Advice on Buying a Kindle.

[GinBoy2]

Where are most of you folks buying/renting ebooks?

What are the price ranges?

Purchasing/renting paperback books, how is the price

comparison to ebook purchases/renting?

Good question.

As another option, if you are an American with a library card (I'm sure most other western library system offer similar programs) you can check out a Kindle ebook exactly the same way as you would a hard copy book

[NoshowJones]

Where are most of you folks buying/renting ebooks?

What are the price ranges?

Purchasing/renting paperback books, how is the price

comparison to ebook purchases/renting?

Good question.

As another option, if you are an American with a library card (I'm sure most other western library system offer similar programs) you can check out a Kindle ebook exactly the same way as you would a hard copy book

No I'm not American, I am Scottish, but live in Thailand. No libraries here that I know of, and certainly not up country Thanks all the same.

[GinBoy2]

Where are most of you folks buying/renting ebooks?

What are the price ranges?

Purchasing/renting paperback books, how is the price

comparison to ebook purchases/renting?

Good question.

As another option, if you are an American with a library card (I'm sure most other western library system offer similar programs) you can check out a Kindle ebook exactly the same way as you would a hard copy book

No I'm not American, I am Scottish, but live in Thailand. No libraries here that I know of, and certainly not up country Thanks all the same.

I live in Thailand too, but what I meant was 'if' you still hold a library card from your home country you may be able to check out ebooks from their system. The internet doesn't care where you live...well at least for now!

[NoshowJones]

Ginboy, that is interesting, I went back to Scotland for 3 months during the floods, got a library card, but don't have it anymore.

I am going back for a holiday next year, and should get one then. Thanks again.

[NoshowJones]

I have had a Kindle for 3 years now. Recently upgraded to the Paperwhite with the inbuilt light.

Absolutely fantastic device. Inbuilt light means i do not disturb my partner and during a power outage I can still read.

I do not know about secondhand ones from Ebay. But there would be plenty of people that have upgraded that may want to sell their Kindle to you. Hopefully in your area.

Pm me if you need any books. I have more than 80,000 here on my hard drive.

Thanks mate, I will keep that in mind.

I have sent you a PM.

[edandpranee]

I buy all my books from Amazon and I do it for convenience most of the books I read are just published, and almost impossible to find in Thailand. Through Amazon I pay less than the hard cover price and can get the book in an instant. I don't have a Library card and even if I did I would still buy from Amazon for the convenience. I admit there are cheaper ways to read books, but I'm retired and don't mind paying the price to read what and when I want. Kindle might not be for you but it is the right fit for me. Up to you

[sandrabbit]

I would suggest buying a tablet rather than a Kindle. Something like the Samsung Tab S 1 or 2 8in or 10in. I find mine great to read books or magazines and you can see the result in beautiful colour. The super Amoled screens are fantastic. Also of course many other uses apart from just reading books.

Try reading a book on the beach in sunshine, that's the reason they use what's called e-paper screens as there is no glare. As many have said get a Kindle paperwhite . I'm into my 4th Kindle and it's one of my favourite devices and I rarely buy paper books now.

[Bardeh]

Yeah, for purely reading a book, the Kindle beats a tablet hands down. Weeks long battery-life, no glare, no eye-strain, weighs nothing. I've had my basic model Kindle for years and it's still going strong.

[poosmate]

Easy.....http://www.lazada.co.th/catalog/?q=Kindle

[TheRascal]

I've got an iPad and a Kindle and if I had to give up one i'd be keeping the kindle. Loads smaller and miles better for reading, wouldn't be easy standing reading with one hand on the BTS.

I pay about £8 a month for kindle unlimited, loads and loads of books and as others have also mentioned there are a lot of free books on there and obviously it's pretty easy to get books by other means.

[cmrichsw]

Kindle Paperwhite, 6" High Resolution Display with Next-Gen Built-in Light, Wi-Fi in NEW unopened factory box, Duty paid, Includes original Kindle cover with shut off switch. 5500 baht. Can offer some books as well. Selling for 7990 baht at Kindle Thailand without Kindle cover. Will have 2 of them only Oct.8th

[mulder12345]

I love my Kindle Paperwhite. It even has an experimental browser on it which cannot handle complex sites like TV but you can get your email at least. Just the wifi should do. I also got the 3G but it always wants wifi for browser access. Beats the hell out of carrying around 135 hard copy books?.

