Thinking of buying a Kindle

[Asiantravel]

I was just wondering if anyone here who owns an Amazon (or similar) kindle is able to provide feedback on whether the purchase met their expectations and continues to do so?

I often see people in coffee shops reading small tablets that appear to be kindles and I think it would be a great way of keeping up with reading various new books.

But what has prevented me from buying one so far is that downloading the digital form of book seems to be more expensive than the printed version, which to me seems totally illogical and if true, is something that would deter me from proceeding.

If this is the case would someone in the know, be able to comment as to whether this price differential is only temporary, or whether it is more likely to remain more expensive in digital format? Also, whether anyone is prepared to comment on any other hardware as an alternative to the Amazon Kindle.

Thanks a lot.

[thaimite]

Kindle books are generally a bit cheaper than paperbacks in my experience but still vastly overpriced when the savings to the publisher are taken in to accunt.

You also save the hassle of waiting for delivery for those books that are not available locally. On the other hand not all the titles you may wish to read may be available in Kindle (or other) ebook format.

Another option you may like to consider is to buy a regular tablet. Any Android or Apple device can load the Kindle software as well as others such as barnes and Noble or Adobe readers. This gives you more options for purchasing books rather than being tied to Amazon, and may hold other benefits as well. However as I do not own and have never used a Kindle (I use an Android tablet for my eBooks) I am not the best person to comment on the pros and cons especially with regard to battery life and screen quality.

[jonnyscot]

Ive had the kindle for a couple years and i think its the bees knees, my ones an older version and doesn't have a backlight thats my only gripe, although i know theres backlight attachments widely available, Digital copies are normally a bit cheaper, and to my experience most titles nowadays are available in digital format,, I find the kindle a big plus compared to paperbacks, especially since it save hunting around here for shops with limited supplies of English language books,, battery life,, depending on how heavy a reader you are, I'm probably a moderate reader and I get upwards of 2 weeks on a single charge, I have approx 1050 titles downloaded on my kindle and plenty more space still available so space isn't an issue, , downloading a titles is very quick too normally in less than 30 seconds

[scotsdude]

Google Nexus 7

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Not much point in a Kindle.

Any tablet can do the same job and be more flexible.

Kindle Pros

Battery lasts a long time.

Text very easy to read, especially in bright sunlight, great for the beach.

Tablet Pros

Can do many things.

Can read at night as backlit.

GPS, sat-nav

Mobile phone

Camera

I had a Kindle, but then stopped carrying it around after buying a Samsung Galaxy Tab. Internet access was so much better.

Books, available everywhere, many naughty sites let you download the books for nothing.

Edited August 29, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[guzzi850m2]

A Kindle weight a fraction of a tablet and last for +2 weeks on a charge.

Kindle paperwhite is backlit and can therefore be used in a dark bedroom thus not disturbing my wife.

I own 2 Kindles and loves them and a tablet can never replace the real thing if you read a lot.

Book you buy at Amazon is yours for life, if somebody steals your Kindle you can get the books you bought there back anytime from your account.

Since it's so light compared to a tablet you can carry it in your hand luggage when traveling and even if you travel for days to your destination you Kindle don't need charging.

I have downloaded "illegal" books from the different torrent sites and have well over 60GB of books on my PC so I only buy from Amazon for specific books I really wants.

Conclusion: I have a tablet as well but for a avid reader like me the Kindle wins big time for reading and I love mine (more than the shitty tablet, my 4 year old son uses it).

[Asiantravel]

Thank you everybody that has answered so far. Based on the responses I'm getting the feeling there is more support for the Kindle itself than tablets?

[guzzi850m2]

Thank you everybody that has answered so far. Based on the responses I'm getting the feeling there is more support for the Kindle itself than tablets?

Well it depends, everybody owns tablets nowadays and as somebody pointed out, you can use them for surfing the I-net, watching a movie or read a book play games and so on.

A Kindle reader can't be used for much else than reading a book, okay you can check your e-mail on it and go on-line to the Amazon store but that's about it,

oh forgot you can subscribe on different newspapers and magazines and get them on your Kindle.

My 9.7" Onda 792 tablet is not used much despite it's very good retina display, heavy and bulky but as I said my son can watch You tube kids movies on it.

I don't like the tablets so much, they run (mostly) on phone based OP systems and sliding your finger tip around and tap on a 10" screen fells a bit odd.

My 5" smart phone is okay for what it is, can surf the net and so on and I even read books on it sometimes when waiting at the immigration at the airport but not at home where the Kindle rules.

