Would You Use a Kindle?

I've had a kindle since April 2008 - in fact, I have a kindle (which Nick uses) and a kindle-2. I love them. Many reasons --
1. I can change the font size depending on my eye-strength and the lighting conditions.
2. I can have a ton of reading at my disposal at all times (you can keep anything you have to read on the kindle - up to a certain point )
3. I have ready access to new things to read - by shopping at the kindle-amazon-store wirelessly.
4. The e-ink is very easy to read (a common concern)

I read a lot! Or at least I have a lot of books Having the kindle puts everything at my disposal without having to carry books with me.

We have a friend in her 70's who got one on my recommendation and she's very pleased too

If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to give you my opinion.

Nora
frugaldinks.com

Never, never, never. I worked with them for a summer and HATED it. I want a book in my hands. The hard plastic/metal doesn't have the same feeling. And yeah, there is decent battery life, but it sucks to be in the middle of a book and have it die when you are getting towards the end.

They are WAY too expensive...you have to buy like 15 new books to make up the cost (and the cost wars are a whole other issue).

E-Readers and E-Books are also ruining the publishing business all around - the publishers and the authors. The Kindle (well Amazon) is the worst about all of it.

The Sony E-Reader is MUCH better in comparison...but I would still never get one.

1. Battery life doesn't suck. If you turn off the wireless when you aren't using it (the wireless), I can easily go for more than a week without having to recharge the kindle.
2. If you buy hardback books (I rarely did) then you can pay for the kindle rather quickly (kindle $259, hard back books at least $25 each/on kindle $10 each approx savings of at least $15 per hardback)
3. If you buy paper back books, they're anywhere from $5 to $10 depending on where you're buying them; they're typically $5 for kindle
4. The kindle comes with a nice leather cover, I like the feel of it - plus the cover keeps it safe in my purse

Clearly, I like my kindle. Yes, it's different from a paper and ink book. However, I don't think it's going to create the demise of paper & ink -
Nora

Another thing that I forgot to mention --

there are scores and scores of books available (don't mean to sound like a commercial)
quite a few are free, especially classics that are out of copy right
and you can get collections very inexpensively
for instance, one of my first purchases was the entire Charles Dickens collection for less than $6; can't beat that, the 100+ works would take up a lot of shelf space

Oh yes, and you can get free samples of books if you aren't sure that you want to read them (I find this very hand)

Nora

I would definitely use one if they were priced cheaper. They're still too expensive. I like the idea of being able to read as many books as I want without actually collecting the clutter of the books in my house. And my local libraries rarely have the kind of books I want to read. I had not been aware of the ability to increase font size, but these days, that would be a big plus for me too! The ol' eyes aren't what they used to be....

Those are all great points -- on both sides.

Here are some questions I've had about Kindles --

1. Is there some sort of e-library (like a netflix for books) where you can pay a smaller amount for a book on the kindle, then, after a certain amount of time, it disappears? I wonder if there's a market for that...

2. I imagine I could get used to the look/feel of an electronic book, but what IS the battery life like? One good thing about a book is that you can sit and read for hours and hours. Would love to hear how much time you get on a battery charge, Nora.

No e-library yet, I predict that at some point it may be possible to "borrow" rather than purchase e-books...

I can sit and read for hours and hours and hours without any problem. There's also a little switch to put it to sleep (for bathroom breaks, phone calls, getting a snack, going to sleep, etc) - using the sleep mode helps greatly in extending the battery life.

Truthfully, with the wireless service off, I can read for a week or so without recharging. When I used to get newspapers on the original kindle, I needed to recharge it more often (2 reasons - 1. I had the wireless on A LOT getting newspapers and 2. the battery life on the original kindle wasn't as good as the battery life on the current kindle).

Nora

The "borrowing" is starting on The Nook from B&N... you can lend a book to a friend for two weeks...but the reader is getting pretty bad reviews, if you are looking at that one, wait for the next generation.

Oh, and soon you won't be able to get E-Books when they are released in hardcover anymore, you will have to wait for a few month which is awesome. It solves the problems of the price wars and is being done to punish Amazon for trying to push publishers too much on prices. As of now, three of the big six have announced it and people are just waiting for the others to join in. Amazon will have to stop dictating to publishers what Ebooks will cost (because just like audiobooks there is overhead to convert and create the EBooks). It may also force some of the readers to open their formatting a little.

You can't expect to get a brand new book for $10 or less...it is a business. There are authors and publishers and agents that need to get paid. With royalties, the author would only get $about $1 from the EBook purchase of their new book. Why should a book cost less than a movie that lasts 90 minutes? It is ridiculous. I buy plenty of books too, but I will pay what it is worth.

The interesting thing is, much like music, once books become more frequently digital a lot of those costs can go away. You don't need giant recording companies to make music these days and you don't need them for books once everyone's reading in digital.

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go to solely digital books though. It just doesn't...feel the same.

Caitie, do you work in publishing? You seem very knowledgeable.

I majored in publishing and am job-hunting right now...I actually worked as an intern in E-Books for a summer so am paying attention to it.

The thing is...people will still need publishers. Have you ever read a self-published book? Probably not, and the internet is around so it is a possibility. All books need to be edited by professionals (I have read Stephanie Meyer and Dan Brown and see what slips past in those...I can't imagine what the manuscripts were like originally). Authors come up with great ideas and write some great books, but you need people who know audience, marketing, and grammar. I have seen a few books in manuscript form and there is a reason that the final version is so different.

National novel writing month just finished and we wouldn't want to read the results of it right now...and there are people who would think that they could just put their book in digital format and it would be fine.

People who are avid readers won't want to put up with bad books and they buy over 90% of the books, so the companies don't really have to worry about not being relevant like the recording studios.

I actually got to see the Nook yesterday in a B & N and it looks like a pretty good option..once they fix their bugs. Right now it is sold out, but you can pre-order and get in February and I have a feeling they will address some software issues then...but I would wait for The Nook 2 if you wanted one.

Here is the one way I will take back my never, never, never (well I still wouldn't want a Kindle) -

This is total speculation and nothing has been announced yet, but I have a feeling they are getting close to color screens which will make the current Readers more obsolete. I know I would be more interested in getting one then. I think it would be great if you could put a bunch of cookbooks on an E-Reader and search them all...say you had chicken breasts and didn't know what you wanted. You could just search your folder of cookbooks and get all the recipes that have chicken breasts. If they can use that to establish favorites or you can add in comments with ratings or changes...that would be a GREAT use of an E-Reader!

That's great news that I could potentially read for a week without having to charge!! I never thought that would be possible...

Next question: can I take it in the bathtub? I'm a big bathtub reader...

GREAT idea, Caitie! I usually have to bring my laptop up to the kitchen and set it up on the counter while I cook (if I have a recipe up online). Don't even want to think about getting chicken on my laptop..