E-Readers, do you have one?

Tipsy McSwagger

Have a Kindle since last Christmas and it's class. I downloaded a file with 5000 books on it including every book from Stephen King, JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling, George RR Martin etc. and get every new release for free. The battery last for weeks and the built in dictionary is dead handy.

super_furry

Have a kindle, I couldn't be without it now.

Aseth

I have a kindle. And I love it. Best(and most treacherous) option is to be able to buy books and mags via kindle
I still prefer real books but it would be impossible to move so often with a small library. Also if I am not in the mood for a particular book it's easy to start/continue with another one.

Captain Darling

I had a kindle until i sat on the fcuker and cracked the screen. Twas deadly, i'd over 900 books on it.

hypermuse

I won a kindle in a raffle.. Had no use for it so just donated it to a charity to be raffled again!!

Biggins

Captain Darling wrote: »

I had a kindle until i sat on the fcuker and cracked the screen. Twas deadly, i'd over 900 books on it.

Ouch! :eek:

AudreyHepburn

I have a Kindle and absolutly adore it for so many reasons.

I love reading but I often have several books on the go at once so it's great to have all my books in one place.

Plus many books are far cheaper on the kindle than in the shops.

The Kindle is the perfect size for your bag and doesn't take up nearly as much room as a book would.

I would highly recommend the Kindle to anyone who loves reading.

Swampy

Kindle rocks. Will never have to buy a book again.

Dyr

Kindles are great, if you read novels and the like, saves a ridiculous amount space. If you're into reference books and stuff that has illustrations then they're a waste of time.

Swampy

Loads of torrents out there with collections of books for the kindle. Be careful adding too many in one go. They can get stuck indexing and use up battery life very quickly.

Kindle is also a mp3 player. You can download audiobookes straight to it wirelessly if using audible.

A great site to get the most out your dreaded is mobileread.org. Great forum.

bryaner

Freddie59 wrote: »

Bought the wife a Kindle for her birthday earlier in the year. She is an avid book reader, and has been for years. Pound for pound, the best present I have ever bought - she even says so herself. It is an incredible device. You can even download the first chapter of a book for free to see if it's for you. The Kindle really is a revelation. Go for it. But get the WiFi/3G unit with the keypad (which is invaluable).

Same as I got one for the missus too, she's a Librarian so I was pretty worried if she'd like it or not, she loves it but still loves her books it's like an accompaniment for books..

InkSlinger67

I don't have one, I prefer the feel of a book in my hand. If good books ever come to a point where they are only available on a reader, then I'll get one.

Gummy Panda

I got a kindle yesterday. The e-ink is fantastic. Such a nice display to read off.

Captain Darling

Biggins wrote: »

Ouch! :eek:

Twas rough, I have a bad relationship with technology of late. Its bloody clumsier i'm getting.

Biggins

Captain Darling wrote: »

Twas rough, I have a bad relationship with technology of late. Its bloody clumsier i'm getting.

Although they are not very cheap - thank heavens they are not too expensive either for the item they are.

I originally bought one for myself, loaded it up with books and the next thing I know, the wife was using it all the time to read.
I had to buy her one just to get mine back! LOL :pac:

Captain Darling

Biggins wrote: »

Although they are now very cheap - thank heavens they are not too expensive either for the item they are.

I originally bought one for myself, loaded it up with books and the next thing I know, the wife was using it all the time to read.
I had to buy her one just to get mine back! LOL :pac:

They are very clever little devices. Very handy for the bed/train or wherever. Its handy to have your books condensed into one little thing.

I had my nose stuck in it full time. Going to see on purchasing another one in the coming months.

Darkginger

Captain Darling - before you buy a new Kindle, contact their customer service and tell them you broke the one you had. Two friends of mine have had Kindle 'accidents' and in both cases, Amazon replaced their Kindles free of charge - worth a try?

Snakeblood

Darkginger wrote: »

Captain Darling - before you buy a new Kindle, contact their customer service and tell them you broke the one you had. Two friends of mine have had Kindle 'accidents' and in both cases, Amazon replaced their Kindles free of charge - worth a try?

