<p>I’m asking my husband for one of these for Christmas. Which should I ask for? I am not a techie, and I would appreciate any insight into which has the best features.</p>
<p>They are expensive as heck, so I want to be sure I get the most bang for the buck!!</p>
<p>Thanks!! :)</p>
<p>Woops - typo, meant Kindle!!!</p>
<p>Subscribing! Santa needs to know which is the best for D.</p>
<p>My sister tried to see a Nook demo at a local B&N last weekend. She was unsuccessful because there aren’t many demos to be found. The store told her that slow manufacturing and high demand has created a huge backlog. The store rep couldn’t even say whether they’d have any in time for Christmas. :o</p>
<p>Friends really like the Kindle. Agree with DougBetsy re getting any info on the Nook. It looks interesting but cannot tell for sure. I think we are waiting until it is out and vetted before deciding between it and Kindle. I don’t think the Sony has the same download capabilities as the other 2. There is a new Sony Reader with the wireless download but they are having the same problems as Nook getting it out for the holidays. So if it is the holidays you want to make sure of, it looks like the Kindle or the older version of Sony. .</p>
<p>I received the Kindle as a gift.</p>
<p>As an avid book reader, I am not excited about replacing all my old books at a high cost. Yet, there are thousands and thousands of books in the public domain that cost nothing. I have 57 books on my Kindle so far (got it in Oct) and only have purchased two books - one a short story and one a Kindle book with tips to get the most out of the Kindle. (Very useful!)</p>
<p>The wireless access is pretty sweet. </p>
<p>I have read email on my kindle. Pretty basic, but I haven’t tried sending. I think you can, though? </p>
<p>It is expensive, but it is a joy to hold, easy on the eyes with adjustable font sizes. Weighs almost nothing, takes almost no space in a bag. </p>
<p>I haven’t got a case for it yet. I am improvising with a smallish bag to protect it when travelling, but I need to get one, I think.</p>
<p>My husband has the Sony E-Reader that he won in a tournament raffle. Much bigger pain. Have to download software on your computer (we didn’t have a PC at the time, so it was even a bigger hassle.) Buy the books off the computer, then transfer then over to the reader. </p>
<p>I think the Kindle is easier to read. I also think he bought me the Kindle so he could “borrow” it sometimes!</p>
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<p>Would you please explain more about “high cost” and “public domain?” I don’t understand. Thanks.</p>
<p>Most Kindle books cost around $9.99.</p>
<p>I have thousands of them, many of which I want to re-read.</p>
<p>I won’t be replacing them, but when I am travelling, or spending time waiting for my daughter at practice, it would be nice to have some of them on my kindle.</p>
<p>I am being selective about buying books from the Kindle bookstore, though, because I don’t have the resources to spend 10 bucks a book. But I have found tons of books by Jane Austen, HG Wells, Jules Verne, Machiavelli, etc. and such that are free from the Kindle store.</p>
<p>I figure I will read all the free stuff, primarily, until I run out of things that interest me. Then I will start purchasing more new books from Kindle store!</p>
<p>I prefer my Palm pilot or I podtouch for reading because of the back light.
Several programs for reading on the touch- Kindle for iphone, ereader, [stanza[/url</a>], masterpieces,classics, 301 short stories,50 short stories are all applications on my ipod. ( oh and monster pinball,triazzle,koi pond…)</p>
<p>Apparently I am not the only one.
