Kindle Count

[jerseygirl3]

I have been researching the Kindle and am considering requesting it for my bday later this month. ;) I haven't been able to determine if it is backlit or has a light for reading in the dark. Can someone tell me if it does or how you read in darkened rooms - looking at using it on the balcony on Solstice and on the plane. Thanks

 

Along that same vein, I'm assuming since it isn't backlit, the print is easy to read in bright sunlight? I hate that when I try to text with my cell phone in the sun, I can't see a darn thing.

 

Also, since it's not backlit, it is possible to clip a night reading light onto the kindle to read in the dark?

 

Thanks!

[infolady]

As I said in my previous post, there is NO glare and reading in the sun is a pleasure. I bought a clip on light from Amazon that works perfectly with the Kindle. When I ordered the Kindle, I ordered a case for it also, and the light clips on it very nicely and easily.

[mybagsarepacked]

My DH and I both have Kindles and we love them.

[Wormy53]

For people that love to read - I don't think there is anything so wonderful!!! My husband keeps asking me "are you still reading that same book?":rolleyes: I ordered the cover also and it is so easy to read in bed and sitting up. I can see easily outside in the sun. I am also surprised at how long the battery lasts - esp with the wireless turned off. Can't say enough good things about it!!!

[alfiemom]

I was told that I would be getting a Kindle 2 for my birthday and Mother's Day. Seems my DH read a few things on Amazon that the type on the K2 is not as dark as it was on the K1 and therefore was giving people headaches. It isn't unusual for him to try to talk me out of something new by saying that I should wait for the K3 due out next January. (He always did this with computers too.) Anyone having any problems with the lightness of the type?

 

Bobbie

[Wormy53]

I have never used a Kindle1,but the 2 is easy to read. Not too light.

[infolady]

I have to agree with Wormy. I never owned a Kindle 1 either, but I can't imagine it being easier to read than the Kindle 2. IMO, the print is just fine.

[Cruise Junky]

I was told that I would be getting a Kindle 2 for my birthday and Mother's Day. Seems my DH read a few things on Amazon that the type on the K2 is not as dark as it was on the K1 and therefore was giving people headaches. It isn't unusual for him to try to talk me out of something new by saying that I should wait for the K3 due out next January. (He always did this with computers too.) Anyone having any problems with the lightness of the type?

 

Bobbie

 

There's a ton of complaints about this on the Amazon Kindle Boards, but I have to say, most of the complaints are from people that owned the Kindle 1 and are comparing it to the Kindle 2. There's even an online petition begging Amazon to darken the font. Not sure if you'd think of it as light though if you're not comparing it to the first one. Get it, try it, if it gives you headaches, you have 30 days to send it back.

[Mysticks1]

Thanks to everyone for answering my questions. I look forward to getting the Kindle 2. ;)

[goofysmom99]

I have the Kindle 1; a friend (the one taking the TA with us, Bobbie) has the Kindle 2. We swapped last week to share books and neither of us noticed any difference in the type. Of course we both wear glasses like the bottoms of Coke bottles too!:D

[GaryfmCol]

My husband loves his Kindle. It went on our Arctic Circle cruise last summer, and will be going on the Galaxy in March. In addition to using it at home, he takes it, along with a book rack, to our local fitness center to read while on eliptical trainer & treadmill (if not running).

 

He plans to buy one for me as a birthday gift, so I can have one on our October 17-night Panama Canal cruise that has around 8 sea days.

 

Our newest toy is the Dell Mini 9 laptop that weighs a little over 2 lbs. It is also going on the Galaxy in March (last Galaxy cruise with X).

 

When is the next Kindle version expected to come out?

