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Sunday, June 12, 2011

My Kindle Review

January 2017 Update!

Well I'm currently on my 3rd Kindle and almost everything from the cons section has been addressed or is no longer valid for me.
  • Love Having Amazon Prime - tons of free books.  
  • Kindle Unlimited - another $10 a month and even more books to choose from
  • Light can be adjusted tons
  • I share many of my Kindle books with other Kindle owners
  • Prices have gone WAY down, and with daily deals and patience, you can find tons fo reading material for free or very cheap

***Here is the old 2011 post****

So I've had my Kindle now for over a month and thought I would share the pros and cons of this device.

PROS:
I love the Kindle!  It is small, light, and thin.  The pages look like a real book.  Everyone I show it to is amazed at how real the pages look.  You can change font size as well to show big or small letters.  It is much more convenient reading than a real book.  Pages turn instant and easily.

While reading, you can highlight passages or words to go back to later, post to social sites, or mark to look for later.  You can search for words or phrases within a book. 

Battery life is great.  If wireless is off and you are only reading, battery can last over a month.  Kindle comes with a 3g or a wifi connection.  I got the WiFi one so I have to be near a hotspot to connect.  Once connected you can browse online and buy new books, transfer material, etc.  I even have some work books in pdf format on my Kindle.

There are tons of books online for the Kindle.  I pretty much use only Amazon but there are a ton of sites out there.  Free books are aplenty.  Think I have about 15 free books, most are classics like Frankenstein or Journey ot the Center of the Earth, great books but not sure if I'll ever read them again.

Always have something to read.  Unless you can really knock out some pages, if you have your Kindle, you have something to read.

Like a lot of devices, there are some cool games you can get for it.  I play video poker.

There are some really cool free Kindle books out there, some only on the Kindle.  I got a series of Star Wars books, I think 8 in all, that were all free, good 2-4 hour reads, and were fantastic!

Books deliver almost instantly.  Many times I shop from work, come home, and have a list of books ready to download as soon as I turn my Kindle on.

Over 3000 book capacity.

ok I think I have in the cons about too many books.  This has also been a good thing.  I just recently spent $5 on kindle books and got 4 pay books and 7 free ones.  Kindle has me reading more.  Unknown authors I've never heard of.  Short little few hour reads--jump in-jump out.  Discovered some great authors and enjoying the new books.

Some books are audible and will talk to you.  Too robotic sounding to me, not like the audible books read by an actual person.

Even if you read 6 different books during the day, whenver you go back to that book, it opens to your last read page.

Can get magazine and newspaper subscriptions on the Kindle and they are ready for you to read each morning or when they come out.

No glare on the screen, even in full sun.

CONS:
There are a suprising number of cons to the Kindle, enough that I almost regret getting one. 

Price of books.  For the most part, new books that are only available hardcover, are cheaper on the kindle by a good amount.  For paperbacks already circulating, more often than not, the book is more on the Kindle.  Not to mention if you find a used copy, which you almost always can on Amazon (and over 50+ used books bought from individuals, never a bad experience).

I've continued buying more used books than getting them for more on the Kindle.

Availability.  Still a lot of books out there not Kindleized.  Especially the more unusual books, and these are usually what I am reading.

Low light---really not too much of a con; if its too dark to read a book, its too dark to read the Kindle

Once you are done with the book.  Here is one of my big gripes.  Once I'm done with a book, I want to pass it on to the next person.  The Kindle now has the ability to share some books with others, but only for 14 days.  It is a big pain.  I just want to pass some books onto my landlord's 12 year old daughter because she devours every book I give her in no time!  This is a deal killer for me.  It would be worse if I still lived with the kids, wanting to give them good books but being unable to do so.

There's a lot of short-story Kindle books out there.  I mean, a ton..its really hard to sort out the trash, whereas tangibly picking up books and flipping through, can give you a good idea if its a keeper.  Harder online to do this.

Can't sell or trade your 'used' book once its done.

Overall I love my Kindle but have really had a hard time with the trading of read books to others.  Now that I have it, I will continue to get some cheaper new releases and others on the Kindle if I find them, but for the most part, I'm still buying books, usually of the used variety. Other weeks, I'll go through a ton of books on the Kindle.  Or reference a beer recipe on it.

Whoosh

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