Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Entertainment and Arts > Books
 [Register]
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.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 11-18-2011, 09:15 PM
 
Location: Ohio
13,933 posts, read 12,856,624 times
Reputation: 7399

Advertisements

Hey everyone.....

I was hoping you could help me out with something. My grandmother LOVES to read. She can get through about 3 books a week. She has book shelves al lover her walls and they are filled with books.

So what I want to do is get her a kindle for Christmas. My concerns are, how hard are they to operate and learn to operate for an older person who is not in the least tech-savvy? Are they relatively easy to use? We are talking about a women who still uses a VCR for crying out loud!

How much cheaper are the books? She was telling me earlier that through her book club, she pays about $16 for one book. Will she save all that much money with a kindle? She usualy reads big name authors like james patterson, Grisham, King, all the bigger names.

What about internet connection? She doesn't have an internet connection going in to her home. Will she still be able to operate it without one? I was told these things work off of satelites?

How many books can you usualy store on one of these things at a time?

Do you have any complaints or negative reviews of these things?

Thanks alot for all the advice in advance....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-19-2011, 02:52 AM
 
Location: North Carolina
10,199 posts, read 17,780,830 times
Reputation: 13913
They are very easy to use, my nearly-80 year old mother in law has a Kindle (Keyboard model) and the only thing she struggled with a little bit at first was the power slider - she couldn't get her head around sliding it, not pressing it. But she got the hang of it after a few times. She does not even have a computer and sometimes struggles with the TV remote so she's not techy in the slightest.

Pricing really depends on the individual book and publisher but yes, most Kindle books will be less than $16. In my experience, most novels from big publishers or big name authors are around $9.99-12.99. They can be higher if they are a brand new release and not yet available in paperback (once the paperback gets released, the ebooks typically drops in price). And they can be lower than $9.99 too - take for example Game of Thrones, which is really popular right now, it's only $8.99 on Kindle, which matches the mass market paperback price. But the latest release in the series is $14.99 because it's a new release and not available in paperback yet.

If she doesn't have an internet connection, she will need a 3G model. There are wifi-only models so be careful not to get one of these.

Kindles can hold thousands of ebooks - the cheapest Kindle has 2GB storage and holds up to 1,400 books. Other models have 4GB storage and can hold up to 3,000-3,500.

Personally, there's no major negatives for me. The most common complaints are that people miss the "look and feel" of paper books. Also, that not all books are available on Kindle and that some Kindle books are priced higher than the (new) paper version or that they are just in general too expensive (some people feel an ebook should not be more than $9.99).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-19-2011, 07:58 AM
 
13,976 posts, read 25,867,130 times
Reputation: 39857
I am also planning on getting one this Christmas for my 85 year old mother. Her closest book store recently closed, and she is starting to need larger print too. I think she will need a touch screen though, as I have seen some of the older Kindles, and those buttons are tiny. You might want to keep that in mind.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-19-2011, 08:39 AM
 
18,936 posts, read 11,545,230 times
Reputation: 69883
My advice is to get an idea what she thinks of the idea of e-readers in the first place. My mom's in her 80s and an avid reader. She loves to go to the bookstore, browse through the place, and come home with several books at a time. The tactile experience and being able to leaf through a book are very important to her and she doesn't like the idea of a kindle at all. My guess is that if your grandmother loves to read and is willing to pay $16 per book through her club - and keeps her books as evidenced by her walls full of books - that part of what she loves is holding a real book with pages and scent and texture. I love that too and resisted the kindle but now have some interest in one. So, you never know and that's why I'd get her take on it before investing in that gift.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-19-2011, 09:40 AM
 
Location: The beautiful Rogue Valley, Oregon
7,785 posts, read 18,764,059 times
Reputation: 10783
You may want to go up on Amazon and check the coverage map for the 3G. There are 3 ways to get books on to the Kindle - wirelessly off your home or local network, via USB off the computer or with a 3G cellular model. When the very first Kindles came out, there was a bit of unhappiness because whoever was providing the cell service had huge gaps in their coverage and some states (I think Montana, North Dakota) didn't have service - that's not true anymore, but all cell companies have spotty areas once you get into rural areas.

