Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Los Angeles>Little Rock>Houston>Little Rock
6,489 posts, read 8,816,044 times
Reputation: 17514
Quote:
Originally Posted by DandJ
If you asked me this a year ago, I'd tell you that a paper book is the only way to go.
But you asked me today, so the answer is e-books. I adore my Kindle.
This, but it has been way more than a year. I got the first Kindle when they were introduced and have upgraded just about every time. I always give my older Kindle to a friend or family member. Now, when I download a book, it says "Maggie's 6th Kindle".
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,036,872 times
Reputation: 28903
Quote:
Originally Posted by maggie2101
This, but it has been way more than a year. I got the first Kindle when they were introduced and have upgraded just about every time. I always give my older Kindle to a friend or family member. Now, when I download a book, it says "Maggie's 6th Kindle".
HAHAHA! That's hilarious!
I can't even believe that I returned the first Kindle that I bought. I hated that thing with such a passion.
I also can't believe that a number of years later, I bought another Kindle, thinking that I'd like it this time. Turns out I did.
Also, books are a lot cheaper than purchasing through Kindle all of the time.
"All the time"? No. Some Kindle books are more expensive than the (new) print version but I'd still say the majority are not. I don't buy Kindle books which are more expensive than the print and I still manage to read 70+ Kindle books a year.
Okay, so if you lose your e-reader are the books gone for good?
Just wondering.
Depends on where you get your books from. If you have a Kindle and you buy a book from Amazon, it becomes part of your library on Amazon and can be downloaded to your reading device (Kindle, phone, PC, ipad or other tablet) again. If you get books from other sources (about 1/3 of my books are from elsewhere), then they are stored on your PC for download and can be downloaded again. Separate download process (one via wireless or 3g and one via USB cable) but similar concept.
At this point, Amazon's Kindle (and, I believe, most of the other ereaders) are still back-compatible with earlier versions - so that books I downloaded on my first Kindle in 2007 can still be downloaded on a brand-new version of the Kindle as well. That Kindle I bought in 2007 is still going strong, passed on to a friend.
In answer to the first question - I prefer to read fiction on a Kindle, because I can adjust the font size, which is a must for me. Some days my eyes are fine, some days I need much larger print. I still buy cookbooks and some non-fiction in paperback, as well as some things that are not yet in digital format. I'd say I buy ebooks to print books at a ratio of about 10:1.
I never thought I would like an e-reader, but I got one for this last Christmas and I LOVE IT. I had previously purged my book collection quite a bit since it was ever-expanding, took up lots of space, caught lots of dust, and was a huge pain at moving time. By the time I had finished reading my first book on my Kindle, I was eyeing the books I had left and wishing I had all of them in Kindle format. At some point I am going to purge again and keep only the books that have true sentimental value. I'd like to pare it down to a single shelf. Since I got my Kindle, I have only purchased one physical book, because it was not available for Kindle and I could not wait.
Things I like about my Kindle (Kindle Touch, wi-fi version, no ads): A single battery charge lasts a ridiculously long time. Weeks, not hours - and I read a lot. I love the light weight and small size. I can stuff a 1000 page tome into my purse and no one is the wiser. It is discreet - no one comes up and asks me tedious questions about what I am reading while not caring at all about the answer like they do when I am reading a 1000 page hardcopy (why do people do that, anyway?). I can control the font size and which font I read with. I can read on my smartphone when I want to be really discreet and it will sync up with the Kindle. I have access to a huge number of free books that are out of copyright. I can look up words in the dictionary in-line, and can translate sections that are in foreign languages on the fly (although that is sort of hit-or-miss). I can highlight passages if I want to, and I can un-highlight if I want to. I can turn off the display of highlights entirely without disturbing my existing ones. I can mark pages and take notes without physically damaging a book, and I can un-mark them too. I can see what other people highlighted, or I can choose not to. I can carry around a gigantic library in a small device that never tires out my wrist to hold. It turns out that I can read even longer with a Kindle than a physical book because of the form factor. I can switch to landscape and prop it up sideways if I don't want to hold it at all. If my eyes get tired but I. Just. Can't. Stop! I can increase the font size so I don't get a headache. I can decide I want a book, order it, and it shows up on the Kindle in literally seconds. I can pre-order new books I want and find them magically available at the moment they are released, without having to go to a bookstore and trying to find a copy that hasn't already been thumbed to death and otherwise damaged by other people.
Things I don't like about my Kindle: The ui is kind of non-intuitive and I had to look up how to do some tasks that should have been more straightforward. The thing I like the least is that not every title is available for Kindle, and sometimes, for no apparent reason, the Kindle version is actually MORE expensive than a hard copy. Which makes no sense to me at all. I wish I had got the cover that had a built-in light for low light situations. I wish it handled pdfs more gracefully. I wish the graphic style for passages that I highlight was more like the style for public highlights which are much less obtrusive. I can't loan my books out (and watch them disappear into the lair of my "friends" who never return them, or if they do, return them coffee stained, dog-eared, highlighted, underlined, missing the front cover). Hmm, maybe that last bit should be in the previous section, lol.
I love my Nook but still buy a hard copy book once in a while.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I wish I had got the cover that had a built-in light for low light situations. I wish it handled pdfs more gracefully. I wish the graphic style for passages that I highlight was more like the style for public highlights which are much less obtrusive. I can't loan my books out (and watch them disappear into the lair of my "friends" who never return them, or if they do, return them coffee stained, dog-eared, highlighted, underlined, missing the front cover). Hmm, maybe that last bit should be in the previous section, lol.
