[Convoy]

So I'm just wondering if any of you use them and if so have some advice for someone who has never used them before.

Seriously thinking about buying one since I spend roughly $100/year replacing paperbacks that have worn out and aren't available in hardcover (which is way better quality) which would pretty much save me money in the long run.

Really annoys me the quality the make books now a days - I have quite a few I inherited from my grandfather which some are 100+ years and only a few I had to re-glue the binding. The only equivalent I have found in today's market of throwaway crap is print on demand books but usually are books written 200+ years earlier and run about $75-150 each.

 

[SteveD(TX)]

I love them. Started out with a B&W Nook several years ago, then had a color version of the same. Due to better offerings and deals from Amazon, I bought a Kindle Fire a few months ago. I also use it to access the internet and use it as a tablet. But reading books is the main reason I got it, and it's great. Lots of cool books really cheap and so easy to buy and download. Paperbacks and hardbacks are a thing of the past for me.

 

[AngieM2]

I've been reading almost exclusively by kindle for the last few years. I have found an inexpensive android tablet and download the free kindle app, is the way I like best. That way I can get email, and HST app, and other apps that help out. Also, you could do other ereader apps if you wanted to and found more in the gplay app store.


I have the kindle paperwhite for my Mom as it's much lighter than a book, is back lit and the font size increases. All of the ereaders have font size increasing.

 

[CraftyLady]

You might be able to find a good used one.

I have a Kindle and I don't use it that often. I like to check out audio books from the library. I listen to them when I go for my daily walk.

But, I've found that you can get lots of free book downloads now.

 

[Oxankle]

I bought a Kindle fire and found it to be a pain in the butt. There are hundreds of places from which to download--Starting with Amazon where you BUY books on thru the dozens and dozens of libraries that permit e-loans and still more sites that offer free downloads of books that are now in the public domain.

The kindle can hardly be read in bed---it flops its script every time you move. It is too heavy to hold in a reclining position. It works best if you read while sitting at a desk or in an easy chair--straight up. Plus, you have to buy a cover for it or risk dropping and breaking it.

You can use it to access the internet, but that too is a pain--any cheap laptop is superior for travel purposes. Further, using that same laptop you can download and read books. (Though I've never tried to buy one off Amazon using a laptop)

Oh, I forgot to mention that if you try to do email on it you had better have fingers the size of toothpicks.

Mine sits on the fireplace ledge hooked to its charger. A useless $150 ornament.
Ox

 

[Convoy]

I bought a Kindle fire and found it to be a pain in the butt. There are hundreds of places from which to download--Starting with Amazon where you BUY books on thru the dozens and dozens of libraries that permit e-loans and still more sites that offer free downloads of books that are now in the public domain.

The kindle can hardly be read in bed---it flops its script every time you move. It is too heavy to hold in a reclining position. It works best if you read while sitting at a desk or in an easy chair--straight up. Plus, you have to buy a cover for it or risk dropping and breaking it.

You can use it to access the internet, but that too is a pain--any cheap laptop is superior for travel purposes. Further, using that same laptop you can download and read books. (Though I've never tried to buy one off Amazon using a laptop)

Oh, I forgot to mention that if you try to do email on it you had better have fingers the size of toothpicks.

Mine sits on the fireplace ledge hooked to its charger. A useless $150 ornament.
Ox

I'm leaning closer to the kobo brand right now since they use the epub extension, well that and amazon sells some of the ebooks close to the same price as paperbacks and have no physical material so I won't support that gouging. Should also mention I read mostly at home and surfing the web with it just doesn't appeal to me same with my phone. Might be a little harder to download to computer but it also gives me a secondary copy as a backup. The toothpick thing I agree with though with all new technology - I generally use a pen retracted to type on my phone - which is another bonus I see it with going through a computer - the keyboard actually isn't build for mice.

 

[Annsni]

I have had the Kindle e-ink reader for over 3 years and LOVE it! I started with the Keyboard version and later got the Paperwhite because I needed better light with my aging eyes. I read it in bed all the time and what's great is that my light sensitive husband does not get woken by the soft light it has and it's very easy to hold and turn pages. The battery life for the e-ink ones are way better than the ones like the Fire (I get 3 weeks out of a charge typically) and I love that Amazon has so many free books. I now have over 1000 books on my Kindle and I paid for less than 20 of them. All of the classics are free and they put many current books on sale as well. I'm totally hooked.

What you can do is to get yourself an Amazon account if you don't have one already and then download the Kindle app. Then you can start to build up your library and read it on whatever device/computer you download the app on. If you decide to get a Kindle, you can then easily download your books onto the device.

 

[Harry Chickpea]

I use a 9" Android tablet and the free FB Reader (no relation to facebook). A paperwhite would be better, but it suffices. Project Gutenberg and Feedbooks and Amazon can directly link to the library, so there is lots of material available. I get about 4 to 6 hours on a battery.

 

[kasilofhome]

The auto correct on the kindle makes for interesting html post.....see what I mean.......

 

[hawgsquatch]

I post almost every thing on here from my Kindle fire. It also has about three hundred free books on it that I got free because I prefer classics. They are worth the space and weight at a minimum. I can pop this dealy in my backpack and have all my reading, vids,and music for an extended trip.