[oxo1947]

I buy all my books from Amazon and I do it for convenience most of the books I read are just published, and almost impossible to find in Thailand. Through Amazon I pay less than the hard cover price and can get the book in an instant. I don't have a Library card and even if I did I would still buy from Amazon for the convenience. I admit there are cheaper ways to read books, but I'm retired and don't mind paying the price to read what and when I want. Kindle might not be for you but it is the right fit for me. Up to you

I have had a kindle for quite some years----I have never found a book (other than really obscure text books) I could not get from the internet for free-----even if it came out that week. There are sites that you just request a name book if its not listed http://69books.com/ WarezBB.org & its there within a day or 2 , I am just looking at "Killing Reagan" I got it 3 days ago Amazon released it 4 days ago. If you have some moral code & do not wish to read without paying----OK, but don't fall for that line about you can not get the new books from the internet.

Calibre is a good program as it store them in library form for you----but there are many little internet sites where you just throw the book in & it will change format within seconds http://ebook.online-convert.com/

[gabruce]

I would suggest buying a tablet rather than a Kindle. Something like the Samsung Tab S 1 or 2 8in or 10in. I find mine great to read books or magazines and you can see the result in beautiful colour. The super Amoled screens are fantastic. Also of course many other uses apart from just reading books.

http://www.ereaderortablet.com/

Just to give a different point of view.

Tried reading on my tablet and my phone. Just get eye strain after a while. Battery life on the Kindle is also far better than a tablet.

Kindle is much lighter than a tablet as well.

I'll chime in too. I think that an e-ink screen is much better than a tablet for reading. Get a paperwhite Kindle with the built in light. It's a joy to read day or night or in direct sunlight even. I prefer it to a paper book even. I usually charge the battery every couple of weeks if I'm reading a lot. Summary: great in sunshine. long battery life. night time reading without lights. light. lot's of books (check out calibre ebook to convert other formats to kindle format). Get a newer Kindle with the light. Personally I would buy a new one with the higher resolution. That's what I'll do when this one breaks.

[bazza40]

I wouldn't recommend buying a secondhand Kindle, too many things to go wrong. New Amazon Kindles have a warranty, and they are not all that expensive.

I have a base Kindle, with about 300 books on it - a lot of them free. It does the job for me; however, I can understand recommendations of more sophisticated versions such as the Paperwhite and Kindle Fire.

The cheapest strategy seems to be buying a Kindle in America or Australia, and bringing it into Thailand.

One word of warning - don't assume they are waterproof. I tucked my first Kindle under the seat of my scooter when it was raining. It didn't actually get visibly wet, but there was condensation in the compartment and the Kindle went terminal. Nothing worked in terms of drying it out again. And they are not made to be opened up.

[giddyup]

I have a Nook, actually I have two, one as a spare. I think I paid around $100 (new) delivered from Ebay. I've had them for around 4 years and they perform faultlessly and you can download either in Mobi or Epub format. Mine hold around 200 books but you can add a micro SD card and get at least 1000 books on it. I can read on mine every day for at least 2 weeks before it needs a recharge.

Edited September 27, 2015 by giddyup

[sandyf]

Depends how you want to use it.

My niece is at university and asked if she could have a Kindle so she could read the book as she was working on her laptop. As it happened we were with my sister in law and she had a Kindle and used Calibre, so I checked it out. It doesn't work very well with textbooks, the software cannot handle the images, come out as black boxes. Settled for a Samsung tablet, works great.

Yes. I agree that many people will have different needs.

However OP has stated he only wants to read Ebooks and wants a Kindle.

Apologies, I did not realise that all ebooks were image free.

Yes they are, I also made the mistake to buy a study book for my kindle (Reading Thai) and it was a disaster as the book was made in color and the images just did not work (shame that they were allowed to sell it for kindle). However 99% of all the books I read are just normal reading books. I haven't had a moment regret buying it. I sometimes compare the books I buy (or download) with prices in Thai shops and the ebooks are quite a lot cheaper (in general). They should be even cheaper as there is no printing or distribution involved but I think prices are kept high intentionally.

I was under the impression that ebook was short for electronic book. From what you say I have it wrong and that textbooks in PDF format are not ebooks.

