Amazon Kindle 3

[Mania]

I have just pre-ordered the latest generation of Kindle from Amazon. (That's an affiliate link, by the way.)

A Kindle is a small device that allows you to purchase and read electronic books. This newest generation has:

• 50% better contrast than any other e-reader
• New crisper, darker fonts
• 21% smaller body (while keeping the same 6" size reading area)
• Weights only 8.5 ounces -- less than a paperback
• Battery Life of Up to One Month
• Stores up to 3,500 Books
• Built-In Wi-Fi
• Shop and download books in less than 60 seconds
• 20% Faster Page Turns
• Enhanced PDF Reader
• Browse the web over Wi-Fi (experimental)

Best of all, the wi-fi version of the new Kindle costs only $139. There's also a version with wi-fi and 3G that costs $189.

Why am I posting this here? Why am I trying to sell you a Kindle?

Because I adore the Kindle. It's the absolute best thing I have bought in the last two years. And no, I'm not exaggerating. ('Course I haven't bought all that much recently, what with the economy as it is. But that just shows how excited I am by this new Kindle to be pre-ordering it.)

I read. A lot. We're talking 20+ books a month. (That's 5 books a week, or one every day and a half on average.)

With my Kindle I have access to thousand of classic books -- for free -- like the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, War and Peace, and everything by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.

I also have access to free copies of books that the publishers are pushing in the hopes of getting me hooked on an author -- mostly romance and mystery, but some urban fantasy and regular fantasy as well as some business and management books.

(You can see a list of the top 100 free books here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/)

I also buy a lot of paid books. Digital versions of new hardcovers tend to run $10 to $13 (USD), but a lot of older and genre books are $5 to $7 (USD), or less. I like to pick up forgotten fantasy paperbacks for $3 or $4 (USD). These prices tend to be cheaper than buying from a bookstore. Not always, but often.

Better yet, I have access to these books while I am lying in bed naked at 4am. (Sorry for the mental image, but I don't wear pajamas. It's too hot in Florida, even with the A/C on.) I don't have to go to the bookstore and pray that they have the weird fantasy book that I am looking for. I don't have to wait a week for a delivery if I buy it off of Amazon. I can have it now. This is especially handy when I finish a book in a series, or when I've been waiting for a cook for a long time. (Sometimes I'll stay up until 3am waiting for a brand new book to become available.)

And my husband and I share a Kindle account, so we can both read the books we buy -- even simultaneously. (There's not a lot of overlap in our reading habits -- he prefers psychology and computer books -- but we'll both read the newest Harry Dresden books as soon as they come out.)

... But none of that, convenient as it is, explains why I adore the Kindle.

All of these things I mentioned above can be done with the free Kindle app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, Blackberry, and Android. Or with the Nook eReader by Barnes & Noble, or with Apple's iBooks.

But the Kindle is the best for serious reading. It doesn't have color or a touch screen and you can't really do anything except read. (Well, there is a very primitive browser and the next generation will have a much more robust browser. But it's still "experimental", and for good reason.)

What it does have:

• It's light. Very light. Way lighter than an iPad, way lighter than a hardcover book and lighter than a lot of thick fantasy paperbacks. I regularly read in bed, on my back, with the Kindle held over my head and I've never gotten even a sore wrist. (I did drop it on my face once though.) And the new version is even lighter.
• The battery lasts forever. I recharge mine about every 10 days, often while I am reading in the armchair in our living room. Or I'll plug it in by my bed overnight. It takes about half an hour to recharge the battery completely. The battery runs down a lot faster if you leave the net connection on, but the only reason to turn it on is to download a book and that only takes 30 seconds to a minute. And the new version will have twice the battery life.(*)
• The screen isn't back-lit and there's no touch-screen: both of which are actually a big plus because that means that you can read for hours without getting a headache. The screen has almost no glare, so you can read outside or in bright light. In other words: you can't read in full darkness (unless you have a little book light) but you can read in the doctor's waiting room. The screen looks a lot like the page of an actual book in terms of color and contrast.(*)
• The Kindle can be used one-handed, with either hand. You can hold it and turn the pages with your thumb. This is convenient if you are, for example, snacking while you read. Or brushing your teeth after snacking. Or fishing in WoW. (Or one-handed. I actually know a woman who lost an arm who uses this feature.) And the Kindle is a lot more rugged than you might imagine. I've dropped mine of the floor -- our hard ceramic-tiled floor -- about 8 times now.

