OK, I'm old, but....what is the advantage of a Kindle over a book?

[old mark]

Why whould I buy or use one other than to be stylish?

mark

[Dennis Donovan]

1. A Kindle can be thousands of books-in-one...

...you could have all of your books with you in one device. And, you're being kind to the environment by not using paper.

If you already own a netbook or laptop computer (or your desktop computer, for that matter), or if you have a smartphone (like an iPhone or a Droid), you can simply download the Kindle application to it and read your books that way.

[ret5hd]

2. the way i see it:

it's not that it has an advantage over ONE book, but over a hundred books.

but as an old fart myself, how many books is a person reading at one time?

[Lost4words]

3. less paper, can be read in the dark, makes amazon $$

will greatly reduce used and give away books. Closer to, 1 purchase = 1 reader.

I prefer books printed on paper.

[prc73450]

55. exactly what i was going to say

[Raspberry]

4. If you drop it,

as my son did his, your entire library is GONE until you pay many, many $$$ to have it repaired.

No thanks, I'll stick to the old-fashioned kind of reading material!

[Warren Stupidity]

10. your entire library of stuff you bought is online and can be downloaded

to a pc to an iphone to a droid to a new kindle etc. The stuff you didn't buy can be backed up to a pc, cloud storage, etc.

[hippywife]

27. That would be me.

I fall to sleep with my book in my hand and drop it on the floor from our high bed every time. :rofl:

[hamerfan]

33. I thought I was the only one

who did this!
Drives my wife crazy because she always falls asleep before me.

[LWolf]

54. Can you back it up somewhere in case of reader failure? nt

[enough]

5. My 96-year-old father-in-law prefers his Kindle to the printed word because he can enlarge the font.

He's a voracious reader, always looking out for new things to read. Also has newspaper and magazine subscriptions on the Kindle, which arrive daily.

He gets his news and politics fix from the net, but for books, it's the Kindle all the way. He's rarely without it.

[Red Riding Hood]

30. that is awesome! nt

[Warpy]

6. As long as you can power the thing

it would replace that wall of bookshelves we bookish types tend to accumulate, along with the dust the books accumulate once we're done with them but loath to let them go the way we are loath to lose old friends.

The advantage to the books is that they'll be there even if the power fails for a few weeks, able to be read during the day or in candle light at night, while the Kindle requires a certain amount of electricity to function.

I admit I've been tempted, if only because I can fiddle with the font to make it easier to read than print material. It's also attractive in that it means fewer trips to the library to recycle the escapist trash I occasionally read into their donation bin. However, I don't see it replacing my basic library. There will always be something comforting to me about low tech, especially when it comes to reference works.

Unfortunately, it seems different manufacturers of e-books are trying to nail down exclusive deals with publishers. That is a huge mistake for publishers, IMO, limiting their audience instead of expanding it while limiting the use of the e-books. If the e-book manufacturers and publishers realize their error and knock that shit off, I'll be more interested.

Until then, I'll buy the books, thanks.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[Mnemosyne]

9. Welcome to DU, duckduckduck!

Good one :rofl:

[DrDan]

8. paper subscriptions . . . ability to haul around hundreds of books. . . .

[RichGirl]

48. I've never had the need or desire....

...to haul around 100's of books. I rarely have more than one book with me.

[handmade34]

11. I love the feel of a book

but, my Kindle is easy to take on the road, I can change the font to suit my failing eyesight, I can get a new book almost instantly if I want, it saves on paper, they are very comfortable to hold and read once you get used to it, I can easily read it when on a treadmill (just a quick click turns the page), also includes a dictionary, easy to organize your library.... etc...

Many reasons to like a Kindle, but I still believe that there is something very comforting about a bookshelf full of books...

[Richard D]

12. No need . . .

. . . to drive to a book store. You can buy a book from anyplace there's cell phone reception. It's great for extended travel to non-native language countries where books in your native language aren't available or cost considerably more than they should, with very limited selection.

