Would anyone like to talk about their Kindle?

Cafe Society
1

I am looking into buying a Kindle for my upcoming birthday in November. At this point I have pretty much looked into most of the e-book readers, and I have settled on the Kindle. Or rather, it’s either a Kindle or a camera and I am leaning towards the Kindle. (My camera is old, but it’s a Canon Powershot A520 and still useful, and of course, that would just be an upgrade. I don’t have an e-book reader at all.)

I looked at the Nook and some of the Sony readers and didn’t consider the iPad at all. (And won’t. I’ve had enough of Apple, I think.) I feel more secure with Amazon than I do with B&N, especially since brick & mortar bookstores are suffering and B&N is no exception.

So is there anything I need to know in particular about the Kindle? The woman at the B&N store claimed the battery cost 3x as much (seriously - she said the Nook batter was $30, and the Kindle was $90), and that I would have to mail my Kindle in to get my battery fixed.

Well, color me cynical but when I bought my iPod all those years ago there was a major freakout over the battery on that one, too. It’s now 4 years later (I think) and my iPod is just starting to show signs of not holding the battery as long. And when I googled the Kindle battery I didn’t see it anywhere near $90.

People who own a Kindle, what do you think of it? If I buy one, I am buying the cheaper version, sans the 3G network - I don’t need that as I have wifi at home and can just download the books at home and don’t need access to the store 24 hours.

Complaints? Comments? Concerns? I’d love to hear them.

2

I absolutely love mine and am considering buying the newest model since it is even smaller.

I’m was an avid reader anyway but now with the ability to buy books online and download them I have found the amount of books I’m reading per month has gone up. For me the 3G is criticial as I travel a lot for work and download books in my hotel, the airport, etc.

I’ve only had mine about 6 months but no battery issues at all. I absolutely love that I only have to charge the thing every 3 weeks or so. (assuming you keep the 3G off when not actively browsing for new books or downloading)

MeanJoe

3

The only complaint about mine is that a lot of the books I would like aren’t available on my Kindle. I’m in Canada, though, so you might not have that problem in the US. Otherwise, it’s great.

4

Moving from IMHO to Cafe Society, where it doubtless will get good responses.

5

I have been wanting to buy a Kindle for awhile now - and saw the new ads for the smaller, $139 model.

What are the chances it will slip under the $100 price by Christmas? Just wondering, as I think that would be the magic number to really boost sales. Actually, I am kind of surprised they don’t just give them away free - the real money is in book sales, and once you have it - my guess is you will buy far more books than ever before. Sort of like printers - they came down in price, knowing they will get ya with the new toner you have to buy.

At any rate, also interested in comments about the Kindle as that will probably be my Christmas gift to myself (and maybe one for my older brother’s gift as well…).

6

I own the Kindle DX and love it! The larger screen makes the experience much more like reading a hard-bound book. I have maybe 100 books on it and haven’t even touched the storage capacity. If you keep the wireless turned off unless you are downloading something the battery lasts for weeks of use.

7

I have the first version and love it. I’d think about getting one of the new ones but mine still works perfectly.

8

Because then I’d just order a dozen and load them up with free/public domain books.

9

In that case, I’m curious why you didn’t get the Kobo. I picked mine up last month from Chapter’s and I’m crushing on it pretty badly. It’s much simpler (and cheaper) than the Kindle or Nook! :slight_smile:

10

The public domain books are a treat, if you don’t mind typos. They transcribe them via the lowest bidder and don’t copy-check, so there are creative spellings all through them.

11

Thank you, Anaamika, for giving me another opportunity to wax about my Kindle. :slight_smile:

I’ve had my Kindle DX since June of 2009, so a little over a year now, and absolutely love it. I also have an iPad, which has made me appreciate my Kindle even more.

The only issue I have is that I spend more money on books now than before I had the Kindle, and that’s even with the Kindle discount. As I said in another thread, it’s simply too convenient to buy books with the thing.

I would seriously consider getting the Wi-Fi/3G version as opposed to the Wi-Fi only version. The $50 more for the 3G version is definitely worth it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted/needed to be able to download books while away from home or other wi-fi source and was thankfully able to. The advantage of Amazon’s 3G network is there’s no monthly fee, and no payment plan. I think I’ll repeat that. There Is No Monthly Fee Or Payment Plan required to access Amazon’s Whispernet network. It’s free. Gratis. And you can use it twenty-four hours a day if you want. Before I purchased my Kindle, I also believed there’d be no need to download books while away from home. Boy was I wrong. I now can’t imagine having to be tethered to a single spot to get my fix of tomeage. :slight_smile:

Things I love:

Battery life - Amazing. I can read for weeks without recharging. Also, perhaps I haven’t had it long enough to experience any degradation, but battery life seems to be just as long as the day I received it 15 months ago.

