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Kindle: Amazon's Wireless Reading Device Accessories
 Mighty Bright XtraFlex2 Clip-On Light (Black, Kindle Compatible)
Amazon Kindle Replacement Battery
Amazon Kindle Replacement Book Cover
Amazon Kindle Replacement Power Adapter
iGo Power Tip for Amazon Kindle and for most Sprint Phones
Essential Kit for the Amazon Kindle - includes Car and Wall Charger with Rapid Charge Technology - Gomadic Brand w/ TipExchange Technology
iGo Everywhere PS00252-0003 Universal Wall (AC) and Auto (DC) Charger with Retractable Cable
M-edge Genuine Leather Executive Jacket for Amazon Kindle (Red)--New design compatible with e-Luminator booklight! PRE-ORDER, SHIPS 11/30
M-edge Genuine Leather Executive Jacket for Amazon Kindle (Black)--New design compatible with e-Luminator booklight! PRE-ORDER, SHIPS 11/30
Kindle: Amazon's Wireless Reading Device Reviews
Some older books could be placed on the Kindle as well and I hope they will be soon. What a great idea. It was made to function and look like the pages of a book and that is exactly what it does. The Kindle was made for readers. The books are great, the size of the Kindle is perfect. I have read where other customers would like to have the Kindle be an all in one device and I think this is a ridicules thought. I have used it for sometime before writing this review.
This button is very easy to push and needs to be smaller. If oyu do wish to get a Kindle make sure you order the extra leather holder that seats the Kindle on all four corners the case that comes with it does not hold the Kindle well. This is a great product. The only problem that I have with the device is that it has a large "page turning" button on the right hand side. It is for readers and should remain that way. 5 star item for reading and carrying a large number of books. All around this is a great item and I would definitely order one again.
I've had my Kindle for about a month and LOVE it. I can't imagine reading without it now.
Do keyword searches that automatically search (a) all of your books, (b) all of your magazine and newspaper subscriptions, and (c) online / at Wikipedia. It doesn't feel so "techish" as other eBook readers, which is interesting because the device is Linux-based. It's not hack-friendly. BADLY.
(1) No folders, no indexing, no organization. Though the reader is pricey, the titles on Amazon's Kindle store are very cheap. You won't be leaving these books to your children someday. If you really will use the subscriptions and instant buying ability of Whispernet, then go Kindle, there's no competitor right now who comes close. Buy any Amazon.com Kindle title immediately with the push of a button and start reading it now. When Amazon someday goes out of business and/or retires the Kindle line, you will no longer have access to the books you bought. Anyone with a long reading list should think twice right here, and this is 90% of the reason why I give the device only three stars. Use the web anytime, anywhere.
The BAD:. This will be a short, no-nonsense review that tries to summarize everything a savvy non-Kindle owner needs to know. (2) Extra features. You can't "search through titles" (you can search, but any search you run will search through all the text in the device and also online, meaning a long list of results).
Look anything up in Wikipedia no matter where you are. Imagine living your life having to keep every document you ever use, create, submit, or receive in single, giant filebox with no folders. No credit card numbers, no long forms to fill out, no waiting. You can jump straight to the "R" titles by pressing the "R" key, etc., but it's still unwieldy, especially if you have 20-30 (several pages of) titles for each letter.
No folders or indexing in a device that can store thousands of books. If you have hundreds or thousands of books (for example, I have several hundred), you will have literally hundreds of pages of titles to page through, one page at a time, to find the book you want and open it. Any Kindle files you buy are locked forever to your Kindle(s). (4) Shoddy construction. My new Kindle came with buttons that don't quite fit and/or are a little bit crooked or slightly out of alignment. The white plastic and simple buttons and squarish construction make it feel more book-like and more organic for those who are technophobic.
(3) Design. If the latter, look at Sony. Don't expect to be able to print and/or share the books you bought. (1) Whispernet. The Good:. (2) DRM. No need for USB cables, card readers, installing applications (so no compatibility problems, it doesn't matter whether you're Windows/Mac/Linux or even completely computer illiterate).
This is the killer feature. If you're young, look elsewhere. If you want to switch to another brand of reader, you will no longer have access to the books you bought. Subscribe to a newspaper and magazine and it automatically shows up in your Kindle the moment it's released. It's not "defective," just "cheaply made," which is a shame because with better tolerances and quality control, it would be a very nice fit/finish device. Why no snap or zipper. CONCLUSION:.
Same problem. Amazon needs to implement folders. You're actually "renting books long-term" rather than buying them. It should either have been beefed up or left out. Play MP3 files. Super-fast access to knowledge. Almost a deal-killer. All of your books will be shoved into a single, long, many-pages-long title list.