Totally worth it. I'm on my fourth replacement. I rang the first couple of times and was mystified why it broke, but they replaced it, then the third time, the guy on the other end was egging me on. 'So, while you were able to read with it, it might have been broken in the box anyway?'

Well, if you insist, man. I thought it was broken by me sitting on it.

Jimmy Recard

Love my kindle! been living out of a backpack in Australia last 2 years, every time I moved had to give books away until I got it. Perfect for traveling.

Captain Darling wrote: »

I had a kindle until i sat on the fcuker and cracked the screen. Twas deadly, i'd over 900 books on it.

Did you ring amazon? Cracked the screen on my 4month old kindle at the weekend. went on to amazon.com support, they give you an instant call back and after a 5 minute call they're sending out a free replacement, no questions asked, even paying postage to send back the broken one. Great costumer service!

pickarooney

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Thing is, I've been suspended from my local library here for another week for bringing a book back late and books in English are ridiculously expensive here, so one would probably come in handy...

You Irish and your time-keeping...

nibtrix wrote: »

I've had an ereader for the last eight years or so - as in I had a palm handheld computer that I could read books on. About two years ago I got an Astak EZreader, as it's open format, so there was no crap about only being able to download books from certain sites. If I was starting from scratch I'd probably get a kindle but until I can convert the 500+ ebooks I have now I won't switch.

You should be able to batch process all 500 books into .MOBI with Calibre.

OldGoat

I'm a recent convertee to the Kindle. What it means to me is not having to wait (and wait and wait) for printers/publishers to put books into a pocket size format. Nothing worse for me then anticipating a new book only to find the printers have issued it in that stupid giant size format that you need a feckin rucksack to carry it around. Now all my book fit neatly into the inside pocket of my jacket and I'm no longer tearing my overfilled pockets.

To those who say that they would miss the feel of a real book I have to say that I used that argument for a long time. You very quickly become accustomed to the new format. However if you still miss the book feel them simply buy a book cover for the reader. Now all your books can be leather-bound.

Remember to check out library sites like Project Guttenberg for free titles.

Biggins

OldGoat wrote: »

...Remember to check out library sites like Project Guttenberg for free titles.

Here is a few more (with free books):

* http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/default.asp?Language=EN
* http://www.feedbooks.com/
* http://oreilly.com/ebooks/
* http://www.manybooks.net/
* http://www.baen.com/library/books.asp
* http://www.free-ebooks.net/
* http://www.munseys.com/
* http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/freebooks.htm
* http://www.smashwords.com/

...There is loads more.

Chinafoot

OldGoat wrote: »

To those who say that they would miss the feel of a real book I have to say that I used that argument for a long time. You very quickly become accustomed to the new format. However if you still miss the book feel them simply buy a book cover for the reader. Now all your books can be leather-bound.

In fairness, it's far more than the look of the book that people would miss. Sticking a book-like cover on a piece of hardware won't replace the feel and smell of an actual book. I've tried the Kindle and the Sony eReader and I don't like either. I can see their merits but they're just not for me.

Captain Darling

Jimmy Recard wrote: »

Did you ring amazon? Cracked the screen on my 4month old kindle at the weekend. went on to amazon.com support, they give you an instant call back and after a 5 minute call they're sending out a free replacement, no questions asked, even paying postage to send back the broken one. Great costumer service!

Thats brilliant. Is it easy fix them? The casing on it seems like it would just snap off.

I'm heading to Rome on Thursday, if i'd known that i would have gotten it done sooner.

Snakeblood

Captain Darling wrote: »

Thats brilliant. Is it easy fix them? The casing on it seems like it would just snap off.

I'm heading to Rome on Thursday, if i'd known that i would have gotten it done sooner.

When I got mine done the first time, they just sent me a new one and told me to keep the old one, not to bother sending it back.

Captain Darling

Snakeblood wrote: »

When I got mine done the first time, they just sent me a new one and told me to keep the old one, not to bother sending it back.

Thats brilliant. I'll give them a buzz and see if i can get it sorted. Cheers lads.

Watch this space!

Tar.Aldarion

Don't have one. I've read thousands of books, mostly when younger and I do love the feel of them. Still I would love a kindle, I hear there is a touch one coming out. The free 3g would be nice. I'm not sure about the non-touch one without a keyboard, looks impossible to use for typing. So many different ones around these days.

