<p>I love books, love reading, and I’m pretty sure that I’ve decided to ask Santa for a Kindle 2 this Christmas. I was thinking about the DX, but it’s a LOT more expensive, and not quite as portable (I plan to keep the Kindle in my purse so I can read wherever I am).</p>
<p>If you have a Kindle, or are looking at the options, would you share your opinions here?</p>
<p>THANKS!</p>
<p>There was a recent thread about Kindles and other readers. Here is the Washington Post reviewer’s take on it. </p>
<p>E-BOOK READERS</p>
<p>Words of caution before jumping in</p>
<p>Amazon’s Kindle dominates this category but continues to suffer from self-imposed compatibility problems – the usage controls Amazon embeds in its e-books prevent you from using them in hardware or software not approved by the Seattle retailer and also forbid such customary practices as lending your copy to a friend. Its e-ink screen, meanwhile, exhibits the slow performance and low resolution of an early effort. A crop of new e-book readers – for example, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Plastic Logic’s Que and Sony’s Reader Daily Edition – promise better features but won’t ship until the end of this year or even later. If you simply cannot live without an e-reader, get Amazon’s basic Kindle model, not its bigger Kindle DX-- but realize that a few months from now you may regret jumping into this market too soon.</p>
<p>Another reason to wait: lots of bloggers out there are saying that e-book readers will be about $100 next Christmas, as more companies are entering the market.</p>
<p>My H really wants one, but refuses me to get it for him…just yet. He’s waiting to see which “system” our library will use in hopes that he can borrow a “book” rather than buy. Once he’s done reading a book, he’s done. No sense in buying books, he figures, with our wonderful Town library.</p>
<p>Definitely check out the other thread. We were comparing the different readers just about a week ago.</p>
<p>I really, really like mine. There are limitations. </p>
<p>I would love to be able to buy a kindle copy plus the hard copy edition for a discounted price in a bundle for some texts. Yet, I am reading the new Malcolm Gladwell book on my ereader for $10 - and the hardcover is $20+ at Borders, right now. Would I like to share the copy with a friend sometimes? Yeah, sure. But nothing beats being able to read the sample late at night, get so engrossed that you can download it from your couch! </p>
<p>I don’t read books on smartphones, but that is an option for some. I know you can download the kindle reader for PC - I think mac, too. </p>
<p>For portability, I like the Kindle. I like how it feels in my hands when I read it, but I wish it shipped with a cover of some sort. You have to buy it separately. I am looking on ebay for one I like.</p>
<p>The price on the DX is too much - but that one is designed more for college students. In some ways, it seems a bit silly and overpriced for what you get. I can see students just downloading those books to their desktop or laptop computers instead of a kindle - that way they can take better notes while studying. <em>I assume they still do that as they read. I am hoping, anyway!</em></p>
<p>I wouldn’t have bought one for myself, but having gotten it as a gift, it was one of the nicest gifts, ever. I carry 50+ books with me wherever I go, now. I can carry 1500, but I haven’t gotten that far, yet! It’s nice to be working on a couple of different books at one time, and I am still working in mostly the public domain ones, with the exception of a couple of Kindle purchases of books I wanted to buy, but found it so much cheaper on Kindle than purchasing in the store.</p>
<p>I am also thinking about a Kindle. I don’t want to wait since I am taking a trip over the winter break and I would like to take it with me. I read fast and don’t want to take a pile of heavy books with me. Plus one of the planes has a 25 lb weight limit.
It would be a gift from my H but I am thinking of going ahead and ordering it for him! I would not get the DX. I don’t want to spend that much.</p>
<p>I got one for my b’day in June and love it. I have four books downloaded waiting for me to finish the current one. I bought a cover for it, and with my bigger winter handbag, it fits inside, great for dentist waiting rooms and the like. I like that older books are really low cost, even free in some cases. The only issue I have had is forgetting to recharge it once in a while. I have not tried much to use it as an internet browser, could not open my email account (I think there were too many stored messages in the in box).</p>
<p>I have a Kindle 2 and love it. I haven’t experienced the other e readers, so cannot compare. I wouldn’t want to have one any larger, and I like the cover I purchased so I can toss the thing in my purse and not be concerned about keys or other loose items damaging anything.</p>
<p>Our school is considering using them for kids instead of textbooks. I can definitely see the value in that, although I don’t know if I would like to have one for my own pleasure reading. I think for textbooks it can be a real money saver, and also a saver of children’s backs-- they wouldn’t have to carry so many heavy textbooks. What do you all think of that idea?</p>
<p>One of the biggest issues is the Kindle is black and white text. I can see it being a backsaver, but kind of an expensive way to go with some of the limitations on the Kindle. </p>
<p>I also am not sure if I would trust a group of high school students carrying around Kindles. As a librarian, I see how they knock the crap out of textbooks. I would hope they would handle them a little softer, but I am not convinced the Kindles could take that kind of banging around in the backpack.</p>
<p>Our high school has considered having smaller laptops that could be used for both textbooks but also word processing and interactive lessons through the textbook websites. With the price of laptops going lower and lower, it might be a better choice than Kindle DXs. </p>
<p>I am curious how it plays out in your district, though. Keep us updated, if you don’t mind!</p>
<p>We have one student test driving the Kindle this year. We are a private school, and pretty small. We are also currently doing a pilot program of small netbooks going to some of the students. They don’t really like the computers; they can’t put music or photos on them, because they are only meant for school work, so the hard drives are not that large. But the teachers like them because of the obvious advantages. There are definitely some disadvantages to the computers in the classroom, too. I am sure you can think of them!</p>
<p>Facebook checking? </p>
<p>IM chat?</p>
<p>I like the idea of the smaller netbook for students, because I think it would be slightly more durable over the long haul than the Kindle and faster to scroll through the pages, too.</p>
<p>One major downside to the Kindle would be the lack of page numbers when assigning homework or reading, as teachers don’t always go consecutively through the pages.</p>
<p>Love the guy!</p>
<p>Oh, I thought you meant Sergio Kindle. :)</p>