Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Kindle for Everyone

Before I begin, I want to make it very plain that I’m a big fan of books. I like feeling the weight of it in my hand. I like the smell of the paper and ink, I love to see my bookshelves full of them (to my wife’s chagrin). But lately I’ve been forced to wonder about the Kindle and Sony readers that are becoming so popular. My sisters both have Kindles and love them. Me? I have an iPod Touch and a friend of mine told me about the Kindle Application that’s available for it (and iPhones).
I downloaded the Kindle Application and about the same time I was informed by Amazon that a book I’d ordered was out of stock. So I used my iPod Touch to navigate out to the Amazon store and downloaded the book.
I have to say that now that I’ve used it, I loved it. The text was large enough to read and the touch screen made maneuvering through the book easy and convenient. Setting bookmarks caused me a little problem for about 45 seconds, but once I had it figured out, it was easy. The iPod is lightweight and easy to hold, even in bed, and is backlit so you don’t need a light on to read (a plus for me since I usually read after my wife’s asleep). The screen flips automatically from portrait to landscape, depending on the orientation of the iPod, which is sometimes annoying when you change it accidently, but overall, I saw it as an advantage.
The only downside I can think of is that it was hard for me to judge where I was in the story. Glancing at the placement of a bookmark in a book, you can easily gauge whether you’re halfway done, or near the end, or whatever. I wasn’t able to do that as easily with the Kindle app. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I would give the Kindle App for my iPod Touch 5 stars.
~Doug

3 comments:

  1. I'll add a plug for my Sony e-reader. My daughter gave it to me for Christmas last year; she's a big fan and has had two, may be getting another one. (She has to have the latest. And she gave her first one to someone else, not me, when she bought her second.)

    The software is a little awkward and slow, but once the stuff is on the reader (and I haven't found a format that wouldn't transfer), I can choose print size, highlight stuff, dogear pages, and other cool stuff. Mine is a PSR700 and has side lights so I can read in bed without disturbing whoever I'm sleeping with. (OK, it's always the same guy, but I can try to sound like my life is exciting.)

    I can tell where I am because the page is displayed as 56 of 205. It holds a charge for a good long time, not sure how long, but I've never run out.

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  3. My son has a Sony e-reader and loves it. He keeps telling me I need to get current with the times! I'm still a hand-held book fan, but am leaning toward becoming 'with it', and maybe Santa will be so inclined.

    My mystery, At Witt's End, was just released this week in both Kindle and ebook by my publisher, with the paper copy to follow in two months. My son reminded me, twice, if he didn't have a Sony e-reader, he couldn't have been the first to buy a copy.

    I'm trying to find comfort with the role reversal. It's no longer 'mother knows best!'

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