Looks like Wikipedia has it wrong as well.

An electronic book (variously: e-book, eBook, e-Book, ebook, digital book, or even e-edition) is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on computers or other electronic devices.

[John_Betong]

I have a Nexus 7 version one and read many mobi and ebooks but with my Motorala Moto G reading books is far more pleasurable.

I have never used a Kindle but should imagine they are quite bulky and not easy to fit in one's pocket.

Edited September 27, 2015 by John_Betong

[tlcwaterfall]

I have a Nexus 7 version one and read many mobi and ebooks but with my Motorala Moto G reading books is far more pleasurable.

I have never used a Kindle but should imagine they are quite bulky and not easy to fit in one's pocket.

Depends how big your pocket is!

They are not designed to fit in to your pocket the same as a phone as they are a dedicated Ebook reader and for many reasons they offer a much superior reading experience compared to a phone.

They most certainly could not be considered bulky. Size of the unit is under technical detais in the link below. 205 grams in weightand 9mm thin etc. etc.

http://www.amazon.com/All-New-Kindle-Paperwhite-High-Resolution-Display/dp/B00OQVZDJM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443348935&sr=8-1&keywords=kindle

[NoshowJones]

Easy.....http://www.lazada.co.th/catalog/?q=Kindle

Yes, very interesting, I was all for it till I read "no warranty".

[NoshowJones]

Kindle Paperwhite, 6" High Resolution Display with Next-Gen Built-in Light, Wi-Fi in NEW unopened factory box, Duty paid, Includes original Kindle cover with shut off switch. 5500 baht. Can offer some books as well. Selling for 7990 baht at Kindle Thailand without Kindle cover. Will have 2 of them only Oct.8th

Where do you live, and as it is new in the box it will have a warranty. It seems it is just what I am looking for.

[louse1953]

Where are most of you folks buying/renting ebooks?

What are the price ranges?

Purchasing/renting paperback books, how is the price

comparison to ebook purchases/renting?

Good question.

As another option, if you are an American with a library card (I'm sure most other western library system offer similar programs) you can check out a Kindle ebook exactly the same way as you would a hard copy book

Oz libraries are on to it.

[Jeffkp]

I would suggest buying a tablet rather than a Kindle. Something like the Samsung Tab S 1 or 2 8in or 10in. I find mine great to read books or magazines and you can see the result in beautiful colour. The super Amoled screens are fantastic. Also of course many other uses apart from just reading books.

I agree. Started with a Kindle and went with a tablet. Much more flexibility for other uses..

[The Deerhunter]

I have a Kindle Paper white. 21 months now. Bought it in Thailand by mail order from Kindle agent in BKK. They even recognized my Amazon a/c details & I got it next day. I love it. Easy on the eyes and tens of thousands of free books or books for 1 or 2 dollars. Battery life is weeks and weeks as long as you set the screen brightness as per setup instructions. I did not do it right at first and battery was only few days. I emailed Amazon/Kindle and they replied telling me to set my brightness correctly which I did and Bingo, weeks between charges, using or not.

Amazon cannot/ do not send to Thailand any more now and this is becoming more common with US suppliers. I do not know about Ebay but I could not buy off Amazon and yes the Thai Kindle people charged me a few dollars more but I would have had to go offshore personally to buy it and did not want to wait. I intend to buy a Samsung Tab soon but do not see it replacing my Kindle. I have many books on my Kindle with pictures on it and small pic on large pages are even smaller on a 6" page but that is to be expected. I even have down loaded Kindle photo books and full page pics are very viewable if that is your thing. If you want to have a nice tab and read the odd book on it, charging every (very) few hours or so, buy the tab of your choice. But a Kindle is for readers and they are great for us. Do NOT ask about Kindles in any normal book shop or computer shop in Thailand. They will have NO IDEA what you are talking about.

Google Kindle Thailand and follow your nose.

[DMC1]

I have a Kindle Paper white. 21 months now. Bought it in Thailand by mail order from Kindle agent in BKK. They even recognized my Amazon a/c details & I got it next day. I love it. Easy on the eyes and tens of thousands of free books or books for 1 or 2 dollars. Battery life is weeks and weeks as long as you set the screen brightness as per setup instructions. I did not do it right at first and battery was only few days. I emailed Amazon/Kindle and they replied telling me to set my brightness correctly which I did and Bingo, weeks between charges, using or not.

