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Hey TL, I was wondering if anyone here owns a Kindle, more specifically, Kindle 2. Right now, it is selling on Amazon for $249 US, which I find to be a fairly reasonable price. Now, I'm only considering buying the basic Kindle 2 and not Kindle DX which cost an absurd $489.
I love to read when I get a chance to do it. After starting college, I haven't really engaged in much outside reading. I think the process of having to go to the store or the library to buy a book has really curbed this nice habit as I just don't have that much time. Also, when I'm assigned readings in pdf form, I really hate having to print it (I think it's a waste) and reading it on the computer gives me headaches sometimes. So the native .pdf support for the Kindle is a big selling point for me.
I will just like to ask you guys what your opinions are about this little device. Do you guys like the design? Does it work as advertised? I looked on the Amazon website for reviews but they all seemed to really love it, to a point where it is kinda suspicious. I would really appreciate some honest reviews.
Thanks!
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Katowice25012 Posts
You have enough time to read a book, but the 20 minutes it takes to go to the store and acquire it puts you just over the edge enough that you no longer have the time?
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On May 30 2010 16:12 heyoka wrote:
You have enough time to read a book, but the 20 minutes it takes to go to the store and acquire it puts you just over the edge enough that you no longer have the time?
quote for truth. make an effort.
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Austin10831 Posts
e-readers are fine for magazines and newspapers, but I don't like the for books at all.
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Bleh, not worth it IMO for the price. It's neat but largely qualifies as a useless luxury, which (unless you're rich) is not worth that price tag.
Plus something has to be said about the feel of holding a book in your hands and reading it...I already stare at my computer screen for way too many hours per day, when I wanna settle down for some reading I'd rather not have to stare at another screen.
To each his own though, if you think it's worth it by all means go for it.
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Is your genuine motivation to facilitate your burning interest in reading, or is it to acquire a fancy new toy? If your computer is discomforting to look at this is probably on account of poor resolution, image quality, brightness, a gaudy desktop/wm theme, or something else that's straining your eyes. You can certainly adjust things for easier reading.
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On May 30 2010 16:16 BroOd wrote:
e-readers are fine for magazines and newspapers, but I don't like the for books at all.
This.
There is some aesthetic experience in reading actual books that is lost when transferred to the electronic screen. It's tough to explain my reasoning, but actual books are an experience in themselves, not JUST words written on a page.
Also, you can just go to the library to get a book.
You still have to pay for books with a Kindle.
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As someone who doesn't read too often, I still like having a book in hand when I do read; though a Kindle may be easier to handle.
With that said, my mom was an avid reader and just absolutely loved it. She hasn't been able to read a book in 2-3 years because it's an immense strain on her eyes. It absolutely killed her, because she was always reading some book or another.
We got her a Kindle for Mother's Day, and while she hasn't gotten too into it yet (busy with work and she hasn't read in so long), she has read a few chapters of a book she picked up. The ability to change the text size has made it a lot easier on her eyes. Though she hasn't spent much time with it yet, she was ecstatic that she was actually able to read again. She really hates the clicking noise when you press the next page button and she's really bad with the little analog nub, though.
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I have a kindle and I love it. I admit i do miss some things about having a book.Like when I'm half way through a book its cool seeing all the pages you read. The kindle will tell you your 50% through but its just not the same haha,
Honestly kindle was good for me because I would always end up fucking my books up somehow in my bag. But that was my problem not like a problem with books. And for pdf I 100% agree I cannot read pdf on a comp. I have no problem doing it on the kindle though
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Don't get one. Amazon might randomly decide to delete the books you bought because of some publishing copyright snafu. *cough*
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I would recommend you get an iPad - saw one for the first time the other day and it was realyl amazing. For the same price you honestly get a lot more at least with functionality.
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if you have ipod touch or iphone they have the kindle app on there.
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On May 30 2010 16:37 General Nuke Em wrote:
Don't get one. Amazon might randomly decide to delete the books you bought because of some publishing copyright snafu. *cough*
They're not going to do that anymore:
Amazon effectively acknowledged that the deletions were a bad idea. “We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers’ devices in these circumstances,” Mr. Herdener said.
On May 30 2010 16:45 rbkl wrote:
I would recommend you get an iPad - saw one for the first time the other day and it was realyl amazing. For the same price you honestly get a lot more at least with functionality.
There's a huge difference between a fingerprint-covered, glossy iPad LCD and the e-ink display of the Kindle :/
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It's a hell of a lot cheaper to buy a Kindle and get ebooks in the long term compared to traditional paperbacks. I work at a bookstore so I have access to any book I want but if I didn't, I'd get a Kindle the first moment I could (Or the Nook, or whatever is better, haven't really been looking into it).