[url=<a href=“http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=221400322]E-Book”>news]E-Book</a> Readers – InformationWeek](<a href=“http://www.lexcycle.com/stanza]stanza[/url”>http://www.lexcycle.com/stanza)</p>
<p>Public domain books ones that are typically so old that the author has long since passed away, which means they don’t have a claim on the profits, any longer.</p>
<p>There is also a way through Project Gutenberg to get free books. Haven’t tried it, yet. Maybe when I have more time during Thanksgiving break!</p>
<p>I don’t have an iphone!! I have a Blackberry, and God help my poor eyes trying to read a book on that thing!! ;)</p>
<p>Kindle or Nook are the only way to go for me. I didn’t realize there were books for free (and Jane Austen is my favorite all time author, so that’s good to know)!! I also didn’t know there might be a problem with getting the nook by Xmas. Boo! </p>
<p>I like the color screen at the bottom with the cover illustrations, and I also like the touch ability of it. I wish I could get my hands on one to test it out!</p>
<p>My friend has a Kindle, and I played around with it a bit. One problem was that it didn’t have a number of titles that I would have expected to see. Do you think the Nook will have more access to titles because it is out of B&N?</p>
<p>an iphones screen is actually twice as big as a blackberry ( I also have a blackberry), the font & size is also easily changed( I am assuming on all of the readers)
I am * very * nearsighted, that is why I really like the back lighting as I cannot read a regular book (or a Kindle) without it.</p>
<p>[Main</a> Page - Gutenberg](<a href=“http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page]Main”>http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page)</p>
<p>Another thing that is nice about the Kindle is that if there is a book that you can’t find on Kindle Store, you can request with the publisher from a simple click under the title at the Amazon page.</p>
<p>I haven’t been troubled by only black and white screen. After all, most of the books I read are only in black and white, anyways! </p>
<p>My eyes can’t take reading on small devices, either. I am going blind from too much computer work and reading. </p>
<p>Kindle also has a feature where you can have books read to you. Not all books are enabled that way.</p>
<p>Although I haven’t used the feature yet, also you can listen to music that you transfer to Kindle, also. </p>
<p>I am not always big on the latest gadget. Being an early adopter of too many things over the years, I have found that there are often glitches with new technology. At least with the Kindle, I know what problems there are - tons of websites discussing them, good and bad! Not so sure about the Nook, yet, although it looks cool.</p>
<p>Can’t help being a lawyer…“public domain” means the books aren’t covered by copyright. Anybody can copy them. There are NEW books which are in the public domain. These are rare, but there are some. </p>
<p>Additionally, it’s pretty obvious from the Kindle site that there are a few young authors who are offering their books for free for Kindle, in the hope that if a lot of folks download them, a publisher will pick them up. I’ve also seen one book that was free until it’s published in hardcover! I guess the publishing house thinks it’s the sort of book that “word of mouth” will help. </p>
<p>I too got a Kindle as a present. I’ve spent 99 cents so far. Like LGM, I’ve downloaded lots of classics for free. I’d never read the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, and other books I’ve downloaded for free. I downloaded all of Jane Austen’s novels for free and reread them. I did pay 99 cents to download all the Palliser novels (Anthony Trollope). There was just one that I couldn’t find a free version of, and I like having all of them in one download, for searching purposes. (It’s possible to search within them and find which other books in the series have the same character, for example.) </p>
<p>I hope Amazon doesn’t read this, but I also like the sample feature. You download a little of the book for free and then pay if you want to download the rest. I can read a bit to see if I want to trek to the library to get it or ask that the library put it on hold for me, or check out whether a certain book looks like a likely Christmas present for a friend. </p>
<p>There’s a website not run by Amazon with lots of free downloads. I tried but the books I downloaded wouldn’t open on my kindle. I’m going to try again by downloading to my PC and then transferring. (This is in addition to Project Gutenberg, which I haven’t tried.) </p>
<p>I wear contacts. When I don’t wear them, I can read without a problem. When I do, I need reading glasses. With kindle, I don’t need the reading glasses, I just up the font size. Resize when I take my contacts out. </p>
