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Do any Brethren own a kindle?

JMartinez

Registered User
I'm a book lover and I'm considering buying a kindle. Any good or bad things you can say about it? Pros and cons? Is it worth it? Is it ideal for a student or for travel? Is it durable? Is it user friendly?


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dfreybur

Premium Member
With a Kindle the books are like they are in a frame. With a physical book you can scan the pages rapidly. With a Kindle it's one page at a time, but you can hop from an index entry directly to the page in question.

Taken together this means a Kindle is great for novels and stories, not great for learning from a reference book, and back to great again when using a reference book in reference mode. These days I read few books on paper. I read vastly more on Kindle than on paper.

I "read" more still on audio, which has the exact same issues in spades. But there's an audio system in my car and I spend the time commuting whether there's a book playing to me or not. I'm a captive audience.
 

JMartinez

Registered User
With a Kindle the books are like they are in a frame. With a physical book you can scan the pages rapidly. With a Kindle it's one page at a time, but you can hop from an index entry directly to the page in question.

Taken together this means a Kindle is great for novels and stories, not great for learning from a reference book, and back to great again when using a reference book in reference mode. These days I read few books on paper. I read vastly more on Kindle than on paper.

I "read" more still on audio, which has the exact same issues in spades. But there's an audio system in my car and I spend the time commuting whether there's a book playing to me or not. I'm a captive audience.

Which kindle do you recommend? Will Amazon help me if there are any problems with it?


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MRichard

Mark A. Ri'chard
Premium Member
I used to own one but I never used it to read. I would look into other tablets/devices as mine was limited in capabilities. I am sure there are quite a few tablets that you could use to read.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
Which kindle do you recommend? Will Amazon help me if there are any problems with it?

Old first gen B/W unit. Not as old second gen bigger B/W unit. Color Kindle Fire around 4 years old.

I never had any problems until the battery failed on the first one and by then it was so ancient there was no longer and support.
 

Bloke

Premium Member
I've never had a kindle but am now a big fan of reading on the tablet.

The world becomes your library and its much easier to carry around. I use an android tablet with allows me the flexibility to read all sorts of formats on a larger screen, but also use it for email and browsing. I dont know how good kindles are now days, but I had the app on my first tablet, I found it restricitve and much rather have the functionality and flexibility of an android table (or even an ipad).

More generally, e-reading is excellent. You can do it next to a sleeping partner with the light off, in other poor light conditions, you can take as many books with you as you wish, and if you want to keep them, you will never run out of space... I still buy and enjoy hard copy books, but e-books reading is really good. It took me a while to get used to, and I loved the feeling of a book, but the practicalities and cost put the e-reader way ahead ( entry might be high, but buying material is cheap, indeed, much of what I read now is free. I even tend to download our GL Mag to it and read it over the hard copy. I tried to make the change because I've run out of storage, I've got books everywhere, but after pushing myself to change (it was not easy at first) , I've become a convert !

I'm a big fan of e-reading.
 

MarkR

Premium Member
I have an second-gen Kindle, do quite a bit of reading on it. I disagree with the backlight comment; I have an Android tablet, and when it comes to reading for pleasure I far prefer the Kindle, as the "e-ink" on a light gray, non-backlit background is much easier on my old, tired eyes.

That said, I still prefer actual paper books. I have a pretty substantial Masonic library that I'll be leaving to my Lodge when I lay down my working tools.
 

Carl_in_NH

Site Benefactor
I have a third generation Kindle - which seems like it is slightly newer than a stone tablet. Still works, but given its age is quite limited. While I far and away prefer a genuine printed book (because that's how we did it in my day) there are distinct advantages to any modern e-reader. First and foremost is the ability to bring along texts while traveling; years ago I spent much of my life in airports and on aircraft bouncing between coasts, and the Kindle made it possible to read without having more bulk to lug around. Being able to search and make notes also is a welcome feature.

I've been using a tablet more recently for my mobile reading, as it was easier to shuffle work-related documentation to it rather than my old Kindle. Bulk and battery life are in the minus column for my tablet compared to the old Kindle.

I watch the thread with interest, as it really is time for me to update to something newer as well.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
What formats do you wish to read? Pdfs are better managed on larger screens.

I download books from Amazon in the native Kindle format.

I download public domain texts from Project Gutenburg. Some are PDF others are in Kindle format.

I purchase some from Lulu.com in either PDF or Kindle format.
 
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