It wasn’t a mystery to anyone that I’ve been wanting some sort of e-reader device for awhile now. I even dropped hubby a not-so-subtle hint suggesting I get one for Mother’s Day. But it was mostly a joke as I truly didn’t expect to get one.
So I was surprised and thrilled when hubby and my kids presented me with a Kindle on Sunday morning.
My initial thoughts after two days of use: I like it, a lot. I didn’t think I would already like it as I thought it would take some getting used to.
I’ve read tales of folks who claim they’d grab their Kindle first if there were a fire and they were running out the door. While I’m no where near there, I can say I’m surprised to already like it as much as I do. I thought I was old school with books – and would find it hard to switch to reading on a Kindle.
It’s been relatively easy. I don’t mind pushing the button to turn the page – the way I figure it, it’s not any more distracting than turning a page in a physical book. I do still notice the “page turning” on the screen but from what I’ve read, I’ll be interested to see if I notice it in another few days.
It’s almost too easy to download books. I love that I can sample the books first though – I’ve been sampling books right and left, and also downloading samples of books I know I want to read later – just so they are there and listed and I’ll remember them later!
And you can’t argue with the space issue. My guest room/office has a library of books that are overflowing. I have literally piles of books on the floor and to the sides of the bookshelf. I love to read. Having them all stored electronically but not taking up space in my house moving forward: awesome.
My one gripe which isn’t a news flash is that I’m still annoyed I can’t share books. I have two good friends who both have Kindles. Both of these friends read the same books I do – I would have loved to share books with them. I’d be able to do it if I bought the actual phyiscal book in-store, so it annoys me that I can’t do it with the Kindle. But I’m holding out hope that Amazon will find a way to amend that down the road – Barnes & Noble is already doing it with the Nook (although only for 7 days) so hopefully Amazon will offer something similar soon.
The Kindle is $259 for the 6″ version and ships for free on Amazon.
Be sure to download the Project Gutenberg “Magic Catalog” for your new Kindle! Just put the following address in the web browser (under “experimental” on your menu key)
http://freekindlebooks.org/MagicCatalog/magiccatalog.html
Then click the MOBI file to download.
Once it downloads and indexes, you’ll be able to use the Kindle’s search function to find ANY of the public domain books in the P.G. library – all of Shakespeare, all the Brontes, basically anything you ever read in an English class, free.
Also, sign up for the Kindle Nation RSS feed (http://kindlehomepage.blogspot.com/) so that you’ll get the Free Book Alerts and you’ll be able to download dozens of books (more than I can keep up with, as a voracious reader) for free.
You’ll never be bored again!
Congrats on your Kindle. I obviously adore mine. 🙂
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I appreciate you spending some time and effort to put tuis
informative article together. I once again find myself spending way too much time both reading aand leaving comments.
But so what, it was still worth it!