 

[brosil]

My Kindle keyboard is my constant companion. Get a cover for it as they are a little delicate by themselves. I had no more room for physical books. I've got a few hundred books on the device itself and about a thousand in the library, most of them free. In an emergency, I can access the net with it but the browser stinks for regular use.

 

[Belfrybat]

I have the Kindle keyboard reader and love it. I thought about getting one of the newer paperwhites so I could read in bed without a light, but I love my keyboard edition enough that I decided to stick with it. I have over 3000 books in my digital library, and keep about 500 on the device itself. I rarely pay for a book unless it's a non-fiction reference or theology book.

Here is where I check three or four times a week to get free books (it's better to check every day since some are just free for a day).
http://www.freereadfeed.com/
You can tailor the site for your preferences and save it to "favourites" to keep the preferences.

 

[po boy]

I've had a Kindle 2 for over 5 years about 6500 books, but less than a 1000 on the device. Most of the books are free from amazon and I have loaded a number in PDF format to the Kindle.

I do have kindle for pc, but never read from the PC.

 

[Annsni]

I rarely pay for a book unless it's a non-fiction reference or theology book.

For theology books, go to http://www.gospelebooks.net/ and http://www.dccebooks.com/

 

[CountryWannabe]

I am a great fan of ebooks. I have a keyboard Kindle which I use quite a bit for novels. It's drawback is that if you have too many books on there it is slower than molasses in an Arctic winter. It *does* work well if you download a few current books to it and then delete them from it after you have read the book. Pictures on it suck big time.

I have a tablet, my laptop and an Android based MP3 player that all have the Kindle app downloaded to them. I really don't read off my laptop. I do use the tablet sometimes but usually the MP3 player is my go-to for about 50% of the time. The downside to the app is that it doesn't hold your categories. At least mine doesn't and I have tried everything. That is fine if you only have a dozen or two books, I have thousands. Mostly cookbooks and craft books. Impossible to sort the number I have.

Used to be you could save them to an external hard drive where they showed up under their titles. Now they show up just as numbers - can't sort them that way, either.

Mary

 

[Kmac15]

Have had my Nook for several years and love it. I have close to 850 books, many were free. My Nook simple touch is fast and lightweight with a light for bedtime reading and has no problem being read in sunlight. the only downside is that it is for reading only, but that is all I use it for

 

[WildernesFamily]

I have the Kindle paper white with the backlit screen and I really enjoy it. I think if you want it mainly for the purpose of reading then stick to an e-reader (like the paper white) and not a tablet (like the Kindle fire).

Beforehand, I couldn't read in bed for very long because the light bothers my dh, but with the paper white I can turn the screen down real low so it doesn't bother him. I can read the Kindle for as long as I can read a real book without it straining my eyes at all, and I usually read for one or two hours at a time.

Amazon has tons of free books, plus if you have a prime account you can borrow many books for free. Our public library also has many books you can borrow for the Kindle, usually newer releases. The paper white can hold over 1,000 books, but in addition to that, any book you buy for Kindle on Amazon is stored in your cloud account so even if you remove it from the device you need never lose the book it is always easily accessible to you. I don't know how many books I have on mine right now, but I have 1,138 MB free and haven't noticed any slowing down of operations yet.

I enjoy being able to instantly click on a word and look it up in the Dictionary, I use that feature a lot.

Ox, with a regular Kindle the screen won't auto rotate, but every device I've seen with that feature has a way to turn it off in the settings, I hope you can get that turned off so you can use yours more.

There are many more lightweight covers available for the e-readers today than when they first came out. Mine is very sleek and all together everything weighs in at just under 11 ounces - heavier than say a Louis L'amour paperback (6 oz) but lighter than the SAS Survival Handbook paperback (29 oz) . The cover has a magnet which automatically turns the Kindle off when it is closed, saving the battery.

It can access the internet if necessary, but that is really cumbersome, but then I wanted it to read books on, not surf the 'net or read emails.

I don't like the advertising that comes with it, but for 20 bucks I can get that removed. When the K goes into sleep mode during Bible study at church and the advertisement is for, say a romance book, complete with a picture of two people in a passionate embrace it can be a little embarrassing, ha!

I do wish that the K would allow a person to organize books into folders on the computer and then sync that with the device, because that can be bothersome to do on the Kindle. If I was more diligent about putting the books into folders immediately after downloading them then I suppose it wouldn't be that bad.

All in all though I have been very satisfied with my Kindle. I started with the Kindle Touch and was upgraded to the Paperwhite for my birthday this year.

 

[unregistered358895]

I have a basic kindle... No backlight, no color. I honestly only bought it so I could download my own titles to it (what good is it to tell people you wrote a book in e-format if you can't own it yourself?) and was surprised at how much I like it. My gripe was that it doesn't feel like a book. So, I invested about $30 on a leather bound cover that gives it the feel of a hardback book. I may upgrade to the one with a lit screen... Someday.

 

[WildernesFamily]

For Oxankle, how to lock your screen orientation:

http://www.technipages.com/kindle-fire-enabledisable-screen-rotation

 

[Convoy]

So to update I got a koboglow today and am setting it up right now. Went with the kobo brand since the selection of books is greater and amazon books are easier to convert to the format the kobo uses as well so best of both worlds.