You can't compare reading on a kindle to reading on a tablet. People seem to love the e-ink so much.

Cormic

Yep

I have two. One Kindle for me and one for the missus. They are great!

Would have bought the 3g version cause there is a web browser in it. It's pretty crappy but it would work while on hols to check your mail.

Kirby

I bought my mother a Kindle last year as she is a huge reader. One book a day huge. She loves it. She can just download the New York Best sellers list and go to town....and get all the "ones she missed" from her favourite authors.

I have a Nook. It's heavier than the kindle....and its battery is slightly weaker. But it has an SD card slot, a touch screen, and most importantly....it feels better in your hands.

I find the kindle to feel plasticy and cheap. The nook feels more expensive than it is.

One thing I would recommend for anybody buying any e-reader......buy a light for it. E-ink technology is great because there is no shine....but contrast is awful. The page is grey instead of white. Do your eyes a favour and buy a light that clips to the top of it.

Frank Black

Snakeblood wrote: »

When I got mine done the first time, they just sent me a new one and told me to keep the old one, not to bother sending it back.

Same thing happened to me.
Kindle froze at one stage and I couldn't get it to respond, rang Amazon, tried to do a manual re-set, didn't work, so they just sent me out a brand new one and let me keep the old one.

When the old one ran out of charge (which took about 4 weeks), I re-charged it and it worked fine, ended up giving to a friend - you couldn't register it to Amazon, but you could still load up e-books on it from a computer so it was still quite useful.

Amazon are pretty good at the whole customer service end of things.

dory

Love my Kindle. I have the 3G version and where ever I go I have Internet when I need it. Saved my ass in India yesterday when I missed my flight and had to buy a new one. If not for my Kindle I would have had to buy an expensive one at the desk but I got a cheap one online.

Also like it for reading! And I broke mine and they sent me a new one straight away.

Dozen Wicked Words

My Kindle is brilliant, have the wifi only version, couldn't afford the 3g at the time sadly. Plenty of legit and less legit sites to download books and as has been said before Calibre is a fantastic way of converting various formats (the man loves a good update though, seems to be one a week!)

I find a decent cover gives it the required weight too, it is quite light without one.

Biggins

Kirby wrote: »

...Do your eyes a favour and buy a light that clips to the top of it.

The best light by far I have found is Mighty Bright - example: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/MIGHTY-BRIGHT-XTRAFLEX-LED-MUSIC-LIGHT-BLACK-CLIP-ON-FREE-STANDING-/360404699799?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Access_RL&hash=item53e9cb4a97

Have two of them. Tried many others and none compare.
Longer extending arm (greater at bending into any shape you want). Easy (padded - which is great) clip. Very cheap. Powerful. Great quality

ixoy

Won one and left it in the book for ages. I didn't think I could read from one without the feel of the book.

Eventually took it out and changed my mind very quickly. It's a great device. The e-ink display is very different to reading off a monitor: if you don't know, you need to see it to understand.

I can now bring my books anywhere whereas previously it was a pain (I couldn't bring George R.R. Martin's latest away without injuring my back). I also have instant access to new books.

Definitely recommended - I got a nice hemp cover for it too to make it feel a little more like a book. Win win.

Tar.Aldarion

ixoy wrote: »

Won one and left it in the book for ages. I didn't think I could read from one without the feel of the book.

Eventually took it out and changed my mind very quickly. It's a great device. The e-ink display is very different to reading off a monitor: if you don't know, you need to see it to understand.

I can now bring my books anywhere whereas previously it was a pain (I couldn't bring George R.R. Martin's latest away without injuring my back). I also have instant access to new books.

Definitely recommended - I got a nice hemp cover for it too to make it feel a little more like a book. Win win.

Link to the hemp please?

Biggins

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Link to the hemp please?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eco-Nique-Natural-6-inch-Amazon-Wireless/dp/B003ZUXVSK

Gophur

Best tip for Kindle I have received in a long time is to follow @kindleebooks and @KindleFreeBooks on Twitter.

If you go into the KINDLE store, on the device itself, you cannot filter by price (as they want you to spend as much money as possible)

I have the 3G version, which gives me free web browsing when travelling all over the world. It's crude browser, slow, no flash and monochrome, but excellent for catching up on the www happenings.

