My Kindle Opinions

Well, I know I've only had the Kindle for a few days, but I already have some opinions and since I have had several people ask, I thought I'd go ahead and blog about it. I love reading on my kindle! It's so much easier than holding a book--especially with H around wanting to tear paper all the time! The e-ink technology is awesome. Basically the way it is explained is that it's real ink in there that is just moved around as you turn pages. It makes it so easy on the eyes. You can also change the font size, search through any book, or even have it read aloud to you. (This sounds a little computerized, but not too bad.) There are quite a few free books on Amazon that you can download. All the old classics are basically free as long as you get the basic version--no side notes or illustrations or anything. 

I also like that you can email your own documents (PDF, Word, TXT, etc) to your kindle email address and it will convert them and add them to your reading list. This is how I got the scriptures. They weren't available on the Amazon site, but I was able to download them by saving them to my computer and then emailing them to myself. I can now carry my scriptures in a thin, handheld, 8.5 oz device instead of in a large bag. LOVE!!

Now the cons. I would not have bought a kindle at this time. I love it that I got it for free, and I really wanted one, and it's great, but I wouldn't have spent the money on it. First of all, I don't buy books. I get them from the library unless they are something I'm going to read over and over. Even then, I only buy them used or on sale. The basic kindle is about $140 and I just couldn't justify that. 

Now, if the kindle could download ebooks from the library, it might be a different story, but after doing extensive research and downloading several programs to try to convert library ebooks into kindle format, I've come to the conclusion that it can't be done. (The library website said that in the first place...I just had to try!) The library books have something linked to them (Digital Rights Agreement or something) that causes them to "return" themselves within the alloted amount of time. The kindle does not support this format. I'm thinking that will surely change in the future since so many other digital reading devices (Nook, Kobe Reader, Pocketbook Pro, Sony Reader, etc.) support that format. The kindle will be left in the dust if Amazon doesn't upgrade that feature. These readers also support basically any ebook format. The problem with them is that they are WAY out of my price range or don't have WiFi (another feature I really like). The kindle is closer, but like I said, I wouldn't have purchased it...yet. 

I also wish it had color. For the book feature of this, it's not a big deal, but it would be nice when browsing the web. I honestly don't get online that much with it because it's a bit slower than the laptop. Also, right now, I have nine tabs open and earlier had closer to 20. You can only do one thing at a time on the kindle's web service. Fine for just checking email. Not fine for constant internet use. 

So if you're looking into getting some sort of e-reader, I'd either decide you REALLY want it right now and invest in something a little more expensive, or wait it out. Honestly, I did a lot of looking through the library's ebook site today, and there aren't that many titles there that I have an interest in. I was searching for some fiction books that I like to read and almost none of them were there. It might be worth it to wait until their database is a little more extensive (it's still new and still growing) and hope that by then, the kindle has begun accepting downloads with digital rights agreements. 


Moral of the story:  I LOVE my kindle!  And I love that it was free!  I probably would have eventually bought an e-reader of some sort, but if I were you, I'd be patient.  This is still fairly new technology and prices are bound to come down while technology is bound to get better.