Kindle – What do I need to know?

It’s Mrs Gastro’s birthday in a few weeks and unlike the last few years when we have asked each other what we want for Christmas and birthdays I want to get her a surprise.

She’s an avid reader and travels a lot for work, so I’m thinking about getting her a kindle. What do I need to know about them? Is it like phones and ipads, and I will need to buy her a case as well?

I’ve never used a case – they just add weight if you’re reading for a long period.

I think the main thing to remember is that you’re pretty much ‘renting’ the books for the period of time you have a kindle account (if you buy books via Amazon). I’ve got over 250 kindle books now

As an example – I’ve got 500 Vinyl LP’s and 400 CD’s I’ve had since I started buying in the early 80’s – I’ll always have them and as long as there’s suitable devices I’ll be abel to play them. The kindle books are effectively tied to an amazon account. If Amazon cease to exist in 20 years time your books will be gone.

Go for the paperwhite if you get one. The backlight is well worth the extra.

There’s an awful lot of free books and amazon are always having 99p sales.

I understand your point about losing your books if/when Amazon stop supporting them. But as she reads a lot of fiction and most of the books she has she gives away or leaves them on trains or in airports for someone else to read (probably the cleaner to put in the bin), I thought it would save space in the house.

Is there a way of downloading books for cheap / free or are you tied to Amazon prices?

I’d agree on the backlight – makes reading in bed with a sleeping partner next to you a lot easier.

[edit]

Is there a way of downloading books for cheap

as above, Amazon always having sales and you can download books from other sources relatively easily.

Look at Amazon Prime if she reads a lot.

If you want ‘proper’ authors or recent titles you’ll need to pay wherever you source them from.

Thanks Chris, I didn’t see your post before replying.

I was looking at the paperwhite with the backlight. She would be using it on flights, would that get annoying for other passengers?

you can adjust the backlight down to a very dull glow.

Yeah, get the backlight one.

I bought a cheap neoprene sleeve for mine just to keep it safe when travelling. It doesn’t affect the weight when reading, as you take the kindle out of it.

I was a bit of a sceptic before getting mine, but lack of bookcase space meant I thought it was worth a go. I love mine now. I dread to think how many Kindle books I’ve bought….
As above, they are always doing cheap deals on books.

Only thing I don’t like is I find it very hard to ‘browse’ for new books, compared with looking at books on the shelf at Waterstones.

Oh, and it’s not so good for books with loads of pictures and/or educational/text books that you might flick between chapter/pages when using.

I’d agree on the backlight – makes reading in bed with a sleeping partner next to you a lot easier.

+1. Do not skimp and buy the non-Paperwhite version.

I think it’s handy to have a sleeve (as opposed to a book-style case, which I think is unnecessary), if only to protect it when stuffed in her bag or when left lying around.

You can get books from other sources other than Amazon. For example you can email PDFs to a Kindle email and they will magically appear on your Kindle. That’s handy for insurance policies when going on holiday for example. STW might still have their Travel Features book available for Kindle too, which can/could be downloaded from this site.

She’s an avid reader and travels a lot for work, so I’m thinking about getting her a kindle. What do I need to know about them? Is it like phones and ipads, and I will need to buy her a case as well?

I use mine in exactly that way. Not got paperwhite but i do have a proper case for it with a built in light. It’s always been just fine. It’s a great idea for travel, especially as you may have a book you are about to finish and so need to take 2 books. Also if you change your mind about what you want to read whilst away, it’s not a problem. I do tend to read slightly different types of books on kindle, but i’m sure she will decide that herself! Added bonus in work reading is that it allows you to cram read stuff you might need to know for the next day.

great idea, buy her one!

I understand your point about losing your books if/when Amazon stop supporting them.

You would only loose them if you haven’t downloaded them to your Kindle or your Kindle packs up. Otherwise they’d just sit in your Kindle memory, and a Kindle will hold a lot of books. On the kindle each book is a separate file so you could also transfer them to another device. Not sure if you would be able to read them though.

Is there a way of downloading books for cheap / free or are you tied to Amazon prices?

You’re not tied into Amazon. E-books come in different formats and a Kindle will reread some, but not others. Some publishers release e-books with no sort of DRM as free distribution gets their authors known.

Oh, and it’s not so good for books with loads of pictures and/or educational/text books that you might flick between chapter/pages when using.

