Kindle

[duncan]

I am thinking of getting a Kindle for my wife for Christmas. She reads a lot of books and was saying last night, how much room she needs to store them and asked if I would I put up some shelving.

So, searching the web, I have discovered about 4 variations of the Kindle and wondered what was the best one to go for.

Does anyone here own one? Are they any good and what version would you reccommend?

[Lissa]

I love my Kindle and would recommend them to anyone. Your timing is excellent - Amazon unveiled their new, slightly smaller Kindle yesterday. It's more powerful, thinner, doesn't have the space-hogging keyboard and is £89 instead of the current model's £111. So my advice would be to pre-order one of those - you only need the wifi version unless you're away from home all the time - asap before they sell out and aren't available until after Xmas.

Link.

[Rob McCow]

My advice would be 'The Cheapest One'. They all do the same thing, which is store books. The more expensive ones only add colour (why?) 3G connection (why?) and sound (why?!!)

[Lissa]

All Kindles have sound but none has colour (ignoring the Kindle Fire tablet which is only out in the US this year). Sound means you can listen to audio books which is ok and use the text-to-speach which is a reasonably useful gimmick that you'll never actually use.

[Rob McCow]

Ah - thanks Lissa. I've heard a bit about some of the gimmicks they've proposed for their e-readers, but I wasn't sure which ones they'd put in.

Was there an issue with the Kindles with only being allowed to download books from Amazon? The Sony E-readers are also worth looking at.

[Lissa]

There are a lot of things the Kindle doesn't like but it's mainly down to other book store's DRM protection just as Kindle books don't work on other types of e-reader.

It will read unprotected MOBI files, there are free tools online for converting things like unprotected EPUB and PDF files and you can convert text, Word and HTML files when you send them to your Kindle. So it's not the closed system a lot of people imagine it is - it's just that DRM is a curse in the e-book market like it was in the music market for many years.

[duncan]

Thanks for the Link Lissa. I can't believe my timing either. I'm off to pre-order and will probably go for the £89 model as she only reads at home & at work during her lunch break. I'll spend what I save on a voucher so she can buy some books to download.

Cheers

[duncan]

I've just pre-ordered for a mid october delivery.

Sorted! Thanks again Lissa and Rob

[Anthony Williams]

Both myself and my wife love our Kindles - she has a second generation, I have a third. I'm currently reading my way through the New Adventures on mine, which I've converted from PDFs.

The joy of the Kindle over any other eReader (with the possible exception of the Sony Reader, which utilises the same technology) is the whole e-ink thing, which means that you're able to read it, no matter what type of light you're using (be it sunlight - direct or otherwise, or artificial light). Backlit devices like iPads or Nooks really suffer when trying to use them in direct sunlight.

Honestly, it's led to me doing a lot more reading.

But, I'm clearly preaching to the converted, Duncan, since you've just gone and bought one for your wife

[Paul Monk]

I'm thinking that its quite an expensive way fro Duncan to avoid putting up shelves.

[duncan]

LOL, isn't it just!

Sadly, there's still all the existing books to deal with. So shelves it must be.

But, I'm clearly preaching to the converted, Duncan, since you've just gone and bought one for your wife

Not converted as yet. I'll see what it's like when Alison is using hers after Christmas and I may invest in one for myself.

[Anthony Williams]

Not converted as yet. I'll see what it's like when Alison is using hers after Christmas and I may invest in one for myself.

Once you've had a go on hers, you'll want one of your own. I promise!

[Dirk Gently]

Once you've had a go on hers, you'll want one of your own. I promise!

There's no answer to that!

[duncan]

Looking forward to seeing one then. Maybe it will encourage me to read more Who and Torchwood books then.

[Philipnet]

I've found that since owning a Kindle I've been reading more than before.
Just the convenience of picking something light up and then deciding what I'm going to read on it and the ability to sample books on it is great!

[Si Hunt]

My Dad bought a Kindle about 2 weeks ago. So he can't believe the timing of Amazon's announcement either.

Si.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

A little extra pointer about the new £89 version (although probably a bit late now) - as well as lacking a keyboard, it also has half the memory of the £109 version (and yes, it has actually gone back to £109 again now), and it also does NOT support audio books. I haven't seen the back of one in any photos yet, but it may not even have speakers at all so text-to-speech or music playing might not work either. It also has about half the battery life apparently, which (in my experience) doesn't quite live up to the claims as it is.

None of that may be important to you at all, but if it is then you might be advised to spend the extra £20 to get those features. I don't think the memory is a huge issue as 2GB will still hold thousands of books, but I use the keyboad a lot and would miss it, and I wouldn't like half the battery life either.

I definitely wouldn't spend a further £40 just for the 3G version though, as that really isn't worth the extra, unless you have no internet access at home at all.

Oh and just to quibble a bit more, it's actually thicker than the £109 version too

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I think they're just trying to get something out there which is more available for people's pocket. I've found having a keyboard really useful, and went myself for the 3G option - I've occasionally bought a book at work, and wanted it NOW. Which is useful for work-based documents.

I love the Kindle, it's a very portable source of a lot of books. But I've found out even despite the search engine, when it comes to reference books a lot of the way I use it comes down to flicking through until you randomly come to the right bit. It's kind of missing from the e-versions.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

It's not great for reference books, and I can only begin to imagine the horror of reading/playing one of those choose your own adventure books on it, but for strictly linear novel-style reading, it's ace.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I can only begin to imagine the horror of reading/playing one of those choose your own adventure books on it, but for strictly linear novel-style reading, it's ace.

They were only for kids whose parents couldn't afford a computer, and still wanted the feel of one of those "You are in a cave, you can see a pick axe, dynamite, food. The exit is blocked. What do you want to do?".

[duncan]

Ok thanks for the tips. I've already pre-ordered and the memory size still holds up to 1400 books which is more than enough for Alison's needs. Not having one before she wouldn't mis the use of a keyboard as long as its still easy to navigate. There's no mention of using it for audio books in the description but that's no big deal as she never listens to audiobooks anyway. This will probably suit her well enough where she can download a book at home and read it at work.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Yeah none of them are big problems, I just thought you should be aware that it's not just the keyboard that's been cut And when I said it was thicker it's only 0.2mm thicker, so unless you have very well calibrated fingers I doubt that's noticeable

[duncan]

I did get it for Alison as a Cristmas present and she loves it. She is already well into her fourth book and using it appears to be a doddle.