My Kindle, a Love Affair
Kindle or Sony Reader Touch, which should I choose? After much debate back and forth and after consulting many websites, I went ahead and ordered a Kindle from Amazon.com. I was so excited to get it that I picked express shipping. I ordered my Kindle on the Sunday and it would arrive on the Wednesday.
Monday
Amazon sent me an email. My Kindle has already been shipped from Arizona. The anticipation is building by the hour.
Tuesday am
I check at 6:30am when I get up in the morning. My Kindle is already in Ontario. A further check on the UPS website later that morning from work shows that it is already on the truck for delivery today! It will be delivered to my work place.
Tuesday pm
My Kindle arrives on my desk at work just before noon. Everyone I show it to gets very excited. I plug it in at reception because it need to be charged up before I can use it. That will take approximately 3 hours.
When I get home from work I download a few free ebooks and end up going to bed early to read.
 | Amazon Price: $79.00 |
Why Kindle?
I chose the Kindle for many reasons. It has the capacity to hold 1,500 books. It lets you add audiobooks and MP3s. It also has a mini browser that you can use in a pinch. You can highlight passages and add annotations, then you can download your notes to your computer. You can drag word documents onto your Kindle as well as import PDFs.There are 5 sizes of print that you can choose and you can rotate the screen in 4 directions. It also offers text to speech for some novels; not all are formatted for it.
Kindle uses eInk technology which means when a page is static, it is not using up any batter power. This article by LiamBean explains the science behind this technology.
The main selling point for me other than the ability to easily highlight and annotate was the free wireless.When Kindle first came out you could not get wireless access from Canada, but now you can. You can download books from Amazon almost instantly.
First Impressions in Note Form
It's pretty.
It's a little heavier than I expected, but comfortable to hold.
Very thin, thinner than many magazines.
The print is very easy on the eyes .
It will fit very nicely into my purse.
Has a slight learning curve but seems simple enough.
I'll probably need my reading glasses to type anything on that keypad.
The Contender
 | Amazon Price: $99.00 List Price: $213.99 |
The Winner
 | Amazon Price: $189.00 |
| Amazon Price: $79.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $99.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $14.99 List Price: $19.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $199.00 |
Wednesday
I carried by Kindle back to work, showed it off a little. I think I have created a few converts. Spend the time waiting for my ride reading a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that I had downloaded for free the night before. Visited the library after work to check out a book I need for research, hopefully that will soon be something I will no longer need to do.
Figured out how to drag book to my Kindle. Found out I could drag a Word document onto the Kindle where I could read it and further annotate it. Tried to drag a PDF but it was unreadable, the print was too small and it had been copied as an image. Found out later that you have to convert PDFs.
Thursday
It was a sunny afternoon, I sat outside on my afternoon break and read a bit. Later that night I downloaded more books
I paid just over $6 each
 | Amazon Price: $15.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $17.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $0.99 List Price: $24.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $24.99 List Price: $29.99 |
Friday
Dragged an audiofile to my Kindle. Works perfectly and even has a title page with info on the book. Just figured out that you can actually turn the Kindle off rather than just letting it go into sleep mode. However, it uses no power when it is in sleep mode so there is no reason to actually turn it off.
I also bought a book called Kindle secrets which cost me $2.99. I found out the Kindle comes with two games, Minesweeper and Go. I also found out you can load pictures onto the Kindle, I guess that is okay for black and white pictures. Wonder if you can create your own screensavers?
Saturday
I browsed the Amazon.com site and bought my first novels. They are books I have always loved and books that I already have in hard copy. East of Eden and The Great Gatsby, they cost a little over $6 each.
I also looked at the Kindle covers from Amazon. I am debating buying one, but I may look around town and see if I can find anything suitable.
Update
Do you own or are you planning to buy a Kindle or other ebook reader?
See results without votingFree Ebook Sources
- Feedbooks | Food for the mind
Free eBooks, the best collection of free public domain and original books, read on any mobile device. - Free Kindle Books, Amazon Kindle Book, Amazon.com Books Kindle Review Kindle 3 Review, iPad Review
Blog that finds the latest free Kindle books. - ManyBooks.net - Free eBooks for your iPad, smartphone, or eBook reader
Thousands of free ebooks, pre-formatted for reading on a variety of devices. - Mobipocket free books
Mobipocket files can be downloaded to the Kindle.
Real Books are Better!
When ebooks first came out I was one of those who vowed I would never get a reader. That I would cling to my print books until I die. However, I have not come to realize how so much more convenient ebooks are sometimes.
That does not mean I am going to stop buying "real" books. I have 4 bookshelves full of books, many that I have not read yet.
In the meantime, my Kindle has actually got me reading more than I have been lately. It's so easy to read in bed and since I can change to font size I don't need to wear my reading glasses.
I have only had my Kindle for 5 days but it's already become attached to me. It goes to work with me, it goes to bed with me, it's sitting right next to me on the couch right now. I'm sure the novelty will wear off and it will just become another tool. Still, every time I'm holding it I keep thinking..."this is so Star Trek TNG!" Once a Trekkie, always a Trekkie...