(*) The trade-off for the battery life and the readability is in eInk, the technology that the Kindle uses to render the screen. eInk has a slow refresh time compared to, say, and LCD screen. It takes perhaps half a second to flip pages, which doesn't sound bad but is noticeable. Then again, I am the fastest reader I know and the page and menu speed hasn't been an issue for me. So take that as you will.

So yeah ... I'm an advocate. I know that the Kindle isn't for everyone. I'm not trying to talk you into it if it wouldn't be of any use to you.

But if you are a serious reader, especially of genre books like romance, mystery, or fantasy, I can't recommend this device enough. I resisted getting one for the longest time because I just couldn't see the need for it. Then my husband bought me one and within an hours I was in love.

And now I'm going to go read! I just finished Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane (another affiliate link) and I want to grab the next book in the series -- Unholy Magic -- so I have something to read over dinner.

[cowmuflage]

eh I think i'll pass i don't like shopping in Amazon as it's all in US money and i cbf changeing it.

[Saturo]

105€ plus shipping from the US is a bit too expensive for me. Good news, however, is that you can download and read the kindle and nook ebooks to a netbook, so I'm at least not completely left out. :/

[cowmuflage]

I don't even think you can gte things liike that here

[Vephriel]

Being an avid reader myself I've always been a bit intrigued by these, however my Mom got one for Christmas last year and she says (in her words) "It just isn't the same as holding on to a book."

She eventually returned it because no matter what she did in the end she didn't like the feel of it. I think I might have the same problems with something like that. I can read short snippets on a screen of course, but thinking of an entire novel...not sure if I'd enjoy that so much.

How is that aspect for you? I love holding a novel and having that new-book smell and turning the pages and feeling the book. There's something about that experience that I feel would be lost on an electronic device.

[Rhyela]

Being an avid reader myself I've always been a bit intrigued by these, however my Mom got one for Christmas last year and she says (in her words) "It just isn't the same as holding on to a book."

She eventually returned it because no matter what she did in the end she didn't like the feel of it. I think I might have the same problems with something like that. I can read short snippets on a screen of course, but thinking of an entire novel...not sure if I'd enjoy that so much.

How is that aspect for you? I love holding a novel and having that new-book smell and turning the pages and feeling the book. There's something about that experience that I feel would be lost on an electronic device.

I'm kind of the same way, but at the same time, I'm horribly anal and I hate how the book gets all spread out after you're done reading it. I like a thin, compact book that looks new, with no binding tears or anything. I have my quirks. But I still won't pass up a good deal on a used book, even if it isn't in pristine condition like I like.

[Mania]

Being an avid reader myself I've always been a bit intrigued by these, however my Mom got one for Christmas last year and she says (in her words) "It just isn't the same as holding on to a book."

I can understand that. From my point of view, it's way better than holding on to a book, because it's never trying to flip itself closed while I brush my teeth.

I can read short snippets on a screen of course, but thinking of an entire novel...not sure if I'd enjoy that so much.

The ... eye-feel? ... of the screen is nothing like a computer, or a laptop, or an iPhone or an iPad. Reading blocks of text on a computer screen gives me a headache, fast. That's one reason I am not excited about the free Kindle apps that let you read the books on other devices ... because I've never wanted to read books on a computer screen.

How is that aspect for you? I love holding a novel and having that new-book smell and turning the pages and feeling the book. There's something about that experience that I feel would be lost on an electronic device.

I do enjoy the smell of books, but like Rhyela I get a bit compulsive about the way paperback covers get bent or keep trying to open themselves. (Especially since the way I have to weight them to keep them from flipping open while I read them bends the spine even worse. And then you have to pile things on them or put them in a relatively tight bookshelf to straighten them back out.) And I hate the weight of hardcovers. Hardcovers have the best smell, though.

On the other hand, I come from a family where it is not uncommon to have to skip two pages because they've gotten stuck together with tomato seeds. *cough*

And when you get down to it, at the volume of books I read I would be willing to give up an awful lot of feel for the convenience. That may not be true for everyone.

As an example: I have a physical library of about 100 books. I would own more -- lots more -- but I've moved my household almost 7000 miles total over the past 6 years. So I only keep my absolute favorites. And I've tended not to buy many new (to me) physical books even before I bought the Kindle because 1) I'd have to get rid of them later, and 2) for much of that time I've had unfortunate depression and anxiety issues that make me much happier when I don't have to leave the house unless I'm in the mood.

Anyway ... 100 books just don't last long enough when I read 20 a month. I re-read my entire library every 5 months or less. That's barely enough time to forget the words, much less the plots!

