kindle

[pdust]

im about decided that im going to buy a kindle. Being as my knowledge on these is maybe slightly less than a 5 year old would have I need to know...

what do i put in search to find free downloads? I put free ebooks, is this right to or do i have to be more specific ( i dont mean more specific in category, i mean are ebooks all for kindle or not?)

is it easy to download to lappy then get them on the kindle?

if i buy a book is it like when i used to buy games for my pda and once you have bought them you can go back anytime and re download them if you lose them somehow?

how heavy is the kindle and is it straightforward to use it?

[whiskeryron]

My mate bought a Kindle( £189) & being a non techie just could not get the hang of it & after 3 weeks sent it back. Amazon refunded his money less handling charge.

Ron.

[Squitty]

You can try all this out before you buy a kindle.
On the amazon site there is a free kindle download that lets you look at ebooks on your laptop/pc. Then when you search and download all the free stuff you will see what you can get & roughly how it all works.
I did it & decided not to buy a kindle.

[chelle7272]

I've just got one and my knowledge is not that great yet, but i can tell you it's extremely light, simple to use. i think Kindle is just Amazon ebooks, not sure if there are other sources.

[smart1]

Go on the Amazon site, and look @ kindle bestsellers - there are 2 lists - the list on the right are free books

[pdust]

hi ron, im kind of thinking i may be the same. £189 is a bloody lot though!

oh thanks for that squitty, I'll make that my mission for the weekend :)

thanks chelle and smart, im wanting it more for non fiction and trying to see if the cost of the kindle is better than buying books.... im out and about a fair bit and hate lugging books round in my bag....

[dotty.]

Sod the kindle get a kobo from whsmith, 100 free classics already on there and 1million more free boos to choose from, plus you can borrow from your local library from their free ebook catalogue, only £69.99 too.

[chelle7272]

pdust, mine was £89 - don't need it to do anything mroe than show me the words on the screen.
It really is better for travelling around with.

[dotty.]

and you're not forced to only shop on amazon.

[smart1]

these are non-fiction pdust. I only recently got my Kindle and think it well worth the £89. I also bought a mains charger for it off ebay which I find useful

[jno]

£189, was that the Damien Hirst platinum version, W Ron? The one that only downloads first editions?

[smart1]

I also bought some discs with 1.000's of books on each disc from ebay.

[Squitty]

smart1 - i did that and the books were pdf's - didnt need a kindle because I mainly use the laptop.
The kindle is great when you are on the move though.

[hc4361]

I love my Sony eReader. Can take many formats, can buy or download from anywhere, including public libraries.
Has memory card slots for extra memory, and a headphone jack if I want to listen to music or audio books.
Had it for 3 years with no problems.

[pdust]

thanks everyone :)

im getting a bit confused, i have pdf format books on my lappy already, would these download to a kindle or a kobo or whatever?

has the kindle or kobo got audio? ive never heard of the sony reader til now (thanks hc) but i would love to be able to listen to books too.....

[hc4361]

pdust, the Sony eReader was probably the first on the market.
Make sure the text books you want to buy are available in ebook format.
.pdf can definitely be downloaded to Sony, don't know about the others, but most ereader owners use Calibre to organise their books on their hard drive and upload them - it automatically converts to the right format. (Not sure if that works with Kindle).

[pdust]

thanks hc... i think i better take my lad along with me when i go looking.... im thick as porridge and get confused way to easily.... i guess whichever i decide on in a fortnight im going to be sat here laughing at my panic....

[hc4361]

And check the prices of your text books - there is a chance they will be more expensive than the hard back versions.

[hc4361]

And remember, most ereaders are rubbish at displaying pictures and some ebook text books omit the pictures.

[Clanad]

At least here in the U.S. and, I assume, in the UK, there are actually 6 versions of Kindle one can buy. Kindle Fire is the top of the line version that an be used vor numerous other things somewhat like a slimmed down iPAD and it's in color. I imagine this is the version referenced for the 189 British Pound price (here, it's about $190. The next down the line is Kindle DX and it's actually the most expensive at $379 (US)... one can move on down the line, but I bought Mrs. C. the Kindle Touch for $99 at Christmas and she absolutely loves it. It's very readable, even in bright sunlight, the battery lasts forever between charges and the selections of books from Amazon is unequalled. It took her about half a day to learn all the ins and outs and she freely admits to being tech challenged otherwise.
One additonal word... one version of Kindle Touch can be used on 3G networks. The one we got only acesses the web site via WiFi. We really don't see much proble with the WiFi version and the 3G version is $50 US more (but the nice thing is there are no additional 3G charges... Amazon pays those).
The basic Kindle is $79, by the way (for comparison).

(A brief aside to dotty... see where GB won a case against a hospital here for nearly one million dollars. seems he donated 1/2 million dollars to the hospital a number of years to name a new wing for his mother and after receiving and using the funds refused to honor the agreement. Bad decision... a lof GB fans in the jury pool!)

[pdust]

ah thanks for that hc..... in all my confusion i would have probably not remembered to check until after...

thanks clanad :) i did wonder how long the battery lasted but forgot to ask.... also i didnt realise they had wifi, i just thought i would have to download to my lappy then transfer over :)