" It sucks, my dad owns one and it's really just....it's lame. Just use your laptop or get a real book. "
I'm in the same boat, and definitely prefer having a physical book to read. That might just be me though. I suppose if you are traveling a lot or something and don't want to go to the bookstore then it would be good.
I use the Barns and Noble nook. Since the recent 1.3 update, the performance is equal to the Kindle in my opinion, and there are more options then the Kindle (in store bonuses anyone?).
" It sucks, my dad owns one and it's really just....it's lame. Just use your laptop or get a real book. "
I have to disagree here. I really like my Kindle, and though I still prefer real books to be quite honest, it's a fine piece of hardware that does exactly what it says it'll do: displays literature you can read. The e-ink display is quite nice, and everything they say about being able to read in direct sunlight is totally true. Books download in about 30 seconds and all of them are reasonably priced.
Honestly my only issue with the Kindle is that it just doesn't (and never could) have all of the books I'd want to read in digital format. You may also take issue with the lack of a backlight for the screen, but you can buy a cheap clip-on light for reading in the dark. A backlight would ruin the "authentic" feel of reading on the screen and cause eye-strain. May as well be reading on a laptop at that point.
" I use the Barns and Noble nook. Since the recent 1.3 update, the performance is equal to the Kindle in my opinion, and there are more options then the Kindle (in store bonuses anyone?). "
" It sucks, my dad owns one and it's really just....it's lame. Just use your laptop or get a real book. "
I have to disagree here. I really like my Kindle, and though I still prefer real books to be quite honest, it's a fine piece of hardware that does exactly what it says it'll do: displays literature you can read. The e-ink display is quite nice, and everything they say about being able to read in direct sunlight is totally true. Books download in about 30 seconds and all of them are reasonably priced. Honestly my only issue with the Kindle is that it just doesn't (and never could) have all of the books I'd want to read in digital format. You may also take issue with the lack of a backlight for the screen, but you can buy a cheap clip-on light for reading in the dark. A backlight would ruin the "authentic" feel of reading on the screen and cause eye-strain. May as well be reading on a laptop at that point. "
I bought a Kindle recently, fully prepared to take advantage of Amazon's 30 day return policy if I didn't like it. I was fully converted, and love the thing, though it is certainly not for everyone. Here are the pros and cons, as I see them.
Pro: -Extremely long battery life, something a bit less than two weeks -Literally carrying a bookstore with you is far more convenient than I imagined. Takes 30 sec or so to buy & download a new book. -The enormous amount of free public domain books out there is great for catching up with the classics. And you can get great versions of the free stuff if you want to spend a small amount of money. I got the complete collection of all the Sherlock Holmes stories (with illustrations, too!) for something like $2.50. -Small and light. This is especially great if you travel, as I love being free of the weight and volume of taking several hardcovers with me on vacation or when visiting family. -Fantastic display technology that does not cause any eyestrain at all. Very fast refresh rate as well, "turning" the page takes about as much time as it takes to move your eyes back up to the top of the screen, making it feel quite natural. I was worried that the screen would be too small (it's smaller than a standard paperback's page) but this proved to be a non issue. -Very speedy. It takes a few seconds to power on and another two to load up your book. Automatically remembering your place is also nice. -Built in dictionary is a wonderful thing to have
Con: -You lose the social aspect of book reading. I wished that could have loaned Dune to a friend after reading it, but it's tied to my Kindle. This is my biggest gripe with it, actually. -$260 investment. People try to justify this by arguing you save money in the long run, but I know myself well enough to know that I will probably update to a new model often enough that this will never happen. I justify it more through the enormous amount of free public domain content (pretty much anything written before 1920) and the portability. -Poor sorting system, pretty much just alphabetical or by date accessed. They really need to allow you to organize your library into folders. -Not nearly so feature rich as something like the iPad. I prefer to have a gadget that does one thing really well, so the e-ink is more than enough to compensate, but your mileage may vary on this one. -You have to turn it off when taking off or landing when travelling by plane. Far more irritating than I would have guessed.
I think I hit the major stuff there, at least the stuff i would have wanted to know going in, and hopefully this can help you make your decision, one way or another.
I bought a Kindle DX about two weeks ago and so far I'm loving it. I uploaded a bunch of comic book scans to it using a little bit of magic and it is great for my purpose (I pretty much only buy The Walking Dead anymore and it is black and white, right up the Kindles alley). I've already read 3 books on it that I likely would have never read. I've got music and audio books on it that I listen to and I even use it for mild web stuff (gmail, yahoo messenger, wiki, etc. . .) as well.
