: Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device

Rating: - Almost Perfect
Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device

I'm always so proud to present my Kindle to others. It reads really well, keeps track of where I stopped reading, especially when I doze off at night, and is so easy to use to download a new item.

The only reasn I say it's less than perfect is the Kindle itself did not attach to the cover as well as I hope. I took a previous reviewer's advice and got some Velcro with a sticky back and used that on the Kindle and the cover.

---

Rating: - Book Group Member With some Vision Impairment
I an an avid reader, and due to advanced glaucoma, have vision problems. The Kindle permits me to enlarge the type, making it very comfortable and easy to read. Also, the convenience and savings of being able to quickly download a book from Amazon makes it equally appealing. I have tried Books on Tape, but I miss holding a book and the act of reading it in my own voice. The Kindle, even though electronic, is a fabulous "gift." for that reason. I will be traveling and it allows me to download several books and it weighs practically nothing. I am truly grateful to my friend, Ruth, who first told me about it. I love and recommend the Kindler to ALL!!!

---

Rating: - Kindle is amazing
I'll keep this short for folks who want a quick review...

I've had the Kindle for 3 days and LOVE it. The design and feel is terrific. The screen is very easy to read and is no burden on the eyes whatsoever.

The page turn is far less than 2-seconds - it is very fast. Perhaps at the smallest text size it is slower, but then you are loading twice the amount of data than at the larger text sizes.

The ability to play background music with your own MP3s - great feature! The shortcuts to turn that on and off (and to skip to the next track) are great design.

The browser is weak on its own, but that shouldn't be anywhere close to the Top 10 reasons for buying and using a Kindle. Also, there is a bit of a delay when using the keyboard and the text showing up in the display. This is also a bit annoying, but simple to adjust to.

We use the New York Times subscription on it and it is excellent. There's one navigation issue. Once in the middle of a (long) article, there's no real way to go to the next one or back to the start. An inconvenience that would be great if a shortcut was offered to handle this situation.

Oh - and some folks complain about a minor charge to convert and email a document to the Kindle. We're talking 10 cents per document. You just paid 3,600-times that amount for the device itself! (There's a workaround this anyway).

TIP: Read the Kindle User's Guide from "Location 1 to Location 1355" (i.e. cover-to-cover). There are great nuggets in there and it is very worth the 45 minute investment.

Oh - and for all the folks who want to try it before buying it, just do it. I was in that camp and then sucked it up and just bought one for my wife. It's a keeper.

Overall, it is great. Well done, Amazon.

---

Rating: - wonderful for a left side affected stroke survivor
I have managed to survive 2 hemorrhagic brain stem strokes, 7 brain surgeries, a severe attack of MRSA after one brain surgery and a left side disability which after many years, I have overcome enough to walk. I must use a cane and have no use of my left hand. I also have permanent diplopia (double vision). I love to read as other more strenuous activities are far beyond my capabilities. I needed either books on tape or large print versions. Books on tape from the library for the blind and disabled, currently only play on a large, heavy non-portable player, and large print books are nearly impossible to handle with just one hand. When I saw a video about the Kindle, it seemed to be a perfect fit for me. And now that I have it, some of the very things others have complained about are ideal for me! Using the extra large font size puts less words on a page with a greater distance between lines. PERFECT! I used to have to use a plain bookmark with any regular book on a table and go down each line one at a time, so I would be able to find my way back to the next line. No longer a problem with the Kindle. The ease of turning a page now with just one hand is ideal! If I could find one minor fault it would be having the on/off switches on the back. I fear I will drop my Kindle getting to that feature. Would I wait for the next version? Not this old lady. I am in my 60s and would not put this off another moment! The price had come down a small amount ... to $359, so after careful consideration, I decided what better way to spend some of my disability payment. This device is a God send for anyone like me!

---

Rating: - Kindle
I waited quite awhile for the kindle to go off backorder and when they cut the price $40 and threw in free shipping I went for it. I've owned the kindle for about two weeks, now. Downloaded 3 novels and 2 non-fiction titles and have finished one of each. I had a minor operating issue when it froze for some reason but a click of the reset button took care of it - and to my surprise did not lose any content.

I figured that since I read about 2 books a week on average the device would pay for itself fairly quickly. (And it would significantly reduce the pile of books on my nightstand that my wife finds so unsightly.) One surprise was finding the new Lincoln Rhyme novel by Deaver released in a kindle version at $16 rather than the $9.95 which has been the benchmark. I fired off angry missives to Amazon and the publisher and waited. Three days later it was $14, three days after that down to $9.95 which is when I downloaded it.

Why do I enjoy it enough to rate it 5 stars? It is easy to handle and read and the download process works flawlessly. I enjoy being able to place a bookmark with the push of a button and being able to annotate a section of a book the same way. I like being able to carry this many books, switch from one to another and have them open where I left off. The lookup function for unfamiliar words is convenient - I am just as surprised by some of the words it finds as the few that it misses.

The cost saving are impressive. (Just before abandoning the "Book of the Month Club" I used my last book credits to purchase a book. The discounted price and shipping came to $8.99. Some reward!)

Battery life is good. I have only had to recharge it once a week but this would probably shorten if I spent more time "online". Interesting that some of the people I have shown it to would prefer to use it in the protective cover. More like a book, they say. Old habits die hard.

Great machine. This may do to books what digital did to film, but I for one will still love the feel, smell and texture of the real thing now and then!