Tell me about the Kindle
 

Why do I need this?

What are the benefits, and the drawbacks?

If you have one, do you like it, or is it a toy that will be relegated to a drawer or an upcoming giveaway?

This is a silly question, but since I know absolutely nothing about them, can one view illustrated books?

What about cover art?

Wish I could help you out, but as I'm a paper-book kinda guy, I've never used an e-reader aside from my BB.

they arent color that im aware of. ive got the nook color. pretty neat it uses android os. i sometimes post to this site off it when im at work and have time. since i tend to spend a lot of time waiting on people i can carry a large library with me. the kindle i believe only reads one format the nook reads all of them.

the e-ink nook non-color is pretty cheap but its temperature sensative i froze mine to death . replaced it with the color version.

Ah, temps, hadn't thought about that, my phone acts up when it's cold.

Good catch, JonM

I picked up an e-reader for the family Secret Santa this year ... it wasn't the big hit that I thought it would be :o

I prefer actual books myself, I like the fact that once it's read I can put it on the shelf and it's there whenever I want it.

My wife got one from me for xmas. She said its the best thing to happen to her since me. She loves the hell out of it. get the 3g version so you can direct download the books.

Hard bound paper guy here, too. Just have to think that if all the libraries went to these to save money and conserve space and there was and EMP event....No Books!

Anyway my son-in-law bought himself and my daughter IPads, which work the same way as a Kindle, but do so much more!

I'm torn between either a Kindle or a Nook myself. I prefer an e-reader with e-ink because it looks like you're reading from a page as opposed to reading on an LCD screen.

Different tools for different jobs. The iPad are more tablet than e-reader. Good for some full spread magazines and things with lots of colors and what not.

I don't get to many magazines so for me an iPad is more of a giant iPhone than anything.


If you do a lot of travelling and do a lot of reading, I'd get one. The only downside is if you already have a lot of books you have to re-buy them as ebooks or find some way to copy them (like BookLiberator, but I haven't seen anything new on that since September) to a digital format.

One thing I really wish would happen is publishers start selling digital copies with hard copies, my guess is that'd make the e-reader become a lot more viable.

in looking we decided to get my wife a nook. She hasn't gotten it yet. If she waits I will get her one for her birthday.

The hell with books. After packing around 19 credit hours of books I wish the textbook people would go e-ink and save me some back aches.

ereaders are the wave of the future. Don't believe anyone that says oh just get the Apple ipad and get the kindel app.

You take the nook or kindel out in the sun next to some poor sap with an ipad and you will be reading while he is squinting. While the back-lit LED display with the ULTRA GLOSSY glass looks cool indoors it doesn't work for crap in sunlight. Eink is also better for your eyes as it is not back-lit there for looking much more like real paper and ink.

I don't think you can go wrong with either the nook or the kindel.