit in some of my larger jacket pockets), the battery lasts forever, it reads PDFs, and the dedicated format is everywhere (Project Gutenberg, for instance, packages all their books in the Kindle format now).
Many of them you can just buy single copies one at a time. I’m subscribed to the WSJ (the first time I’ve ever regularly read a newspaper as it is SO much easier to read the kindle form factor than a paper newspaper or even online) but I’m seriously thinking about just buying the Sat editions every week.
I love my 3G Kindle way more than I thought I would. I have a whole bunch of free books on it (if you like SF check out the Baen Free Library (already mentioned by Thudlow Boink) and Cory Doctorow), I have it registered to my sister’s account so we share all our books (we live across the country from each other so this is much easier than with paper books), and I read a lot of text-heavy web pages on it (e.g., right now instead of reading the Wheel of Time I’m reading an online synopsis. On my kindle). Oh, and I’m always downloading samples to see if I like books – and then often I’ll just check them out from the library. (Although I do buy from amazon enough that they should have no complaints that I do this.) And since I am too cheap to get a smartphone and data plan it has saved me a couple of times when I needed internet access. And when I go on trips I can take 100 books with me instead of 2. And it is small and light enough I can stick it in my purse (or even my pocket if I have large-pocket pants on) wherever I go and always have reading material if I’m waiting in a line or whatever.
I also have kindle for the iPod Touch and I hate it and rarely use it. I do use the iPod for reading my RSS feeds when there’s wireless available, which the kindle is useless for.
I absolutely devour books on vacation, so sometimes find myself carrying four novels plus a guide book plus a phrase book for a week away. Seriously adds to the weight and inconvenience. Plus, you’ve got to decide which four books you might fancy reading on holiday before you leave. So I started considering a Kindle or an iPad.
Luckily, on my next flight there was someone in front of me with a Kindle, and someone across the aisle reading a book on an iPad. No contest whatsoever - my Kindle arrived from Amazon in the next post. I absolutely love it.
It’s small enough and light enough to be in my handbag most of the time, so find myself with half an hour to kill? Get out the Kindle. As well as some books I was thinking of buying anyway, I’ve put a lot of the free classics on it, and some business reference works which are really handy to always have on hand. And even when I don’t have Kindle on me, I’ve got the Android app.
I sprung for the 3G plus Wifi one, but in retrospect, I’m not sure it’s worth the extra fifty quid.
I got a lot less use out of mine than I expected. My mistake, I assumed that the books I planned on buying would be available.
The Kindle is good for travel, and I presume other readers are as well. Good for classics and bestsellers, too, if one of those is your thing. I don’t mind reading off a computer screen, though, so freebies from Project Gutenberg hardly justifies a Kindle in my case.
I’ve had mine for a few weeks. I used gift cards to buy it, so I sprung for the 3G. I haven’t tried to browse the Internet with it yet, but one day I’ll figure out how.
What I like about it:
Small, easy to carry–fits in my purse, so I can take it everywhere and read a few pages when I have down time, which means I’m reading more.
Holds more books than I will probably ever read.
Looong battery life, especially if you turn off the 3G.
Drawbacks:
I buy most of my books at the library’s used book store, and pay about $1.50 to $2 each for those. I buy probably 30 books a year there easily. Kindle books, on the whole, are more expensive than that. However, obviously Kindle books take up less space.
Quite a few books I’ve wanted to buy are not available for Kindle.
As the OP said, you can’t lend books on Kindle.
It’s hard to flip back and forth in the book to browse. I know you can search, but sometimes I just want to browse a book.
I’ve always been a voracious reader and love physical books, but I really like the Kindle, too, primarily for its portability. It’s really handy and practical.
I have an iPad but I’m a huge fan of the Kindle app. I think any e-book reader is a great idea at this point. The more of us demanding ebooks and applauding sites like Baen who sell their ebooks for reasonable prices will improve the supply situation for all.
As others have said, it is not a replacement for books, but an addition. I think us readers somehow got the idea we were expected to give up our books. But it is wonderful to have 60+ books (what I currently have on the Kindle) at any time.
A Kindle owner friend of mine told me the other day he was reading a book on his iPhone, and the next day he was able to pick up where he left off on his Kindle.
I got mine for my birthday in December and I love it. Keep in mind that I live in freaking Hooterville with no bookstore and a rather lame library that runs heavy on Danielle Steele and Left Behind books, so that probably colors my perception somewhat - I’m still reveling in the sheer number of publications that are now available to me instantly, especially the free classics.
The screen is amazingly easy on the eyes, and you can customize the size of the text or even have the machine read it for you (the machine reads like William Shatner on Valium, but still…). I sprung for the 3G model, since the only three places in this town I know of that have wifi is Mcdonalds, Dairy Queen, and my friend Kris’s house.
I also like that I can lay it on the table in front of me at work and read while I’m knitting. Can’t do that with a book, the pages flop around. I love mine so much I knitted it a cozy.
My daughter has one and loves it. The biggest pluses for her:
She’s in Germany this year, and it is hard to get books in English normally - but it is trivial on her Kindle. It has also encouraged her to read the free classics.
She has the 3g version, and she has been able to use it for Internet access in places where WiFi is not available. It was a lifesaver when she was stuck in Heathrow.
I don’t have one because I have a massive backlog of books which I own. If I ever catch up I might get one. Check back in 2025 or so.