How many of you own a Kindle?

I have a sony reader- No, I don't think it will replace books, but it is cool- why can'y they live together?

I like my sony because I can actually download my MS to it and make notes fpr corrections later- really cool when I am doing the mom thing and spend hours out of the house with the little ones at activities.

I like to read on it as well- but I am an admitted gadget freak Love it love it love it!

My wife and I own two Kindles. She has the newest (version 2), mine is a version 1. We travel a lot . . . airplane, RV, auto, and really don't have too much room for hard-copy books. But, we still buy lots of hard-copy, mainly from used-book stores, trading libraries, etc.

The Kindle (and other e-readers) will be around for a long time to come, but I don't think they'll supplant the real thing any time soon.

I've been able to convert my WIP's to the MOBI format for Kindle, and read them while traveling. That's an experience! My own writing makes me ill at times. Good thing you can use the "notes" feature to point to areas that need work. Lots of those.

I have one. It is the Kindle 2
I love it.
I have my WIP on it, and several other documents that I want to keep around, but aren't published.

I enjoy reading on it, and feel that's it's almost a perfect device, just one or two things I'd change.

I like reading on it more so than reading a real book.

BTW- the coffeeshop where I do my writing. . .there are at least 8-10 regular customers here who have Kindles. (several of whom have bought my book on Kindle. )

I don't have one, but if anyone would like to buy me a kindle, please feel free. J/K.

I have the K2. Love it.

I just bought three books yesterday, and downloaded a few free ones. I've already read through part of them. The Kindle makes it so easy for me to pick up ANY book (I have in the digital library) and read anywhere I want. It fits my reading habit (I don't like carrying a book, let alone two or three, everywhere I go).

I buy REAL books now only if I want to keep the physical copy (like as a souvenir, etc.) or if it's a picture book. Otherwise, if I just want to read text, eBook is the way to go for me now. Convenient, easy to read (with adjustable fonts, search function, bookmarks, built-in dictionary, text-to-speech [so I got audio books, too, for the price of one]) and generally much cheaper prices (on average about $6 - $9 a book).

Also, I download my WIPs to my Kindle and it's made a great difference, to be able to "read" my mss. like a book. Also, the text-to-speech function is invaluable in finding errors.

Also, it makes "beta reading" for other people much easier. No more large computer files or reams of paper. The Kindle can convert most any RTF or text files to its eBook format.

Also, it plays MP3 files so I can load up audio books, podcasts, or music. I can listen to music while I read. That's really great.


A friend of mine has the DX and I'm envious. Yes, it's a little large but the trade PB screen size makes reading so much more enjoyable and it can also display PDF files in their native format (without converting to Kindle format). That's a great asset if you have a lot of PDF documents, including picture books.

p.s. I have just now turned into a Kindle advertisement

I have the Kindle 2 and I love it. I do still purchase books, however, because sometimes mass market paperbacks purchased from Target or Walmart are cheaper than Kindle downloads.

I too send my manuscripts to my Kindle--15 to 30 cents well spent. This way I can read it over during soccer games without having to lug paper around and nobody is the wiser that I'm reading my own stuff vs. something published.

I don't think it will replace books anytime soon, not at its current pricepoint. There are still some advantages to books over the Kindle (or any e-reader). I like to flip through books to read the odd passages. It's unwieldy to do this on the Kindle.

The down side of having the K2 is that I find myself spending more money on books! They add up.

AuburnAssassin said:

I like to flip through books to read the odd passages. It's unwieldy to do this on the Kindle.

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I would like for them to have a feature to "flip through" the book (or jump to any random page, or a "Surprise Me" feature) without using that cumbersome "Go To" or search function.

