<p>Hi all - we’re thinking about getting a kindle for our college freshman son. I’m having trouble deciding if it’s a good idea or not. He doesn’t read much fiction, but he loves to read newspapers, some magazines, non fiction about biographies or history or current events, and these days, a lot of books about math, logic, or science. I’ve been trying to look at amazon and see how much is available that he would like. But I just don’t know if a little 6 inch screen is fun to read on. He won’t be out on the beach or doing a ton of traveling - he’ll mostly be at college, so he can read newspapers and magazines on his laptop, get math and history books from the library, etc. </p>
<p>I’ve also read that some textbooks have kindle versions, but i have to wonder if it would end up being against the odds that one he needs is actually available.</p>
<p>So i guess my question is - without knowing my son personally, do any of you have an opinion about how well a kindle fits into a college lifestyle? We only have $250 budgeted per kid, so this would be the only present he gets, plus some small odds and ends.</p>
<p>No. Your son doesn’t fit the Kindle profile. If he travelled a lot, I would recommend iPad.</p>
<p>D2 is an avid reader, ever since she was little. When we travelled, we used to have a whole suitcase of books for her. We gave her Kindle few years ago, and it has made our life a lot easier. According to D2, Kindle is very easy to read, better than iPad.</p>
<p>H and I both have kindles (love them). S is in college, avid reader and said “don’t you dare waste money on a kindle for me! I like to <em>hold</em> the books and papers or read them online.”</p>
<p>now, how reading online or on a kindle is different, I don’t know…but to him it is.</p>
<p>I thought having the list of free books all the time would be a good thing for a poor college student, but for now, he won’t consider it.</p>
<p>Get a Kindle only if you get a WIFI version. Otherwise, you might look into the increasingly available tablets which are e-readers, movie players, music players, pdf readers, and web browsers especially if you don’t have Ipad type funds available.</p>
<p>College kids carry lots of stuff around thus they really appreciate gadgets which are multifunctional thereby eliminating a few.</p>
<p>I have the Pandigital Ereader which I picked up at Kohls for around $115. It is not the fastest or fanciest gadget but it does what it needs to do. Since I bought it, other companies have released their versions. I imagine there will be good deals for the holidays.</p>
<p>Unless he really wants one, I’d guess that your S would rather have the money. My S, who is also a college freshman received a kindle from his grandmother for HS graduation. I don’t think he has ever read anything on it. </p>
<p>I have one with the large screen and find it very useful for travel–I usually load it up with pdf documents I need to read and also a few books. If you get one with G3 capability, it is handy to be able to get almost any book instantly from almost anywhere in the world. The “web browser” function is not very useful, though.</p>
<p>I’ve found that the kindle editions of the books are not always complete–one book was missing a whole section of photographs that are in the printed version–and some seem to have a lot more typos than I would expect in a printed version (although I haven’t actually compared side by side). Technical books don’t always display equations quite as well as one would like and it can be difficult to find the figures and tables referred to in the text–with the kindle you can go to a “location”, which I think is just the word number, or a chapter or section listed in the table of contents. If you want to go to, say, figure 3.4, you are stuck with the annoying process of going to the table of contents, selecting chapter 3, and scrolling through it page by page looking for the figure.</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters much what type of reading he does, if he likes to read. There are all kinds of books available. I love, love, love my kindle. And I was one of those who
But, once I started using the Kindle I never looked back. I have never noticed how small the screen size is. </p>
<p>I love the kindle because I can have a book I want to read in my hands in less than a minute pretty much anywhere, even while traveling in a car. I can easily carry it in my pocketbook. So for someone like me, who seems to spend a lot of time picking up, dropping off and waiting for my kids it is a godsend. </p>
<p>I have read that it is not so good for reading textbooks. </p>
<p>Don’t forget that you have to subscribe to periodicals and although ebooks are cheaper than hardcovers, most still cost something.</p>
<p>Normally, I think a Kindle is a great gift for a college kid who loves to read. But it sounds like your son maybe can meet his reading needs through the college library and other sources, and frankly when I was in college I had very little time for personal reading anyway. I love my Kindle now and it has exponentially expanded the amount of time and spend reading as well as exposed me to hundreds of books and genres I would not have gotten in a bookstore. But I was always an avid reader and now that I"m out of college I have more time to devote to my personal reading pursuits, so its made a great and useful gift for me. </p>
