I doubt there will ever be a book that is cheaper than free :-|

As far as saving trees goes, just wait until Montag comes to burn your Kindle. Think of the pollution that will cause!

They can have my Kindle when they pry it from my cold dead hands
I have actually got one teeny gripe with it now - for anyone who reads Terry Pratchett, you'll know that the footnotes are an integral part of the story, and quite often they're the best bit. With Kindle they're tricky, they're not on the page. In some of the Discworld books I have the little footer number in the main text is *live* and it's fairly easy to click to it and go read the note and come back to the place, if a bit faffy and time consuming. With another one though, they are just asterisked and not live, and then all the notes are together either at the end of each chapter or right at the end of the whole book, and that spoils it. I should think it would make reading various non-fiction things awkward too, lots of text books and reports and things have extensive footnotes. That is the only fault I can pick with it though.

I'm old fashioned but I must have a book in my hands - a real book! I don't even like paperbacks! I love the feel, the smell. I love looking at my books on the shelves, I love... Wait a minute - I'm getting a little carried away here!

I also enjoy my cats and reading. I start with a newspaper and fight with them to get it done and then I set the paper down and they lay on it in triumph - until I pick up a book and then they are torn, give up the paper to bug me with the book or not? If it gets too bad I just put an open paper bag on the floor and that's it - they can't resist! They spend the rest of the evening chugging around the floor in the bag and jumping on each other.

Did you know bak in the eighties Julian May wrote a book called Intervention and in it they were using Kindle type electornic book readers at this time in Earth's history. It will be interesting to see if anything else comes true as it ends with the mass arrival of aliens.

I relented and I have my Kindle now. Whilst it's not perfect and I'd change a few things I do love it. The voices that "read aloud" to you are computer generated, not very nice to listen to in my opinion and don't get the inflections, syntax and timing you'd expect from a real human. There is the odd word it mispronounces too. Words that are homophones are a challenge. e.g. "He winds me up" meaning to wind up like a clock is said as "He winds me up" as though the breeze was blowing. But.. if you want a laugh use the voices to read some Jane Austen to you. It's so completely wrong that it's hysterically funny for about a page.

LadyCaitriona? You can read 10 books on the Kindle and every time you go back to a book it takes you immediately to where you were last. That is brilliant because I lose my place all the time. The bookmarks fall out, I forget to put them in, I fall asleep without putting the bookmark in because I'm asleep. No problem with the Kindle. I haven't worked out how to easily go back more than a few pages though. If you're reading something and you want to go back a few chapters to check something I'm not sure there is a way to go back to (for example) chapter three if you haven't highlighted or bookmarked it manually. It seems you have to go back page by page... tedious is the only word for that. But I haven't read all the instructions yet. The books I've obtained so far have no chapter listing at the front so you can't go to the index and select a chapter. That is one thing I'd like to see. You can though, if you remember a particular phrase or word ask the Kindle to search the book for you. As long as it's not in the book too often it may be retrievable in that manner.

So far I've only bought two books, both cheap compared to buying a "real" book. The second one I bought was "King Solomon's Mines" by H. Rider Haggard. I thought about it and realised that if it was in a second hand store for 80 cents I'd snap it up in a heartbeat so I bought it. Bargain! I also love how there is 3G available on the Kindle. It's not like having an iphone or Blackberry but I can access the net to check up on something quickly. I wouldn't use it to research nuclear physics or the like but if you just need to check a fact quickly then it's there. Great for people like me that don't want or need a fancy mobile phone. *sigh* The Kindle isn't perfect but it's pretty darn good!

Some books do have Chapter listings Tizza, it depends on how it got to the Kindle I think. Some of the old classics and "obscure" stuff were prepared for Kindling by people actually scanning a real copy page by page, whereas others were published immediately with a Kindle version. Sometimes "they" did a contents list and sometimes not, with the older ones. So far I have about a quarter of the books I've downloaded without one. I am gradually getting the hang of doing it by location numbers though, you can type the number in and it takes you there - there are between 10 and 15 to a page mostly and I've found that by trial and error I can get pretty close to where I need to be with just a few tries. Close enough to be within a couple of pages anyway, and that makes it much easier.
I also found the clock, which was my only other gripe (apart from the footnote thing)

I don't think you are old fashioned at all! Plus I like to save my books (or at least, those that I really enjoy). The crack of a new book opening is also a joy.

I don't have a Kindle, but I have the application on my iPhone. I don't always have a book with me, but I always have my phone. It's great for those idle moments of boredom - such as the dentist's waiting room.

I will still always need real books, because I dare not even contemplate reading from the Kindle in the bath My airing cupboard has a book shaped space in it permanently lol

Well I've brought my Kindle into the bath with me a couple of times and it's been fine. (Mind you, if I fancied a really hot steamy bath I wouldn't! ) Mostly I'm a shower person though - and I've drawn the line (so far) at showering with a Kindle.

My Kindle query at the moment is about downloading free samples to decide if you want to buy the book. I got a sample the other day of Stephen King's 'It' to see if I'd like it. I was quite impressed actually by how much of a sample it gives you.

Well of course - even though I don't think it's GREAT - after reading several chapters I thought I'd like to read the whole thing.

However ... when I went to order, it was £7.99, just a pound less than the printed book price - but I have a memory (impression) that it was cheaper (£4.99?) BEFORE I downloaded the sample. Is it just my faulty recollection, or is it possible the price goes up after you get a sample (on the basis that you're more likely to order the book then)?