Non glare screen - Again, amazing. I can read in bright sunlight without having to orient the device so the sun doesn’t hit it.

Weight - I have the DX, which is larger than the standard sized version, but I find it to be very manageable. Also, it is less than half the weight of the iPad, which has almost the exact same dimensions.

Eye strain - Absolutely none. I can read, and have read, for hours at a time with no problem at all.

Non Amazon books - There are many online outlets with books in Kindle format, some of which are free, so you’re not locked into Amazon’s bookstore. This is great for obscure books or books from non established authors.

Things I don’t love:

Book availability - Although Amazon adds thousands of books monthly, that certain books I want are not yet available for the kindle still makes me frown, although there are conversion tools available for books in other ebook formats.

The experimental web browser (yes, there is one) - You can browse the web on the Kindle. It’s kind of cumbersome because of the lack of a pointing device but, in a pinch, it gets the job done.

Search Utility - This could have been implemented so much better. I’m actually hoping for a firmware update to resolve its deficiencies. Again, it gets the job done, but there are not enough tools to refine a search.

Color of device - When I purchased my Kindle, it was only available in white, which is terrible and shows every smudge. I have since purchased a black skin, which is good, but not a fantastic solution because I can see having to replace the skin every so often. Amazon now offers both the standard Kindle and the DX in a graphite color. Seethe…

I love my Kindle so much that I take it practically everywhere I go. I fly a lot for work, and I never have to worry about running out of reading material on flights anymore. Get it. You will love it too!

12

I definitely don’t want or need the 3G, even if it is free, free, free. I have wireless access at my home whenever I want, and I don’t intend to buy books anywhere else, really. No need to spend an extra $50. :slight_smile: I don’t travel for work or anything, and spend a lot of my free time at home anyway, so it’ll work for me.

And I am sure I will be buying more. I buy almost NO books right now - it’s a space issue, not a cost issue. I rent, so don’t want to have to move them again, either!

I appreciate your post, it was very informative and detailed! And thank you everyone else for your help. I think I will be getting one. The only thing that’s going to kill me now is the wait.

13

I just ordered one (3G) yesterday. I am pretty psyched. I have arranged to sync with my sister so that we can share books, which I’m all excited about. (She has bought a LOT of books for her second-generation model.)

I got the 3G because it’s like free internet access, anywhere, anytime. Cumbersome internet access, but there have been enough times I would have killed to be able to do a google search in the car that it is (more than) worth the $50 to me, especially at this price point.

14

I have the DX and I love it and would recommend a Kindle for anyone. Battery life is very robust and the readability very good. However, having said that here are the downsides to prepare yourself for:

Availability of books is a bit of a disappointment (although the free books available kind of make up for that).

The dictionary is useless. If you don’t know what the word means, the dictionary won’t either. (But you can make marginalia to refer back to when you have access to a proper dictionary).

Inputting information (typing, moving cursor) is slow.

Its orientation sensor is a bit wonky. If I tilt it to the side just for a fraction of a second while I’m picking up my bag, for instance, it will convert to a sideways view and then take forever to get back to a straight up view. Annoying.

It doesn’t give you the page numbers of the book. (I don’t know if it gives you edition information - haven’t checked).

15

Does the Kindle (or any of the ereaders, for that matter) work with ebooks from library systems? I have recently gone through a major simplification process in my life and am not buying many books, but check books out from the library all the time. If I were going to get a reader, are there certain library ebook systems that it will or will not work with?

16

Nope. Only the Nook offers library books.

17

I got my Kindle for Christmas last year. The Kobo wasn’t available then IIRC.

18

I won’t repeat what everyone else says, other than to say I really like it. We’ve had ours (his and hers) for about a year and a half and had no problems. My only complaint is with certain publishers who are releasing Kindle versions at high prices. Amazon really touted the maximum of $9.99 for best-sellers as a selling point, and the publishers made them eat crow. I refuse to buy any book that is over $9.99. I mean, it’s electronic media fer cryin’ out loud, you greedy bastids.

19

I suspect that e-book prices have some evolving to do, and that we’ll eventually see the equivalent of the day when lots of mass market paperbacks were available relatively cheaply.

Personally, what seems Wrong to me is, not when e-book prices start out relatively high (> $9.99), but when they’re still high while print versions are available for cheaper.

20

I’ve noticed some higher pricing on Kindle versions of books as well. It is kind of annoying, but I deal with it. On the other hand, I can’t tell you how may books I’ve purchased and downloaded for a dollar, or even free.