I have one. I thought it was a good thing to have since all my books are available on Kindle and I love it. The biggest benefit for me? Some of my favorite new books come out originally in hardback only--and I'm too cheap to spend over twenty bucks on a book right off the bat. So I get the Kindle version at six or nine bucks and voila! I'm already reading it. It means I can wait until later, when a popular hardback first hits the sale stands, to add it to my library. It also lets me read lots of newer authors, writers I normally would have to justify the purchase of their book to myself. Again--six bucks as opposed to twenty three or twenty four?

I can't help it that I'm cheap. Kindle is my first line of screening for new authors and books alike. And, as I'm voracious when I have time to read, I never run out of new books. It's a form of instant entertainment for me.

Kindle is to books what iPod is to music. I don't think the e-book revolution is ending any time soon. As far as replacing the tangible product, well, if lit follows the same trend as newspapers, music, movies, etc. then yes, I suppose it's only a matter of time before digital out performs hard versions. I love books, but I love the idea of carrying an entire library in the palm of my hand too. Yeah, progress!!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go fish my newspaper out of da muddle puddle so I can read it while I percolate the coffee and listen to some Steve Miller Band on 8-track.

maestrowork said:

I would like for them to have a feature to "flip through" the book (or jump to any random page, or a "Surprise Me" feature) without using that cumbersome "Go To" or search function.

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the sony reader has this function- you just go to options- tap 'go to page' and then type in the page number you want to go to- love it- I agonized for months over to get a kindle vs a sony- they are both awesome-

I'm still waking up and just read some of these posts in more detail. I can save my WIP's to my Kindle? How did I not know this? Extra points for Kindle!

kayleamay said:

I'm still waking up and just read some of these posts in more detail. I can save my WIP's to my Kindle? How did I not know this? Extra points for Kindle!

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Yes, but you pay 15 cents for each conversion. You simply email your WIP (RTF, TXT or Doc) to your kindle email address.

There's another way that is free. There's an open-source program called Calibre which will convert file formats and send to the Kindle (connected by the USB cable to your PC). I'm using it now. Awesome.

So, you can port anything... not just manuscripts, but work documents, letters, email, forum posts, etc. Not to mention you can also subscribe to RSS feeds so you can read all the news and blogs on your Kindle.

sheadakota said:

the sony reader has this function- you just go to options- tap 'go to page' and then type in the page number you want to go to- love it- I agonized for months over to get a kindle vs a sony- they are both awesome-

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The Kindle has "Go To" as well but not a specific page because the Kindle uses something called "Location." So it's a little useless. However, the bookmark feature is very useful to locate specific pages.

I'm...in...love.

I think the price point is still the tricky thing, but with the lower prices of eBooks, it pays off in the long run. Not to mention all the special features. I think the convenience of instant download, document conversion, and the number of books available (Amazon says they have over 300,000 in the Kindle store), it's catching on. Now, if the Kindle comes down to $200 or $150 with multimedia capability, it's going to be a killer.

I'll never ever own one. I love books. When I take breaks from reading, I like to bury my nose in them and smell that gorgeous smell. (-;

I can up load my WIP for free on my sony but it's not wireless- that is the downside of the sony vs the kindle.

KTC said:

I'll never ever own one. I love books. When I take breaks from reading, I like to bury my nose in them and smell that gorgeous smell. (-;

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You can spray the Kindle with that "book smell" freshener.

sheadakota said:

I can up load my WIP for free on my sony but it's not wireless- that is the downside of the sony vs the kindle.

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The wireless thing is the BOMB. I just got six free books from the Kindle store and they showed up immediately on my K2 ready to be read.

maestrowork said:

You can spray the Kindle with that "book smell" freshener.

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Oh, you are good.

maestrowork said:

The wireless thing is the BOMB. I just got six free books from the Kindle store and they showed up immediately on my K2 ready to be read.

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It's never taken more than 30 seconds for books to show up on my kindle, AND I had about 10 WIPS transfered to my Kindle and I wasn't charged a penny. If I had thought I was going to be charged for it I never would have sent so many LOL

I have my own issues with Amazon, in general, so I'll never own one.