<p>So I want to get a Kindle for a gift and Amazon is sold out. I’m reluctant to order and get waitlisted due to the fact that Amazon has burnt me before and I am NOT over it!<br>
Anybody have experience with their waitlist for Kindles? </p>
<p>I know right after Christmas there were some posts from those who got them and they were mostly positive. Three months later are you Kindle owners still enthusiastic?</p>
<p>My son got his just after Christmas, in January, from Amazon. I got to see it a couple weeks ago. Pretty cool. He loves it, uses it every day. </p>
<p>He takes subway and ferry to work—the thing is ideal for a commuter. Even in Manhattan, he says it’s a novelty…constantly being asked ‘what’s that’? </p>
<p>I thought you should be able to make the background lighter or darker, don’t think you can, surprisingly.</p>
<p>First the wii; now the kindle. Will my life be spend pining after things that are perpetually sold out?!</p>
<p>El, exactly it is was the wii that Amazon made me so mad about last time!</p>
<p>I got my lKindle last November, still love it to pieces, use it every day. I think I’m reading a lot more than I did, the adjustable font makes a huge difference. I love that it has a built-in dictionary, especially since I tend to read a lot of archaic texts. It won’t replace my collection of books - it still doesn’t do photos and illustrations well, for example - but for books that are straight text, I can carry 20 (or many more) books around with me all the time. Love. Like an Ipod for books.</p>
<p>Okay people, bear with me now. I am not a techie. What is the difference between the Kindle and the Sony Paperless Paperback? The Sony is $100. less and in stock everywhere. Also will both work with a mac as opposed to a pc?</p>
<p>Just talked to Amazon. People who have been on the list since early Feb. still have not received their Kindles. Think I’ll go with the Sony unless someone can tell me why I shouldn’t.</p>
<p>I don’t have the Sony e-reader so I’m not an authority, but I believe it uses the same e-ink technology the Kindle does. I think the main difference would be content - the Kindle has >100,000 titles available from Amazon, and from what I understand the Amazon ebooks for the Kindle are less expensive than those available for the Sony. So, it depends on what the person wants to read; if they are mostly interested in older classics like I am, many of those can be had for free through the Gutenberg project among others. If someone wants to read bestsellers, those run around $7-$10 on the Kindle, as opposed to often in the teens for the Sony ebooks. The Kindle also has free wireless so you can download books anywhere Sprint has coverage, and even browse the internet. But it is definitely spendy, and the Sony ebook is cheaper.</p>
<p>chuwo, I know I am being dense but I just found out the Sony is not compatible with a mac. Is the Kindle the same? Do you know?</p>
<p>Well, seeing as I have a Mac I’ll have to check it out and let you know. In all honesty in the time I’ve had it I’ve never had a reason to hook it up to a computer.</p>
<p>Okay, I plugged it into the Imac and it recognized the device, identified it as “Kindle”, and showed me all the books I have on the reader. That said I wouldn’t be able to read these actual books on the imac, only on the Kindle. If I had an ebook on my hard-drive I imagine I could export it to the Kindle as long as it was in the correct format. However if you are in the Sprint wireless area (i.e., most metro areas - rural, not so much) you don’t really need to have a computer to use the kindle. </p>
<p>All e-book purchases from Amazon are downloaded automatically wirelessly to the Kindle (the wireless service is free). If you have an ebook or other document already that you want to have on the Kindle, you can email it to Amazon and they will convert it to the correct format and wire it to the Kindle for 10 cents a file. There are some proprietary formats they won’t do, notably Microsoft Reader (I have a ton of Microsoft Reader books I would love to put on an e-ink reader, hurts my eyes too much to read them on the computer), and be aware they don’t support pdf at this time either. I think the main reason to have USB computer support for the Kindle is for people who live outside Sprint’s wireless coverage; they can download their ebooks from Amazon and then export them to the Kindle.</p>
<p>I ordered the Kindle back in November, and my wait time was about five weeks. It was delivered on Dec. 24th, and it has been the best Christmas present I have ever had. My experience with Amazon was a positive one. I ordered and received an almost immediate email confirming the purchase, that the Kindle was on back order, and that my credit card wouldnt be charged until the Kindle was ready for shipment. There is also a 30-day return policy which I found reassuring.</p>
<p>After 3+ months of pretty steady use, I can say that while the Kindle is not perfect, I really love it. I have bought Kindle books from Amazon, I have downloaded books from Gutenberg.org, and I have converted personal PDFs to the kindle format. It has not replaced all the books I read, but if I want to buy a new title, I find myself searching for a Kindle edition first. It is so easy to read, it has a built-in, easy to use dictionary, and I can clip a page or take notes with it. Traveling with it has been great because I can have a huge library at my fingertips. The most interesting experience with the Kindle, however, was recently on an almost deserted beach in S. Florida. I turned on my Kindle, connected to Amazon, and within minutes was reading a brand new book. Cant beat that.</p>
<p>One caveat, though. Kindle content is still a bit lacking, so before buying, I would check to see whether the present selection is to your liking. Although I find enough books I want to read, finding a particular book can be an either hit or miss proposition. All in all, I recommend it highly.</p>
<p>justanothermom, thank you.
Chuwo: I really really appreciate your taking the time to hook up to your mac. We live in a rural area, not sure if the sprint thing will work, our cels are all att. Sony expressly said the ebook didn’t work with mac so I think I will order the Kindle and wait it out.</p>
<p>My Mom has a kindle & an Apple computer and they work great together.</p>
<p>Thanks all. Ordered the kindle and will just have to wait for it.</p>
<p>You’re welcome, ebeeeee. I hope that you won’t have to wait too long for it.</p>
<p>Just got an email that they expect to ship next week 
Unbelievably for once the gods were with me…</p>
<p>Don’t count your kindles before they show up on your doorstep…</p>
<p>isn’t it bad for your eyes to be looking at a screen for so many hours?</p>
<p>The kindle and some other e-readers use E-ink, which is a technology that mimics the way words look on a paper page with no glare or eyestrain. It’s kind of hard to explain without being able to see it, but I can’t read for long on a computer screen but could read all day on a kindle. It’s not backlit (so you need an external light source to read, just like you would a paperback) so it’s very easy on the eyes, and very unlike reading a computer screen.</p>