[RichGirl]

49. I LOVE going to the bookstore....

It's one of my favorite things to do. Especially if they have Starbucks. I could spend hours there and usually do.

[stray cat]

13. Some can see the text on a kindle but no longer in books -so it allows them to read

I have three family members on an account - so every book is shared cutting costs. I can also get samples of every book to see if I like it free. I also used to carry 5 different books on vacation - now I carry 1000 on a kindle

[Jim__]

14. I have stacks of books all over my house.

A kindle should at least cut down on the stacks. It won't eliminate them because a lot of the books I read are not on kindle - hopefully, that will change.

[Curmudgeoness]

21. Oh, but I love my stacks of books. It would look so lonely

with one little Kindle sitting there. Also, that book is always readable, no power needed, no obsolescence.

[Red Riding Hood]

31. I love my stacks of books too...

even if I do have to keep finding more bookshelves...

[demosincebirth]

41. Me too. I love the feel and texture of the book. And turing the pages.

[ipaint]

15. Library for me.

Don't have the money for the device or the books to fill it with which is ok because I work online all day so relaxing for me is not being hooked to a gadget.

[eilen]

16. Our library loans out ebooks that load at a click of

your mouse on an ereader like Sony's. Once the 7 or 14 day loan period has past, they disappear from your reader. You do need to hook up your reader via USB to the computer though. My friend uses it and really likes it. The loans are loans, no fee... free.

[ipaint]

18. When I can check out a free reader at the library

I'll give it a go.

[FirstLight]

17. I don't know!

Personally, my books are like old friends, they have been with me through the years and do more than collect dust on the shelves. They are my reference when I am looking for a quote or information, the older ones are an interesting snapshot of the thinking of their time, and there is something comforting in turning the pages and the smell of an old binding...

but I am a romantic, I must have been a librarian in a past life! :)
Can't go past a garage sale without looking at the books, and I LOVE the free table in front of the local library!
go figure, maybe it is a personal preference, but I will have my books forever.

[old mark]

19. I admit to bias - I have several thousand books in our home, used to

buy and sell them online. I started going with my dad around age 10 when HE went out to buy books to sell back in the pre-home computer days when books were sold via quotes on postcards. I am about to put a few more on ebay over the next few months to try to get rid of some of them.

We will see.

mark

[fadedrose]

20. Cataracts

Had cataract surgery and although it made me see much much farther without glasses, it cut down on close stuff much much more than I thought it would, and I miss my nearsightedness. Probably a kindle would help.

However, my doctor said to get reading glasses for a dollar at a discount store, and that's what I recommend. You can get any power, l.5, 2.0, 2.5. 2.75 or higher. I like the really higher powered ones that actually let me read the printing on the tiny eye drops boxes and bottles, plus any books I want to read.

I have these cheapie glasses all over the house and I love them.

I love the feel of a book, always will.

[SheilaT]

22. How about non-fiction books that

have photographs in them? what's the quality of those pictures on a Kindle? Aren't they going to be a lot smaller than the same pictures in the hardback version of the book?

I'll stick to regular old fashioned books, thank you very much. I don't have to spend very much money going to the library, I can renew on-line if I need to.

Also, a copy of a book downloaded to a Kindle can't be shared with anyone else, unless you give them the Kindle (or other electronic device) itself. But a hard copy of a book can be read over and over, hundreds, even thousands of times, just that one copy. So in the long run it's a lot cheaper.

[old mark]

23. THAT may be part of the problem - No one makes money when you share a book...

I don't mean to be cynical - it's just the way I am.


mark

[SheilaT]

25. And the pictures thing.

I read a fair number of non-fiction books with photographs. I've learned that if I purchase the paperback version, it can sometimes be very difficult to make out the photos because they've been so reduced in size.

