Kindle Review

In the midst of everything else that’s going on my Kindle arrived yesterday and I owe the vehicle dwelling community a product review. 

From earlier posts you may have gathered that 1) I read a lot but no longer have room to store books and 2) spend a lot of money on text books each semester. I looked into an ereader as a way to solve both of these problems. The Kindle stores a ton of books, lets me book mark, highlight, and make notes (great for school) plus ebooks are often ½ the price of a normal text book. Any older books like Pride and Prejudice or Dante are free. An added bonus is that they’re trying some “experimental" stuff that’s included.

• Web Browser
• Surf the web and the battery life is something like 40 hours so it will be going long after the laptop has died. I had some reservations about its ability because I’d heard it was basically for text, not pictures, but I haven’t had a problem yet.
• MP3 Player
• Plays your music even while you read
• Text-to-Speech
• The Kindle reads to YOU (yeah, I know) 

So far this thing is super awesome: light weight, the size of my daily planner, and very easy to read. You can even adjust the size of the text (a big plus for me).My whole library is in one book which makes my life much easier and less cluttered. 

Now for the less positives:

1. I'm having trouble getting an internet signal in some places that my laptop is fine. I was worried that this meant I couldn't download books right away but the Kindle comes with a USB drive and I can load books from Amazon onto it and transfer them over. Not too bad.
2. Who among us doesn't love the feel of a real book? There's something about lying in the grass with a paperback that you just can't get from a electronic device and I will miss it. I was surprised at how text like the Kindle actually is, the screen is much more like a book page than a computer monitor. Still...

My Purchase:

• Kindle $114
• I got the version with adds for about $15 less than the one without. I thought they would be an issue but they’re barley noticed until the reader is in sleep mode.
• Cover $23 
• If I’m going to do it, I’m doing it right. Black leather, really tough, protects my investment.

Let me know if you have questions or comments about the Kindle or another ereader, I'm interested to see who uses them and how they are long term.