I live in a rural area and with Verizon and Unicell I get about 2 bars of 3G, with ATT and Sprint far less. Fortunately books are small(er) fast downloads, so a so-so connection doesn't really hurt.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-19-2011, 04:24 PM
 
Location: Ohio
13,933 posts, read 12,856,624 times
Reputation: 7399
[quote]
Quote:
Originally Posted by toosie View Post
My advice is to get an idea what she thinks of the idea of e-readers in the first place
I did just that yesterday. I was over there picking something up and broached the subject of why she didn't have one. She seemed like she would be interested in one but is afraid she may not know how to use it and also she commented on the cost of one that she didn't want to pay { It's not like they aren't affordable but she is on a fixed income.


Quote:
- and keeps her books as evidenced by her walls full of books -
I dont think it that she actually wants to keep them, she just donated a bunch of them to a local charity.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-19-2011, 04:41 PM
 
Location: The beautiful Rogue Valley, Oregon
7,785 posts, read 18,764,059 times
Reputation: 10783
The things that sell an e-reader to me:

-- being able to change the font size so that no matter how bad my eyes get any given day, I can still read - since I have a corneal dystrophy I have VERY bad eyesight in the morning, better in the middle of the day and worse again at night. I change font sizes during the day.

-- carrying around a large number of favorite books at any one time. I have close to 1,200 books now, about 2/3 of which came from Amazon. I probably have 300 or so on the reader at any given time.

-- e-readers are MUCH lighter than full-size hardbacks and lighter than many paperbacks and the pages don't have to be held open. For my MIL, who has arthritis, this is a huge plus. She can hold the reader with one hand - before she could only read at the dining table so that she could put a heavy trivet on the book to hold the pages open.

When I gave my MIL a Kindle, I also gave her an Amazon gift card (which I renew during the year) so that buying the books isn't a strain on her fixed income. I won't say that the Kindle has been trouble-free for her - occasionally my brother-in-law or I have to figure out what she's done and fix it.

The new Kindle Touches have been getting mixed reviews from people who already had a Kindle. While the reviews are generally positive, some people think the screen contrast isn't as good as earlier models and the page turn time isn't as good either. I don't have one, so I can't say.

The $79 Kindle does not have 3G, it's only wireless, so that probably wouldn't work for your use. The cheapest Kindle with 3G is the Kindle Keyboard (with ads) at $139, then the Kindle Touch (with ads) at $149. I'd thought the Kindle Touch would be MUCH smaller than the Kindle Keyboard, but it's really only about half an inch shorter and an ounce lighter.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-19-2011, 06:15 PM
 
Location: Ohio
13,933 posts, read 12,856,624 times
Reputation: 7399
Alright so I did a little more checking into these and it would definately have to be a 3G model because she doesn't have internet setup. I would want her to ber able to gert books anytime and the primary service in my area is verizon and it works well.

That keyboard though......

I don'tknow, theres a lot of buttons on it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-19-2011, 06:27 PM
 
18,936 posts, read 11,545,230 times
Reputation: 69883
Quote:
Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper 88 View Post
Alright so I did a little more checking into these and it would definately have to be a 3G model because she doesn't have internet setup. I would want her to ber able to gert books anytime and the primary service in my area is verizon and it works well.

That keyboard though......

I don'tknow, theres a lot of buttons on it.
Since she is interested in one, if you or another family member lives near her maybe you could download the books she wants for her. That would eliminate some of the tech/small button issues so all she would need to know is how to open and scroll through a book (and maybe look up words). It sounds like a great gift to me - I'm jealous!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-19-2011, 06:32 PM
 
Location: Greater Greenville, SC
5,893 posts, read 12,777,788 times
Reputation: 10700
I have a Kindle and love it -- especially being able to enlarge the print and turn pages so easily. I often read while dining out alone, and it's much easier with a Kindle than with a regular book.

I personally don't even like the touch screen on my smart phone, and there is no way I'd want a touch screen Kindle or camera. I have an elderly friend with rheumatoid arthritis who was asking me which type of Kindle to buy. I think for someone like her, it might actually be easier to use the keys, small as they are than to manipulate the touch screen, as she often doesn't have feeling in her fingers (and gets frustrated VERY easily). Something to consider, I think.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
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.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Entertainment and Arts > Books
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:23 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top