I carry around a book with me everywhere I go, usually a hardback because I want the book right away. The Kindle DX is a little better to carry around (not as thick basically) so that is good.
There are tons and tons of free books but most of them are classics you have likely read if you had any desire to read them (Phantom of the Opera, Through the Looking Glass, Pride and Prejudice, etc) but there are also a lot of super cheap or free newer books coming out. Plus the ability to sample any book in the Kindle library is nice. Sometimes they are only a couple pages, sometimes they are considerable chunks.
The price of the Kindle DX with it's nearly 10" screen is a little crazy ($489). I did a lot of comparisons between the Kindle 2 and the Kindle DX and decided if I went with Kindle the DX was right for me. However at this cost you could get an iPad which has the Kindle app and iReader plus it can do all it's other stuff. I ultimately decided that primarily I wanted a reading device so I went with the one that did that better. The other stuff was just bells and whistles I don't really need but could be pretty cool.
As another person said the organization on the Kindle is pretty poor. Folders have been begged for since the beginning and Amazon seems not to hear it. I find alphabetical by title works well enough for me but even better you can just start to type the name of the item you are looking for and it will bring up all your content that matches.
However, while eink is pretty great there are new things on the horizon that mix LCD display and eink so it would be like an iPad and a Kindle had a baby. True color displays that could show video but also the ability to be a devoted ereader as well. I don't know much about that crazy future but I saw something about it on Tested.com
If you just want to get some hands on with a similar device to see how you like it pop into a Barnes and Noble or Best Buy. They have the Nook there. While it isn't exactly the same the eink tech is the same so that much of it would be a good test. If nothing else it could give you at least a basic idea if you would be comfortable with it.
There are my poorly laid out thoughts but basically, if you have the money I think it is a great device. The smaller size is much cheaper and more portable but the screen size didn't fit my needs. The roughly 6" screen might be fine for you though and would be roughly half the price.
@mosdl: Thanks for the heads up on the update. I've been converting my PDFs to the Kindle format (using some publisher software, forget the name at the moment). Sure the DX could handle the PDF but it wasn't exactly ideal. Updated PDF support would be great. But being able to group stuff, that will make this so much nicer to look at. Rather than 5 pages of Stephen King stuff I can just have a folder. That's a bit of an exaggeration, I currently only have 2 pages worth for him but the potential is there.
I wonder if we will be able to have sub folders? Take for instance the Stephen King example. I would like to be able to put The Dark Tower books in their own folder within the Stephen King folder. We shall see.
I know there was a sort of work around that the community had come up with but I never really looked into it (something about using notes on books and then using those to categorize stuff) but this will be great. I guess this means I'll have to turn my wireless on for more than the minute it takes to download/install a new book so I can make sure it gets this update.
I've been kinda going back and forth, finally decided against buying a kindle. The concept is pretty cool, but the only actual reason to get one I could come up with was space conservation. I own a lot of books and am already out of space, so whenever I get a new one I just have to put them in a pile next to the bookcases. I can't really read too much off a screen anyway, it hurts my eyes like crazy. Besides, I always carry a 20 year old copy of Catch 22 with me, it's barely even a book anymore, but I love it. Can't do that with a piece of electronics.
@OracleXIII: Have you tried to read off of a dedicated ereader? It really is amazingly like reading from an actual page as far as eye strain goes. I've messed with the Nook and as previously mentioned I have a Kindle DX and have had zero eye problems. However five minutes trying to read on an iPad my eyes were a little strained. It's all about the display technology. These eink readers really are easy to read on.
As for the beat up copy of Catch 22, I totally feel you there. These devices cannot replace so called 'dead tree books' completely. I've got a couple of books that are held together by rubber bands and liberal amounts of glue trying to prolong their life. Those still have their place in my life. When I go out riding my bike I like to toss a paperback into my backpack. If I find somewhere nice I like to just sit and read. I'm not taking a Kindle out on the trails where I might take a header and wreck the thing.
I could make a million justifications as to why I need this. I'm going to spend a long weekend in Texas this August and I will have a lot of down time while there, Kindle to the rescue. I like to flip between a variety of books depending on my mood and how long of a block of time I have to read at that moment, Kindle saves the day. In the end I totally knew this thing was a rather extravagant toy. I'm overjoyed that I have it but really, I don't expect it to change your life too terribly much.
Going off on a total tangent. Did you ever read Closing Time? The sequel to Catch 22. I've tried to read it about 5 times but for some reason I always put it down. Never got more than half way through it. I miss Yossarian though. It's been a while since I've read Catch 22. To bad it's not in the Kindle library. I'm sure I could work a little digital magic and get it onto this device though. Or I could just go read the paperback that I can see on my shelf right now.
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