Kindle

[prhoshay]

Traitor!!!

I still haven't pulled the trigger on a Kindle yet.

[WrigleyDogA2]

Traitor!!!

I still haven't pulled the trigger on a Kindle yet.

Me either! But as I'm traveling for work a lot, I'm thinking about it more and more.

[libgirl2]

I like the kindle, but I still like books.

[prhoshay]

Me either! But as I'm traveling for work a lot, I'm thinking about it more and more.

I know, I know......so am I.

[PWS]

I was startled to realize that for my latest birthday I got a half a dozen Kindle books and two "books"---I've read all the ebooks and even others by the same authors, and only barely cracked one of the "books". The Kindle is just so much easier to hold and carry around with me--I'm one of those people who always had a paperback on me for supermarket and bank lines--now I even read my Kindle while pumping gas, one of the world's more boring jobs. The books I got are too big to carry around, too heavy to read in bed (physically)...of course it also helps that the people who got me ebooks share my reading tastes very closely.

There is absolutely nothing like it for travel---I took the whole 5 tome set of Thrones with me to China, and it weighed ounces and took up a sliver of space.

I'm one of those who had to be forced onto Kindle by the complete and utter lack of shelf space for more (or even current) books...and who loves or loved the bookness of books, but now....
They are also (a little) cheaper than paperbacks... and much easier to buy if you know what you want. So far real bookstores, or even supermarket book shelves are only ahead in that they are easier to browse if you DON'T know what you are looking for....but I fear for their existence.

The one place where I think real books have the edge is for things like guidebooks--we were living in another city for a month and I bought both Kindle and paperback guides to restaurants, sights, history, etc., and we really only used the paperbacks.

[libgirl2]

For us, it saves space and it is portable. I work at a library so nothing takes the place of the temptation of shelves and shelves of books to browse through. I do also download library e-books as well.

[Gutmutter]

I like to browse for e-books more because you can read the positive and the negative remarks and see the average number of stars a book gets. There have been many times I've thought a book sounded interesting, but after reading the reviews, decided not to get it. You don't get that browsing a library/bookstore. You only get the positive reviews on the cover.
You're right, though, that real books have the advantage for reference materials. Especially if maps and pictures are involved.

[prhoshay]

I go to Amazon for product reviews...books, included. I will read a few good reviews, but I am more interested in the negative reviews; I think they are more helpful.

[ilja]

I'm on the verge of buying a Kindle but read one of the first posts from 2009 and noticed that someone mentioned that the conversion to audio was boring as it sounded like a fake computer voice. One of the main reasons I was looking at buying a Kindle was for the audio option as I listen to more audiobooks than read regular books.

Is that still true for the Kindle? Is is possible to buy and use true audio books for Kindle read by real people? Is it necesary to belong to Amazon Prime to get the best use out of your Kindle?

Thanks to anyone and everyone who can help me to decide.

[coltnlasma]

I think audiobooks work fine on the Fire; not sure about the regular Kindles. As for the prime membership, it could probably be very helpful if you plan on purchasing a lot from Amazon (or audible dot com, in your case), but I don't think is necessarily a must-have. I'm enjoying my kindle so much and haven't yet purchased a book -- just checking out ebooks from my local library, and love the convenience of both browsing books and carrying around several books at a time so easily.