Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Care For A Kindle

I got a Kindle for my birthday in January. I didn’t really know what I was doing because I had never seen one, used one and I didn’t even know anyone that had one. Why I wanted a Kindle, I’m not sure.
 
When my Kindle arrived I realized that it is fairly easy to use, although, I wouldn’t recommend buying a Kindle two days before you’re leaving on a trip when you want to take the Kindle with you. That’s what I did and I was easily frustrated. I didn’t have time to learn all the ins and outs and I wanted the Kindle to set itself up—it doesn’t quite work that way. So I suggest giving yourself some time to acquaint yourself with the Kindle before you need it to perform on a trip.

What I like about my reading on a Kindle:

My eyes don’t burn or ache. Reading on a Kindle is like reading a paperback without the smell. The screen looks the same color as the paper in a paperback book. Without the back light you don’t have the discomfort you experience reading for a long time at the computer.

Kindle reading make treadmill walking a pleasure. I always enjoy reading while I use the treadmill but the book never stays open and the print is too small to read while I’m bobbing up and down. With my Kindle I eliminate both these problems. There is no page to hold open and I can increase the font to make reading easier. As an incentive to use my treadmill more I’ve tried to limit my Kindle reading to while I’m on the treadmill. That didn’t last very long because I’ve read some real page-turners on my Kindle. The up side to this, I tend to stay on the treadmill longer because I’m caught up in the story.

I haven’t paid for any book I have on my Kindle. Currently, I have 73 books on my Kindle and I have gotten all of them for free. And these books aren’t the ones the Kindle store offers for free because they were written before the copyright laws. Most of the books on my Kindle were written in the past 5 years with many in the past year. How did I get so many books free? I subscribe to a couponing blog that offers a free Kindle book almost every day. The offer is only valid for a short time (1-2 days) so I am sure to pursue it right away so I don’t miss out. There have been very few days I have turned down the free Kindle book.
 
A couple nitpicks about Kindle:

I miss the actual book. That sounds silly and I didn’t think it would bother me but, I enjoy holding a book, flipping the pages and seeing myself progress through the book. The Kindle does show how far you’ve read in a book but it’s not the same. Not all Kindle books come with an image of the cover and I haven’t gotten used to that. When you have lots of books on your Kindle and all you have is the title to go by, it can be difficult to remember what genre the book is and what the book is about.

Downloading books isn’t as easy as I hoped. This nitpick is probably more of a user issue than a product issue. I’m not a tech person and I become frustrated when I can’t figure it out quickly. I do not have a wireless connection at my home so that makes adding to my Kindle library more difficult, but not impossible. Again, this would not be an issue for someone more computer savvy than myself.

This last aspect of Kindle is really neat but, doesn’t pertain to me: you don’t have to own a Kindle to read Kindle books! Doesn’t get any better than that, right? You can use a Kindle App to download books to your computer, iPad, iPhone or other device that is all techy (which I am not). So if you have one of these devices you can enjoy free Kindle books and not even need a Kindle. Personally, the idea of sitting at my computer to read a book for fun, doesn’t interest me. Reading a book off a laptop on my comfortable couch, you bet! So what are you waiting for? Visit the Kindle Store and start building your Kindle library.

Back to my book--

J Renee

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