Got my Kindle today

[Dan]

Cheaper, and market leader.

Borders had one, but borders just went under so no use going with theirs.

For me it came down to the screen. I wanted an eInk screen. Amazon Kindle by far has the best screen.

Really it was a toss up between the kobo(borders) and the kindle for me, but two factors came into it in the end

1 - Kindle was cheaper at $159 delivered to your door
2 - The kindle eInk screen is easily the best of it's kind on the market

There was a 3rd factor in that I have a $50 Amazon voucher I needed to use. So the Kindle won out.

Now that I have it I can't fault it.

If you want to freely browse the internet on the Kindle, then get the 3g one, you get free 3g access around australia and the world (I think it uses vodafone in Australia) you can browse the web, all be it in black and white and not exactly user friendly, but certainly good if you are away and want to check email and facebook, and I am sure it won't be log until there will be a way to tether it either (though a breach of the TOS)

If like me you spend most of your time reading at home and have a wifi network then there really is no need for 3g. It would have been nice whilst travelling, but I won't be doing much of that for a while.

Best thing you can do is try to find someone you know who has one, and ask them to lend it to you for a few hours.

One great feature is the newspapers. You can subscribe to certain news papers and with the 3g version, they will be automatically delivered to your kindle every day, no matter where you are in the world (depending on coverage)

They are all really fairly similar, so price and a noted good vendor who is ferociously going after the market like Amazon was an easy choice

 

[Dan]

Oh also, if you aren't willing to convert ebooks you have bought from other sources then you are basically stuck with buying from Amazon.

If you are willing to convert them after buying them from anywhere then you are sweet.

Obviously I have no issues with file conversion and the tools are simple anyway.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Oh also, if you aren't willing to convert ebooks you have bought from other sources then you are basically stuck with buying from Amazon.

If you are willing to convert them after buying them from anywhere then you are sweet.

Obviously I have no issues with file conversion and the tools are simple anyway.

Thanks for the heads up

I assume with the file conversion you donwload them to your PC (home wi fi network), convert them and then download them to Kindle??

 

[Dan]

You use the tool at http://calibre-ebook.com/

Download them to computer convert then dump them via USB to kindle

 

[Fro]

Best thing you can do is try to find someone you know who has one, and ask them to lend it to you for a few hours.

Dan can you post me your for a few hours

 

[Dan]

someone local

Fly up here with a case of beer and we can sort something out

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Call me compulsive BUT I have been thinking of one of these for a while so after reading this went out and bought one (or shall I say ordered one)...I decided on the flash 3G-Wif Fi one, only because I do travel a bit and nothing worse than running out of books when you are away.

Now I just have to work out how to use the bloody thing!!

Said on the order that it will be here on Wednesday the 26th.....not too bad 7 days from the USA or China).

Jeez MFB gets into the 21st century!!

 

[Fro]

Geez I hope your Missus answers the door when the panhandlers come knocking Mark.

You are an easy sale

 

[Dan]

Call me compulsive BUT I have been thinking of one of these for a while so after reading this went out and bought one (or shall I say ordered one)...I decided on the flash 3G-Wif Fi one, only because I do travel a bit and nothing worse than running out of books when you are away.

Now I just have to work out how to use the bloody thing!!

Said on the order that it will be here on Wednesday the 26th.....not too bad 7 days from the USA or China).

Jeez MFB gets into the 21st century!!

Comes from China, but because of long weekend can't get her to Wednesday. Had you ordered on Monday it would be in your hands tomorrow morning. It literally travels that quickly!

Lol not too hard to work out. Drop me a line when you get it I can help you get your collection started. I have a few thousand ebooks I have collected over the years, all sorts of genre's tell me what you are looking for and I will see if I have it already

 

[Dan]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DZ1Y8Q

make sure you order the international version too the link above is the one you want.

It only charges via USB (you can buy an adapter for fairly cheap) Takes about 3 hours the first charge and then lasts a month or so with wireless and 3G turned off.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Yep ordered the international version, and also the Aussie plug adapter for $9.99. and a cover for about $20 (yeah maybe could have bought it cheaper somewhere else but easy to do in the one transaction.

No Fro been thinking about these for a while, actually looked at the one at Borders ( Kobo I think) but had heard the Amazon one was better....so have been thinking about it for a bit.

Also I am doing a month long 4WD Trek in July and with no TV will be reading a LOT, and this is clearly a much lighter way to carry books around.

So NOT such an easy sell after all!!

 

[Fro]

Hehe I am similar Mark, I have looekd at the Kobo a few times when I've been in Borders, but was leaning away from them given the Borders dramas.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I nearly bought one, and then heard about the drama's so thought "mmmm...what happens if it has warranty issues"....I didn't do a lot of research on Kindle, and was sort of thinkig about an I-Pad, but after looking at one of those they are a bit large for me to carry around in a small bag, although no doubt they do more than just allow the reading of books....but at $1000 they are more than 5 times as expensive as a Kindle and I have a laptop already that I take away when I am on the road....so yes I think (hope) the Kindle will be just what I need.

 

[Dan]

Mark, your Kindle arrive yet?

 

[Fro]

i meant to ask how is reading this in low light? if it isnt backlit i assume an external light source is needed?

 

[Dan]

yeah just like a book, you need a light.

You can get covers that come with their own additional light though

 

[Fro]

Sweet, I do a lot of reading in bed so just wasnt sure how it would be for those situations

 

[Dan]

Yeah I wish I had gotten one with the light attachment, it powers straight from the Kindle too

 

[Fro]

handy to know.

you make a handy crash test dummy

 

[Dan]

Lol

Really this is a piece of technology that I am really happy with. It has one purpose only and it does it exactly as described and perfectly.

Charging off of USB is fine too. You get one month out of each charge basically and charging takes about an hour. Usually you aren't travelling for that long so one charge is fine if you don't have your PC with you.

If you are going to buy one though. I would get the wall charger at the same time, it winds up cheaper. No-one gave me this advice so if I want one I have to spend $20 plus postage instead of $9 total at time of order.

Going to get a cheap knock off from Ebay though