What do you think of the Kindle or electronic readers?

[Veneer]

Stahrwe,

Even though not addressed to me, all valid arguments. I love books. I have stacks of books, I can smell fresh ink, old ink, and bindings galore. I can do this in every room of my house except the bathroom and kitchen. I can trip over books, I can move stacks of books from here to there. I spend days looking for a book that I know I have and not find it. I ain't gonna be here in 100, 200 or whatever number of years, at least in this incarnation. If Amazon hangs in there for 20 to 25 years, it probably has me covered.

Right now I have 64 books in my Kindle. A few of those are collections, all the Tarzan books, all the Sherlock Holmes books, all the Herman Melville books. So I am probably pushing 100 books in a package that is (with the cover) 6 X 9 X 1 (54 cubic inches) and I have room for a whole lot more. My latest stack of books (sitting next to the two over stuffed book shelves with books in front of books and piled on top of books) has 38 books of various sizes and occupies 3760 cubic inches of space. That is 16.3 gallons of books.

I can search for items in my Kindle and get every hit in my 100 books in less than 5 seconds, whether I have read them or not.

My eyes get a bit tired, increase the font. Don't know what a word means, move the cursor over it and the definition appears at the bottom of the screen. (Yeah I miss flopping around in a dictionary).

I will grant you this, a Kindle does represent a security problem in public places, but what I find more oppressive is my nasty habit of dozing off. Haven't dropped it yet, but I do worry about it.

[WhimsicalWonder]

I have owned my Kindle for almost a year and have read about five books on it. I much prefer the real thing. I can not begin to fathom how anyone could possibly have only ever read e-books. The idea of such blows my mind. I do like the Kindle though, for a number of reasons, I just can't seem to shake my traditional ways. It is likely that if I did not already have a large selection of "real" books to devour I might be more inclined to use my Kindle.

One of my absolute favorite things to do is to find a run down shack in the middle of nowhere transformed into a secondhand book store and spend the entire day there. I've found some real gems in these places. I'm also prone to filling a cart at half-price books and then not reading half of what I purchase. Most of the books I own I have not read. I own hundreds. When I read one, I'm known to give it away. I have the uncontrollable urge to share the things I've read and almost always I am able to think of someone who will appreciate or benefit from the content.

And Stahrwe, I agree whole-heartedly about the annotations in used books. My copy of Bertrand Russell's "Why I am not a Christian" was given a colorful set of margin notes and underscoring by a fundamental Christian and it's always quite charming to read.

[Veneer]

Whimsical Wonder

I am in the opposite corner, I bought a whole scad of books that I want to read right before I bought the Kindle--in the typical idiotic way that I do things. I went on the buying spree and got a stack of damned books. Oh I don't want one of those contraptions. Another damned contraption! I would miss the look, feel, smell, taste, sound, and chi or zen or the spirit of the printed word of a real book. You can't replace the experience of a wonderful book with some damned contraption.

A friend expressed a desire for a Nook, and I started looking at the two. But no I want to read a real book, right up to the day before I bought the damned contraption!

Guess what, I can't stand the weight, the small print, the no dictionary, the no search of a real book and now I got this damnable stack of real books that I want to read and can't be bothered with.

[stahrwe]

By safe at the beach I wasn't so much worried about it being stolen, though that is possible, as much as being dropped in the sand, salt spray, etc.

[WhimsicalWonder]

My first real book after about three e-books I had this overwhelming desire to tap on a word with my finger and make the definition appear. I think if I made it a point to read on my Kindle I'd probably be in the same boat. I'm just terribly stubborn. I will confess all this talk about ebooks has me wanting to charge it... I'm terribly clay-like... :/ I should do some sort of alternation/rotation. I have about forty books on my kindle I want to read and far more on my shelf. Two real books, kindle book, rinse, repeat. I'll think about it while I finish the one's I'm working on...

I keep my kindle in my bedroom. I could stop reading poetry before bed and read my kindle instead. Well... I have several poetry collections on my kindle, I could make the transition quite easily that way. I think I'll always be a sucker for print though. I will say I've taken the kindle to the park with the the kids, and to the pool, and the sunlight is a problem. They claimed it wouldn't be, but there is a glare or a lightening of the font or something that I have found unattractive about outdoor kindling. Do you share that problem or is it just me?

[Veneer]

Regarding the sunlight fade out, it seemed to be a real problem on the first models of the Kindle 2 that Amazon released about a year ago. The later models are far more resistant, although I still see a complaint every now and again on the Kindle forum over at Amazon. I believe that at the time Amazon replaced a bunch of Kindles that had the fade out. If your Kindle is still under warranty I would suggest contacting Amazon's customer service.

My own experience is that I intentionally tried it once for about 30 seconds, and I saw no fade out. I am not a fan of the sun, so it is a moot point with me. Mine works very good in the shade which is where I hang out.

I tried the alteration trick. First time I got a little bored with the paper book, I would set it down, read my magazines for a couple of days then suddenly be engrossed with the Kindle again. God, I am lazy.

[WhimsicalWonder]

hahaha! I'm not sure laziness has anythng to do with it My Kindle was a gift so I've no idea how to find out if it's still under warranty especially considering the gentleman who bought it for me is no longer a welcomed participant in my life. Might have something to do with why I don't use it. I'd probably feel forced to if I'd shelled out the cash on my own.

[lindad_amato]

I haven't tried one yet due to the pricing. I will probably get one at some point, but I don't foresee giving up the tactile experience of books.

[Veneer]

Whimsical Wonder.

Is the Kindle registered to an account in your name? If so then you shouldn't have any problem with the warranty. Amazon warrants it for one year, although they do sell an extended warranty which would take it to two years.

If the Kindle is registered in the name of he who shan't be mentioned, then you may have a problem,

I was just at the amazon site and the screen fade out was discussed in a current thread. One person stated that Amazon had sent multiple replacements due to the problem, but I believe that the model was the original Kindle 2.

http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle%20cust ... tagsDetail

[WhimsicalWonder]

It's registered to me, so I'll be sure to check into tonight. I'm not really sure what model mine is. It's been a long time since I've even looked at it.

Thank you so very much for the help!