When I go overseas for 2 month work, my Kindle is loaded up with books and 60GB more books on my ext. hard drive, before I carried sometimes 10 paper books which was a bit of a nightmare.

If you read a lot of books, a dedicated e-book reader is the way to go and they are very cheap (in the USA) 69$ for the cheapest model and up to 179$ for a 3G paperwhite.

[sfokevin]

Split the difference and get a Kindle HD Tablet - this has the best of both worlds... You might think about the size... If you get a larger size (bigger than 7") it will be easier to read - but make sure the screen resolution is "HD"...

Take I look here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GFRB9E/ref=fs_j

[harrry]

Split the difference and get a Kindle HD Tablet - this has the best of both worlds... You might think about the size... If you get a larger size (bigger than 7") it will be easier to read - but make sure the screen resolution is "HD"...

Take I look here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GFRB9E/ref=fs_j

No it is not the best of both worlds. It is a nice tablet but cannot have the battery life of a standard kindle and it also does not have the epaper screen that makes reading just like reading a book.

[SpokaneAl]

I have been a long time user of the Kindle 2 and absolutely love it. I have read a boatload of books on it and as a result, got rid of all my hard cover books. I rarely find a problem with purchasing a book I am interested in. It is small and light with weeks of excellent battery life. When I initially bought it I also bought the cover with the built in LED light for reading at night and have been very happy with the combination.

I also own an iPad and it is excellent as well, and I use it daily for internet access, a variety of other tasks etc. I find that I must charge my iPad each evening, much like I do with my MacBook Pro.

Each has its own advantages and disadvantages and I am not interested in combining them, in that I do not believe that would provide the best of both worlds.

P.S. In that my Kindle is getting a bit long in the tooth and battery charging has recently begun to take longer, I splurged and ordered the new Kindle Paperwhite 3G (without special offers).

[awill50]

Make sure you get the "3G" option. This allows you to purchase and download books over the cellular network. Convenient if you do not have wifi or internet access.

[Suradit69]

There was a rise in the price of Kindle books a year or two ago. I think it was, at least in part, the result of some law suit. Though exactly who was suing who, I don't recall. There are some places from which you can download classic titles for free. I've even downloaded some books from Amazon for free.

I really like my Kindle. Used to buy some books locally, but often ordered things to be sent from Amazon UK. The delay plus the cost of shipping made that less attractive. Definitely like being able to download free samples of books and then being able to get a new book more or less instantly. The biggest problem is that I have hundreds of books and samples on the Kindle but checking what's there is less easy than thumbing through a bookshelf. However I organize what I've bought or what samples I downloaded, I lose track of what I have and sometimes find it easier to go back to Amazon on my computer to get a summary of some sample I find that no longer rings a bell. Not as easy checking the back of an actual book to get a quick synopsis.

It took a little while to get used to reading from the screen instead of a "proper" book, but since I have some recently developed visions problems, I like being able to set the font size. I do have an iPad too and sometimes read on it. You can easily synch what you're reading between the two so you're on the same page whether you open in Kindle or on the iPad. Generally I prefer the Kindle because holding the heavier iPad for any period of time is less comfortable than the Kindle.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Suradit69

[jonnyscot]

Another + for the kindle over a tablet I'd say is when reading at the beach or in any sunlight the kindle is very easy on the eyes compared to an iPad for example, where you can sometimes struggle to see what's on the screen, certainly that's the case with my iPad 2, unless the newer models of tablet have made improvements to their screens to overcome this

[sustento]

If you're going to buy a Kindle you must download Calibre to organise your library. It's free.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

[Ticketmaster]

If you're going to buy a Kindle you must download Calibre to organise your library. It's free.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

Absolutely. I love my Kindle, but one thing I hated about it was the inability to share books purchased from Amazon, which are protect with DRM. Then I found out about Calibre. You can load an Amazon book into Calibre and change the format from .azw to .mobi. It busts the DRM and you can then share it with your friends.

You can only bust the DRM of a book you purchased -- this keeps it in compliance with the copyright laws. I can buy a book, bust the DRM and share it with you. You can share that book with anybody. But if you purchase an Amazon digital book and share it with me in the .azw format, I can neither read it nor bust the DRM.

To the mods: Please read that carefully before alleging discussion of illegal conduct. It is perfectly legal to bust the DRM and share a book that I purchased. Just like it is perfectly legal to copy a music CD and share it with a friend. What is not legal for either music or books is mass digital distribution using torrents.

