Reading

[KathieB]

This thread apparently was hijacked by Harry Potter and the forces of evil, but I'm bumping it back to the Kindle, the original topic. I received an email from amazon.com this morning announcing that Kindle2 is now available for an advance price of $359 and will ship in about a month. 230,000 will be available. The price is still putting me off, but it's tempting.

<H2>New Features & Enhancements

Slim & Lightweight : Just over 1/3 inch and 10.2 ounces

Books in under 60 seconds : Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required

Improved Display : Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for crisp images and text; even reads well in bright sunlight

Longer Battery Life : 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging

More Storage : Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books

Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns

Read-to-Me : Text-to-Speech feature means Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud.

No Wireless Bills : No monthly wireless bills, data plans, or commitments. Amazon pays for Kindle's wireless connectivity so you won't see a monthly wireless bill.

Large Selection : Over 230,000 books, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines and blogs available Low Book Prices : New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise

</H2>

[nechee]

My husband would love it if I got a Kindle. He is always complaining about my books lying around. I am the one that reads about 3 or 4 books at the same time. I have one in the bedroom for reading at night. One is the bathroom for long stays :lol: , one in my living room, and one in my kitchen for when I am cooking pasta. I read as I stir. When me and my husband moved in together he did not realize why I brought a bookcase (he does not read at all) he soon realized why when I pulled out 4 boxes full of books and that was only a little of my collection. The other 6 boxes of books are still in my parents basement waiting for the time I have some room to be able to store them and the kids will not wreck them. I always keep all the books I buy becasue I will reread them several dozen times.

[havanaholly]

Kindle would not suit at all, my hands connect with the binding of the book as I read, and I absorb the words as well as read them! I also have books all over the house!

[Jokelly]

I keep looking at them, but that price is so off-putting. I wonder in this economy how well this will sell. But then the Oprah factor is there. She said buy and a lot of people listen. Amazon's stock fell yesterday after it released all the details. Wall Street didn't like that they didn't reduce the price at all and didn't have as many upgrades as expected.

I keep looking at the Sony E-Reader at Target. They have it priced about $100 cheaper than Kindle. Plus, you have to look and see if the books you read are actually available on either set. I buy a lot of paperbacks and so far the Sony store sells more of what I read. I don't know. I'll probably save my money and put it toward a new computer instead of an ebook. But I keep looking at them.

The biggest downside, beside the price, is that I'm a very tactile person, like most of the people here, and I'd miss actually holding a book and smelling it. I love the smell of books even more than the feel of them.

[grazhina]

and I'd miss actually holding a book and smelling it. I love the smell of books even more than the feel of them.

ditto

[Jokelly]

The other reading thread reminded me of this one again. I bit the bullet and bought a Sony Digital Reader. The guy who checked me out said "I'm so envious right now." It is the best thing.

I thought I'd not like it because like I mentioned I love physical books. Nothing is better than walking into a bookstore and taking a deep breath (if it has a Starbucks in it, I try to go to the back of the store to do this). Libraries are the best with the dusty, musty and aging pages.

But I've been looking at them for months. Everytime I go to Target or Sam's Club I'd stand and play with them. So I decided to take my tax refund and buy it. What sealed it for me is that I can borrow books from the local library unlike with the Kindle. It is so thin, but now not that you can't hold it confortably and it fits in my purse perfectly.

Here is a picture of what it looks like:

Like someone mentioned earlier it comes with 100 free downloads of Classic books if you buy by March 31, 2009. All public domain anyway, but you don't have to hunt around the internet converting them to files that you can download to your reader. Makes it much more easy. Luckily, I'm working my way through Jane Austen so this is perfect for me for right now.

I also like that Target sells Sony gift cards to use in their store so you don't have to worry about loading up your credit card online. And people can buy your gift cards for presents. :lol:

[goodteach0]

I just got my Kindle 2 yesterday and am in love with it!

This morning while still in bed I downloaded the New York Times and the Washington Post.

You get a free 2 week trial on newspapers, mags, and blogs. On most books they sent a sample chapter so you can decide if you want to purchase.

The final clincher that caused me to purchase the Kindle was because it will read any text for you if you want it to. We have lots of power outages here so that feature will be put to good use.