<p>I have found some things I dislike. When you want to save the battery, you can click off your connection to the kindle store. I did this…and found that meant the Kindle no longer knew which was the last page I read. VERY annoying. Maybe it was a fluke-- I don’t know. </p>
<p>One thing I love is that Amazon does back up your books, so if you should lose your kindle while you will be out a lot of $, you will get your books without having to buy them again. </p>
<p>It takes all of about 60 seconds to download a book. VERY cool. You don’t need internet access. It works on a cell phone connection built into the kindle. </p>
<p>I still read regular old books I borrow from the library too. But there are books–mysteries, in particular–that I want to get when they are new and $10 is a lot less than the $25-35 a hardcover costs these days!</p>
<p>My husband has a Kindle and loves it. He is kind of a technophobe, so I am pleasantly surprised. We are running out of bookshelf space, and the Kindle is turning out to be a good solution. My college student son had ordered a Nook but changed his mind because he wasn’t impressed with the B&N book selection. So he got a Kindle instead. He and my husband can share titles because they’re on the same Amazon account. This is something I don’t like about the Kindle: You buy the book, but you don’t have the right to share it freely as you would a book on paper.</p>
<p>My sister is an independent bookseller, so I am a bit guilty about the Kindle. We do still buy books, though–just not as many now that there’s a Kindle in the family.</p>
<p>*One thing I love is that Amazon does back up your books, so if you should lose your kindle while you will be out a lot of $, you will get your books without having to buy them again. *</p>
<p>I do like this feature- my H, my younger D and myself, share an Amazon account so we all can use the same books on our ipod touches, or archive ones we don’t want right now. ( However for the actual reading application the kindle reader is not my favorite)
( ereader also allowed me to transfer books from the SD card on my Palm, to their server, then I downloaded them onto my touch.)
Pretty snazzy.</p>
<p>Thanks for explaining that better, jonri. I have found a few of the freebies for new authors who are trying to get a “name” in the business by offering the books for free.</p>
<p>I also needed to purchase a book in the college reference section of Borders, recently. It was 27.00 which was a budget buster - but in the aisle of Borders, I actually pulled out the Kindle, typed in the title and found it for $9.99, saved a “sample” for later, and will dowload it this week. It is about 700 pages and one I don’t want to lug around for my students, but now I can carry it with me in my bag and refer back to it, as needed.</p>
<p>I haven’t had the problem about losing my spot when I turn the Kindle store/wireless off. I guess I should check that. Hopefully that is a fluke.</p>
<p>Well, this thread inspired me to go download a couple more free books! I’ve read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and it refers to a book called Elizabeth and Her German Garden. I just had it sent to my Kindle–which is at home. It was available for free. </p>
<p>Before buying now, I would check to see if any of the new ones make it easier to download from the free book sites.</p>
<p>I’m reading *The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society *right now (another paper back to add to my PILES and PILES of books!!).</p>
<p>jonri, another one I just read that was wonderful was Old Filth by Jane Gardam - great Brit Lit book, but I saw on Amazon that they don’t have it on Kindle, but that you can request from the publisher to add it. Anyone done that? Does it work? How long would it take?</p>
<p>I just downloaded *Elizabeth and her GermanGarden and another by the same authour * The enchanted April</p>
<p>Havent seen * Old filth* in an ebook anywhere.</p>
<p>On Amazon it says, “Tell the publisher you’d like to read this book on Kindle” - that’s what I’m wondering, does that work?</p>
<p>How long does it take for them to make it available?</p>
<p>I just checked some other books I had spoken with my friend about and NONE of them are available on kindle</p>
<p>The First Man in Rome, The Grass Crown, Atlas Shrugged, Don’t Stop the Carnival - just a few.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if the books that are unavailable will ever be available, because I’m worried that alot of books I am looking for might not be on Kindle.</p>
<p>Anybody requested a book to be made available from the publisher through Amazon?</p>
<p>I havent requested that- or maybe once, but some publishers don’t like ebooks and don’t have very many.</p>
<p>I have requested albums to be added to itunes ( Richard Barone Cool Blue Halo) which they did, but I don’t even remember what ebooks Irequested.</p>
<p>I found Atlas shrugged though
<a href=“http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b95468/Atlas-Shrugged/Ayn-Rand/?si=0[/url]”>http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b95468/Atlas-Shrugged/Ayn-Rand/?si=0</a></p>