The materials aren't poor, but the workmanship may be. If you are a mature bookworm and just want to read books, from cover to cover, and don't want to bother with computers, technology, "learning how to use" eBook readers as a separate appliance, etc., then this is the reader from you. If you only have a dozen books, you'll only have to browse through a couple of screens full of titles to open and read one. Nearly any title is $10 or less, much cheaper than print and much cheaper than most other eBook formats or stores. The giant buttons for next page/previous page are genius and make reading a decidedly non-technological experience on the Kindle. If you're somewhere in between all of these, ask yourself: will you be buying books over whispernet, or are you going to just be reading Gutenberg eBooks or other free eBooks that you want to download with your computer.
The web browser is spectacularly useful. Beyond me. (3) Case/cover. Intolerable. If you buy a lot of reading, you'll save money even though the initial cost may be higher. It doesn't clip solidly enough into place, holds in the center rather than at edges (so that the book can slide around and fit crookedly at times), and closes via an elastic band like the ones that you find in underwear and pantyhose waistbands that sag and stretch and wrinkle and fray very quickly. If you're a gadgeteer with no particular love for the medium of the book as a physical thing, then this is clearly NOT the reader for you, as the "design flaws masquerading as features" list will drive you nuts (i.e.
DRM, no folders, no way to use the inherent computing features of the device outside of the basic reading features). It costs nothing extra. The black case/cover is just cheap. You'll break it and you'd probably prefer the more tech-oriented design of other units anyway. (4) Price.
You get the idea. Which means that sometimes, you accidentally turn a page when you don't mean to do so. While the search works wonderfully, the organization should be improved so the books I've got are easier to sort. and to the Amazon Kindle Store. Searching from high-to-low on price shows that there are some multi-thousand dollar text and reference books available, but if you're talking your every day fiction and non-fiction that you might pick up in the airport bookstore you'll pay between $5-$10.
I've got about 27 JD Robb books on the Kindle. They should also have a folder or categorization system so that I can put all my JD Robb books, all my Michael Moorcock books, etc, in their own folders. I have been overjoyed with this purchase. Wow. I didn't want to invest in this and realize I couldn't get the books I wanted. The "Back" button (NOT to be confused with the previous page button) does not act in a predictable way.
to your Kindle from your computer. There is no backlight. I bought an SD card and slid it in the back and feel like I can go on forever now. Right before a big trip this year, I thought I might be doing more travel in 2008 and beyond than I'd been doing for a few years, and I decided to give myself a lovely graduation gift, so I started looking at electronic books. Sometimes the back button takes you to your book list, sometimes to a previous pages, sometimes to someplace totally unexpected. I have been a little disappointed at not finding some books I truly wanted to read on the Kindle, but the selection of books they do have is pretty good. Most paperbacks were more like $5.99 or around there. I'm not going to kid you - it's one of my wish-list items that more books in the genres I like most would be available, but I've also found many new authors through trying what I found on my Kindle.
It's easy to store books on the Kindle - I think I had almost 80 or 90 before I started wondering what my space was like. Now, this is coming from someone who prides herself on knowing how to figure out technology and how things work. Instead, I take advantage of the proprietarily named Whispernet. If I try to sort by Most Recent, well, it means the most recently touched book - either what you've just been reading, what you downloaded, or what your friend opened while you were showing off your Kindle. Maybe that's a bad thing, but the ability to choose from about 6 font sizes on the fly makes readability pretty good.
I do read many of those airport books, but I also like literature, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction. I find the Kindle very easy to read. hmm, it works well enough when you have only a few books or magazines, but not so well after that. The Kindle had been out for a while, but I was leary of spending almost $400 without touching it for myself. A friend has a Sony e-Reader that he'd let me paw, and I liked it, but he was already having to jump through some hoops to get books, so that seemed like a bit of a negative to me. I LOVE to read. When I turn on the wireless access, I can connect to the Web (very minimalist surfing capabilities - I'd rather use my phone's browser most of the time).
The joys of the electronic paper, where the battery power is only being used to turn the pages. Kindle has none, which means that you can read just fine in bright sunlight (out by the pool, where you can't read a laptop mostly) and in any other normal lighting. If you try to hold on the left or right wide areas, you'll see that you'd be hitting the buttons that you use to turn the pages. Things like "skirt" for "shirt" or homonyms or other small typo/transcription errors sneak in.
