I've been using my Kindle for two months now. And it's official. I love it. So here is my top 10.10. Free Books. Yeah baby. Classics are free. Bibles are free. Got a couple free cookbooks. And Genres that I never would have even tried, if not for diabolical publicists everywhere that convinced their authors to offer the first book free of charge so that people would get so hooked on the series they would pay for the rest.
9. $.99 books. Yeah see above about diabolical publicists. Also so great Independent publishers that are offering really good deals.
8. The 2/2 principal. Battery life....I plug her in for two hours every two weeks. And I read on the thing....A LOT! I'm a minimum of a two book a weeker.
7. No Glare. Yeah...none! This thing is not like a computer screen, there is no back lighting. Go figure. I have no idea how it works. But there is no glare. It's called eInk technology. Whatever....it rocks.
6. It holds 1500 books. That's right 1500 books at your finger tips at all time. On a plane, in the car, on a boat, on vacation, in the doctors office. Because it can store that many. In case your like jonesin' for some Gabaldon or Austen. Not to mention Hemmingway or Frost. Or maybe that darn Temeraire series that got me hooked (see number 10). Oh yeah...and unlimited storage in your Amazon account. So just in case you own 3,000 books. You store 1500 in the kindle and 1500 that you will have to download via the whispernet to read.
5. Cheaper then bookshelves. Really. Trust me I just had to build some book shelves in the 'sugar shack'. The Kindle was about $200 bucks cheaper and holds more books.
4. Whispernet...This is really cool. I can be hanging upside down from monkey bars...and order a book and it's sent instantly to my kindle. This thing connects via some sort of cellular phone network (I think sprint) to the net and goes to the amazon store and gets you your book. And there is no charge. It's free. Well free is a relative word here because if the book cost .99 cents then I'm sure it's built into the cost. But if the book is a freebie then there is still no delivery cost. Talk about instant gratification.
3. Search and Save For Later... I can connect to the Amazon Kindle store whenever I want. Search (or browse, which ever I want to do) for a book. And instantly buy it, download a sample, or save it for later. That's right...free samples. Sigh. My TBR (to be read) pile is bigger than ever. And my 'Save For Later' list... I use that to keep track of books that I want to buy but am waiting for price drops. I'm cheap and there are so many free to 3 buck books that I've only bought two $9.99 new releases. I'm waiting for a price drop for the rest.
2. Horizontal reading... In bed, on the couch, on a lounger. Sigh. This thing is so much more comfortable to read laying down then a dead tree book.
And the number one thing I love....
1. Dictionary... Now this makes me go all tingle and happy. Truly weepy happy. My hunk of plastic reader has a built in dictionary. When I don't know a word... I scroll up to it and the definition pops up at the bottom. Yeah that's right. No more stopping and running for the dead tree Oxford. It's a word lovers dream come true.
Apparently the Kindle reader does some other nifty things too.....but I'm not sure what those things are. I have not had extra time to 'play'. I'm not sure I even want to know what else it does. I know that there is margin note option. And some sort of wiki search function.
Just two more that didn't make the top 10. You can search an individual book. ie..In the bible I can type the word 'eagle' and it will give me a list to choose from of every eagle reference. I also love the books it has opened up to me. Writers who have been passed over for publishing because someone thought they just were not quite good enough. Welp now there is a self publishing medium that anyone can do. I've read some truly wonderful short stories. And am in the middle of two self published novels.
Anyone else have a Kindle? Questions? Comments?
7 comments:
This thing sounds so cool! My mom has been talking about one, so I'll pass on your info to her. Glad you like yours. What will they think of next? Amazing!
Tami, wow, you are the first person I know to really use one of these, and I have this haunting feeling that in a couple years, we'll be talking about Kindle in past tense. Things are moving so quickly. I'm trying to keep up but it's hard. And as a published author who loves real books, I'm feeling a little sad. But I want to be open to it all so thanks for your honesty.
My daughter purchased one, I was impressed that you can change the font size..helpful for older people.. LOL I also liked the dictionary feature..it was interesting, but I also like real books..with pages..sometimes:)
Roxane,
I love books too! And Kindle has been around for awhile but I just could'nt give in. But when I lost literally 2/3rds of my book shelves I knew I needed to try something. And I have to say....that reading is reading. I get just as sucked into a story line using either format.
And Kindle is great news for Authors. The make more money per 'book' sold for digital format. I know that Diana Gabaldon shared that she gets 1/2 of the proceeds for each digital sale. So that is a big jump up.
Far Side....I go back and forth between the formats. Reading a dead tree book right now actually!
LOVE your site!! I came over from the Dog Geek site and you love dogs and you love books - YEAH BABY! I work at a library part-time. LOVE the Kindle! I don't have one, but someone brought in a Sony reader (like a Kindle) and we at the desk all gathered around her to see all the nifty gadgets it had, etc. Our library (St. Louis County) has Ebooks now that are downloadable all for free. I'm not sure if Kindle has to just have Amazon books, but if not, check out your library for some downloadable ones for free. Sis-in-law has a Kindle and can't say enough good things about it. Enjoy! I have to go read some of your other posts now. Have a good Friday ~
Hello Bethrusso and welcome to my blog. I look forward to conversing with you!
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