Michael A. Voigt Avatar

Posted 4 months ago

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The Kindle in the age of the iPad. by Michael Voigt I’m playing with the $80 Kindle and it is actually pretty cool. Don’t let the “with special offers” in the name fool you. There are no banners or pop-ups, only a full-screen ad when you hit the sleep button. It is e-ink, so the image can remain on the screen without draining the battery. It I lighter than a book and you can hold it any way you want without needing to hold pages open. The e-ink reads just like words on a page with no glare. This is important because there is absolutely no backlight. Amazon Prime members ($80/yr) that own a kindle device get to borrow one book a month from the Kindle Lending Library. That is 12 best sellers per year that you don’t have to pay to read. The kindle is small and light enough to be casually tossed into any backpack, purse, etc, yet can contain a library of books and seldom needs to be charged. When connected to a WiFi network, you can even use the web browser to read web content. The bummer with the Kindle is the fact that many of the books are full-price and you can’t lend them to friends. The Barnes and Noble Nook allows this, but the books are close to the same price. The question is, will you read more or at least enjoy reading more? Which Kindle is right for you? If you are like me, the cheapest Kindle works just fine. It is great to read from, but horrible to type from. Imagine a blackberry without any keys and the on-screen keyboard from a video game. You can search for and buy books from either the kindle or any kindle app or any web browser and whispersinc puts it right on your Kindle. Improved typing can be had with either the Kindle Touch, or Kindle with keyboard for as little as $20 more. You can buy books from anywhere, no wifi needed, with a Kindle with 3G, but then you are getting into $150-200 territory. As an iPad owner, would I buy a Kindle Fire? No way. I have played with the Kindle Fire and it doesn’t do anything better than my iPad does. I thought that I would never buy a Kindle, but it fills a niche. It has a better reading experience and goes wherever a book will. It also plays well with Amazon Prime. If you have Amazon Prime and no Kindle, you are missing out. If you already have a Kindle, then Amazon Prime, already an outstanding value without the free Kindle Lending Library, becomes even more attractive.

The Kindle in the age of the iPad.
by Michael Voigt

I’m playing with the $80 Kindle and it is actually pretty cool. Don’t let the “with special offers” in the name fool you. There are no banners or pop-ups, only a full-screen ad when you hit the sleep button. It is e-ink, so the image can remain on the screen without draining the battery.

It I lighter than a book and you can hold it any way you want without needing to hold pages open. The e-ink reads just like words on a page with no glare. This is important because there is absolutely no backlight. Amazon Prime members ($80/yr) that own a kindle device get to borrow one book a month from the Kindle Lending Library. That is 12 best sellers per year that you don’t have to pay to read.

The kindle is small and light enough to be casually tossed into any backpack, purse, etc, yet can contain a library of books and seldom needs to be charged.

When connected to a WiFi network, you can even use the web browser to read web content.

The bummer with the Kindle is the fact that many of the books are full-price and you can’t lend them to friends. The Barnes and Noble Nook allows this, but the books are close to the same price. The question is, will you read more or at least enjoy reading more?

Which Kindle is right for you? If you are like me, the cheapest Kindle works just fine. It is great to read from, but horrible to type from. Imagine a blackberry without any keys and the on-screen keyboard from a video game. You can search for and buy books from either the kindle or any kindle app or any web browser and whispersinc puts it right on your Kindle.

Improved typing can be had with either the Kindle Touch, or Kindle with keyboard for as little as $20 more. You can buy books from anywhere, no wifi needed, with a Kindle with 3G, but then you are getting into $150-200 territory.

As an iPad owner, would I buy a Kindle Fire? No way. I have played with the Kindle Fire and it doesn’t do anything better than my iPad does. I thought that I would never buy a Kindle, but it fills a niche. It has a better reading experience and goes wherever a book will. It also plays well with Amazon Prime. If you have Amazon Prime and no Kindle, you are missing out. If you already have a Kindle, then Amazon Prime, already an outstanding value without the free Kindle Lending Library, becomes even more attractive.