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View Full Version : kindle or another e-reader - views please.



pat
07-May-12, 18:10
OH has decided he wants an e-reader but not sure if wants a kindle, advice as to which you consider best and why please.

I have a kindle but have not even considered any other but want to find out what folk advise on here please.

Many thanks

jac1791
07-May-12, 18:56
I have the Sony E reader, they are great. More compact than kindle and writing can be made from s to xxl. Slightly dearer than kindle but when I looked into them when first out Sony came out on top and can be charger through blackberry phone charger

Dialyser
07-May-12, 19:26
I have only used the kindle so am unable to comment on others. You say that you already have a kindle, if you get another one your OH will be able to access all the books in your amazon collection. I am not sure if you would be able to do this with another brand of E reader. As I am sure you know Kindle also has changeable font sizes and a micro usb charger.

Serenity
07-May-12, 19:30
I have the Sony E reader, they are great. More compact than kindle and writing can be made from s to xxl. Slightly dearer than kindle but when I looked into them when first out Sony came out on top and can be charger through blackberry phone charger

So can the kindle as it is uses the same interface - micro usb. In fact doing some research I see there are problems with Sony e-readers accepting some micro usb chargers, where as my kindle will use any one I have tried. So I would not say this is a plus point, at best it is the same as the Kindle.

To OP - I love my kindle and couldn't be without it. Saying that it was a gift so I did not do any research before getting it so do not know the main differences between different ones. Maybe if you advised what you are looking for in the e-reader people can advise further.

One BIG plus with the kindle is the customer service though. Break it and they replace it very quickly, with minimum questions and arrange pick up of the old one.

EDDIE
07-May-12, 19:57
OH has decided he wants an e-reader but not sure if wants a kindle, advice as to which you consider best and why please.

I have a kindle but have not even considered any other but want to find out what folk advise on here please.

Many thanks

If u both have a kindle with the same account can u not share ure books.? Failing that would it be worth paying a we bit more and get a tablet then it can do more and u can get kindle apps

Dadie
07-May-12, 20:06
I love my tablet...its a bit heavier and thicker than a kindle(but not by much) but I can surf the web, play games and email and read books!
Using wifi I can access the web out and about..or read a book...or keep the kids occupied while waiting for one ballet class to finish etc...
Have the kindle app on it ....and the books go straight on the tab as well as the puter...so wondering if they go on the puter can they be exported to another device?

Frith
07-May-12, 20:30
I love my kindle, though if I had a tablet I'd probably love that.

Kindle just read books, but its fantastic at it.

It can play music or read the book too you if you want as well, but that'll hammer the battery, with only reading, the battery lasts for ages,

pat
07-May-12, 21:55
Thanks for all your comments, still not sure what to get but you have some good ideas and given me food for thought.

Keep the opinions coming please

embow
07-May-12, 22:01
Kindle for me. I have the 3G version. You can connect to the Internet at any time and although sometimes sluggish depending on signal it works. I have checked e mails with it and downloading books is not a problem. Where no 3G you get GNPS? which does similar job. I've stood at the bus stop in Wick a few times and downloaded a new read waiting on the bus to arrive. If you can afford it then buy the Kindle cover with the inbuilt reading light. Even powering this light the battery life is in weeks not days. The font size is easy to increase. Mine's is set a size above default. It's an age thing! :)

oldmarine
07-May-12, 22:14
I bought my wife a Nook and she is quite happy with it. I'm not knowledgeable about these E machines so will not comment beyond the Nook.

Tristan
07-May-12, 22:45
The kindle is a good ereader.
EPUB is the universal eReader format. The kindle can only read PDF and amazon's own MOBI format. They offer a service to convert an EPUB to MOBI if you buy a book elsewhere.

You may also want to check your local library. The Kindle can be supported on some library ebooks but not all.

It really is up to you if you want to use MOBI or the universal EPUB format.

laguna2
08-May-12, 07:58
Hubbie has a Kindle - 3G because he travels a lot - and is delighted with it. Saves him having to pack loads of books when he is going away!

I really was not keen on having one but gave in a couple of weeks ago and got the basic one. Absolutely delighted with it - have down loaded lots of free books from Amazon and also bought a couple.

I cannot download books which my hubbie has as we have separate Amazon accounts so my kindle is registered to my account - would have to have them both registered to same account to enable us to share books.

RecQuery
08-May-12, 08:00
I'm guessing you mean an e-reader and not a tablet, don't get a tablet for reading books. I have a Kindle 3/Keyboard BTW and I recommend you get a Kindle.

You basically only have two, possibly three choices. The Kindle, Nook or Kobo. The other e-readers just can't compete. The problem with the Nook and the Kobo - well one of the problems in my opinion - is that they're a bit US centric. Given the market dominance of Amazon and their excellent customer service regarding the Kindle, I'd go with it.

