Ok, I promise I’m not going to be a Kindle bore, but The Spouse bought it for me as a thank you for catering his 60th birthday bash and I know there is some interest in how this product works, and whether it’s worth having for Australian consumers.
He also ordered the cover for it (which looks like a must-have because it makes the Kindle feel more like a book and of course it protects it as well) so the first step is to attach the cover. It’s a bit tricky because it has rather flimsy little lugs which the instructions warn you not to bend. (These instructions come separately by email and you mustn’t lose them!) The other little thing that the instructions don’t tell you is that you need the serial number on the back to register it. So (Tip No 1) get out your magnifying glass and a pen and write it down before you start fiddling with the cover and the lugs. Once that little hurdle is dealt with, then the Kindle has to be charged and as everyone interested in Kindles knows, you don’t get a charger if you’re an Australian customer so mine is charging from the USB port on my computer as I write this. It takes about three hours apparently.
However, you can start to play while it’s charging and so I have already downloaded some of the freebies from the Amazon store. Naturally, they do not make it easy for you to find them. No, they want you to buy Twilight and Dan Brown etc. However, (Tip No 2) is to select Kindle Books that are available in Australia (because we can’t access everything that American customers can, for copyright reasons) and sort by price, low to high. I discovered this because I was offended by the titles they were suggesting, not realising at first that the pages were sorted by popularity. Well, of course, I’m not often interested in stuff that’s popular, except maybe for Pride and Prejudice and of course Kate Grenville.
So I’ve got some Balzac short stories, Northanger Abbey, Madame Bovary, Vanity Fair, something by Turgenev and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I was a bit disappointed to find that the Amazon Store doesn’t have some of the Project Gutenberg books that I’m interested in, and of course you can only download stuff from Amazon, nowhere else. This is the major limitation of the Kindle. For me, it’s not the price issue, it’s being able to access old and out-of-print books in an easy-to-read and portable form. I read stuff from Project Gutenberg all the time, and it is a pain to have to read it on a computer. I was hoping that the Kindle would solve that problem, and it will for some titles, but not the more obscure ones. C’est la vie…
But once you’ve found something you’re interested in, it’s dead easy. Because I’m still charging the Kindle, I’m using the Amazon Store on my computer, where you simply click ‘download in one click’ and it does. In less than a minute. This is because the Kindle has its own little wireless interface called WhisperNet and it talks directly to the Amazon Store at no cost. No download fees. (Well, The Spouse has paid megabucks for the Kindle itself, so I guess that’s factored into the price.) I think you can also go to the Store direct from the Kindle but of course I got sick of reading the instructions and I’ll find out about that later…
I know I shouldn’t encourage people not to read instructions, but the simplicity of the interface means it’s self-explanatory. There are buttons on the sides that say Next Page Previous Page, and Home, and there’s a 5-way Menu button that takes a millisecond to figure out. A text-key at the bottom let you increase the size of the font (brilliant!), there’s a volume control on the side for when you’re listening to audio books, and there’s a headphone jack at the top if you don’t want to annoy The Spouse when he’s listening to something else e.g. in the car.
The keyboard looks a bit intimidating because the keys are so very little and like those of most grown-ups my fingers are rather big, so I don’t know how well that’s going to work for me. I’m always having to start again when I’m programming my Navman because my fingers brush over the letter beside the one I want, I wish they came with a little digipen to use instead.
I do also wish that the Kindle came with a proper charger because it’s going to be a pain charging it when we’re overseas, which is really what I want it for (a) because books in suitcases are heavy and (b) I can’t possibly carry enough to last for 6 weeks away and it’s a pain trying to find English books of the sort I like in non-English speaking countries. Unless there’s a way around this – and surely Amazon will offer it as an optional extra soon - I shall have to charge it by connecting its USB to my NetBook. On the other hand, one less charger to lug about could be a good thing, what with his mobile and mine, his NetBook and Mine, his camera and mine, we have leads and extension cords and powerboards all over the place in hotel rooms!
There’s heaps of other stuff like bookmarking and taking notes etc, and you can download blogs (like this one! Correction, no, they have to be blogs linked to Amazon/Kindle and I don’t need to look to know they’ll all be American *sigh*) and newspapers and magazines etc, but right now what I’m going to try out, with one of the Balzac short stories, is actually reading something with it.
Because if it’s not easy to read, and the pages don’t turn properly, it will be a book of last resort.
Update, a couple of hours later…
(Tip3 ) I have discovered that there are some Gutenberg type books available on other sites e.g. Many Books which offer different file types of books I can’t find (or have to pay for) for free download. This is what you do:
- search the site, or just google the name of the book you want +Many Books.
- Download the file to your computer. Save it in a folder – I’ve called mine Kindle Downloads, and open the folder so that it’s on screen.
- Connect the Kindle, and the Kindle screen will open. It looks just like a USB does when you open it.
- Drag and drop the downloaded file into the Kindle’s Documents folder. Voila!
Kindles also download other files like PDFs and MS Word files, but that’s too hard for today.
More later…
I shall watch with interest. I’m interested an eBook reader for Travel in particular – and I want one that has note taking ability – but I’m concerned about compatibility. And, of course, whether I will like reading it. (However, a friend was given one for Christmas and she says she loves reading it – and the page turning!) I didn’t ask for one for Christmas – being an Apple household (albeit iPhone-less) I want to see what they come out with – hopefully there’s an announcement soon.
Please do post your continued reactions because they are likely to be similar to mine I suspect – all grist to the decision mill!
