Amazon Kindle

[Rufus]

I've been thinking about buying an Amazon Kindle so I can download books and read them without having to shop for them and the comparison of cost between the Kindle and buying constant books.

Anybody recommend it? Anybody who doesn't?

 

[Andres]

I'll recommend it.

 

[Claudiu]

I recommend it. I have about $2,000 worth of material on it that I was able to get for free.

 

[greenbaggins]

I purchased one and am really enjoying it. For about $400 total (Kindle plus individual purchases), you can have basically all that's important in English literature. If you have a wireless connection, go with the wi-fi only. If you don't, then get the 3G version. For collections of works, I generally prefer Mobile Reference Library editions, as they usually have the best navigation and organization, which is ESSENTIAL on a Kindle. They're a tad more expensive, but it's still nothing compared to what you'd spend on buying the books individually. For instance, you get the complete works of Charles Dickens for under $5. There are usually a couple of typos in these collections (which is pretty much unavoidable when you're doing OCR on all the scans). But they are not that distracting. I wouldn't recommend it that much for theological study, especially if, like me, you like to take notes. You can take notes on the Kindle, but it's awkward. If you read anything theological on it, I'd recommend devotional only.

 

[KMK]

I love mine.

Pros: Incredibly easy on the eyes and able to save hundreds of square feet of bookshelf space in your home.

Cons: Harder to skip around on a Kindle than a regular book.

 

[Ne Oublie]

Absolutely a great investment!

 

[MMasztal]

It took a while for me to actually start using the thing, but I like it. As has been noted, you can get tons of books for free or a buck or two and end up carrying around a huge library at your ready access.

 

[baron]

I also love my Kindle. It's hard to read abook after reading on the Kindle. I can increase text size only so many words to look at. When I went to a book to many words would jump out at me. My grandson say's the same thing and he is able to read better on the Kindle. While I spent 6 hours today at the doctor's with my wife I had over 400 book's to choose from. Which about 95 percent were free. I used to have to carry a bag of books before now just my little Kindle. I have the 3G. Best investment I have made.

 

[DMcFadden]

My wife and I each have one and it is INCREDIBLY easy on the eyes (especially as you get older).

For a quick list of the free ones, check this site frequently: 50 Free Books in the Kindle Store « Kindle Review – Kindle 3 Review, Kindle vs Nook.

Publishers often market books for the Kindle for free for a day or week to boost volume and popularity. Be careful, however. Some of the "free" ones will no longer be free by the time you get around to selecting them, so CHECK the price BEFORE purchasing.

 

[jambo]

I was not that keen on a Kindle until my wife bought me one for my birthday. I think it is great. I downloaded the complete works of John Bunyan for just 0.71p and the complete works of Charles Dickens for £2. As Ken said it is a bit harder to go back and forth than a regular book but that apart I would recommend one. Also we are in the early days of the Kindle and things will develop in the days ahead.

One thing I though might be an issue is that with the Kindle you can only download from Amazon whereas with any other e-reader you can download from anywhere except Amazon. However Amazon are the cheapest and biggest store of books, that really is not an issue.

 

[discipulo]

Does Kindle read common Adobe PDF files, and if yes, is it able to search words, resize zoom % view, etc?

 

[jambo]

It does read PDf files and can be resized. Don't know about being searching for words, I don't think it can.