So even just having access to free books without going to a bookstore -- or worse, a used book store (because those places creep me out: books great; people who run used book stores less than great, either way too helpful and chatty, or weird, or both) -- means that I can suddenly read as many books as I want. New books that I have never read before. And yes, I still have favorites that I re-read, but I'm not re-reading them over and over again because I've got nothing else.

And I still have my library of 100 physical books (plus my husband's metric tonne of incredibly heavy computer books that he won't get rid of even though some of them are 10 years old). I often read in the little library nook we finagled out of our dining room where I can ... err .. smell them.

Well. Somehow I think that pointing out how weird I am is not going to sell you on a Kindle. *grin* But I'm not really trying to sell anyone. It's just been such a big thing for me that I want to share it with anyone who is interested.

Oh, and did I mention that they absolutely rock for traveling? One Kindle lasts me as long as I am away from home, instead of having to carry two or three books for a week away.

[cowmuflage]

The big thing for me is do they do comics? My brain seems to only read good when theres things to look at i guess thats my arty side poping up. I do like like travels to the library it gets me out of the house lol.

[Mockingbird]

The big thing for me is do they do comics? My brain seems to only read good when theres things to look at i guess thats my arty side poping up. I do like like travels to the library it gets me out of the house lol.

Actually, that's a very good question.

If I get a kindle, can I read Sandman all over again?

[Saturo]

Hmm... I read a few years back about a "paper screen", that would be used for ebooks. Neve heard of it again, but is that what they have in the Kindle? It certainly seems useful for me, I like reading. Just a bit too expensive. :P

Reading on a computersceen is no problem for me. I've played WoW nonstop for two days, with only five minute breaks. :P Creepy Sat is creepy.

[Jangalian]

I really like the idea of a Kindle, and have seriously considered buying one...however...

I like books. I like the way they fit in your hands, and how delicate you have to be with them, and how they smell and the way that the black ink sweeps across the eggshell colored pages. I like the creases and bends and curves that an old book gets, and the stiff perfection of a brand-new book that no one has ever even opened before. I love novels, artbooks, comics, manga and hardbacks. I think that the imperfections of old books give them a soul. I adore finding an old friend at a thrift store or second-hand book store, or picking up on a new subject because the book beside that book has an interesting cover.

I think being a book lover is as much about finding the book as it is reading it.

The only downside I find is that when I moved, I had eight EXTREMELY HEAVY BOXES. Ah well, it's the price I pay for being a bibliovore.

[VelkynKarma]

I've been leery about the Kindle (and the other knockoffs that other stores are trying to sell now, like Barnes & Noble's 'Nook' ) for the same reasons that Veph and Jangalian listed. I just love the feel and the smell of a book. Old books, new books, etc. Sometimes bending the spine is a bit annoying, like everyone has mentioned, but at the same time I love how you can see how loved a book is by seeing how bent it is, finding stains or splotches on the pages, etc etc. It gives the book a history that a digital copy can't reproduce.

If it was less expensive, I might have considered the Kindle for something like traveling, which does sound convenient. But not for everyday use.

The other thing is, when I read a book, it's usually because I'm taking a break from the computer just as much as I'm enjoying a story. I like to give my eyes a rest from the screen (especially after powering through WoW or some of my digital artwork for hours) and it seems like it'd completely break the point of a break if I jump from one screen to another. Even if it IS different from a normal computer screen.

But it works for some people--I've heard a lot of good things about it--so I certainly won't knock it. I'll be thrilled if it ups readership in the country too. It's depressing how many times I would pass conversations at the college in which students would claim how much they hate reading, but if it's digitally available maybe people will consider reading a story here and there instead of being eternally tied to Twitter and Facebook.

~VelkynKarma

[Karathyriel]

Oh wow!

I sooooo want one!

I sooooo can't afford one!

No, really, it's pretty cool. The amazon library is a very cool feature too, so I only have to buy a book once. If they were available in good old Germany, I'd probably be freaking out by now.

Damn you, Mania, for watering my mouth with that thrice damned link you posted!

For the comic freaks: There seems to be a >>> "comics and graphic novels" section <<< in the kindle store.

[Jangalian]

I ran out on lunch break and bought some books. >D I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. They were having a sale at Borders, so I bought 5.

Now reading - Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara

It's sci-fi. NOT SYFY I FRIGGIN HATE THAT WORD...THINGY.

[VelkynKarma]

Aah, I almost forgot. Wasn't there some sort of issue with the digital books....if you downloaded something it could be recalled, or something like that?

I vaguely recall reading something of this nature, but it's been a while, and I don't recall if it was the Kindle or something else.

~VelkynKarma