Should I get a Kindle?

[Molesworth]

Has anyone got a Kindle or other ebook reader?

I really want one. It's not so much because I want to buy new books in electronic format (they're not much cheaper and I usually buy books second hand anyway), but I have hundreds of books in PDF which I'd love to be able to read comfortably rather than squinting at my laptop. I read a lot of journal articles (as PDFs) too, which I either have to squint at on the laptop or print out.

DP has offered to get one for my birthday, but it goes against the grain to buy new technologies (I'm more of a 'wait until all the problems get ironed out and the hardware is cheap' sort of person).

Any advice?

I've got a Sony Reader and it's great. I use it for books and PDFs and have had no problems with it at all.

ooh thanks for replying, YCII - which model have you got and what size is the screen?

How does it handle PDFs: does it resize them to fit the screen (in which case is the text tiny?) or do you have to zoom in and scroll horizontally?

I don't really mind doing without the wireless technology: my priority is being able to load it up with PDFs. It would be nice not to have to scroll horizontally to read them too, but that might be asking too much

Bump for the daytime crowd

I've got a Cooler E book. Got it from Argos for 169.00 with a free protective cover - but I think the price may have gone up now.

I like it. It comes pre-loaded with 10 classics (Moby Dick, Treasure Island and the like) and will take around 80 more e books without an SD card, and 1000 with!

You press a button to turn the page, pages are about the same size as a normal paperback. the screen is designed to look like paper, so no glare.

Takes Adobe Digital Editions and all the other varients (the one I've got has the most possibilities)

Battery takes 3 hours to charge (but 8 hrs for very first time) and will last for 80,000 page turns! I haven't tested that out yet tho!

Only thing I dont like is no back light, but then how often does an adult want to read in the dark!

The website is here

and a review site is here

I'm very happy with what I have got, but possibly, now I know more about them, would go for a BeBook (reviewed on same site).

One thing, they do have to be treated a bit with kid gloves, the screens are very easy to break and the company is not that easy to get hold of (luckily Argos was really good and changed mine without a quibble). So for that reason alone I would buy from a high street store rather than online.

If you check the review site that problem is not just with cooler books, a few people have left comments saying their screens have been damaged...

For that reason alone I wouldn't spend more cash on a Kindle (that you can only use on Amazon, and wont take other digital editions) until all the gripes are worked out.

(I'm like you, I wanted to wait until the gizmo was perfected and the prices came down, but DH bought it me as a present!)

I thought I would hate this concept, but I actually find it really attractive.

I'm holding back at the moment to let the technology bed down a little and see which model becomes most popular.

My money's on the Kindle.

I have a Kindle. I love it to bits, and use it for reviewing work manuals as well as reading books, and although it was expensive, I think it's worth every penny. The battery lasts for ages, especially with the wireless turned off (I only turn it on when I want to transfer a book or buy a new one on it), and it seems robust. I travel a lot for work, so it's been slung in my handbag a lot, and is still immaculate.

V easy to read, and a good choice of books. I've bought quite a lot of classics as they are dead cheap - enjoyed the whole of the Anne of Avonlea series for $4 for instance

Thanks all for the opinions, advice and links It's interesting to hear about the other (non-Amazon) readers and I'm not averse to buying something other than a Kindle (but the Kindle doesn't seem any pricier than the other makes, and the selection of books is huge ...). Really I want the model which best handles PDFs, but it sounds like they're all much of a muchness on that front.

I have a kindle and I really love it. I often read books which are part of a series and I love the fact that I can buy and download them anywhere.

I have the kindle app on the DCs ipod touch. So DD can read twilight on her way to school.
I bought James and the giant peach for DS2 and he can read that on his.

The text to speach format is a bit naff as its en electronic voice so I dont use it.

I love the fact that you can download a free sample which is a big enough sample to engross you or let you know that you really dont like it.

Ive often seen threads on here saying Have you read such a book and Ive been interested enough to try a sample of it.

I've just spent about two hours reading reviews of various ebook readers, and it seems that none of them handle PDFs very well (and the Kindle is particularly bad because it does not allow you to zoom PDFs)

So it looks like I'll have to wait another year by which time this problem will hopefully have been ironed out. It seems nuts that these devices haven't been designed with PDFs in mind from the beginning!

Just coming back to this thread to update (in case someone else is looking for info on ebook readers and PDFs). I caved in and bought a Sony PRS-505 on ebay (now a discontinued model which has been replaced by the smaller PRS-300 and the touch screen model). I'm pretty happy with it so far: it handles PDFs OK (about half display fine and the other half come out with dodgy formatting when you enlarge the text). The ones that come out dodgy can be converted to epub format here. It's not a perfect solution but at least it means I can read the PDFs I have without my eyes bleeding after 5 minutes