 

Kathy

 

Hi Kathy! ;)

[TourDeCruise]

Hi Gary & Susan! We just got back a few days ago from the final Galaxy cruise under the X flag. Jack took his Kindle with him. He is planning to buy me a Kindle2 for my birthday, so I can take it on our 17-night Panama Canal cruise from San Diego to Baltimore in October. The cruise has 8 sea days, so I will definitely need something to read. I can see you have been doing a lot of cruising and have some good cruises in the hopper. Hope to cruise with you again someday. Kathy & Jack

[Coco Creek]

I never bought a Kindle, thinking it was a gadget I could do without. And then this thread came into my life yesterday and if all you cruisers love Kindle, then I have to have one.

 

I ordered a Kindle 2 yesterday. Just in time, I have a Panama Canal cruise coming up on April 13.

[alfiemom]

Amazon should really give us a discount. Cruisers are a very large group.

 

Bobbie

[darrencantwait]

I got my Kindle 2 just days before my March 1 Solstice Cruise. I TOTALLY love it. I have NEVER gotten through 2 books on a 7-night cruise before. It was such a joy to read. I also ordered a nice leather case for it, and a clip on book light. I could sit out on my balcony in the evenings and enjoy my reading with the ocean passing in front of me.

 

Another great tip, we were playing Scrabble on deck one day, and would use my Kindle to settle any objections to a word.

 

A friend on board was telling me about a book on our first day at sea. The next day, I downloaded it wirelessly in Puerto Rico! Awesome.

[richsea]

Wow, tons of info here! I glanced through this thread but could not find info on font sizes, I know there are 6 different sizes but can anyone tell me what is the largest font size on the Kindle 2? Of friend of mine who has very poor eyesight is interested in buying one. Is the largest font bigger than that on a large print book?

 

Thanks!

[dkjretired]

Wow, tons of info here! I glanced through this thread but could not find info on font sizes, I know there are 6 different sizes but can anyone tell me what is the largest font size on the Kindle 2? Of friend of mine who has very poor eyesight is interested in buying one. Is the largest font bigger than that on a large print book?

 

Thanks!

 

Hi Rich:

 

I checked my wife's kindle 2 and it doesn't really give a size, it just lets you change them. It appears they are about a 20 when compared to Microsoft Word.

[richsea]

Thanks Don, I'll let him know.

[CaroleLee]

I use my Kindle all the time, cruises (sure helps beat the luggage overweight charges), airplanes (off on takeoff and landing), sitting in the car waiting! Compared with Sony: there are more Kindle books available and they are much cheaper! Love the download "sample' to try a book before you buy it!

 

You can also buy a book on Amazon.com and download it to your computer. Then you just load it onto you Kindle via USB. It isn't quite as magical as the book flying through the air and ending up in your Kindle almost as quick as you can blink ... but it works when you are out of the US.

 

I have actually saved the price of Kindle (I read a lot) due to lower book prices than retail books. I am also reading many different books because they are more affordable. And, for the first time, I am switching between books because it is so easy ... run out of space on nightstand with more than 2-3 books. I also don't have to carry a 2nd book if I am getting close to finishing the first book.

 

I can read a review of a book that sounds interesting and download a sample right then. I used to forget the name or author and never connect up with the book being reviewed.

 

Put mine in a plastic Ziplock bag and read it floating in the pool. (there is a waterproof cover available but the bag works just fine and is much cheaper!)

 

The charge lasts around 5 days and it recharges very quickly. I use the smallest type size and it is just like reading a paperback. I can't, unfortunately, share books with friends as easily but that's a small price to pay for this wonderful device.

 

I love it ... you will have to pry it out of my cold, dead fingers! And, yes, it is a wonderful conversation starter everywhere you sit and read it. Ask someone you see with one about it! You might make a new friend and you will see how readily they will rave about it!

 

I know it will improve over time but it is the best technology toy I have ever bought! And it has a lot of abilities I don't use at all, yet! get on the list, wait for the price to fall, whatever, but keep this in your future plans if you are a reader!

 

Sorry for the length of this post but I can't say enough great things about my Kindle!

