Kindle vs Real Books

[Raider4]

I've had a dedicated Kindle e-book reader since about 2011. It's great for reading novels, stories, etc. on. I went on holiday recently with the choice of reading any of approx. 400 titles. It remembers where you've got to in each book. I can pick up reading a book after 18 months, and it remembers exactly where I'd got to.

I wouldn't use it for a rulebook, or a reference book, or anything else that requires a lot of flicking back and forth.

It's no good for anything that uses images. It's not good at converting PDF files to the Kindle format - you really need the source to be a dedicated Kindle file.

Looking at the current Kindles available they look a lot worse than the version I've got, so if mine dies I doubt one of the current offerings.

Plenty of public domain titles are available - try Feedbooks (for example).

Cheers, M.
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[Womble67]

I would just like to thank everybody for contributing to the discussion. I picked up a basic model last night for £20 so over the next couple of days I'll give it a go and see what I think

Take care

Andy

[Terry37]

My not being a tech heavy, I have  an honest question fr those with electronic books. What happens if your device crashes or gets corrupted? Do you lose everything or is it stored as some kind of account? This would be one of my fears if I had one.

Thanks,

Terry

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Amazon have a "cloud", so no you wont lose it all.

[fsn]

Additional benefit of a Kindle. If you are reading "War and Peace" in bed, and fall asleep, you won't end up with a broken nose.

[Raider4]

What happens if your device crashes or gets corrupted? Do you lose everything or is it stored as some kind of account?

I connect mine to the PC with a USB cable, and just copy the contents to a backup folder.

I know I do have an Amazon account with it, but I can't remember the last time I logged into it.

Cheers, M.
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[Orcs]

I have a black and white text kindle that is brilliant for holidays, but not so good if you want to read siting on the edge of the pool with your feel dangling in the water.

It no good for anything with pictures or maps. It is also a pain when you have a cast of characters in th front of the book and you want to check who a particular character is.

I have not got the kindle fire as they can be tricky to read in direct sunlight unlike my black and white one.  It is also the earlier one that has a button to turn the pages. Not a swipe

[Ben Waterhouse]

Kindle for fiction, real books for non-fiction... A Librarian speaks...

[Raider4]

... A Librarian speaks...

Shhh!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Ook!

[Ben Waterhouse]

Both the above correct....

[Womble67]

Ok an update after spending a couple of nights with my new Kindle I can honestly say I think it's brilliant so I might even save a bit of space by buying digital books from now on

Take care

Andy

[paulr]

Good to hear its working out well for you Andy

[nigel drury]

I've found a Kindle Fire very useful. Works well as a reader for anything without detailed maps and also as a basic tablet for email etc. I wouldn't want one as my only tablet as I'd miss some of the android functions not available such as the GPS and the excellent OS map app.

It would work very well for say the text volumes of the British official histories used alongside the physical map volumes.  I'm currently reading David Glantz's account of Smolensk 1941 on the Fire, together with the separate paper map volume.

One useful feature of the amazon account is it will remember your place in books across devices (phone, kindle and laptop) in much the same way as it does for Prime content for TV and films.

I wouldn't want to spend a long time reading the Kindle app on the phone but it is handy to be able to access your library if only to check what you already have.