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Original poster

Kindle, should I get one?

64 replies

SayItWithChocolate · 11/05/2011 14:31

never really fancied a kindle but one thingchanging my mind is that I order a lot of my books from amazon and then I have to faff waitinf for the stupid royalmIL to deliver them and it can take upto a wweek but with kindle it would be minutes. are they a good buy?

OP posts:
IreadthereforeIam · 11/05/2011 21:21

Amazon has a thing under each book where you can request that they put a book into Kindle format - I'm always asking them to. Apparently, if enough people ask, they'll ask the publishers to do it.

I love my Kindle - I get loads of free books, and to be honest, I haven't spent more than £2 on a book for it (I still get books from the library, and buy the odd bargain book if I see them! I don't have much room in my house, though, so I'm trying to stop buying books - easier said than done!!).

As for covers, my dh made me a little pockety-pouch thing for mine (aah! Bless him!!), so that was free!! The best Valentine's present I've ever had (the Kindle AND the cover!!). Beats a bunch of flowers (I do read rather a lot!)

psiloveyou · 12/05/2011 00:04

I love mine.
A little plug for the customer service. Something went wrong with my kindle last night. The screen was all fragmented and I couldn't turn it on.
I've only had it 3 months but still thought I would have real problems returning it.
I phoned the kindle helpline. They asked what the problem was, I told them and they said "ok no problem we will send a new kindle to you immediately" Shock. I have never experienced such good customer servive ever.
Kindle rocks.

skinmysunshine · 12/05/2011 14:51

Yes yes yes yes yes - the most wonderful thing ever. Especially as you can get a sand and waterproof (to 5m) cover.

elkiedee · 12/05/2011 16:43

I think I'm going to cave in and get one soon. It won't replace real books for me, and I won't buy nearly full price books for Kindle, but you can put free 19th century novels on, good for really long books that would be big to carry round in my bag (as at the moment I come to work every day with at least 6 of the books I have on the go with me, books that are too big are offputting!) And recently Amazon had an ebook sale with lots of really good sounding modern titles at less than £1.50.

DillyTantay · 12/05/2011 16:57

how long till you love it hten?

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 15/05/2011 09:35

I've had mine since Feb, but am not using it nearly as much as I thought I would. I have got the cover with the light on, but it makes it too bulky to hold properly in bed and makes it as big and heavy as a book in my bag. The pagination of some books is odd, you get page numbers popping up in the middle of the text etc. I read fast but sometimes have to go back and re-read bits a few pages on, it is much harder to find the place on the Kindle than in a real book. I also don't like the fact that you have a percentage read marker along the bottom instead of page numbers, I know you can't have page numbering because of the different font sizes etc. but do find it irritating. I also find the books are expensive, I still end up buying lots of books in charity shops. Handy for holidays though.

sonearsofar · 16/05/2011 17:37

I'm with you Whoknows. I bought mine recently, but, whenever I start to read a kindle book, find myself moving onto a paper book v quickly.
The percentage read market bugs me as well! Though I can't work out why. Perhaps there's a way of removing it?
I've also had really interesting conversations (or even an enjoyable silent sense of solidarity with) people reading books I've enjoyed - which you don't get with a Kindle.
I think it'll be strictly for the holidays.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 18/05/2011 10:15

Think it must depend on your eyesight then! Have long ago stopped been able to read normal books easily.

DiscoDaisy · 18/05/2011 10:21

I love my kindle more than my children! Grin
I have the cover with the light on as well although I like the feel of it.
Half the books on mine are free and half are paid for.
I wouldn't be without mine especially with the 6 week summer holiday fast approaching.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 18/05/2011 10:25

DD got one on Sunday for her birthday. She adores it. She loves reading and this is brilliant. Hopefully we'll be able to ditch some of the 350+ books of hers knocking around the house before we move to England.
I am considering buying one for myself.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 18/05/2011 10:59

I also find it hard choosing books the Kindle way. I want to load up a few for my forthcoming holiday, I normally go to Waterstones and buy about 6 of them on 3 for 2, spent half an hour browsing Amazon (on computer, far easier than on Kindle itself) the other night and couldn't find anything I wanted. Walked into Waterstones yesterday and found half a dozen really easily. I'm going to try and remember them and download them tonight, but I feel I should buy some from Waterstones because I would hate it to disappear. Maybe once I've bought a few more from Amazon it will start making decent suggestions to me.