[hippywife]

26. And that idea would mean the end

of the public library system. I will never buy an electronic reader. I love books and I love the library, always have. I could afford to buy books but stopped because I don't have space for them in my little house and using and supporting the public library system keeps it viable for those who cannot afford books and NEED the library system.

[joeglow3]

38. I miss used book stores

Barnes and Noble killed most of them around here. However, the few left are great experiences everytime I go in them (especially all the locally owned video stores are gone).

[spin]

44. I like the dictionary and search features on a Kindle ...

In a book with a lot of characters, I can quickly refresh my memory on some obscure character.

A dictionary is always useful, but the built in dictionary in the Kindle saves a lot of time and effort.

[abluelady]

24. I'm Not Using the Kindle

because I don't buy that many books. I use my public library. It would be very costly for me to have to buy all the books I read. I also like to underline and highlight my non-fiction books as a resource. I'm not sure the Kindle works well for that. I'm going to stick with real books for the time being. But I'm old too. :)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

28. You can put hundreds and hundreds of books...

onto a device that weighs a few ounces and takes up a few square inches of space.

The advantages are rather obvious.

I think if anybody is fooling themselves, it's the ones who are resisting change.

[Scout]

36. well, i never need to have hundreds and hundreds of books

available.

with real books, no batteries or other power source required.

paper is easily recycled and trees grown. electronic devices made from plastic, not so much.

we've been hearing since 1980 that "e-books" will replace printing. not yet, and not for a long time.

[RichGirl]

50. I love change...in fact I voted for it.

But not all change is good. I wish I still only needed ONE remote instead of three.

People are fooling themselves if they think that anything new is great. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to get on the internet using a screen the size of a cellphone. There is nothing that I would want to read in microscopic type.

Not everything new is progress. Companies don't invent things to improve our lives, they do it because they know they can sell it to us and they'll make a profit when we toss out last years new thing for this years new thing.

I do like the big screen TVs.

[Red Riding Hood]

29. I was wondering the same thing..

yes.. I suppose you can load lots of book on it... that might be ok to bring on a vacation.. but then I only usually only read one or two books on vacation anyway..

[Lex]

32. Space Saver

for one thing.

[Arkansas Granny]

34. I'm old and I wondered the same thing for a long time. I finally got a Kindle

for myself a few months ago and I wish that I had done it earlier. I love the idea of being able to travel with as many books as I like without weight or space considerations. I like that I can buy a new book any time I wish without leaving my chair and sample them before I buy. If I'm watching tv and they mention a book that I think I might be interested in, I can see if it's available on Kindle and add it to my wish list to sample later. You can subscribe to magazines, newspapers and blogs on your Kindle.

Another thing I've noticed is that it's easier to hold than a book over long periods of time. It's lightweight and you have several places to grip without having to hold the pages open. Due to arthritis, reading was starting to make my hands hurt.

Kindle won't replace print books entirely, and it will never feel and smell like a printed book, but it sure adds a lot of convenience to your reading experience.

[peaches2003]

37. Exactly

You said exactly what I was going to say. I'm a young 70, love my Kindle, love my Iphone, love my laptop. Love real books, but today's technology is terrific and age is not going to stop me from enjoying all the world has to offer.

[sally cat]

53. That was an excellent review of the Kindle. I'm going to reconsider it now.

[TBF]

35. I have arthritis, and it makes holding heavy books very difficult -

the Kindle has been good for me in that respect. I love that I can just put it in my purse and carry it anywhere and have a selection of items to read with me. One cool thing is that you can sign into Amazon and get a bunch of classics free to download (I guess they've passed their copyright period). I saw the book "The Iron Heel" written about on a political forum, and I was able to download it free, for example. Newer books that you buy are less in Kindle format than buying the actual book.

I recently bought the $139 version for Amazon, figured I didn't need the 3G, and I've been very pleased with the purchase.