This^

Kindles are great for words and that’s it. I’m reading a novel right now that occasionally has tables in it that I simply can’t read. I can zoom in and make the font bigger but not the table. I assume they render things like tables differently from text so they’re not as crisp as print. Not a huge issue, but is definitely a mark against Kindles compared to real books.

I’ve had a paperwhite for a few years now and really like it. I bought a cheap leather effect case to slip it into when I’m travelling but it lives outside of it for most of the time. It’s great for reading when my girlfriend is off to sleep before me, I can turn the brightness right down so I don’t disturb her.

Thanks for the info. Looks like it’s a paperwhite with a case to protect it in her handbag.

Do they come in different sizes and with different amounts of memory?

As a sidenote, you can download your Kindle books to back up on your PC using Calibre (https://calibre-ebook.com/). Also useful for putting on books from other sources, such as Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/).

The kindle books are effectively tied to an amazon account. If Amazon cease to exist in 20 years time your books will be gone.

This can be got around by downloading to computer and then using calibre and the DeDRM plugin.

Cases are worthwhile. But the Amazon specific ones are superb and way ahead of any of the third party ones because Amazon design them together and then prevent third parties from using their fastening mechanisms. So third party ones have crappy elastic bands holding things loosely in place, whereas the Amazon ones all snap perfectly into place. I use the case to hold the device anyway – I fold the front back and stick my finger in the gap. I find the naked device much harder to hold.

Re ‘renting’ – you aren’t actually renting, you own the rights to the book. But it is true that in theory if Amazon exploded tomorrow you’d have nothing. However, with the number of books being owned, it is extremely unlikely even if Amazon did go bust that no-one else would take that side of the business on.

The paperwhite with the backlight – it is excellent and very effective, which means that you can use it at such a low setting it doesn’t disturb anyone else. Much less light spillage than a clip-on light. Also – the paperwhiteness of it is because of the backlight – I find it better to turn the backlight off if there’s ambient light – the ‘paper’ goes slightly yellowy but then paperbacks are slightly yellowy anyway. I find it easier on the eyes.

You can put other book formats on it, and there are probably ways to hack it but there’s no legal way unless the book exists in a DRM-free format. There are libraries of classics and old books and such available. But there are also tons of classics on Amazon for $1 – one of my first purchases was the complete works of Jules Verne – cost me 79p.

Do they come in different sizes and with different amounts of memory?

No, they all have the same memory size, but it’s enough for lots of books. The main thing in your situation is if you want the 3G one or not. I love having 3G because I travel, and when I finish a book, I can get a new one wherever I am immediately. No messing around with hotspots. Definitely a big plus for travellers imo.

Only thing I don’t like is I find it very hard to ‘browse’ for new books, compared with looking at books on the shelf at Waterstones.

I find it easier, because it has the ‘you might also like’ section which is targetted towards what you read or you’ve just finished. For me, browsing these is far easier than being faced with a wall of ‘fiction’ which includes every possible type from chick lit to any kind of weird stuff I might be interested in.

educational/text books that you might flick between chapter/pages when using.

The latest software on paper whites has a flicking feature – you can bring up a second sort of page image and hunt around for something whilst being able to go back to your original place easily. However for novels it also has X-Ray which is great for when you forget something about a character or place – even easier than having to flick back to find the reference.

I bought mine before the paperwhite came out, wish I had one but can’t justify the upgrade cost. Mine is the Touch, from many years ago now

Conversely I like the case as it makes it much easier to hold, the design has changed a bit so might not be the same for some of the new ones, but I didn’t like holding it without the case. Has also helped when I’ve accidentally dropped it

Has been very reliable, just needs charging and that lasts ages. I use mine infrequently but it’s excellent for travelling and commuting, particularly if you have to stand as you can hold it one handed so easily

Love my paperwhite.

Previous Kindles I used the Amazon cases for the special way they attached to the spine but the newer ones are different. I have a Fintie one like this now which was half the price of the Amazon one, works just the same including the magnets to wake and sleep when you open/close the cover. Works great, nice and slim. Plenty of people get by without a case, but I do prefer to have the screen covered when I chuck it in a bag.

You can load other ebook formats on them, but as said not DRM ones. So if you’re buying books it’ll be Amazon, for free stuff like Project Gutenburg, self-published free stuff, etc it’ll work fine. The system that local libraries have for ebook lending won’t work with Kindles, if that bothers you.

Non-3G Paperwhite (if you really need 3G you can use a phone hotspot) and a cheap neoprene slip case. Job jobbed.

molgrips – Member

I find it easier, because it has the ‘you might also like’ section which is targetted towards what you read or you’ve just finished.

