Is the Kindle For You?

I decided to treat myself this Christmas and bought myself a Kindle. I really do like it, but not quite as much as I thought I would. So I thought I'd post some things I noticed so you (the reader) can access whether or not the kindle is for you.

1) You can set up your kindle with your daily paper. No more worries about if it arrived, as it automatically is uploaded onto your kindle using whispernet, so long as you have the whispernet turned on.

Now this is a very great feature if you read the NYT, or WallStreet Journal, or one of the other papers (currently there are 54 US papers on Kindle, mostly large market or financial newspapers) that are available with kindle. But if you prefer your small town paper, well you'll just have to read that the old fashion way because there are a limited amount of papers to choose from (at least as of todays date)

2) You can also set up your magazine subscription to automatically upload.

That is if you only like reading Time, Newsweek, or Ellery Queen (a total of 44 titles as of todays date) than you're in luck. Unfortunately, I tend to prefer different magazines that they don't have.

3) Lower price for new release books. Now this is nice if you like to read a book as soon as it hits the shelf. Instead of shelling out 29.95, your kindle cost is only 9.99. A big improvement and  13 books and your kindle will pay for itself.

However, for me, I tend to buy books from used book stores, sales, and thriftstores. Always looking for the bargain price. I don't think I've ever bought a book fresh off the press. And Amazon does not lower the price once the paperback comes out. A huge downside for me.

4) They do have download for free items. Now we're talking. Most classics can be found for free, plus some authors have their work on kindle for free or a low price, so YES, I can bargain hunt on kindle. There are over 400,000 titles in the kindle book shop.(link is sorted by price low to high, so you can see all the free books available)

5) Instant look up. I love this feature. You can go to any word you're reading and look up the meaning. I downloaded a copy of the The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Jr.for free and didn't even realize all the words I didn't know. Some are archaic, because the translation is from the mid-19th Century and some I simply was not familiar. Almost all were accessible with the dictionary stored within kindle. But if you prefer you can download another dictionary and make it your default. I just love, love, love this feature.

6) Blogs. Yes, you can even have your favorite blog uploaded, that is if it is available. Now it is harder for me to have a problem with this one because the price is reasonable (99 cents to 1.99/mo and one that is 2.99), and I think almost every blog is available (how cool is that?) for subscription. Ok, maybe not every blog and newsfeed, but they do have over 8,000 to choose from. You even get 2 weeks free to try it out before the billing begins.

7) Another groovy perk (hehe, I said groovy) is that Amazon will store your content so if your kindle is lost, stolen, or damaged you do not lose all you have invested in your kindle. Very cool.

8) You can upload your own files for a fee. Not as thrilled about this feature. 1) because they don't tell you the fee outright. I hate when merchants do that.

9) You can upload books from other sources, although I have no idea how this works exactly. I suspect you download to your computer, then from your computer you upload to your kindle as the power cord also is a USB cable for syncing and editing your notes. (note to self, finish reading the manual)

10) Notes and bookmarks -- another great feature. I haven't yet mastered this, but I do like this feature very much and think it would be very handy, especially for students (or anyone who is doing any research)

I'm sure I'm leaving something out, and when I recall what it is I'll write a part 2. Until then, ciao.