Okay, so I have to ask. Does anyone have a Kindle? My husband is literally foaming at the mouth wanting to get one of these. Me, personally, I’m not crazy about e-readers. I just read Dark Harvest by Lynda Hilburn as an e-book and I so didn’t get as much enjoyment out of it that I normally get from reading paper books.
But Jesse really wants one. He’s even gone so far and said he would write a lot more reviews for Literary Escapism (other than the two he has already) if he had one. He keeps saying the Kindle is better than all of the other e-readers, so I guess I want to know…what’s your opinion?
- What’s so great about the Kindle?
- What’s bad about it?
- If I read a computer screen for too long, it hurts my eyes…will the Kindle do the same thing?
- I have a toddler at home, how fragile is it?
- It says the battery is long life, how long is it’s life? Is it rechargeable?
- Is there a service charge since there’s a connection to the internet?
- What’s the selection like for the Kindle version of books? How soon do new releases get put up for a Kindle?
If anyone has a Kindle and wants to write up a review about it, I will gladly post it here on Literary Escapism. Come to think about it, I’ll post more than one (positive and/or negative) as long as they are well thought out posts and not slams.
I’m seriously wondering what the hype is over this product since I haven’t heard of e-readers being that popular.
1) it rocks
2) it’s ugly
3) e-paper has no refresh rate- it looks like someone laser printed on the screen, and there’s no glare.
4) they have 30″: droptests on the kindle page, but I still worry
5) fairly decent since again, it’s e-paper, and doesn’t have a refresh rate. not sure on rechargeable or not.
6) no- it has lifetime free 3G connectivity according to VP (one of the owners of a kindle I know)
7) there’s a LOT of books out there already, and it can read pdf as well as kindle format and plain text.
If anyone wants to donate one, I’ll happily use it.
I’m a puriest, so I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to any form of e-books!
I just received a review copy of Dark Harvest by Lynda Hilburn in today’s mail! I can’t wait to start reading it.
Yup, I got one.
1. What’s so great about the Kindle?
You can carry at least 200 books with you anywhere, and this does not count the SD card. You can surf the web with it. You can download samples of new books from anywhere.
The wireless is dumbproof, there’s one switch to turn it off to save battery. The wireless networking is prepaid forever, no monthly service charges. Books are capped at $9.99, most regular books are $5 or so. You can book surf, read a few pages, then switch to a different book, read a few pages, on and on. The screen feels like a laser printed page, it is NOT an LCD. With wireless turned off it sips batteries, I just charged mine for the first time in over a week.
Your Kindle caught on fire? You won’t have to re-purchase your books, you can re-download purchased content as many times as you want. Also, the content is locked down by account, not by devices. Two kindles in one house? You can move your books between the two devices as long as both are registered to the same account. When you buy a book from Amazon, it will ask you to which of the two devices you want it sent to. And both devices can read the same file at the same time, it doesn’t care (if you rent a movie through iTunes, and you have an AppleTV or an iPhone, you can’t watch the rental in more than one device at a time!).
You don’t even need to back up your purchased content. Delete it when done, and if you feel like re-reading it, you can pull it down again. When you buy music through iTunes, you get to download it once.
2. What’s bad about it?
It’s fugly, and some people can’t get past that. There is one button that gets pushed if the cover is on, which drains the battery.
3. If I read a computer screen for too long, it hurts my eyes…will the Kindle do the same thing?
No. There is no “scan,” like in a computer screen. It draws the screen once and that’s it. When you flip the page, if flashes for a half second while it draws the next page. You can read for hours without feeling the strain, plus the surface is flat, while your books curve a little bit.
4. I have a toddler at home, how fragile is it?
I wouldn’t leave a $360 gadget by a toddler, regardless of how kid proof it is supposed to be. PJ doesn’t care for mine.
5. It says the battery is long life, how long is it’s life? Is it rechargeable?
The battery is rechargeable, if you turn off wireless it feels like it can last forever. If you are not browsing the kindle store, and you are not surfing the net, turn it off.
6. Is there a service charge since there’s a connection to the internet?
100% prepaid. I am positive that out of the $360, at least $200 are due to the internet connectivity.
7. What’s the selection like for the Kindle version of books? How soon do new releases get put up for a Kindle?
Amazon is being very aggressive about new releases, I am seeing all my favorite authors releasing for Kindle at the same time as for hardcover. Also, publishing to Kindle is free, so publishing houses have little excuse to not offer the books through the Kindle store. They are also very aggressive pitching these books to you, if you are logged into Amazon.com and you own a Kindle they basically keep offering you books for it, regardless of where you are at the site.
I would check the screen of the kindle before deciding, that was what made me like it. I was also skeptical but the e-paper screen is superior to all other types of e-book readers IMO. I plan on getting on this winter when the rumored new versions come out.
I want an ereader, too – and I’ve heard Sony might be releasing a brand new ereader (in Oct) that’s better than others. I have also heard Kindle is hard to hold without accidentally pressing buttons. You should check out Dear Author for extensive discussions on ereaders.
I’m personally staying away from Kindle because Amazon’s related policies strong arm small presses, so I think eventually you will see less selection.
The only negative aspect of the kindle is the DRM Kindle only format for the books. You can move books from one kindle to another but that’s it. No reading a kindle book on your computer/laptop, iphone, blackberry, palm/pda…. Part of this concern is related to the fear that you’ll be stuck with unopenable, unconvertable files if Amazon should decide to ditch kindle at some future date.
Two ebook specific blogs are Teleblog and Mobileread. Teleblog had a quick poll with comments in the last 4 months about the durability of e-ink screens on different devices. Mobileread has a great wiki table comparing the past & future readers with their various specs.
I personally read my ebooks on my pda, but that’s because my work references are tied to my pda. I hope to buy an e-ink device within the next 6 months, there are some potentially coming out that may be more in my price range & use the evil DRM format (ereader) that I prefer.
FYI, Target is supposed to now carry sony ebook reader in their stores (as does Borders ? ). Depending upon their display you could see an e-ink screen in action.
Give us your comments/feedback if you do buy a kindle. Thanks