Horses for courses & all that.
This reason you cite as being one of things you like about it, is one of the main things I dislike. It grabs hold of topics/genres you like and just bombards you with them. I love looking for new things to read, but it seems to zone in on the things you like & just show you more of exactly the same stuff.

Similar thing to Spotify; given that there are umpteen gazillion songs on there the amount of songs that pop up again and again on there is ridiculous…..

I love looking for new things to read, but it seems to zone in on the things you like & just show you more of exactly the same stuff.

It can be samey sometimes. But then the more diverse stuff you read, the more diverse recommendations you can get. Also the ‘customers also read’ bit helps as you can go to one book, then from there to another, and so on, thereby migrating through tastes and genres.

I’ve signed up with a mailer called bookbub – it sends a daily message containing free and v cheap offer books from Amazon.
I’ve read a couple of decent books through that.
Whatever you do don’t select the “women’s fiction” category though! (unless, of course, abused children is your bag)

There used to be a similar mailing list to that one I used, it was fantastic as I never paid for any books just got them when they were free … until Amazon bought the company behind it and shut them down 🙁

I love my Paperwhite, and so does my missus (she has one too). They are both linked to my Amazon account, so we both have access to the same library. They can magically sync to the latest read page, so we can pick up either device and pick up wherever we left off, assuming we aren’t reading the same book (in which case it can be a PITA!).

As mentioned already, the backlight is great for reading in bed without disturbing anyone else.

Being able to carry around a massive library and dip in and out of multiple books on the fly is fantastic. I’d pay the small premium for the 3G if I were you.

Cheers, Rich

Got a kindle on black friday 29 quids, well worth the outlay.long battery life and a case from argos for 6,99.

They are both linked to my Amazon account, so we both have access to the same library.

This is no longer necessary. Now you can set up a household that contains multiple accounts, and everyone in the household can read anyone’s books – if you share them with the household.

Another vote for the paperwhite. I still have a wall of double-stacked books and they still get read but the ability to carry around a library in your pocket is fantastic. I was a really slow adopter, I like paper and it took a lot to convince me but it was an alps trip that tipped me over- I ended up taking about 5 beefy paperbacks in case I broke myself on day one and ended up sat in the sun reading and getting high on painkillers 😆

I like the phone app too- it’s nothing like as nice but keep them synced and no matter where you are, you have your current book.

I am a big kindle fan, My first was a 3G “keyboard” Kindle with an official Amazon case with a pop up light. Had it for years before leaving it on a train (I think!).

I replaced it with a 3G Kindle Voyage which was great and had a really clever “origami” case which woke it up and also acted as a stand – useful for reading when dining alone on work trips.

I then managed to lose that (since found :-)) and bought a non-3G Paperwhite as a replacement. This is not quite as nice as the Voyage in terms of aesthetics but the Voyage is not worth the extra imo. I bought a Fintie case as described above which turns on the Kindle when opened – it is a feature I would miss if I had a cover that does not support it.

I agree that browsing for books on the Kindle itself is painful. I use my PC and specify “Send to my KIndle” when buying.

Re. 3G if your partner travels alot (particularly abroad) the 3G version is worth having. There is no additional cost for 3G after the initial purchase and you can (painfully) browse websites using it – it allowed me to keep up with email when in Crete a few years ago.

I do get guilt trips when in bookshops when I note interesting books for later download though 🙁

molgrips – Member
I find it easier, because it has the ‘you might also like’ section which is targetted towards what you read or you’ve just finished.
Horses for courses & all that.
This reason you cite as being one of things you like about it, is one of the main things I dislike. It grabs hold of topics/genres you like and just bombards you with them. I love looking for new things to read, but it seems to zone in on the things you like & just show you more of exactly the same stuff.

Similar thing to Spotify; given that there are umpteen gazillion songs on there the amount of songs that pop up again and again on there is ridiculous…..
Exactly why I don’t use Spotify and ignore the “if you liked that…” suggestions; I want to find new stuff that isn’t like what I already listen to.

Yes but the ‘people also read’ bit doesn’t necessarily mean the books are like the one you have finished. I don’t always want to read the same type of book either, but I find it easier than scanning book spines on a shelf.

Buy it from John Lewis – it’ll come with a two year warranty.

I just have the kindle app downloaded on my iPhone and iPad mini
Tend to read on the iPad but the book syncs so that if I’m picking kids up from scouts or similar and have a bit of spare time I can read a chapter in my phone