KINDLE REVIEW

 

With the Australian dollar currently worth more than the US dollar, now is the time to buy stuff from the U.S.

I have had an Amazon account for some time and have always been interested in their eBook reader, the Kindle, so I bought one.

The process is simple. First set up an Amazon Account. You need to give them a credit card number but Amazon is a reputable major US company and giving them your Credit Card details is as safe as these things can be. Far safer than handing your card over to say a waiter at a restaurant which is something we do regularly without thinking too much about it.

Amazon also owns Audible and the UK government is currently considering the proposed acquisition by Amazon of “The Book Depository”. Amazon and Audible have my Credit card details but I use PayPal for “The Book Depository”.

After the account is set up, log in and you can then buy a Kindle direct from Amazon if you wish. CARE!!! – If you want a wall charger make sure to get both on the same order to save on postage.

I selected the Wi-Fi only model without ads for $139. There is a cheaper option at $114 that has adds on the screen saver. A model is also available with 3G Wireless Internet access if you want to be able to buy books anywhere at any time. However, I have a Wi-Fi network at home and a Telstra Prepaid Mobile Wi-Fi router so I don’t need to pay extra for 3G. If you have an iPhone with Telstra (and other carriers I assume) you can set it up as a Wi-Fi router and connect your Kindle to the internet via iPhone.

After I ordered it, I was astounded when it turned up just a few days later. I don’t know how they did it but the package said that it was posted from 1850 Mercer Road, Lexington KY USA.

It is ready to go when you get it. Apart from charging it and inputting the WPA password to get on your home Wi-Fi network, there is nothing else to do as it is already registered to the Amazon Account from which it was ordered. You have full control over the device via your Amazon Account so you can change registration and account details if necessary.

It comes with a USB cable to charge from a computer but you do not need a computer to operate it. I purchased the wall charger (optional extra) so mine has never been hooked up to a computer.

Buying books could not be simpler. Providing you are on the internet via any 3G or Wi-Fi network, you go to the Kindle Store link on the Kindle, browse and select a book and click on buy and within seconds it downloads and you can start reading.

Alternatively, can also log into the Amazon site on a computer and buy Kindle books there and they will automatically download onto your Kindle. However, I have never used this option but I do sometimes browse on the computer but, after I have made a selection, I go back to the Kindle to buy it.

There are two important matters that need to be addressed.

FIRST – THE BAD NEWS – This is the lack of available books to Australian Account Holders. As is the case with Audible, there are thousands upon thousands of books available both old and new in the Kindle format until, that is, you log in with your Australian Account. This is not the fault of Amazon or Audible. It is however the fault of Australian Publishers. Yes, the exact same bright sparks who moan and groan and complain about falling sales and closing book shops apparently don’t seem to realise they have a growing number of people with money in their hands wanting to buy their product. But for reasons known only to them, they have decided that they don’t like the colour of our money or something. It beats me but because of this I have no sympathy at all for them. If my money is not good enough they can go to hell. I will now only buy from Audible and Kindle and, if not available from these sources, I will buy paper books from The Book Depository in the UK (or Amazon in the US but The Book Depository is cheaper and they only take about 2 to 3 weeks to get here).

SECOND – THE GOOD NEWS – In general you can have up to 6 devices (Kindle, iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone etc.) connected to one Amazon Account. (Sometimes it is less depending on individual publications. In this case you are told of the limit). This means that you only need to buy a book once for up to six devices to be able to share it.

This is always the first question I get asked about the Kindle. Most families buy one book and share it around various family members. The following is copied from the Amazon Web Site http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_kip_faq_num?nodeId=200298470&#howmany

How many Kindles can I use to access titles in my library?

Most books and other non-subscription items you purchase from the Kindle store may be simultaneously accessed for your personal use on up to six Kindles (or Kindle compatible devices, such as Kindle for iPhone) registered to your Amazon.com account. If the limit is less than six kindles for a specific title, you’ll see the message "Simultaneous Device usage: Up to X simultaneous devices, per publisher limits" on the detail page.

If you reach the device limit and wish to replace one of your current devices with a new one, you must first deregister and delete the content from the device you wish to replace before you can access the content in question from your new device. For device registration instructions, please see the Help page for the device you wish to register/deregister on the Kindle Support pages. There is no limit on the number of times a title can be downloaded to a registered device.

Subscription content can only be downloaded to one Kindle at a time and cannot be accessed from Kindle for iPhone.

Therefore if you want to share books, you have the option to buy more than one Kindle or if you have an iPad, iPhone, iPod touch etc. you can register these devices.

However you may want to seriously consider the multiple Kindle option as it is the perfect device on which to read books. The Kindle basically does one thing but it does that one thing faultlessly.

Here is a summary of my review:

· The Kindle behaves a lot like a paper book. You turn pages with back / forward buttons and use bookmarks. It is not backlit. Consequently, you need a light to read by, but by the same token this means that there is no trouble using it in bright sunlight – just like a book.

· Because of the technology it uses (no back light for the screen), the battery lasts for weeks if not months. You are given plenty of warning when the battery is getting low. To re-charge, either plug into a computer or the wall socket (with the optional extra cord). I have had mine for 2 months and I have only fully depleted the battery once but, even then, I ran an Audio Book through the speakers for days to run it down.

· Mine has 3 GB of memory so that it will hold thousands of books (depending on size). When (and if) you fill up your Kindle, you can delete content but it always remains available on your Amazon Account Archive to be downloaded again at any time (much like Audible).