[stray cat]

39. If your vision is bad and you still want to read -you choose text size

It isn't all style -it allows some people to continue their love of reading. There are three family members throughout the US on one account -we all three can read any book free bought by the other, my mom doesn't have access to a library -so her kids supply the kindle library

[raccoon]

40. Yes, you're old.

What was the question again? :silly:

[spin]

42. Unless you have a very large house, you can run out of space ...

to store books.

With a Kindle you can store up to 3500 books and archive books you have read.

You can search the book you are reading. If an obscure character pops up, you can find out who he is. If you run across a word you are not familiar with, you can look it up on a dictionary

You can adjust the text size to fit your eyes.

I recently bought one for $139 and so far I'm impressed. I reading more and enjoying it more.

[SheilaT]

43. I notice that no one has yet responded

to my question about photographs and the Kindle. Come on, all you who think the Kindle and its ilk should rightfully replace books. What about photographs? When a full-sized book has a full-sized photo, how well does it show up in the Kindle version? I have found that even the reduction in size in photos from the hardback to the paperback results in a significant loss of detail.

In a similar vein, a while back on some one of the many forums on DU, someone pointed out that Life Magazine is available to read on-line. And yes, it is, but there's an even worse problem with Life and the photographs. Often they did a two-page spread, and on-line you get to look at just one page at a time. You can't have the equivalent of the entire magazine open in front of you. So a two-page photo can't be viewed.

(I used to read old Life Magazines, and it was the single most educational thing I've ever done.)

[stickiteh]

45. Pictures on a Kindle

From what I remember the pics on a Kindle were OK, but only black/white of course. I don't remember being able to zoom in very well, and they seems pretty grainy. I've passed my Kindle on to my Dad; he has macular degeneration and being able to increase the font size has been a godsend to him. My parents are both in their 80s but seem to have mastered the ability to purchase new books online, and love it. I got an iPad and when I loaded the kindle app on it all the books I had on my Kindle appeared on the iPad also, so that's why I passed my Kindle on. I had downloaded hundreds of free classic books when I first got it, so now we both have them. I love reading on my iPad, either in the Kindle app or the iBooks app, both work amazing. The photos on books on the iPad are a 1000 times better than on the kindle, and you can zoom them quite easily. Since I normally am in the shade when outdoors, the glare on the iPad doesn't keep me from reading outside. YMMV

[SheilaT]

46. Thank you for that information.

For the time being, I'll stick to regular books, especially the non-fiction ones that have pictures/photos. While zooming in could be nice, if you can no longer see the entire photo -- as in the problem with on-line Life Magazine -- I see no good advantage in the electronic version.

I do acknowledge that for people like your Dad with macular degeneration, the Kindle can be wonderful. Do large-type books work as well for him?

[LearnedHand]

47. Excuse my caps, but READING IN BED WITH IT!

I have a little buckwheat pillow that I smush into a Kindle-shaped holder, and I read hands-free, lying on my side with my pillow PERFECTLY shaped under my neck and head, uncovering in the cold room only long enough to click "Next Page."

For the record, I was a very hard sell. I'm a bibliophile from my very earliest years and I love the feel, smell, sound, color, and texture of books. So I promised myself that I'd only buy books that I know that I'll keep, and that I'll be sure to re-buy the same ones I have in print copies for my Kindle. It took me about a month to get hooked, and it was reading in bed that did it. Also, I haven't bought that many books. I'm reading many of the classics that I have never read before: Wuthering Heights, Dracula, the complete Sherlock Holmes series, H.G. Wells -- and these all are free from Project Gutenberg.

[SheilaT]

51. But can you read in the shower?

[LearnedHand]

56. Well, no

But then, I don't read paper books in the shower either :evilgrin:

[abluelady]

52. Just Heard a Wonderful Story About the Kindle

An elderly relative of mine was given a Kindle for her birthday. Along with it came the ability to order whatever she wants to read and the bill goes to her kids who gave her the Kindle. If you can make a deal like that...:thumbsup:

She also loves the feel of a book and still uses her local library.