Kindle E-book reader

[pslamont]

Has anyone used the Kindle E-book reader? I am interested as I have difficulty reading regular print books. Hubby has been hitting the main library for me for large print books from authors I/we like but i am quickly running through their inventory. I have concerns r/t the small size of the Kindle. It will allow me to enlarge print but with a six inch width how many words per line? Also, what is everyone's experience with downloading books? I have also heard some issues about advertising appearing on pages. I could not tolerate that. I am not sure about it so am hesitant to order one online.

Also curious about the Nook. Any thoughts there?

Any information or comments anyone has would be most helpful. Thanks, Pam

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[dayna]

I have a kindle fire, and I love it. It is easy to download books off amazon. I don't ever have ads in books I pay for. Book prices vary.

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[csgray]

I use mine for travel, and now that we don't have a general bookstore, most of my nightly reading. I bought the cheapest Kindle touch, so it shows ads when it is turned off, never when I am reading. I hate the pricing on kindle books, they should be cheaper than print but aren't, but I like the fact that I can take 100+ books on the road with me in something smaller and lighter than a paperback. When I was recovering from surgery I blew the print up pretty big to overcome the meds and it worked fine if I used the horizontal mode. I read a lot of the free classics and out of print/copyright that are out there through amazon and other online sources, as well as a lot of current popular fiction. I haven't tried the library downloads yet, but I hate that there is no way to "loan" books I enjoy to friends and family.

My coworker who is a language arts teacher loves her nook and hates kindle, for what it is worth.

Overall, I would buy it again, but I still really like and miss reading print books.

Carol

[Lin W]

I have an older Kindle (the one with the keyboard) and I love it. I have some visual impairment and it makes the print large enough for me to see easily. Only problem with large print is you have to "turn" the page more often 'cause fewer words fit on the screen. I also have Amazon's free Kindle for PC program on my laptop. The advantage there is color, which my older Kindle does not have, and, of course, much larger print and bigger pages. If you have a laptop you're comfortable using, you don't need to spend money for a Kindle, just install the free program and start reading. There are lots of free Kindle books available through Amazon. I belong to a couple of services that email me a list of free and bargain books daily. They're not NYT best sellers, but they're pretty good. I'd recommend Kindle over Nook for one simple reason - I just saw on the news today that Barnes & Noble is about to go under a la Borders - who's going to support the Nook then? Hope some of this is helpful. Good to have you back on Punaweb. Aloha.



Today is the oldest you've ever been and the youngest you'll ever be, enjoy this day!

[janeadams]

I use a mix of Kindle and print books. I do believe ereaders will be the future of "print" media, but it's off to a bit of a slow start. Reasons?

1) Cost of ebooks -- publishers are trying to redefine their roles in the brave new world, and are unwilling to give up any revenue. It offends me to be asked to pay nearly the same for an ebook as for print.

2) Hawai'i's public library ebook collection is small and behind the times, plus the online search engine really is quite bad -- unless you know the name of a book and/or author, you might as well be in a library where nothing is shelved properly. They need to get a clue from Amazon about how to organize their search engine. The publishers latest tactics of selling ebooks to a library, but having them "expire" after a number of loans is purely greedy. Why buy an ebook when they buy the paper and can loan it until it falls apart?

3)ebook readers will, at some point, be irrelevant as ipads and their cousins will take over that role. Wouldn't spend top $$ for an ebook reader.

That said, I'm happy with my Kindle -- love to be able to travel without a suitcase full of books! Would go with Kindle as opposed to Nook as I think Amazon will be around a lot longer than other book sellers.

No trouble with hardware in our damp Puna environment in well-over a year.

Real future of ebooks ought to be schools -- costs of purchasing hard-copy text books should go the way of the dinosaurs!

My $.02 worth...

Jane

[pslamont]

Large Print books are costing m about 14 each at the used bookstore so $10 for Kindle sounds good to me. There ar freebie sources for the not-so-current stuff if I am racing well. I actuallyt have a laaptop that I like.. a mac book pro... but it is awkward to take to bed and read. /thanks for all your insight..... My leaning is to the Kindle and not the Nook, even before I read this but you have supported that choice. Thank you all. The Barnes and Noble issue is a bg on.

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[Lee M-S]

I had a Sony e-reader that lasted about 3 years--and it was used when I got it. I got a Trio Android pad, but am having trouble finding apps to use on it.

A wonderful resource is Project Gutenberg, which offers thousands of FREE e-books. Most date from before 1923 (so they are copy-right free), but that includes wonderful classics like Mark Twain, Jane Austen, etc. http://www.gutenberg.org/

----------------
Aloha spelled backward...think about it.
><(((*> ~~~~ ><(("> ~~~~ ><'> ~~~~ ><> ~~~~ >(>

[Radiopeg]

Pam, you know you can order any book in the Hawaii system and have it sent to Mountain View?

I don't know how many Large Print are in the Hawaii system. I'd be glad to help you order them if trudging through the list is difficult for you at this time. You do a keyword search for Fiction, large print, and it is supposed to give you a list to work with. Call me if you need help, I can run through them online with you on the phone to tell me what you have read. Peggy 509 and 690 and 7170.

Peace and long life

[hikatz]

Pam, before e-readers, a friend had beginning Macular Degeneration, she loved reading books, but the large print selection at Kona library were very limited. She bought a special tabletop long arm magnifier, it worked fantastic she had no problems doing her paperwork and reading. Not sure if you would be interested in anything like this, but Amazon carries a large variety of visual aids besides the Kindles.

http://www.amazon.com/Fulcrum-Magnifier-...pd_cp_hi_0

[pslamont]

I was chatting with a friend in Texas and she says "I can send you my Kindle. I bought it on a whim, kids roke it and Amazon replaced it. iIt is just sitting in my bedroom somewhere. Don't you love friends????? I figure it will arrive in a week or two. I will ned to figure out how to use it but there must be some instructions online somewhere!

If not, I will lean on someone who has one and gets it. It's alll good. Thank you evryon for your information. It is always helpful. Pam

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"