 

You sound like an expert. Pls help me. I love to read & usually have 3-4 paperbacks with me on any trip-I'm a fast reader. Ok here are the questions: 1. Have you downloaded any Travel guides -Frommers, Eyewitness etc? 2.Have you used the document feature. I would need to store a 15-20 pg (very detailed) document and be able to retrive same.3. Is it only in B&W or is there a color model- for photos?

Thanks

Carole

[alfiemom]

No color - yet. Maybe Kindle 3 which should be out early next year.

[agabbymama]

I have to admit I didn't read this whole thread. I read page 1 and then jumped to page 11. I'm just curious what you folks pay for the books you are downloading and reading on this thing? Then what do you do with them after you have read them? Discard them?

 

Seems like an awful waste of money to me. I buy discounted paperbacks, then either leave them in the ship's library, give them to a friend or donate them to the library when I return home.

 

Someone at work suggested reading on-line, and I was astounded at the cost when I checked it out. I can buy an awful lot of paperbacks for what they want from me to read it online. JMHO.

[Mysticks1]

I have to admit I didn't read this whole thread. I read page 1 and then jumped to page 11. I'm just curious what you folks pay for the books you are downloading and reading on this thing? Then what do you do with them after you have read them? Discard them?

 

Seems like an awful waste of money to me. I buy discounted paperbacks, then either leave them in the ship's library, give them to a friend or donate them to the library when I return home.

 

Someone at work suggested reading on-line, and I was astounded at the cost when I checked it out. I can buy an awful lot of paperbacks for what they want from me to read it online. JMHO.

 

I just ordered the Kindle 2 for my birthday and have been researching prices. The new release books all seem to be $9.99 but just like paper books as they get older the price seems to drop. I looked at some that were around $6.00 each which is cheaper than buying a paperback. Amazon stores the books for you so you can remove them from the device and re-load them later if you want to read them again.

I am looking at a couple of travel guides to download for our upcoming Med. Cruise. Hard cover or paperback books take up a lot of space in luggage. With the Kindle I can download several and have them all with me as we tour.

[beebell]

I was reading Carole Lee's post which quoted a long Kindle (1) "review." I thought .... wow, I really agree with that post, especially the part about the plastic zip lock bag for pool use ... and it was my post from several months ago!! Glad the world is catching up with Kindle! I have had mine almost a year and still love it!!

 

There are a large number of books available, also some sites with free or very low cost books. I have actually saved the cost of my Kindle because the books are less expensive than I was buying in paperback. I also used to leave my books behind for someone else and feel a tiny bit bad about it .... but also feel good because I am sure there are slightly fewer trees being cut down to make books since e books are becoming popular.

 

I am reading more variety of books now, downloading samples when I first see/hear about a book instead of forgetting the title or author. I do read several books at a time since it is so easy.

 

I have lots of reference books I would have never bought before ... there are probably travel books available. The document should not be a problem since it will be a pdf?

 

I do wish they would provide a way to "catalog" the books in folders/files so I didn't have to page through all the books I have available to find the one I want.

 

I was able to buy a battery from an outside source (not Amazon) so have a spare, now. It was readily available (I also got an Ipod battery from them).

 

And I was talking to an author who hated the idea ... until it was pointed out to him that virtually anyone could publish a book to Kindle ... it didn't require a publisher, print runs, remainders, waste and all that. So authors with a small following could very economically provide books at very low cost to their readers.

 

Kindle is B&W, easy to read in the sunshine, more books available all the time, the selection has more than doubled in the past year since I first got mine.

 

Anyway, I still love my Kindle and my suitcase loves my Kindle. I used to always struggle to stay under weight limits because of all the books I carried with me (I take long cruises, yea!). And I panic if I don't have an extra book close at hand.

 

I was telling a friend it was the best technology gadget I had gotten since my first fax machine!