Sandra_B
08-May-12, 08:20
I have a Kindle and love it. My husband has a Kindle Fire (which we can't get over here yet) and I'd love to be able to upgrade to one of those!!

oldchemist
08-May-12, 16:01
My OH has a Kindle and when I had a problem downloading books from Amazon (I had changed my browser and some settings needed changed) a couple of hours after e-mailing them a real person with a UK accent phoned and told me what was probably wrong - excellent customer support!

teddybear1873
08-May-12, 16:31
My daughter and mother in-law both have the Kindle Fire and love it. I also put on a converter which was easily done, so they can read books on all formats.

Large John Was Aware
08-May-12, 16:33
My OH has a Kindle and when I had a problem downloading books from Amazon (I had changed my browser and some settings needed changed) a couple of hours after e-mailing them a real person with a UK accent phoned and told me what was probably wrong - excellent customer support!

what does the call cantre operatives accent have to do with anything?

teddybear1873
08-May-12, 17:23
what does the call cantre operatives accent have to do with anything?

You can understand them I presume.

Large John Was Aware
08-May-12, 17:39
You can understand them I presume.

oh so unless someone talks with a British accent they cannot be understood then?
Strange that, I have no trouble in conversation with American's, Australian's, Canadian's and countless other foreign nationals.

teddybear1873
08-May-12, 18:47
[QUOTE=Large John Was Aware;949867]oh so unless someone talks with a British accent they cannot be understood then?
Strange that, I have no trouble in conversation with American's, Australian's, Canadian's and countless other foreign nationals.[/QUO

You obviously haven't been to the Deep South where I live.

RecQuery
08-May-12, 19:27
oh so unless someone talks with a British accent they cannot be understood then?
Strange that, I have no trouble in conversation with American's, Australian's, Canadian's and countless other foreign nationals.

This is not a veiled attempt at racism it is a legitimate problem and the problem is usually that they can't understand you, combine that with the fact that their management thinks they can teach technical ability in a couple of months and that lots of cheap call centres are usually very regimented and staffed by people who refuse to step outside of the approved procedure - I've never seen a good troubleshooting script BTW - or use their initiative. Basically even Indians hate Indian call centres.

Like the time I worked at a helpdesk while at university and dealt with someone who got passed to a foreign call centre. They were having problems with e-mail and the solution of the guy from the foreign call centre was to repeatedly add the same e-mail account over and over again until it worked. When a simple config change would have fixed the problem, I had to removed 76 copies of the account, repair some damaged mbox files caused by those 76 instances and then make the config change. All caused by slavish adherence to the approved and incorrect procedure and a lack of basic skills.

EDDIE
08-May-12, 21:21
The other thing aswell that people dont take into account is if ure going to be downloading books,apps music films and so on all your purchases are kept up in the cloud were you bought them from so if u ever lose the file or buy another gadget you can
download them again for free so its a good idea to try and keep everything together rather than have all the files with different provider harder to track so its important to get a device that does all your needs and not just books if possible.
So for example if u buy an ipad and buy from itunes all your music,books,apppsand film files are in one place in the cloud so its easy to redownload again for free or any other tablet thats why its important to get an all round gadget and happy were u are buying ure downloads because whether we like it or not the downloading files and cloud service thats the future now so its a good idea to keep everthing in the one place if u know what i mean and i think thats the main thing to think about when buying gadgets?

RecQuery
09-May-12, 07:57
Yeah, I refuse to buy from Apple because of their ethos. With books in particular as they do things like this - http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/doj-files-antitrust-suit-against-apple-and-five-publishers/ they're also facing similar suits in Europe.

Also, what if the cloud storage goes away, you should always retain local backups and not rely too much on online storage.

oldchemist
09-May-12, 16:57
[QUOTE=teddybear1873;949890][QUOTE=Large John Was Aware;949867]oh so unless someone talks with a British accent they cannot be understood then?
Strange that, I have no trouble in conversation with American's, Australian's, Canadian's and countless other foreign nationals.[/QUO




No - the point is that I find some foreign accents difficult to understand - a bit like your problem with apostrophes.[lol]

EDDIE
09-May-12, 17:24
Yeah, I refuse to buy from Apple because of their ethos. With books in particular as they do things like this - http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/doj-files-antitrust-suit-against-apple-and-five-publishers/ they're also facing similar suits in Europe.

Also, what if the cloud storage goes away, you should always retain local backups and not rely too much on online storage.
When u buy something u will always have back up on ure computer its just when ure computer breaks u might lose ure back up all the cloud is u have a purchase history from were ever u buy it and it just allows u to download again because there is proof of purchase but it makes sense to keep everthing in one place the only big problem with clouds and downloads is how do u move it all to a different provider if ure not happy thats the problem.
No doubt some day the cloud wil go away the same as the record,tape and cd i reckon the future is u pay a monthly subscription and u will have accesss to everthing for free

brandy
09-May-12, 18:04
im a kindle girl all the way.. the only bother is when i want to read at night and hubby wants to sleep .. need to get a light for it!