By: whisperinggums on January 25, 2010
at 3:56 pm
There’s no doubt in my mind that the compatibility issue is the big one, and secondary to that is the issue of how much access Australians can get given our different copyright laws. But already I have enough books on mine to last me for 6 weeks overseas, and that’s pretty good! All I need to do now is learn how to turn the pages faster…
By: Lisa Hill on January 25, 2010
at 6:04 pm
Dear Lisa,
Allow me to help–
You can prepare your own e-books by finding a formated HTML book or a TXT (both possibly available via Gutenberg) and using the MobiPocket book maker to format it for the Kindle. (Kindle uses Mobipocket as its dominant format). I have something like 5000 public domain books on my Kindle that I made myself–some from Australia Gutenberg–which has material of more recent date than Gutenberg in General (Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, and others).
If you should want to try this, drop me a line and I would be delighted to help in any way I can.
shalom,
Steven
By: Steven Riddle on January 25, 2010
at 7:35 pm
Dear Lisa,
One last point–you may want to look into the marvelously formatted (in some cases) carefully prepared books available at mobilebooks.com. They come in a variety or formats and are sortable based on the format you desire.
shalom,
Steven
By: Steven Riddle on January 25, 2010
at 7:37 pm
This is very kind of you, Steven. I’ll have a play at the sites you suggest and contact you if I have difficulty. Lisa
By: Lisa Hill on January 25, 2010
at 7:50 pm
Dear Lisa,
Oops! That was mobileread.com, NOT mobilebooks.com. Chalk it up to being up at 4:30 in the morning my time (Florida) on a cold Dublin morning.
shalom,
Steven
By: Steven Riddle on January 25, 2010
at 7:38 pm
Your time (Florida) on a cold Dublin morning. I love it!
By: whisperinggums on January 25, 2010
at 7:53 pm
Thanks for this post Lisa. I am interested in e-readers and I wasn’t aware that the kindle was linked to amazon.
I’ll follow your progress with interest.
By: Fiona on January 26, 2010
at 7:57 am
Hi Steven, thanks for your advice: I’ve joined the MobileRead Forum as you suggest, and have already downloaded Galsworthy’s Man of Property. (I actually already have a copy of this, but the whole saga is in the one book, so as you can imagine, the font is very small.)
I like the way the forum lets you sort by genre, it’s quick and easy to find things you like, though it would be good if you could also sort by language – someone’s been very busy uploading a lot of German titles!
By: Lisa Hill on January 26, 2010
at 9:21 am
Hi Fiona, I’m still exploring, and haven’t actually started reading properly with it yet. Slow learner *chuckle*
By: Lisa Hill on January 26, 2010
at 9:28 am
Ah, and here you’ve alluded to another advantage – font-size! That, I can see, becoming more and more an advantage the older my eyes become!
By: whisperinggums on January 26, 2010
at 10:00 am
I know this comment is out of place but I am eagerly awaiting your opinion on Buddenbrooks — one of my favorite novels of all time. And just to keep the comment topical, the kind of book that I suspect Kindle is not meant for.
By: KevinfromCanada on January 27, 2010
at 6:56 am
*chuckle* You’ll have to be patient for a little while longer, Kevin, I’m only up to page 177! As you know, it’s a big thick book and now that I’m back at work because summer holidays are over, there’s no more loafing in bed with a book till lunchtime. *sigh* It’s back to an hour or so at bedtime, depending on how tired I am. Funny you should say that about the Kindle though, because last night it crossed my mind as I was reading something I wanted to remember and grabbed my sticky-notes to record it, that if I were reading it on the Kindle I could (if I knew how) actually make notes on the Kindle. What’s more, it might be a whole lot easier to read a thick book like this electronically, because it’s awkward to hold when reading in bed. It’s a terrific book. It reminds me of Galsworthy, and I really like the gentle irony. Lisa
By: Lisa Hill on January 27, 2010
at 4:08 pm
Off the topic of e-books but more on the problems of charging your Kindle, hie yourself off to a computer store and ask for a USB charging plug, or whatever they are called. It’s a basic Australian plug with a small cable and USB port attached. I use one mainly for charging the iPod but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for charging a Kindle as well. They cost about $25, but given it means you don’t then have to lug your laptop on holidays with you merely to charge your electronic devices it’s actually a reasonable price.
Another thought is that the iPod cable comes with a USB port on one end and another Apple iPod port on the other. You may need to find a two-headed USB cable for the Kindle. Good luck.
By: Perry Middlemiss on January 28, 2010
at 3:17 pm
Thanks, Perry – good suggestions – I’ll let you know how it works out:) Cheers Lisa
By: Lisa Hill on January 28, 2010
at 5:02 pm
Just reviewing your Kindle posts now I’ve had mine for a month or so. I bought a power cable for mine – cost less that $20. have you done that now? (I know you’ve been charging it while away but don’t know whether it’s still through the laptop).
By: whisperinggums on October 11, 2010
at 10:04 pm
Hi Sue, yes, the charger would be about $20 now because the Aussie dollar has hit parity with the US dollar – when I bought mine the AUD was worth about 75c US.
At home I charge the kindle using the computer because it’s the quickest way to do it, but my little netbook that I’ve brought on holiday with me doesn’t have enough power to charge the kindle, it’s only got a 3 hour battery.
My advice if you are travelling is to take a powerboard (ours has 6 points) and that way you can leave all these things charging overnight, no dramas. I have a spare battery camera and so each morning I replace the battery with the one that’s freshly charged; the kindle is 100% charged, so is the netbook, the iPhone, and the iPad.
By: Lisa Hill on October 12, 2010
at 2:14 am