does anyone here have a kindle?

[ryan1835]

I have to say before seeing one i was very skeptical of them. However yesterday I saw one in the flesh and was shocked the screen looks just like a page of a book I even did a double take at first but no it was a kindle and not a book

Any body have any impressions of them?

[Pacu]

I got one in trade from a member here and i love it. I have it filled up with all of Tolkien, Potter, and magazines. Seems like the Kindle kicked the Nooks butt in sales at my work over the holidays. We had tons of Nooks in stock but ran out of Kindles...even the big ole DX model.






I recommend one. Amazon has a pretty good selection and if they don't have what you want you can always covert the file format to Kindles.

[Sazabi]

While I have handled one or two of them, and find them extremely neat, I wouldn't see myself buying one, or even using one.  In short, the digital copies of books are about the same as the print versions due to part of the eBook cost being associated with servers and redundant backups and the novelty of reading from an electronic device; the copies you "buy" are not yours, cannot be resold; and if your Amazon account is deleted or bricked, so is your device.  Furthermore, real paper books do not run out of battery, can be flipped through to a glossary, are not messed up in format (unlike some books that have footnotes), and actually feel and smell like real books. :/

With that said, let it be known that I own about a dozen eBooks that are not available in print versions.  While I like them, overall, I'd rather have a professionally printed paperback (or hardcover, in a pinch) version.

[Pacu]

I have backups of everything on my Kindle in two different places. If i loose my Kindle i can transfer everything on the next. There is all kinds of software to convert Epub/PDF files to Mobi and AZW Kindle formats. Trolling the internet one can find just about anything to read.

Anything i buy from Amazon is mine...i just strip away the DRM and keep it duplicated in a safe place.

I would agree that a nice leatherbound copy of The Hobbit beats a Kindle anyday but the convenience of the whole collection in one little package is hard to beat.

[2xTap]

Just this past Christmas I bought my wife a Kindle, the 6" screen version with 3G and Wi-Fi and all that stuff. It'll store up to 3,500 books. Got her a nice case for it and a screen protector as well. She was wanting the Nook originally and had been hinting at one months before Christmas.....then she changed her mind after handling both at work, one of her staff at work has both.

She loves to read and she burns through a novel every two days or so. She was making trips to our local Barnes & Noble at least once a week. Now she gets her books almost instantly without having to leave the house. She loves the thing, and she hasn't put it down since she got it.

I am actually thinking of getting me one. I like to read but seldom do, the convenience of it would allow me to read more.

2xTap

[ari6126]

I use the Kindle app on my Android phone. A great advantage of the Kindle that some out of copyright books are completely free. In a bookstore, these books would be cheap, but not free. So if you want to read the classics, the Kindle is the way to go.

[Sean]

I don't have one but my Father the Bookman & Author loves his.

[ryan1835]

so can you surf the net on them or is it just wikipedia?

[glorn]

Got one. They are fantastic. Anyone who travels or likes/needs to have more than one book with them, it is a real winner. On longer trips, I have packed five books in the past. One Kindle blows that away. Add in newspapers, magazines, and the ability to nab a new book from nearly anywhere at anytime.. Can't beat that.

Will I replace my home library? No. But do I need to own paper copies of every novel I read? No.

I still buy hard cover reference books and classics. I buy editions of favorite books, or used books when I see one I want.

It's like digital music.. I still have plenty of records, and I still collect vinyl. But an iPod means thousands of songs anywhere. Can't do that with my turntable. The two supplement each other.

Hard to find fault with a device that enables convenient reading. And I still carry a paperback here and there.

[ryan1835]

im going to have to have a big think about one when i get paid, i travel alot from work and i think even with one of these i could just get it out on lunch breaks etc. Another thing i can never keep a book nice when its in my bag im hoping with these you can get a nice case to keep them like new


still tempted by one 

[Pacu]

At work we carry several styles of covers..like the one i have in my above posts to full on leather grain covers. There is even a handy light that works with the cover for those low light situations.

think i've even seen an otter-like box for extreme protection

[ryan1835]

it would be great if you could rent one for a fortnight to see how you like it

[glorn]

I could advise this: if you rented it, you would buy one.

Zat help?
 

[ryan1835]

if i do get one im blaming you guys

[Whoey]

We bought the 6inch wifi (generation 3) version this past week. Took 3 days to arrive from the states... about 144eur, including shipping and duties.

An E-book reader is something I've wanted for ages... so this was only a matter of time, and then which one... Kindle seemed the most reasonable, however we didn't research that much. One of my wife's students got one, and she thought it was great, so that pushed us.

There are loads of legit free books online, just read further into the kindle info page. For us over here in Europe it seems that most of the "free" books on amazon.com (the only place we're ALLOWED to buy our kindle, amazon.co.uk will not deliver outside the UK ) are $2.30 for us.

In Ubuntu I installed an ebook reader manager/program called Calibre, seems I can convert most formats to kindle/mobi which is fantastic. This means if I find books in other formats such as Microsoft Reader, I can still convert and use all the text sizing etc (apart from images... which seems some PDF books are entirely).

It seems you can search the web and browse semi normally, even if the screen is monochrome.