I got the idea to do a day by day description of my Kindle's early days from Relache's great hub about her new iPad.
Your Comments are Greatly Appreciated
I also have an Ipod, I used to listen to podcasts and audiobooks in bed. I still do occasionally.
I'm such a sucker for electronic gadgets.
for me, i'm all electronic and technical stuff illiterate:P in fact, i had heard of kindle a lot of times but never really bothered to find out what exactly it meant. i just thought maybe it's a site that sold all those books.
but now i know better. kindle reader huh, that sounds real nice. it would be great when i can't borrow any books. thanks for sharing. i'm always learning things here.
Thanks for sharing. Since you are an avid reader and rabid writer I'm glad you wrote this. I do most of my reading online these days. But reading your opinion on this device is very helpful in my drawn out decision about getting one. I'm not there yet, but closer than I was.
By the way the last novel I read, two months ago, was The Great Gatsby.
Thanks LiamBean, reading on the Kindle is so much easier on the eyes than on a computer. Just like reading a book.
What did you think of Gatsby? It's one of my favorite novels, as I said :)
Bit of a Luddite myself. I still love to hold and smell the book, but I can see the e book readers as being great for research and writing, not to mention travel. Can you download books from the public library?
You can download free books from a library but not many are in the correct format for the Kindle.
This is a great hub...thanks, UW. I've been wondering about the kindle reader...not really interested in it too much for myself...just wondering. Now I'm interested.
I love the way you structured your article, telling how you waited, checking on it each day and the, in your excitement, telling others about it and hopping into bed with it. Sounds really fun, useful and convenient. Thanks for all the information and videos. I just may have to get one now.
Welcome to the Kindle family! I've had mine since last summer and I can't imagine what I did before.
It fits perfectly in the desk I have on my wheelchair so I can carry "books" where ever I go. Anyone with dexterity problems due to arthritis or the like should love it.
I do regret that I didn't buy the extended warranty. Dexterity problems also ensures a certain amount of dropping. I've been lucky so far but also very careful.
I got the Kindle DX for the larger screen and larger memory. I can carry about 3500 books.
For what it's worth, you can also e-mail yourself documents using the e-mail address supplied with the Kindle. I e-mailed myself some short documents on my medical history, emergency contact information, and current prescriptions. I thought thay might come in handy someday.
I also included a document with the phone numbers for my favorite restaurants and contacts. I don't own a cell phone so it's easier than carrying a small notebook.
I do hope you love yours as much as I love mine.
I am looking into getting a book reader for my daughter who devours books. Did you ever look at the Nook? Barns and Noble keep slipping fliers into my books about the Nook. Kindle sounds like an excellent choice. I like that it can do audio books. We're addicted to audio books for our long car rides, and who doesn't like being read to. Thanks for the day-by-day account. It was helpful.
I love this article, uninvited writer. It's fabulous. I love the style. I feel your excitement! Very useful. I'm going to share.
Thanks for the information concerning your experience with the Kindle. I had no idea that free books are available for download.
Great hub! Interesting and informative!
thanks for nice info..
I don't own a reader. At least not yet. What do you think about the reader from Barnes and Noble?
I haven't checked out the Nook. I don't even know if it's available in Canada.
UV this sounds like a great, would be great for when we are traveling in a caravan although I would not be able to swap with other travelers like I do at the moment. thanks for sharing this
great article Susan. I was the same way thinking I couldn't possibly give up reading a real book, but this is so nice. I'm thrilled to own one!. now I'm going out by the pool to start reading!! thanks for sharing, I liked the way you presented it here.
Very informative hub. I saw the word kindle used in a forum about Amazon and did not know what it was. The type of person I am is that it would drive me crazy till I found out lol. Great hub and now I am up to date with the latest technology too.
I'm getting a Kindle for Christmas (a surprise?? :) Anyway, I'm so looking forward to joining the world of e-books and audiobooks.
Thanks for a great review. I don't have one yet, but it's definitely on my wishlist. I really appreciate your detailed explanation of why you love yours. Great hub!
I was amazed by how fast I received my Kindle in the mail too. I got it in 4 days. I love it so far!
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Amazon Kindle Touch 4GB, Wi-Fi, 6in - Silver
Current Bid: $98.79
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Amazon Kindle 2 2GB, Wi-Fi + ATT FREE 3G , 6in - White w/ Keyboard E-Reader
Current Bid: $56.00
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Amazon Kindle Keyboard 4GB, Wi-Fi, 6in - Graphite
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Ginn Navarre 2 years ago
Good for you. I chose the ipod because my ole eyes go to sleep before I do and I am here to tell you these reader are fabulous in all forms. My EARS have read more books than my eyes could ever had.
I have also found that downloading your own books and then listening to them is a great way to edit---them.
P.S. my ipod goes to bed with me every night--(a new lover)???