· The Kindle weighs less than a book and you don’t have to hold it open like you do with a book.

· The prices of individual books vary but all are significantly less that paper books. To give you some idea, here a couple of examples – More Recent Books – Harry Bosch (Michael Connelly) novels – The Overlook (published 2007) $7.59 – – 9 Dragons Published 2009 $8.42 — Jack Reacher (Lee Child) “Worth Dying For” Published 2010 $9.12– Dan Brown “The Lost Symbol” $8.63

      Older books can be really cheap but my 2 most recent purchases were:

• Zero Day (Mark Russinovich) $11.99
• The End of the Wasp Season (Denise Mina) $9-99

· Dictionary – There are any number of very handy features that the Kindle provides but one of the best is the Dictionary function. If you come across a word you don’t know, you just put the cursor before it and a definition appears at the bottom. In the book “The End of the Wasp Season” which is about a Scottish detective, the word “oxter” came up. I had no idea what it meant but with the Kindle Dictionary function I just scrolled the cursor down to the beginning of this word and the following definition appeared at the bottom of the page – “oxter” – Scottish – N English – A person’s Armpit”

· Find Function – When I wanted to find “oxter” in the book to write this blog, I used the Find / Search function and found it immediately. Try doing that with a paper book!

· One feature that I have found that I need is “Bookmarks.” Just like a paper book you can turn down the top corner of a page as a “bookmark” and you find this place again from the Menu / View Notes and Marks. When you leave your Kindle it remembers the last page that you were on but I have found that with my clumsy hands I frequently accidentally press the page back / forward buttons thus losing my place. So I have trained myself to add a bookmark (as I would have to do with a paper book).

· Print / page Size. It is fully adjustable and you can make the print bigger or smaller with plenty of settings that will satisfy all tastes including type size, words per line and whether you want it to be vertical or horizontal. There is also a “Text to Speech” function that I have not yet tried. (I tried it just now – It is typical Computer type speech – I’ll stick with Audible).

· The Kindle store has publications other than books. Newspapers, magazines etc. are available and every time I look the list grows longer. Magazines and Newspapers might be better on an iPad but at least this is an option. I have heard that in the U.S., text books are now being made available on Kindle and this seems to me to be a great idea. Not only should this make text books much cheaper, but it would also reduce the bulk of printed books that students need to carry around these days.

· There are plenty of other functions that I won’t go into here but, after you make a couple of purchases, Kindle makes suggestions for similar books you might like and you can download your Audible Audio Books and listen to them via the Kindle’s speakers (or headphones).

· Each Kindle comes with a private Kindle Email address that you can use to download your own content onto it via an attachment to an Email (that you send to your Kindle Email). Many formats are acceptable including Word Documents, PDF and JPG pictures and more. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200505520&#email

COMPLAINTS

I am genuine when I say this but I can’t think of anything to complain about (apart from the content issue for Australians but this is not the fault of Amazon / Kindle).

However I will mention a couple of things that you should be aware of:

1. Impulse buying – If ever there was a device designed to encourage impulse buying it is the Kindle. It is just so easy, quick and cheap to buy books. One of the books mentioned above (The End of the Wasp Season) was an impulse buy. I was listening to our local talk radio (4BC Brisbane) and every Friday they have a lady who reviews books. She highly recommended this one and I went to my Kindle and before I knew it I had clicked “Buy”. (Yes – It was a good book and I enjoyed it but I will have to exercise a bit of self-control in future).

2. Bookmarks – As mentioned above, I have had to train myself to always add a book mark to my last page as I have a terrible habit of accidently clicking the Forward / Back buttons when I put it down after I finish reading. I am trained now but when I first got it, I had to leaf back to find my place on many an occasion (just like when you lose your place on a regular book).

SUMMARY

I know a lot of people will baulk at paying for a Kindle but with the average cost of a Kindle book at about half of the retail price of a paperback book at the large chain stores like Big W or K Mart it would not take all that long to recover the purchase price.

The issue of available content for Australians cannot be overlooked but one would hope that Australian publishers will eventually wake up to the fact that they have a growing number of eBook readers with money to spend. Also remember that Big W and K Mart do have some limitations on the range they carry and if you are forced to go to a book store to find what you want then prices are higher again.

On the other hand a Kindle is better than a book. It is light and easy to use with heaps of handy functions. Buying books at any time day or night is cheap and simple (as long as you have an internet connection). Moreover, you can carry around thousands of books on a small light device.

For me it is a “no brainer”

Now I must get back to reading “Zero Day” (by Mark Russinovich). Although I am not sure that I ever should have started reading it. This is from the Amazon Description:-

The horror of cyberterrorism explodes on the page in Russinovich’s first novel. A plane over the Atlantic suddenly needs to reboot its computer to stay in the air, and the pilots barely avert disaster. A hospital network mixes up patient information, resulting in the death of several people. A law firm, which has lost all of its clients’ data and can’t get its system running again…,

“So what” – I hear you say – “It is just another work of fiction”.

Maybe – but look at who the author is – See Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Russinovich

If ever there was a bloke who knew what he was talking about it is him! I think I will sell all my computers and anything using a computer to operate (there goes my new car), stop flying in planes, going to hospitals and even shopping at Woolworths (their systems are fully computerised – my milk might get mixed up with the rat poison) and go and live in a tent in the bush somewhere.