Tar.Aldarion

Biggins wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eco-Nique-Natural-6-inch-Amazon-Wireless/dp/B003ZUXVSK

Thanks, looks quite nice!

I don't know about you lot..

But, personally I would prefer a book.

Kirby

Its still a book in my eyes. Just electronic.

Shenshen

The Jammy dodger wrote: »

How many of you have these E-Readers? I was gonna get one for my wife as she is mad into reading books and taking up space in my house with them.

I thought this E-reader would be a good idea to reduce that and at the same time serve as a lovely present that I'll get weeks of peace out of.

So...Are they worth the money? easy to use? Easy to download books on?

Jam

If she's mad into books, take my advise and safe your money.
Those things are for people who aren't into books.

mariebeth

I just got a Kindle as a birthday present and I love it. I don't see myself giving up actual books any day soon, but I had two main reasons for wanting the kindle:

1. going on holidays - 1 kindle as opposed to several books. It'll free up so much space!

2. the free books - I'd love to read more of the classics, but if I bought them in book form, I'd probably read a few chapters, get bored, put them down and forget about them. At least with the Kindle I can get them free, read a few pages, take a break and then go back to them. I'll hopefully be way more inclined to read them now that I have the kindle.

flyaway.

Yep. I mostly use it for the hundreds of free Public Domain books, the occasional new book that is cheaper on ebook and some advance release copies of books. I don't think the ''experience'' of reading is ruined at all and I find it much easier than holding a big heavy book.

Laughing at the idea that eReaders are for people who ''aren't into books''- such a weird assumption. I've read over 200 books this year, I own over 300 ''real'' books, I get at least 4 books from the library every week, books are a huge part of my life and the eReader has made my reading life that little bit easier and cheaper. There's so much snobbery surrounding ''real'' books it's ridiculous... it's the same story, you're still holding it and reading it- what's the big deal?

ixoy

Shenshen wrote: »

Those things are for people who aren't into books.

Wrong. They're for people who are into books. They allow you to have more books without needing the book space. They enable you to get books instantly. They're perfect for increasing your book consumption. The people I know with Kindles are avid readers, reading far more than the average person.

faceman

I have a kindle too. It's easily my favourite gadget. I find I'm reading more since getting it as its so easier to have on me when I'm out and about.

I don't get the whole "I prefer the feel and smell of a real book" mentality. When I was in school I had tons of books to bring in everyday in a schoolbag. I didn't like the "feel" on them books given the weight and the smell reminds me of school.

Can't imagine it's much fun carrying books around as an adult and I'd get funny looks on the train sniffing a Cormac McCarthy novel.

jam_mac_jam

Shenshen wrote: »

If she's mad into books, take my advise and safe your money.
Those things are for people who aren't into books.

Well I am very into books and have one, why would you have one if you didnt like books? You do understand that you read books on them dont you?

Aishae

I love my kindle.
I've been a big book fan since I was 7. Practically ate books. But after the age of 20 it can be hard to find the time to read unless you always cart a book around. So you end up reading less.

I have a proper organiser type case on it to protect it. But I can still pop it into a regular handbag and read it on the bus and take it away and read as much as I like rather than rationing how much I read to make the book last the entire time.

I still read paper books sometimes. But I don't miss them really. The e ink is less painful on the eyes and can be read in sunlight unlike a glare paged page

Columbia

I have a Kindle with 3g, and it is great. I do a lot of travelling and now working abroad, so not having to worry about which books to bring is amazing. The 3g has worked fine (fine = enough to check email/Facebook) everywhere I've been so far, even my current little village in the Republic of Georgia! The power here is off about 40% of the time, so having the Kindle spares me a lot of boredom.

It's not perfect, but it's a damn nifty little thing.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I like having a physically copy of whatever I'm reading and find the E-Reader quite impersonal. Then again I'm a self confessed Technophobe ( friends refer to me as the caveman) so I don't think its marketed towards the likes of me.

Biggins

Shenshen wrote: »

Those things are for people who aren't into books.

Absolute rubbish.

Ebook sales by the way has over taken the sales of paper books now with a number of international book sellers.