What exactly is the Kindle and other e-book readers? How does it work?
February 9, 2012 | In: E-book Readers
Question by Seeker of Truth: What exactly is the Kindle and other e-book readers? How does it work?
are there other e-book readers?
are there any free books available?
can i download books on the go or do i need the computer?
how many books can an e-book reader hold?
does it have wifi so i can download on the go?
anything else you can tell me about it would be much appreciated.
Best answer:
Answer by harpkilian
I have the Kindle, so my answers will reflect my experience with that device. There are several other ereaders. Sony, Barnes & Noble, and Apple also offer ereaders. There are thousands of free books available. All of the books at Project Gutenberg are free because the copyright has expired. My Kindle can hold 1500 books, but I have only downloaded ~ 500 in the year I have owned it. Once you have finished reading the book, you can remove it from the Kindle, and it is archived at the Amazon site, so you can download it again if you like for no charge. The Kindle has wireless built in, so you can download on the go.
The battery lasts about a week when fully charged so long as I am not connected to the wireless. Now I keep the wireless turned off unless I am actively downloading a book.
You can subscribe to newspapers and magazines for a monthly fee.
IMHO the Kindle is best for text-based works. Graphics do not display very well and there is no way to enlarge or zoom.
There are six font sizes to choose from ranging from microscopic to OMG, I can read this without my glasses!
The device goes to sleep if you forget to turn it off.
It is very sturdy. I have dropped it so many times, and it still works.
I love it. Best money I ever spent. I used to have to carry pounds of books, now I have an entire library in my hand.
Downside – not all books are available, especially out of print, but still i copyright books published before the ereaders. You can send a message to the ublisher that you want to read the book on Kindle. I hope they get the message soon so I can download the backlist of authors I love.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
1 Response to What exactly is the Kindle and other e-book readers? How does it work?
Mike P
February 9th, 2012 at 9:05 pm
I love my Kindle 2 very much. If you’re thinking about getting the Kindle, I’ll say get it and you won’t regret. Right now I’ve read over 10 books with the Kindle, and I really like the idea that I can bring and store all the books with the handy device. Besides, it uses the e-ink technology, it is really clear like reading books; and even I read with the device for long hours, I don’t feel tired. The internet browsing comes handy as well when I want to look for information on some specific area. My only complaint is the white case, right now all the Kindles are in white color… I think it will be cool if I can have a black or deep blue color Kindle
Kindle books are cheaper than hard copies. I suggest you to read this review from a top reviewer who is also a book lover, it outlines quite a lot of benefits of the Kindle and also why it is worth especially at the end of the review:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Freview%2FR9J54TZ1541OR%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref%255F%3Dcm%255Fcr%255Frdp%255Fperm&tag=more_info-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957
And there are some websites, where you can find more than a million of free books for the Kindle, so that’s why you no longer need to get to library, you can actually own these books:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/b/?node=2245146011&tag=more_info-20
If you need to read PDF with charts and graphics, you may want to go for the Kindle DX (the new Kindle DX Graphite version is now at cheaper price and with better contrast). Read this review and you should be able to decide which one to get:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Freview%2FR23V08M2LNB81I%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ASIN%3DB0015TCML0%26nodeID%3D%26ref%255F%3Dcm%255Fcr%255Fpr%255Fcmt&tag=more_info-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957
Hope this helps.