[harrry]

If you're going to buy a Kindle you must download Calibre to organise your library. It's free.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

Absolutely. I love my Kindle, but one thing I hated about it was the inability to share books purchased from Amazon, which are protect with DRM. Then I found out about Calibre. You can load an Amazon book into Calibre and change the format from .azw to .mobi. It busts the DRM and you can then share it with your friends.

You can only bust the DRM of a book you purchased -- this keeps it in compliance with the copyright laws. I can buy a book, bust the DRM and share it with you. You can share that book with anybody. But if you purchase an Amazon digital book and share it with me in the .azw format, I can neither read it nor bust the DRM.

To the mods: Please read that carefully before alleging discussion of illegal conduct. It is perfectly legal to bust the DRM and share a book that I purchased. Just like it is perfectly legal to copy a music CD and share it with a friend. What is not legal for either music or books is mass digital distribution using torrents.

Moral yes legal no.

[stoli]

Make sure you get the "3G" option. This allows you to purchase and download books over the cellular network. Convenient if you do not have wifi or internet access.

How would you download anything without a Wi-Fi or internet option? Obviously you want to re-read what you wrote.

[Asiantravel]

Make sure you get the "3G" option. This allows you to purchase and download books over the cellular network. Convenient if you do not have wifi or internet access.

How would you download anything without a Wi-Fi or internet option? Obviously you want to re-read what you wrote.

On the Amazon website if you don't take up " special offers " the basic device would be $89. The 3G version is $179.

Is it worth paying the extra ?

Edited August 30, 2013 by Asiantravel

[zyphodb]

A Kindle weight a fraction of a tablet and last for +2 weeks on a charge.

Kindle paperwhite is backlit and can therefore be used in a dark bedroom thus not disturbing my wife.

I own 2 Kindles and loves them and a tablet can never replace the real thing if you read a lot.

Book you buy at Amazon is yours for life, if somebody steals your Kindle you can get the books you bought there back anytime from your account.

Since it's so light compared to a tablet you can carry it in your hand luggage when traveling and even if you travel for days to your destination you Kindle don't need charging.

I have downloaded "illegal" books from the different torrent sites and have well over 60GB of books on my PC so I only buy from Amazon for specific books I really wants.

Conclusion: I have a tablet as well but for a avid reader like me the Kindle wins big time for reading and I love mine (more than the shitty tablet, my 4 year old son uses it).

Totally agree with guzzi, I also have 2 & the paperwhite in particular is great, I'm a heavy reader & have maybe 200+ Gbts downloaded onto a portable Hard drive which is more than anybody could ever read, is like having a library of a million+ books to browse through on your pc/laptop without having to connect to the internet, nearly all of these were downloaaded for nothing from the various Torrent sites, I d/l from Amazon only when there's something new I really want.

Incidentally there are thousands of free books you can d/l from Amazon, pretty well all of the classics + lots of others,

[zyphodb]

I forgot to say that you do need to download Calibre or similar software to organize your collection on your PC/Laptop, & Tablet PC's are no good as ereaders as you can't see the screen in sunlight & after a while they make your eyes hurt whereas the kindle is just like reading paper...

[guzzi850m2]

Make sure you get the "3G" option. This allows you to purchase and download books over the cellular network. Convenient if you do not have wifi or internet access.

How would you download anything without a Wi-Fi or internet option? Obviously you want to re-read what you wrote.

On the Amazon website if you don't take up " special offers " the basic device would be $89. The 3G version is $179.

Is it worth paying the extra ?

It depends, if you got Wi-Fi in your home and you are not spending a lot of time "on the road" a Wi-Fi model is enough.

My key board Kindle is 3G which is handy when I am overseas working so I can buy books from Amazon anywhere in the world and have them 5 min later.

My paperwhite only got Wi-Fi but I uses it only at home, dark bedroom and out on the patio in the evenings, a very good devise I must say.

Check Kindle Thailand, I bought my paperwhite there and they shipped to Pattaya free of charge. If you buy from Amazon US/UK you will likely be hit with import taxes (I got hit for about 2000 baht + shipping).

http://kindle-thailand.in.th/en/

[Northwindhermit]

I recently bought a Kindle Paperwhite, and I love it. I still buy a lot of paperback books, but I use the Kindle mainly for those hard-to-find, out-of-print (and/or out-of-copyright) classics that I download for free from such sites as Project Gutenberg. The Kindle nicely complements my paperback reading and is so easy to carry, hold, and read when going outside.