RecQuery
09-May-12, 21:08
im a kindle girl all the way.. the only bother is when i want to read at night and hubby wants to sleep .. need to get a light for it!

Apparently the next version will have a light built into it, I'll probably wait before upgrading until we get colour e-ink displays though. One a side note I've bought about 20 lights for it and the best - in my opinion - is the Verso (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=verso+rechargeable&sprefix=verso+recharg%2Cdigital-text%2C176&rh=n%3A341677031%2Ck%3Averso+rechargeable&ajr=0) stuff. It's a bit flimsy but it's the most comfortable light I've found to read with.

Dialyser
09-May-12, 21:28
Apparently the next version will have a light built into it, I'll probably wait before upgrading until we get colour e-ink displays though. One a side note I've bought about 20 lights for it and the best - in my opinion - is the Verso (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=verso+rechargeable&sprefix=verso+recharg%2Cdigital-text%2C176&rh=n%3A341677031%2Ck%3Averso+rechargeable&ajr=0) stuff. It's a bit flimsy but it's the most comfortable light I've found to read with.

I use the amazon cover with a built in light, which runs from the kindles battery. Works very well, although I do think it's a bit over-priced.

pat
09-May-12, 21:35
Thanks for all your input.
The Kindle I have is the keyboard 3G wifi.
Have seen e readers with larger memories, colour and touch screens - only complaint with my kindle is the little keys/buttons are too small and fiddly, without my glasses I cannot see to open the security, reading once I have opened kindle is fine as print adjusted to suit my eyes without glasses.
May wait until next on the mainland to see what the difference is with the kindle touch and the keyboard one I have.

gerry4
09-May-12, 21:55
Just thought that this review may help you

http://www.techradar.com/news/portable-devices/portable-media/hands-on-nook-simple-touch-with-glowlight-1079644

(http://www.techradar.com/news/portable-devices/portable-media/hands-on-nook-simple-touch-with-glowlight-1079644)

RecQuery
10-May-12, 01:51
I use the amazon cover with a built in light, which runs from the kindles battery. Works very well, although I do think it's a bit over-priced.

Yeah that's one of the 20 I have in my collection. It suffers the same problem as a lot reading lights in that the light seems too white, for my liking at least.


Thanks for all your input.
The Kindle I have is the keyboard 3G wifi.
Have seen e readers with larger memories, colour and touch screens - only complaint with my kindle is the little keys/buttons are too small and fiddly, without my glasses I cannot see to open the security, reading once I have opened kindle is fine as print adjusted to suit my eyes without glasses.
May wait until next on the mainland to see what the difference is with the kindle touch and the keyboard one I have.

I don't like the idea of touch screen ereaders. I hope whatever is after the Kindle Series 4/Touch moves away from this. Touch screens are more a smartphone and tablet thing and even then they really smear and smudge too much.

pat
10-May-12, 07:30
Thanks RecQuery - had not thought of touch screen getting smeared and smudged.

Don't notice it much on touch screen phone so will it happen on kindle -or maybe it is my hands may always be clean other than normal sweat moisture, hands in and out of water all day long in my job.

oldmarine
12-May-12, 00:32
im a kindle girl all the way.. the only bother is when i want to read at night and hubby wants to sleep .. need to get a light for it!
My wife's nook is equipped with a light that illuminates the page and that makes it easy to read at night. It does not bother me.

RecQuery
14-May-12, 07:45
Apparently a colour e-ink Kindle (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gadgetreviews/its-about-time-amazon-kindle-could-get-a-color-screen-this-year/29344) isn't that far off.

Lingland
10-Jun-12, 13:40
I dont really understand too much abou tthe techie side of kindle etc I am defo going for a kindle though and would appreciate advice about 3g in Caithness. Not sure if it is worth it maybe a kindle touch would do more of less the same. Any advice appreciated the simpler the better. Thank you

Dialyser
10-Jun-12, 14:04
I don't see a lot of point in the 3g option. It is easy and quick just to download plenty of books at home (assuming that you have WiFi). I suppose if are away from home for long periods it could have a use.

Lingland
10-Jun-12, 19:26
Thank you that helps

RecQuery
11-Jun-12, 09:28
The only advantage to the 3G version is the free web browsing. Amazon use Telefonica (Vodafone) in the UK to provide 3G access so I'm not sure about reception/signal up here. That being said I don't see the point in getting the 3G Kindle. Better to save your money and buy a couple of books, a cover or a light.