Has anyone bought a Kindle, or is there an alternative?

rosie383

I will probably be emigrating within the next year or so, to a non-English speaking country. I am happy enough about this, but I am an avid reader, and I would have to have a crate-load of books to keep me going!!!
I saw these Kindles advertised, and they look as if they would be a great thing for me, as apparently you can download books worldwide.
After the initial outlay, is it a cheap thing to have IYKWIM, and are there cheaper alternatives on the market that anyone has tried?

Giant_Space_Lizard

well google have recently launched their own book store, so that would be accessible online of course, and i woudl guess that android smart phones would provide support for this. I love amazon and the kindle i suppose is cool if you want a no frills books only device, but i think google competition will be too much for them. There is apple of course but i dont liek them myself they charge an ultra premium for brand name and design, actually power under the hood can be achieved for less elsewhere

rosie383

I'm not sure that I would want to shell out for a very expensive phone. And I really am not interested in a brand name for the sake of it. Is it possible, if this technology is fairly new, that there would be a cheaper one on the market within the year maybe?

xxVickixx_2

There is an Amazon Kindle Program for your PC so you wouldn't even have to buy the Kindle if you didn't want to... You can read books on your PC.

Not to everyones liking but its always there, and great for reading the free books they bring out, and then there is the public domain books that are mostly free too. - outlay = nothing.

Some books are actually more expensive than the paperback or even hardback version but that is due to the fact that Amazon can't reduce the price on the eBooks as they have set prices by the publisher.

Hope this helps some.

Giant_Space_Lizard

well thats very relaistic expectation, to counter google amazon could go all out for volume and churn out a dirt cheap kindle design. But who knows just have to wait and see for that, apparently kindle is doing well. Looking at it (as a total ignorant who doesnt read its sort of 'cool' looking.
Also one thing to consider before you emmigrate is whether you will be able to buy more books from your new location, that wont be a problem with google books (i would guess) as long as you have internet access but tis something worth checking just in case you want a new book.

Giant_Space_Lizard

xxVickixx wrote: »

There is an Amazon Kindle Program for your PC so you wouldn't even have to buy the Kindle if you didn't want to... You can read books on your PC.

i dotn knwo why it didnt occur to me amazon would have a kindle free book service also, well thats good news then hopefully they will put up serious fight to google

Mummy81

Hi, I have a sony e-reader, which I absolutely love, its so easy to use and has lots of memory space.

They have them on offer at m&s at the moment for £99, slightly cheaper than the kindle, the only thing is they don't/can't read the kindle books you get off amazon but I believe this is the case with all reads which aren't kindle. You can get books of waterstones and W H Smiths, also loads of free book sites out there, of stuff which is out of copyright.

Good Luck

xxVickixx_2

Here is the link for the amazon page which has all the Free reading Apps on.

www. amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_352814002_3?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-6&pf_rd_r=1PPWS2A2K1PJT3P695X2&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=1279039382&pf_rd_i=1000426311

I personally use the PC and iPhone versions (have an iTouch) and I'm getting the actual Kindle for Xmas.

tanith

I have a Kindle and love it , the books download from Amazon in seconds and once you are registered you can shop with one click . Its easy to use and there are loads of free books , classics, childrens etc. The only downside is you have to buy from Amazon and cannot use library e-books as it can't read the format they use. There is program you can download to convert them but I haven't tried that yet. The battery lasts me for a month before recharging and I can also go online with it and check in with Facebook etc.. as I have the newest version 3G Wifi.. It stores over 3000 books and its easy to sort them into groups . Its much easier for me as I read when I go to bed and I can hold it in one hand and just turn the page with my thumb so much easier than holding a book.

rosie383

I really do want something handheld, rather than books I can read on the PC. One of my little pleasures in life is reading in bed. I think the 3G seems good because I could download books anywhere in the world, but then again, these things seem like they can hold 1000s of books, so I could just download when I come home on holiday. Mind you, had a look through the first few pages of free ebooks on Amazon. There wasn't one that I would ever choose to read even if I was bored silly!!!!! I know there are about a million free books, but is it very expensive to download decent books? Eg, maybe a 4 yr old thriller?

xxVickixx_2

if you go to
www . amazon.co.uk/gp/search?node=341689031&p_15=-domain&p_36=0-0&redirect=true&!!!!!discounter-21 (take spaces out.. not done enough posts to post links yet)

that is a link i got from the internet and it points out all the free books that are available... not too many but they are constantly changing them around. I currently have 38 books on my account that I got free and most of them are not the out-of-copyright ones that are free.

I would definately recommend the Kindle.. it seems great even thought I don't yet have mine!! I cant wait for Xmas though so I can use it!!

The Kindle can use books from other sources too, not just amazon but I think you might have a hard time finding recent books that are cheap enough.
Do a bit of research about it on the web and see what you can come up with. There are plenty of sites out there that can give you the information you desire.