Poppy Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Has anyone, who reads a lot like me, got one? What are your experiences.? I thought the advantages would be a. lighter than a sack load of books and b you can download more if you can find a wifi signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Or you just go from one charity shop to another for a lot less cost?? Wife keeps looking at Kindle, I keep looking at the iPad2 which has (so I am told) more connectivity but is in colour. But until it can also totally replace the iPhone as well I remain with my wallet firmly planted in my pocket. Currently have an HTC Tattoo phone which is a little smaller than the iPhone but seems to do everything iPhone does and was a free upgrade at £15.00 a month and connects to my Laptop. Decisions decisions! Boys toys! (And girls) C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klyne Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Margaret reads a lot and for a recent birthday I got her the basic Kindle from JL. She was quite sceptical but as I was running out of ideas for a present I managed to persuade her! She seems to love it and has been busy downloading books from Amazon. She also has the leather cover which makes it feel a bit more like a book and you can also get a little light which helps when reading in bed. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilmac Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Poppy - 2011-03-28 8:36 AM Has anyone, who reads a lot like me, got one? What are your experiences.? I thought the advantages would be a. lighter than a sack load of books and b you can download more if you can find a wifi signal. Hi Poppy those are 2 advantages, but there are others.... (with the 3G wifi model) I recently posted a tip on here that it can be used as a route finder. It also provides free 3G access to the internet which folks don't seem to get their heads around - prefering their hi-tech phones and whatnot, which unless I'm wrong all incur some charge for the use of. This is probably more useful when abroad where free internet access for basic browsing and keeping in touch via emails etc is a real bonus. There are very many threads on very many forums pleading for information as to how to get internet access abroad without having to pay crazy roaming charges or travelling via McDonalds car parks, just use a Kindle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kontiki Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Got all the books I need (a few thousand), we have a couple of Dell Axim PDA's (sadly no longer made) can do almost everything kindle/iphone etc can do. As these seem to be out of fashion they can be picked up cheap. I use a program called Calibre to convert any ebook into MSreader, daughter uses it to convert the books into the iPhone format. Also can use it for navigation with Tomtom on it, walking using Memory Map using OS maps + my bluetooth GPS, if I bought the compact flash adapter I could even put a sim in & use as a phone. I can get on the web with wifi, I can exchange data between the Excel & Word on my PDA & laptop. There are thousands of programs for it many are free. PDA's for some reason never really caught on, I've had one for about 10 years & been able to do all these things plus loads more, apart froma few more bells & whistles I can't see spending a fortune on these new toys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Prefer books myself, and you can get loads for the cost of a Kindle!! We do as Clive does , and go to charity shops.When abroad we swop with others, and the ex-pat friends we have who live in France and Spain, love to have "English " reading books and Mags. I have a friend who gives me the saga magazine, don't read it myself, but keep them to take to France for them to read. You can't share your kindle books with others, or can you? PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Lee Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Best thing we found with the Kindle was getting up every morning in Spain and finding the newspaper downloaded and ready to read. Only place we have found difficulty getting the downloads is here at home in rural Lincolnshire! We love it and I am looking forward to getting another so we don't have to share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Without doubt one of the best purchases we have made. Especially useful if you go abroad. There are thousands of free books available on the net, we currently have over 300 on it, try carrying those around. My wife finds it so much easier to hold and read than a book, especially at bedtime when you only need one hand, both to read and turn the "page", I thought she would have great difficulty adapting to a Kindle, not so, absolutely loves it. Only down side for me is she has shoved more clothes in the van in place of her books, doh, PM me if you have any further questions. Oh and we did not bother with the 3g version as we were not interested in the papers, or magazines available, but can see why some prefer the more expensive version should you wish to have that functionality. Plus there is a fantastic bit of free software called Calibre ebook management, to download for your PC, check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Madge Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 We don't have a TV in the van so we read a great deal. Now we have the Kindles we have done away with the large bookcase we had in the van. We are in OZ at present and have just just downloaded 7 books for less than £5. Even a tight fisted old dinosaur like Clive must admit that is a bargain. We are very happy with the Kindles (wifi/3G) and consider them an excellent buy. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Madge Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Sorry the 33C here is getting to me a bit. :-D :-D :-D Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppy Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 Think you have sold it tome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t5tripper Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Hi Poppy, if you search the forum under kindle there are quite a few threads on them. I have one, love it, have had it 6 months. I have the wifi option and find it great. Have fun if you buy one K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 neilmac - 2011-03-28 8:58 AM ........It also provides free 3G access to the internet which folks don't seem to get their heads around - prefering their hi-tech phones and whatnot, which unless I'm wrong all incur some charge for the use of. This is probably more useful when abroad where free internet access for basic browsing and keeping in touch via emails etc is a real bonus...... Keep seeing that the Kindle has free 3G use but please don't forget that under the 'Terms and Conditions of Use' the 3G use is free only for downloading books and they reserve the right to charge users for any other use. Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecal Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Hi all, Works great, the wife loves it and yes the cover does finish it off ,esp' the little light as the page is not back lit. Regards, Brendan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Momma Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Bought the missus one of those 3G ones for Crimbo, absolutely brilliant !! They can hold up to 3500 books which would be great if you were going on extended trips, all the space saved in the van. We are going on our annual 'pamper' holiday in a couple of weeks, normally she buys loads of books from the Charity Shops and half her luggage allowance is taken up with books, not so this year :-D Bought the Leather Cover with extendable light and now she can read in bed without having to have the bedside light on. Just as an aside, you can also get a FREE download from Amazon for 'Kindle for PC', all the features of the Kindle but on your laptop. Obviously not convenient for trips where luggage space/weight is a premium but for in the Motorhome it works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Some things to be aware of:- http://www.pcworld.com/article/219335/the_pitfalls_of_ebook_buying_what_to_look_out_for_before_you_purchase.html#tk.mod_rel For those "in the market" there is a lot of speculation that prices will drop further, with the possibility of a "free" Kindle when you order (Qty ?) of e-books. So for us, it's still wait & see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I've read the content of the link Flicka, and it should not put anyone off buying one in my view. Of course prices may drop, but that's true of any device, however one very valid issue is that as an Amazon device there is no market competition, you simply can only buy it new from Amazon. There is software freely available that will convert any format to be read on your Kindle, and vise versa, so no problem. Google search for Calibre as I said, absolutely free. We have books from various sources that can all be read on the Kindle. It will even read aloud to you, or double up as an MP3 player should you want. I'm bound to say I was with Flicka, wait and see, and it was going to be my Wife's Christmas present, that I put off buying at the last minute. But the moment a friend showed us theirs it was a revelation. If you only intend to purchase books through Amazon they could well "give" them away in the future,who knows, much like the "free" mobile phone my daughter say's she has ( although ignores the £30 month contract for two years ) There is a huge amount of free content on the internet, and it's growing all the time, so although I have never been a first adopter of any technology in this instance it lives up to the hype, Flicka, resist no more, go for it. Blimey I should be on commission (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Will be getting gf one for her birthday (shh don't tell her ;-) ), having 'played' with a friends. One thing I've not seen mentioned is the ability to choose font size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwendolyn Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Try these two sites for free downloads: http://www.ereaderiq.co.uk/ http://girlebooks.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 colin - 2011-03-28 8:25 PM Will be getting gf one for her birthday (shh don't tell her ;-) ), having 'played' with a friends. One thing I've not seen mentioned is the ability to choose font size. Yes easily done, and change of font style with automatic line spacing. Or if your really lazy, get it to read the story to you with text to speech with it's surprisingly good speakers. (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 flicka - 2011-03-28 7:55 PM Some things to be aware of:- http://www.pcworld.com/article/219335/the_pitfalls_of_ebook_buying_what_to_look_out_for_before_you_purchase.html#tk.mod_rel For those "in the market" there is a lot of speculation that prices will drop further, with the possibility of a "free" Kindle when you order (Qty ?) of e-books. So for us, it's still wait & see. Same here flicka ... must admit I'm tempted, although I'm not a great book reader, but I'm interested in the web browsing ability. I too think the prices will come down once the 'novelty' has worn off and hopefully a particular 'type' standard will be forthcoming (a bit like Betamax and VHS with video recorders) to alleviate the problem of reading books bought from different sources. So I'll keep waiting for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 1footinthegrave - 2011-03-28 8:15 PM .......... however one very valid issue is that as an Amazon device there is no market competition, you simply can only buy it new from Amazon. Not true if you meant no market competition for the Kindle, as they are sold in Tesco, Asda and other outlets there is certainly competition for the units but there seems to be a Retail Price Maintenance on them at the moment as they are all selling them at the same price, thought that was illegal!! Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Basil - 2011-03-28 11:04 PM 1footinthegrave - 2011-03-28 8:15 PM .......... however one very valid issue is that as an Amazon device there is no market competition, you simply can only buy it new from Amazon. Not true if you meant no market competition for the Kindle, as they are sold in Tesco, Asda and other outlets there is certainly competition for the units but there seems to be a Retail Price Maintenance on them at the moment as they are all selling them at the same price, thought that was illegal!! Bas I stand corrected, incidentally RPM is alive and well with loads of stuff. Relevant to us are refillable gas bottle systems amongst other things. >:-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Read all about it here, now wish I'd bought the 3g version, could have left my laptop and PAYG dongle at home, doh :-S http://www.squidoo.com/3g-kindle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 1footinthegrave - 2011-03-29 6:25 AM Read all about it here, now wish I'd bought the 3g version, could have left my laptop and PAYG dongle at home, doh :-S http://www.squidoo.com/3g-kindle But once again the article does not make it clear (in fact it tries to make it look the complete opposite) that the free usage is ONLY for the downloading of books and they reserve the right to charge for other usage. This is fine, no quarrel with that but it should be made clear and understood by prospective purchasers that the use is only as free as Amazon allow. Currently it is all use but I wonder at what point will they decide that they have market saturation and sufficient buyers commited to start charging for use? Perhaps when lots of people start using them as internet surfers whilst away on holiday? Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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