Kindles

[mark smyth]

Has anyone bought a Kindle? Have you bought plant books? Do you rate them? Would you rather have a real book? How good are they for the internet? ......?

[Darren]

Even though I got told off for buying a book last night* I will join the kindle set about the time that I start buying on e-bay or joining facebook - when hell freezes over! 


 *shelf space is an issue apparently. My response to which is usually to get another bookcase, but Susan rightly points out we are now also running out of walls.. anyway £3:50 for Deni Brown's Aroids book in our local Oxfam seemed too good to miss.

[Peter Maguire]

LIz Mills took her husband's kindle on the SRGC dolomite trip and became a convert within the course of the week.
Personally, I'd rather have a 'real' book - then I can fall asleep reading in bed without running the batteries down. 

[mark smyth]

That'll be a long sleep Peter. Amazon say their kindle has a two month battery life

[Maggi Young]

Does the device not have a "snooze" mode that shuts it down if you don't change pages after a set time? Like a variation on the shut down/ battery save feature on a camera?

[Peter Maguire]

That'll be a long sleep Peter. Amazon say their kindle has a two month battery life

I don't sleep, I hibernate. 

[mark smyth]

Shelf space!

[Peter Maguire]

Plenty of space on that top shelf, especially if you lay them horizontally. 

[mark smyth]

true

I assume people have seen the 'brick'

[Neil]

Hold on to it they are starting to become collectors items.

[angie]

What's the brick 

Angie

[Martin Baxendale]

What's the brick 

Angie

Massive old mobile phone on a shelf in one of Mark's photos. I might not have spotted it but I was blowing the pic up to see how much info I could glean from Mark's computer and other stuff for my identity thieving hobby.

[mark smyth]

Sorry Martin only Outlook is open. I should have changed it to the forum.

[Casalima]

In an average-sized 3-bedroom flat I have 18 tall bookcases and sundry other book cases/shelves with books - so, yes, I have a Kindle!!!

If you fall asleep with it on, which I frequently do, it turns itself off in a few minutes (customisable, I presume), but then again it also only uses the battery when you are "turning a page". I have a cover with a reading light (LED) in it so I do have to recharge it more often, but it also means that I can read in bed without a bedside light, and I don't wake up in the morning with the light still on any more!

At the moment I only read fiction/essays on it. I don't find the search features practical enough for using it with reference books, though I would imagine it might be useful in the kitchen, provided you don't want recipes with colour pictures. Internet is also a bit clunky, but can be useful.

For holidays/travel (going to the beach, etc) it's wonderful!!! And I have friends who read international daily newspapers etc on their kindles (better on the larger model).

[Susan]

I have just bought two Kindles, one for me and one for my husband. I did not buy it for plant books as I don't think I could ever live without them in the flesh, as it were. I need to be able to flick through pages, put post it notes in various pages and drool over some of the illustrations.  I know we need more book shelves but it is one of life's necessities.

The reason I bought mine was for fiction, newspapers and when travelling.  To be able to download Lonely Planets for every country we visited on our recent overseas foray was the best thing we could have done. They are so heavy.  I used the Kindle facility on my Netbook while travelling  and as a result (the exchange rate played a big part also), we both decided to buy an actual Kindle. So far we have not been disappointed.  My husband enjoys fiction and it will probably save money in overdue fines from the library!

As someone has pointed out, battery life is quite long, and they do switch off when one falls asleep.

Susan