Cinnamonthecat · 19/05/2011 08:58

I now think of my kindle as another way to read, not to replace books entirely as I still find the charity shop cheaper if I get lucky there and do still love the feel of a book in my hand. I have a padded fabric cover for mine bought on Etsy, protects it in my bag and I read a suggestion on the kindle forum that you could pop it into a ziploc for bathtime reading which I think is a brilliant idea. Also on hols the fabric cover was useless - sun cream etc. Might use the ziploc idea to transport up and down to pool next time! Could someone who has one link to the cover with light if they could recommend one?-wld love to be able to read in bed w/out lighting up the room!

Suedonim · 21/05/2011 13:21

I don't think a Kindle or a Sony eReader (which is what I have) has to mean you eschew real books forever. I was an 'early adopter' according to my dc Grin and it was very useful because at the time, I was living in Africa where there were no bookshops so RL books were unavailable to me.

One thing worth checking out is your local library. I've just discovered that mine offers ebooks for download free of charge! The book stays on your device for two weeks then somehow self-destructs, which is slightly worrying, lol.

scampbeast · 21/05/2011 14:44

I like the idea of a Kindle but not the cost so I downloaded an ebook reader onto my phone. It saves my page and the books don't take up much space (good job as I have 6 of them on as I forget to delete them). The only thing the Kindle does better is reading outside on a sunny day which I never seem to have time to do anyway. The app is the only way I get to do much reading at the moment as all I need to do is get the phone out of my pocket when I have 5 minutes before a shift or while DS is happy on his own playing.

NoraBone · 21/05/2011 15:00

so im on this thread
and i got one and i really like it

follyfoot · 21/05/2011 15:08

Another thumbs up for Kindle customer service. I may have accidentally trod on knocked my kindle with my arm, and they just sent me another. I did say that I may have damaged it myself, and they still sent a replacement by next day delivery. Bless them.

Batteryhuman · 21/05/2011 17:17

I find it far to easy to keep buying more books on kindle. 72 since I got it in January. I have read all but the most recent 4 and have virtually given up television and conversation as a result.

PestoShearsSheepInSummer · 21/05/2011 19:09

Cinnamonthecat

lighted leather cover

expensive but worth it Smile

Fozzie888 · 21/05/2011 19:54

I have a Kindle and luuuurve it, but I just bought my dad a Sony eReader which has the added bonus of being compatible with e-library books, and all the books on Google which obviously are free :) and you can also buy from waterstones website etc. I'm not sure it's as convenient for downloads as the Amazon set-up as I think it has to be plugged into a computer and then transfer the books across - don't quote me on that tho.
I wasn't sure about eBooks until I got my kindle as a present, but whilst I'll still buy physical books the kindle is great for reading in the dark while the baby's still sleeping in our room! Ooh, and if you have an iPhone, there's a Kindle app which will automatically update to the furthest page you've read on the Kindle and vice-versa - clever stuff :)

scottishmummy · 21/05/2011 20:03

NO,got one as gift.never used it.they look wanky

sonearsofar · 21/05/2011 21:44

something I'd not thought of..I left mine behind in a coffee shop today (too busy talking). Luckily some nice person was honest and left it behind the counter for me, but it brought it home to me how easy it would be to lose. At least if you lose 1 book, you haven't lost the other 100 on your bookshelf.

sonearsofar · 21/05/2011 21:45

I also agree with scottishmummy, they DO look wanky

clangermum · 21/05/2011 22:15

sonearsofar - I've heard people say if you lose it or it gets stolen/broken, because amazon still has a record of all the books you've bought from them, they will download them for you onto a replacement (think this must have happened to someone on mumsnet as I haven't discussed them with anyone in RL Grin).

HugoFirst · 21/05/2011 22:21

Neve used it? Perhaps try

QuickLookBusy · 21/05/2011 22:30

I have only read one book on it and I did get used to it. So much so that I kept trying to turn the page overSmile

However every other book I have wanted is more expensive to download than to buy the real book.
So I just buy the book.

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