Sounds improbable I know, but I could have sworn it was cheaper before ...

The prices on Amazon can change by the hour - it's like playing the stock market lol, trying to decide which moment to actually buy at. I keep forthcoming books in my basket on there, rather than actually ordering them before they're out, and the price fluctuations can be anything up to half the price of the book. If you wait a few days, and keep checking, it may well go down again.
I got a sample of the first of those Gunslinger books (thank you FT lol) and only got ONE sentence of the actual book, as the rest was the standard SK wittering introduction and foreword and "thank you constant reader" stuff he always puts in there.
All the other ones I've had samples of and then gone on to buy, as far as I know have been the same price, or so close that I haven't noticed the discrepancy.

Thanks Rowena, that's helpful.

I don't have a Kindle but I do have a Kobo. As much as I love having a book in my hand (nothing will ever replace it) I do find the Kobo much easier to travel with and alot easier on my actual books. I hate having creases and folded pages in my books and I always found carrying them in my purse and/or luggage very destructive on the book itself. Since the books for Kobo are cheaper, I also find it a very useful alternative to see if I want a written copy of certain books - ones where I can't decide if I want to own them and would read them again - since I am running out of space in my library.

I completely agree. And yet...

I downloaded Kindle for PC to try it out, but couldn't really get into it. But I've been using it to read April's Book Club selection because it was convenient. I just accidentally double-clicked on a word and the program starting downloading the dictionary attachment. I think that's rather convenient, as I'm either much too lazy or much too involved in the story (I won't divulge which...) to put it down and get a dictionary, when I can usually get the gist of it out of context. Anyway, not a minute after the dictionary add-on finished downloading than I came across an unfamiliar word. Double-click--it's an old fashioned car! Click the Wikipedia link--there's what it looks like!

I have to say that, while I'm not completely won over to the Kindle, I'm really impressed with the features.

This is actually a book review, but it could be a promo for eBook Readers. I'm guessing the review is from the mid 1990s.

"This is one of those novels that ought to come with wheels. Once you start it, you're going to drag it along everywhere you go that you might possibly find a few free minutes to read more."
---Manchester Journal Inquirer (CT)

Skipperbob: I was laughing out loud at your post. Have had similar experiences with cats in my life : )

Darksplash: Not to mention that NO one should ever pick up a magazine anywhere NEAR a doctor/dentist office - think of the germs LOL

I've looked into both Kindle and Kobo, but I seem to be so far-sighted in my old age that I'd have to get someone else to hold the contraptions FOR me lol. In my case audio books might be a better purchase ~

Am afraid I'm going to have to stick to real books, preferably hardcover. If nobody buys me bookstore gift certificates as presents, then for $10 per year I can take out 21 books in any 3 week period from my local library. That potentially equates to 274 books per year, and quite frankly, I can't possibly read that many in 365 days : )

Your library charges?

My wife has the book app on her Apple iPad. She enjoys it, but I won't have it any time soon.
Something about the love of reading just has to include a real book. I want to be able to stick it on a shelf when I'm done and stumble across it years later to read again.
Also, what would my autographed copy of "To Kill A Mockingbird" look like in electronic version???

Yes, it's $12 annually or $20 for two years. All libraries (except Banff) in Alberta charge for a card, but the amount charged varies from place to place. In Edmonton, if you claim "financial need", they'll usually give you one for nothing. Smaller locations probably don't issue "freebies".

Here's an old article that explains it better than I can lol
http://www.banfflibrary.ab.ca/abview.html

Yeah, we don't have provincial sales tax in Alberta, instead everything costs more. This is known as "the Alberta Advantage".

Thanks to my Kindle for PC program, I just got a perfect score in this hour's Word Wizard!



That's what I posted 11 days ago. The word happened to be "brougham", which was the answer to the "light carriage" clue that I got for Q5 in today's game.

I have the kindle app on my phone, but it only shows about a quarter of a page at a time and has a tendency to skip pages, so, combined with the lack of "book smell," I.m going to have to say no. Although, for shorter reads (like "On the decay of the art of lying by Mark Twain) it's pretty handy. And there are tons of free books as well, so for those with better things to spend money on(as if there is such a thing) it might not be a bad choice.

I have a Kindle for two years and I love it. No more lugging bulky books around or wrestling around in bed to read a 800 page tome. The Kindle weighs 10 ounces which makes it about the weight and size of an empty DVD case.

Some people are disappointed at the price of e-books but what did they expect? The download price of a best seller is between $7.99 & $11.99 which is a lot less that the $24.99-$29.99 sticker price of a brand new book. There is also a vast array of public domain books available for free or at prices under $1 at Amazon. Nearly every classic published prior to 1920 is available at Amazon for free or at "next to nothing" prices.

The price of a basic Kindle is now down to $139 which is a lot cheaper than the $300 retail price it was sold at a few years ago. The best part is that the Kindle holds about 3500 books which means no more bookcase clutter at my house. I know people enjoy the sensual physicality and the craftsmanship of a bound book, but also I like the beauty of trees that get cut down in order to manufacture the paper to print bound books.


For me it's a no-brainer, the Kindle is the best device I've purchased in years. I like it a lot better than my iPhone or iPad. You can read a book on both of the Apple devices but screen glare will start to drive you crazy after about 20 minutes. And the Kindle is about half the price of an iPad, which is nothing more than a glorified iPhone. I must admit my wife uses her iPad a lot more than I do, but she's addicted to the Plants vs. Zombies game which is an iPad app. I'd rather read a book on my Kindle.