Saturday 31 July 2010

Tempted with a Kindle

Every time I visit Amazonat the moment, I seem to be bombarded with adverts for the new Kindle. I normally try to ignore the adverts on Amazon - they aren't usually anything I'm likely to be interested in anyway - but I must admit I am tempted with the latest Kindle.

The Kindle, for those who don't know, is an e-reader; a wireless reading device that stores books in electronic format so you can carry your whole library around with you and browse whenever and wherever you want.

It's all a bit Star Trek. No, not the things set to stun aliens or the things that allow Bones to tell Kirk, "It's life Jim, but not as we know it!" , but the Kindle is a bit like the things you see people reading stuff from on the US Enterprise, when they're not boldly going places.

This is the kind of thing I always imagined I'd have in the 21st century - along with my robot housemaid, my jet pack and my ticket for a holiday on Mars. Sadly, these days I still have to do my own housework, jet packs sound kind of dangerous and environmentally unfriendly, and my holiday ticket is for a camping trip to a potentially muddy festival in an English field. But, when I go, I would rather like to take a Kindle with me.

I do have a few reservations, however. Amazon claims to have a huge library of books available to download onto your Kindle, and aims eventually to have every book ever written online. But, you have to buy these books. I don't mind buying new books, but I often like to make use of free online resources, such as the Internet Sacred Text Archive . I also often get sent pdfs of books to review on a Bad Witch's Blog, and it would be ideal if I could use a Kindle to read them.

According to Amazon: "Kindle supports wireless delivery of unprotected Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX), PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI files."

But it adds in the small print: "Some complex PDF and DOCX files might not format correctly on your Kindle." And that makes me think that maybe I should wait and find out how other people get on with Kindles before parting with my money.

So, I thought I'd ask people who read my blog. If you have a Kindle, or have looked into getting one, what do you think? Is it ideal for downloading a portable library of ancient grimoires and classic magical texts, or is it really just set up for buying the latest best-selling novels?

Do leave a comment - I'd be very grateful.

The Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6is available from Amazon for £149 and a version without 3G, but with Wi-Fi,is available for £109.

4 comments:

slothgoth said...

If you would like to point me at sites you like to download from, I could experiment downloading stuff to my Kindle and let you know how I get on?

Makarios said...

An issue that would give me pause is that Amazon can reach into your Kindle and delete items it thinks shouldn't be there. This has actually happened. Check out http://pcworld.about.com/od/gadgets/Amazon-Sued-Over-Kindle-Censor.htm

Lilith said...

I love my Kindle, I have purchased two and I have not had any problems with reading pdf's or buying books from other websites. I love them for long road trips and airplane rides.

Anonymous said...

Hello. And Bye.