My mom is a pretty avid reader, and recently we were having a conversation about the Kindle. Apparently she’s been ordering books like crazy off of Amazon lately. (I’ve tried to convince her how amazing PaperBackSwap is, but I think she does a book swap with some of her local friends instead.)
She told me that she’s interested in possibly getting a Kindle, but she would prefer to be able to see and use one in person before committing to purchase one. I’ve found reviews online that seem very positive for the 2nd generation Kindle, but I’d like to know if anyone out there has a Kindle or has experience using one? Or do you know if there’s any place where you can test them out in person? I’m contemplating going in on one with my sister for Christmas for my mom, but I want to make sure it’s something she’ll really be able to use. I’m also a little afraid it’s like the iPhone in that once someone else I know has one, I’ll want one for myself! Also, apparently there are two different sizes (a 6″ and a 9.7″ display)… I’m not sure which one she would want!
If you have experience with one of these, please let me know! I think my mom would like it and it’s definitely more eco-friendly than stacks and stacks of paper books. (Not to mention cheaper in the long run for books and it would save space!)
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fae has one. she got it for school. since as a grad student, she has to read a ton of books and also gets a lot of readings on pdf from professors. it’s definitely lightened her load, literally, in her school bag – she gets to carry one thing that’s pretty light that can carry most of what she needs to reference. and she’s also loving it for personal reading. i’m sure she’ll chime in here when she sees your post about it, but i bet she’d be willing to let you come play with hers to see how it works. she got the bigger one because it’s supposed to be better for display of pdfs. i’ve played with it a bit and find it much less straining on my eyes than a computer screen, which is nice. i don’t read enough to warrant getting one for myself but i can definitely see their appeal.
Let’s talk more about this at the Freret Market this weekend. There are lots of alternatives out there now and they have advantages over the Kindle, including a lower price tag. There are so many e-book readers out there now that I can’t even think of all of them off the top of my head.
hey m-
I’ve got a reader prs-700 from sony and I LOVE it. I use it for grad school, its a great way to carry books, journal articles, etc.
I don’t know of anywhere where you can play with the kindles, but Border’s sells the Sony readers and the store here in Baton Rouge has them in the store to try. I’d check the new Borders on St. Charles and see if they’ve got them out to try! I ended up with the Sony because it supports more document formats than the Kindle- including high res PDFs etc.
the mobileread forums are a great place for information on all the different readers too (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/index.php)
I got another recommendation for a Sony reader on Facebook, so I’ll definitely check into those too!
Rachelle, I actually won’t be at Freret this weekend because I’m helping my best bud, Miss Ashe Mischief, move back to NOLA this weekend!
Hi there,
You should look into Barnes and Nobles new ereader, called the nook. It launches November 30th and you can go into any BN and test it hands on, if that’s what you want. Otherwise you can check it out at their website and pre-order. It runs on android, allows users to lend books, has a color touch screen and they are marketing it as having a much larger selection of ebooks from BN’s estore. I’m considerig it myself.
I have had a Kindle for a little over two years now. What I like about it: I love the “magic” of clicking on a book at the Amazon store page and having it arrive on the Kindle in about a minute. The battery lasts for a long time if I turn it off between downloads and I plug the Kindle in to recharge every night. I take off my glasses when I read in bed–no problem. I can just bump the font size up and reading is easy. Want to know what a word means? I just push the tiny joystick upwards until the cursor is by the word and there is the definition at the bottom of the page. If I press the key that has a left-pointing arrow, the whole definition appears AND it is in the same size font that I am using. {When the definition is at the bottom of the page, the font is small.} Unless test-to-speech has been disabled, the Kindle will read to me. {If it is disabled, you will know before you buy a book since the info is right there on the page where the price is.} Sure, the voice is a bit robotic and has trouble with a few words, but, hey, any robotic voice that can pronounce Slartibartfast correctly can’t be all bad. Apparently I can also play music to listen to while I read but I have never used this because at 75, I have difficulty concentrating on two thing at once! {Actually, I have always had this problem but now my hair has silver streaks, I have a reason I can use in public for it!} I would suggest that you get one for your mother and let her try it. If she hates it, it can be retuned in 30 days. You could load it with a few public domain books which are mostly free and then if she hates it, you have not lost money returning it.
Ummm, TEXT not test and RETURNED not retuned! LOL