I often hold it where the left thumb is, but I use my my index and middle fingers (one on each side of the device), with my thumb supporting the bottom. Have you noticed that when you try to read on a computer, your eyes get tired. The Kindle, therefore, has made my travel life much easier - I no longer have to put 3, 4, or more books in my carry-on and my suitcase just to see me through a couple of plane flights. I've noticed that there are a lot of errors (small ones, to be sure) in the electronic books that don't seem to be as prevalent in the paper books. It comes with USB capability, so you can upload books, text files, MP3 files, PDFs, and etc. Kindle books are less expensive than most of what you'll buy for a paper book, although just in the last few weeks, the prices have gone way up.
Wireless use really whacks the battery life, but since I'm mostly using it to buy and download a book, it doesn't impact me too much. Okay, a few more complaints and then we'll wrap it up. I suspect part of the problem there is the electronic production process. I've gone for a long weekend with fairly heavy book reading with no need to recharge. It will never completely replace paper books for me, even though I believe in trying to live a greener life - I just love books.
One of the things that most concerned me when I considered picking up the Kindle was book availability. Once you buy, you do have one quick chance to return (oops, I clicked the wrong one type of thing), but after that, the book is yours. I try to tell him he's a book-widow, but. Now, that issue with the cataloging - where the names aren't standardized. As my poor long-suffering fiance comments - he's a Kindle-widow. If you need to cut down on the number of paper books you're trying to to store in your house - again, awesome. I've never used my USB cable.
Not that big a deal, but. For the longest time, I didn't find any books - including those brand-new hardcover bestsellers - that were selling for more than $9.99. The Kindle store (neither via browser nor via Kindle)is not great for browsing, although you can search by genre, and the Amazon recommendation engine is at work. Still. Right up until you spend a lot of time with the wireless turned on.
Screen is clear and electronic ink is so much like reading a printed book that almost everyone I show it to does a double take just on that aspect. It's about a chapter or two of the book (from the beginning) that lets you get a pretty decent page test in before you buy. I figured if I bought it and hated it, I could return it, so I went for it. Kindle is available exclusively from Amazon.com and the current price is US$359.
Your Kindle is tied to your Amazon account, so your credit card on file is automatically charged (which can be dangerous if you're not paying attention to how many books you're buying), but the speed and ease of delivery made me a chain reader for a while when I first got my device. Easier in fact than some paper books, as I can up the font size at any time when I'm feeling tired or have been reading too long. Related to this is the backlighting and readability. However, I've bought more Kindle books than paper books in the almost 6 months I've had my Kindle and look forward to the improvements that will invariably come in selection and technology to improve it. You can also delete books and redownload from your Amazon account or computer. Okay, so they're delivered more like a magazine or newspaper and it's only the "A Listers" but not worth it for me. Battery life is great.
The last hardcover I bought, however, was more. When doing almost anything else for fun, I always have to ask myself, "But, would I rather be reading." (Hence, my picking up and putting down all knitting and stitching type projects, stamping, jewelry-making, and other other cool hobbies that many of my friends do). If I try to sort by author to find them all, well, some are catalogued with periods between the initials, some with spaces, some with no spaces, some with last name first. Charging for blogs.
Bottom line, if you are a ready who travels, this is absolutely a must-have. But let's get to the nitty gritty of this review - details. They bug me because of my editorial eye and my persnickety nature, and throw me out of the story. A lot of this is the backlighting. Still, a quick glance through the front page of the Kindle store at Amazon shows that only three or four books on the first few pages were more than that $9.99 standard new hardcovers for $11.99 and $14.99. This keeps the battery life long and the readability high.
Either make it predictable or kill it. The book list. If I don't turn on the wireless, I've gone almost a week, in fact. My biggest issues with the Kindle have been around how to hold the darn thing. So they don't all show up in the same place. I've liked being able to download a sample. I did buy an LED booklight to take for night-time flights, when the overhead light doesn't always do enough, but that's more about me getting old than it is about the Kindle, I think.
Well, since the gift-giving season is almost upon us, I thought I'd review my Kindle. There are currently around 200,000 books available for the Kindle from the Amazon store, about 85,000 of which are fiction. Where the hands in the image are holding it always seems awkward to me and doesn't really work for the lying in bed reading. and my Kindle, with its over 120 books on it currently. On the other hand, if you know what you want to buy in under 3 minutes, you can find, purchase, and have downloaded the next book in that series you're reading, the new book by that author, or whatever you're looking for. Instead, I pack one paperback or magazine for take-offs and landings. No sharing (or so the rules say - I haven't tried it).
Sometimes I use the top area to hold it.
The button placement and all the things people have complained about really are not a problem. I wouldn't change anything about it or it's features/capabilities. I haven't had any problems with it. I've had my kindle for a little over a month, and I love it.
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