It also depends if you like collecting books as well. A major reason that I like the Kindle is the space it saves. I'm not big on tangible/physical items, but instead prefer everything digital. You could get an iPad/iTouch but the battery life is a major factor as well so you'd have to weigh that for yourself.
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No. Reading books isnt worth 250$ dollars. Go to the library and do it for free.
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On May 30 2010 17:00 topspinserve wrote:Show nested quote +On May 30 2010 16:37 General Nuke Em wrote:
Don't get one. Amazon might randomly decide to delete the books you bought because of some publishing copyright snafu. *cough* They're not going to do that anymore: Show nested quote +Amazon effectively acknowledged that the deletions were a bad idea. “We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers’ devices in these circumstances,” Mr. Herdener said. Show nested quote +On May 30 2010 16:45 rbkl wrote:
I would recommend you get an iPad - saw one for the first time the other day and it was realyl amazing. For the same price you honestly get a lot more at least with functionality. There's a huge difference between a fingerprint-covered, glossy iPad LCD and the e-ink display of the Kindle :/
Clearly you have never used an iPhone or iPad...
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Kindle: no wifi, you can't replace the battery yourself (you have to send it back to Amazon), ugly, a keyboard on the bottom you'll never use, DRM ebooks Amazon might delete if they get into a pricing dispute with the publisher (i.e. MacMillan).
Nook: touchscreen, wi-fi, you can replace the battery yourself, looks cooler, better accessories. You can also root it to access the Android OS but there's not a lot of third party apps that utilize this yet but if you can code then you add functionality yourself. The only disadvantage is that your side buttons might crack if you abuse them too much however this doesn't impact the functionality of the device at all.
Both support PDFs, both have relatively similar content offerings, screen sizes, dimensions, and are price competitive in terms of ebooks.
FYI: I work at Barnes and Noble. I'm not a shameless hack though, I actually hated the Nook when it first came out b/c the firmware was so bad I refused to sell it to people. Thankfully the company has updated it several times and its significantly better. At the store I work at we've sold many Nooks to customers who own Kindles. Their biggest comment is that the Nook "feels faster" b/c you use the touch screen to navigate your device settings etc. whereas all device manipulation on the Kindle occurs through the e-ink screen.
My advice: if you get the Nook don't abuse the buttons (press the too hard on the very edges). On one of our store demo units the bezel cracked from this. Also you can use the touchscreen to turn pages. If this concerns you get the extended warranty. The Kindle is really an awful device I would never buy one. The nook is mediocre to good but not amazing however it is definitely better than the Kindle.
Don't get the Sony, ridiculously smudgy screen and poor content offerings. Don't get the iPad for reading b/c you can't use it in direct light i.e. outside. At the Apple Store near the BN I work at they actually turn the lights off above the iPads b/c of this. The lightning environment can also impact the iPad's viewing angles and how it picks up reflections. Experiment: go use your iPhone on a sunny day outside to see what I mean. Sure you can use it but it would really suck for reading.
I have personally used the Kindle, Nook, Sony e-reader, and the iPad.
EDIT: one more thing, don't get an e-reader to just read PDFs. They can do it, but it is more of an additional feature. If the text isn't encoded in the PDF you can't resize it (i.e. a scanned document or a document that is basically images to prevent user copy-paste). You can zoom on the Kindle (awkward) and BN hasn't added zoom functionality to the Nook (forthcoming but probably easier with the touchscreen). I will mention though that most PDFs have the text encoded into the file so this may not be an issue for you. If you're just going to read PDFs indoors though, get a ultraportable laptop, netbook (with a newer processor), or an iPad. You'll get more functionality for your $$$ (except with the iPad lol). If you're going to be reading mostly books get the Nook.
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they are pretty nifty, i'd go for it you read a lot.
good price too.
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I love my Kindle and use it to read and buy books all the time. Definitely worth it if you read a lot and want to carry around many books where ever you go. I even used it for classes last semester. I'm an English Lit major and a lot of the stuff I was able to find for free on Project Gutenberg. Plus it allows you to annotate, so it was easy for jotting down notes while reading that I wouldn't later lose.
I have the Kindle DX and it works perfectly for PDF reading without eye strain. I read a Gravity's Rainbow PDF on it just find.
edit: I have heard that the pdf support on the Kindle 2 is mostly crap though.
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Hi everybody, thanks for your great advices, especially for space_yes for suggesting the nook. I've been looking at that too and I'm leaning towards it now.
As for the people who say that 259 is expensive for books, I think it is reasonable. It's the price of a good mp3 player, plus I haven't any of the newest gadgets in a while. I don't have an Iphone, an Ipad, or a netbook. My cell phone still a 4 year old Nokia... so I think if I were to spend some money, it might as well be something that will encourage me to read, especially when a lot of the classics, like Lungdude mentioned, are free.
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EPT