<p>But it sounds like your kid might prefer something else. If he asks for a Kindle, that’s one thing, but if this is just your thinking maybe see if there’s something else he would like (a new iPod, etc.)</p>
<p>This kind of sums up what I’m worried about. I think maybe it’s me that wants a kindle and I’m projecting that on him! LOL. I can think of all kinds of times I would use it, but S hasn’t expressed any desire for it at all, and I think it may be a waste of money. I’ll have to keep thinking for an idea I guess. </p>
<p>Definitely check and see if it is something he would like. My daughter and I are both voracious readers and it does not appeal to either one of us. Maybe we would be like mamon and change our minds if we actually used one. But I did have an economics class that had an ebook I could access online. I absolutely hated it and the information just never seemed to sink in, so I was very happy my son had the previous version of the actual textbook so I could use that. Don’t know why it made a difference, but it did (for me).</p>
<p>If he’s reading magazines, newspapers, etc. he may need subscriptions to these to read. I am finding more and more are going this route as they loose their print revenue. Even ones that you have access to, it is limited.</p>
<p>That said, we are getting our second year college son a kindle, however he goes to the bookstore for pleasure, and reads A LOT of fiction. Despite growing up going to the library weekly, he doesn’t now. I have an ipad and the eyestrain is bad reading in the dark for prolonged periods. He doesn’t use his computer for news, etc. so I can’t see him using a kindle for this.</p>
<p>For reading the news and buzzing around, ipad (or similar) is far superior. If it is in your budget this is going to be a better bet. There is a Kindle app that can be loaded on the ipad for free, so the same list of free books are available. The ipad also has it’s own reader app.</p>
<p>Regarding forgetting the cords/chargers…I have heard this a lot about college students and electronics. I think it’s worth it to get a second cord. Ipad uses the same connection as an ipod so your student probably already has several collected. A second charger for the kindle is $20.</p>
<p>I love my Kindle, but don’t think I would like reading a textbook on it. For one thing, it’s not easy to flip back and forth through the pages like in a book, so I think they’re devices best used for linear reading, where you’re going to go from front to back. Also, i know you can highlight with them, but i prefer using regular highlighter on pages. I tend to highlight a LOT. </p>
<p>For regular reading though, I could never be happier that I have one. OP, maybe you should tell husband/kids that this is what you would like for Christmas!</p>
<p>I actually called my younger son (college junior) last night to ask him if he would like a Kindle for Christmas. My thinking was that he could save money by downloading a few of his textbooks. He said that he doesn’t know anyone who uses a Kindle for textbooks (he’s knows a lot of kids). He also said that he really didn’t think that he would use one often enough to justify buying it.</p>
<p>Amazon has a pretty limited selection of textbooks for Kindle. I have one of the large format Kindles with 3G and I am almost literally addicted to it. I love the physical qualities of books, too, but in an odd twist of my own expectations, I prefer to actually read them on the Kindle and just have them on the bookshelf. For some reason the actual reading process is effortless on the Kindle, it’s easier for me to “get lost” in the book. Not sure why that it.</p>
<p>The larger format Kindle is supposed to be better for textbooks, but I still have all my own textbooks in the traditional dead-tree versions. For textbooks I prefer those. For pleasure books, the Kindle.</p>
<p>I agree that your son doesn’t sound like a Kindle type (for now, at least), but you should get one for yourself! :)</p>
<p>I think a kindle makes a good gift for a college student, but not YOUR college student, OP. The kind of reading he does is the kindle’s weakness, and he wouldn’t be taking much advantage of its strengths.</p>
<p>I got a kindle from a CCer for xmas last year and was happy as can be, but I am an avid reader of fiction and got some of my books for political theory class on it.</p>
<p>I’m buying a Kindle for myself for Christmas, and then letting my son bring it to college. I’ll use it on breaks and summers. </p>
<p>If you would otherwise buy a print newspaper subscription, the reduced Kindle price may have justify the expense by itself over time. For example, it costs me $2 to buy a paper NY times in my town, but it is $1 on Kindle.</p>
<p>An electronic reader makes extra sense if you child spends much time on buses or other mass transit. Also, I think there is less market for having a thug stealing a kindle than an Ipad.</p>
<p>^ Or at least if they do steal it, it’s less expensive to replace. </p>
<p>I think in general Kindles are very durable machines, which makes them better for college students than iPads. I’ve spilled things on mine, dropped it (many times), used it in the rain, taken it to the beach, basically treated it pretty badly, but it still works very well. There’s no glass screen to accidentally shatter, and the plastic casing all around makes a good protective barrier (I also have a leather case that goes around the Kindle. Good shock absorber). It is great for the bus, and even the subway, because it’s easy to use it one handed.</p>