[Asiantravel]

Make sure you get the "3G" option. This allows you to purchase and download books over the cellular network. Convenient if you do not have wifi or internet access.

How would you download anything without a Wi-Fi or internet option? Obviously you want to re-read what you wrote.

On the Amazon website if you don't take up " special offers " the basic device would be $89. The 3G version is $179.

Is it worth paying the extra ?

It depends, if you got Wi-Fi in your home and you are not spending a lot of time "on the road" a Wi-Fi model is enough.

My key board Kindle is 3G which is handy when I am overseas working so I can buy books from Amazon anywhere in the world and have them 5 min later.

My paperwhite only got Wi-Fi but I uses it only at home, dark bedroom and out on the patio in the evenings, a very good devise I must say.

Check Kindle Thailand, I bought my paperwhite there and they shipped to Pattaya free of charge. If you buy from Amazon US/UK you will likely be hit with import taxes (I got hit for about 2000 baht + shipping).

http://kindle-thailand.in.th/en/

Thanks very much

on balance, I think, based on my lifestyle, there is no need for me to get the 3G and I think I will go for the paperwhite. And thanks for the link

And thank you everybody else for your useful suggestions and advice.

[Asiantravel]

Make sure you get the "3G" option. This allows you to purchase and download books over the cellular network. Convenient if you do not have wifi or internet access.

How would you download anything without a Wi-Fi or internet option? Obviously you want to re-read what you wrote.

On the Amazon website if you don't take up " special offers " the basic device would be $89. The 3G version is $179.

Is it worth paying the extra ?

It depends, if you got Wi-Fi in your home and you are not spending a lot of time "on the road" a Wi-Fi model is enough.

My key board Kindle is 3G which is handy when I am overseas working so I can buy books from Amazon anywhere in the world and have them 5 min later.

My paperwhite only got Wi-Fi but I uses it only at home, dark bedroom and out on the patio in the evenings, a very good devise I must say.

Check Kindle Thailand, I bought my paperwhite there and they shipped to Pattaya free of charge. If you buy from Amazon US/UK you will likely be hit with import taxes (I got hit for about 2000 baht + shipping).

http://kindle-thailand.in.th/en/

I looked at the website you provided and maybe I'm missing something here but the prices on Kindle, Thailand seem much higher than on Amazon even after paying the taxes and shipping charges are you said would be most likely levied?

For example, on Amazon a basic Kindle is quoted at $69 (2100 baht ), whereas on the website for Thailand. its 5490 baht ?

A Kindle Paperwhite 3G on Amazon is $179 ( 5370 baht ) but on Kindle Thailand is 9,990 Baht ?

[Shurup]

Make sure you get the "3G" option. This allows you to purchase and download books over the cellular network. Convenient if you do not have wifi or internet access.

Personally I do not believe the 3G option is worth extra cost, load the books into it before you leave home of when you do get the WiFi access and there will be no need to buy anything on the go. Where do you live if you can't get a free wifi access anywhere near?

If you're going to buy a Kindle you must download Calibre to organise your library. It's free.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

Absolutely. I love my Kindle, but one thing I hated about it was the inability to share books purchased from Amazon, which are protect with DRM. Then I found out about Calibre. You can load an Amazon book into Calibre and change the format from .azw to .mobi. It busts the DRM and you can then share it with your friends.

You can only bust the DRM of a book you purchased -- this keeps it in compliance with the copyright laws. I can buy a book, bust the DRM and share it with you. You can share that book with anybody. But if you purchase an Amazon digital book and share it with me in the .azw format, I can neither read it nor bust the DRM.

To the mods: Please read that carefully before alleging discussion of illegal conduct. It is perfectly legal to bust the DRM and share a book that I purchased. Just like it is perfectly legal to copy a music CD and share it with a friend. What is not legal for either music or books is mass digital distribution using torrents.

Sorry but this is not true, DMR laws are country specific and in the US of A it is illegal to remove it, even if (!!!) you want o convert the book and upload it onto one of your other devices.

Sharing the books with a friend is the same thing as sharing it with a friend (or not) over torrent or in a million or other ways.

However I agree with another poster that it's not moral in many cases. If I purchased a book from Amazon for example and want to backup it to my computer and / or read it on non Amazon device, I should totally be able to do so as well as sharing it with members of my family. Amazon allows adding multiple Kindle book readers to the same user's account and any and all of the connected readers are able to download the any of the books that were purchased by a user.