Amazon cannot/ do not send to Thailand any more now and this is becoming more common with US suppliers. I do not know about Ebay but I could not buy off Amazon and yes the Thai Kindle people charged me a few dollars more but I would have had to go offshore personally to buy it and did not want to wait. I intend to buy a Samsung Tab soon but do not see it replacing my Kindle. I have many books on my Kindle with pictures on it and small pic on large pages are even smaller on a 6" page but that is to be expected. I even have down loaded Kindle photo books and full page pics are very viewable if that is your thing. If you want to have a nice tab and read the odd book on it, charging every (very) few hours or so, buy the tab of your choice. But a Kindle is for readers and they are great for us. Do NOT ask about Kindles in any normal book shop or computer shop in Thailand. They will have NO IDEA what you are talking about.

Google Kindle Thailand and follow your nose.

Yes, you put it well. Kindles are for serious readers. If you want to consume media, get distracted by emails etc & read occasionally for a hour or two then maybe a tablet is for you. I find it too uncomfortable to read on my iPad for extended periods.

As you also pointed out, you can also view pictures fine on a Kindle, if that is what you want - I didn't understand the problem with that in the post earlier. I have also put work manuals into PDFs and read them on my basic kindle, which included some drawings and they were fine.

I must admit this thread has had me looking at the new paper white!

[1FinickyOne]

Love my kindle as much for the ease and availability of books as the ease of reading. I never would have believed that I would prefer it to an actual book, but I do.

I don't think you will be sorry if you buy a paperwite new. If you buy used with problems, you will be kicking yourself [when you could be reading]

and just as a bonus, I can access internet and email and I don't really need a tablet or smartphone for my simple purposes…

[Goldbear]

I have had a Kindle readers for the last 5+ years.

Ignore what people are saying about getting a tablet, unless you just want to be reading at night. Get a reader if you want to read books. Tablets have their function but they are not the best tool for the job.

I have the Voyage, which is the top of the line Kindle reader. I really like it. I had the Paperwhite which I also liked (I lost it). I bought the Voyage to replace the Paperwhite. Either one of those would be good. The Paperwhite is a lot less expensive. I just buy wifi models, not the 3g.

Make sure you get a case. I broke a few of the old models (Kindle 3).

A Kindle reader is one of the few things that I couldn't live without. You will love it if you like to read a lot.

If you run across ebook formats that don't work on the Kindle directly, it's easy to convert them online or with Calibre software.

Enjoy!

[akentryan]

I have a Kindle somewhere in the house. Read a part of a book and it just doesn't work for me. If interested I'll find it and let you know the details.

[The Deerhunter]

I have a Kindle Paper white. 21 months now. Bought it in Thailand by mail order from Kindle agent in BKK. They even recognized my Amazon a/c details & I got it next day. I love it. Easy on the eyes and tens of thousands of free books or books for 1 or 2 dollars. Battery life is weeks and weeks as long as you set the screen brightness as per setup instructions. I did not do it right at first and battery was only few days. I emailed Amazon/Kindle and they replied telling me to set my brightness correctly which I did and Bingo, weeks between charges, using or not.

Amazon cannot/ do not send to Thailand any more now and this is becoming more common with US suppliers. I do not know about Ebay but I could not buy off Amazon and yes the Thai Kindle people charged me a few dollars more but I would have had to go offshore personally to buy it and did not want to wait. I intend to buy a Samsung Tab soon but do not see it replacing my Kindle. I have many books on my Kindle with pictures on it and small pic on large pages are even smaller on a 6" page but that is to be expected. I even have down loaded Kindle photo books and full page pics are very viewable if that is your thing. If you want to have a nice tab and read the odd book on it, charging every (very) few hours or so, buy the tab of your choice. But a Kindle is for readers and they are great for us. Do NOT ask about Kindles in any normal book shop or computer shop in Thailand. They will have NO IDEA what you are talking about.

Google Kindle Thailand and follow your nose.

PS. Do get a case and a screen protector with it. I got the black leather folding cover that folds into a table reading support. Excellent quality and essential for me.

[Jonathon]

No comparison between a Kindle and tablet for reading books. Kindle is far better.