 

Beth

[Cruise Junky]

I have to admit I didn't read this whole thread. I read page 1 and then jumped to page 11. I'm just curious what you folks pay for the books you are downloading and reading on this thing? Then what do you do with them after you have read them? Discard them?

 

Seems like an awful waste of money to me. I buy discounted paperbacks, then either leave them in the ship's library, give them to a friend or donate them to the library when I return home.

 

Someone at work suggested reading on-line, and I was astounded at the cost when I checked it out. I can buy an awful lot of paperbacks for what they want from me to read it online. JMHO.

 

Paying for books is going to completely depend on what you read. The Gutenberg Project has about 100,000 free "Classics" books that the copyrights have run out, the Jane Austen's, Charles Dickens, Jules Verne's etc. are all free. Sony just signed a deal with Google on electronic books, Google has over 500,000 free books on their site. I have the Sony and have about 280 books on my computer and backed up on a SD card, I have about 100 books at anyone time on my reader. I probably paid for about 80 of those. Anywhere from a couple of bucks to $15. But start dividing what I paid and what's available free and it's pretty cheap. I honestly couldn't imagine in a million years going back to reading paper, I'm addicted!!

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I've had my Kindle for over a year now and could not be happier! Everywhere I go people always want to know about it - all the different functions, price of books, etc. I used to read maybe 2-3 books per month and now I find I am reading 6-8 :D sometimes more even. One of the best things about the Kindle is that I can keep reading while doing other activities (I read the Kindle while brushing my teeth for example - yes I REALLY do this!) - you can lay the Kindle anywhere and with just the tap of a button flip the page - really changes the way you think about where and how you read!

 

The books available through Amazon are fairly priced, the selction is larger and growing ever larger (even includes a growing selection of Kindle formatted magazine and newspaper titles), cover a wide variety of topics, and the ability to download samples prior to purchasing is a real benefit. Amazon provides customers several options to convert external documents into Kindle format for either a small fee or free - both methods are easy and can be done in minutes.

 

The storage is very flexible - the built in memory in the Kindle 1 could hold up to 200 books and the Kindle 2 up to 1000! When you are done with a book you can keep it on your Kindle, remove it (Amazon keep a digital copy of all Kindle books that can be reloaded at any time choose), save it to your computer, or (and this is good for large multi-facted book collections) load the documents on SD cards which can then be inserted into the Kindle for reading.

 

With built in search and notation functions, the ability to highlight/bookmark text, wireless access to basic html web, blogs and wikipedia and immediate access to the Amazon Store for instant dowloading this is one powerful little device! You can even load mp3 files on it - music, audiobooks, etc. though mp3 playback shortens the battery life considerably.

 

I could go on and on, but as you can see from my post and many others before me this device, and the Sony Reader as well, have literally transformed the reading experience. I personally feel that if you typically read about 36-40 books per year, and tend to buy them new you will recoup the Kindle's value in about a year +/-

 

The only thing I can say negative about the Kindle is that, like the ipod/itunes, media is proprietary to to one user so sharing "used" Kindle books is not an option (unless you have several Kindles bought & linked on one Kindle account - which I guess could save even more as book accquisition costs would drop even more - book group anyone?!!!!! :D)

 

International wireless acess for Canadian and UK users and US customers traveling abroad would also be nice and I'm sure that once the cost to Amazon to do so is competetive they will make this available. They really seem to be listening to customer feedback and want the Kindle to be "THE" reader of choice and the standard setter. Almost all the changes from version 1 to version 2 were direct results of user feedback

 

Needless to say I am a HUGE fan of this little device and more than my laptop, more than my ipod, more than my web enabled phone, the Kindle has been hands down the best electronic investment I have made in the last 10 years. It goes EVERYWHERE with me - well almost everywhere .....;)

 

P.S. - On my 12/14 Solstice cruise I encountered at least 6 other Kindle users and probably an equal amount of Sony Reader users. Undoubtedly there were more of us around, but with only 7 days and 2800 pax I could not interrogate everyone - LOL