Furthermore, backing books up is a great idea as Amazon has the rights to remove the purchased content from your account and it would be removed from your book reader as soon as it's connected and synced. It has happened (some copyrite violation by an author) and can happen again and I don't care for the reasons the book gets removed, I paid for it legally, the book was legal at the time of purchase and so it's mine!

Calibre is a great tool to back up and organize all of your books, it can convert from one format to the other, it can convert PDF to ebook format of your choice and make it more or less readable on ebook reader (those owing the e-readers know that the PDF is a horrible format to read), it was a lot of other great features.

Back to the op, a tablet can't replace the e-reader, tablet weights more, lasts a lot less on a charge and hard on the eyes. I have a Kindle Paperwite and a Kobo Mini. I use Kobo mini, which is a 5" display (not backlit unfortunately), it was very cheap to purchase (they are usually on sale for $40-50) and it fits in a pocket, my GF ended up using Kindle. An e-reader is an absolute must have for an avid reader, don't even consider substituting it with a tablet, you'd end up playing games and surfing net on it. E-readers have a web browsers in them so not only emails but many other sites can be visited too, they are just not so good for browsing due to a very slow screen refresh rate.

OP you may want to book mark this site if you end up getting the e-reader: www.mobileread.com/forum

Edited August 30, 2013 by Shurup

[guzzi850m2]

I looked at the website you provided and maybe I'm missing something here but the prices on Kindle, Thailand seem much higher than on Amazon even after paying the taxes and shipping charges are you said would be most likely levied?

For example, on Amazon a basic Kindle is quoted at $69 (2100 baht ), whereas on the website for Thailand. its 5490 baht ?

A Kindle Paperwhite 3G on Amazon is $179 ( 5370 baht ) but on Kindle Thailand is 9,990 Baht ?

The importer pays tax and shipping and wants to earn money too, sooo.

The best is to have a friend coming to Thailand from the UK or the US and bring one over.

I head about one that managed to get one from Amazon without paying tax but if they ship with FedEx you will pay the tax.

If you can get them to ship with normal post you might get lucky or perhaps buy a used one from Amazon.

Good luck with that.

[negreanu]

I head about one that managed to get one from Amazon without paying tax but if they ship with FedEx you will pay the tax.

Paperwhite Kindle shipped from US using shipito.com via fedex last week. Duty and tax paid 280THB

$40.00 for the fedex shipping.

A dam_n site cheaper than what some of the grey importer companies are charging here.

I am Amazon prime customer. Complained when it arrived about the special offers being a ridiculous idea. They removed the ad's with their complements no charge.

Love Amazon customer service.

Edited August 30, 2013 by negreanu

[Ticketmaster]

Virtually all electronics are a ripoff in Thailand. I never buy this sort of stuff in country.

The cheapest way to get a Kindle is order it from Amazon (US or UK), have it shipped to friend or relative in that country. Have the friend reship it to you in a padded mailer using the cheapest post rate, and label the contents "Book." I have never heard of one shipped like this being taxed. The shipping by First Class Mail from the US will be $9 - $17, depending on the final weight.

The beauty of the 3G model is that it also works with EDGE, which covers areas of Thailand not yet penetrated by 3G. So, if you are within reach of a cell phone system anywhere in the world, your Amazon book purchases will automatically download to you free. I have no idea how Amazon ever managed to pull this off. Perhaps that is the reason the 3G model costs so much. Maybe the extra cost is based on Amazon's calculations of what it will pay to the world's mobile phone companies over the life of a Kindle.

Amazon also owns Audible.com, the audio book seller. Amazon will NOT let you download audio books through the mobile phone system.

[Ticketmaster]

Those in this post that say it is unlawful under US law to bust DRM, do not understand US copyright law. IF and ONLY IF, you have purchased a license to use the materiel (the price you pay for software, a digital book, a music CD), it is legal to remove any software (e.g., DRM) that hinders your use of the material on other devices, e.g., computers, smartphones, etc.

If you do not own the license, you do not have the right to bust the DRM. This is precisely why reputable software companies like Calibre allow the busting of DRM if you have the license, but do not allow it if you do not have the license. Amazon, and others, do not like this, but its the law.

I can assure you that if it was not legal to bust DRM on items for which you hold a license, Calibre would have been sued and forced to remove this capability from its book reader a long time ago. Companies that peddle software that allow you to bust ALL DRM,licensed or not, quickly fall to injunctive relief.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there about copyright law and a lot of wanna be law professors to peddle it..