Customer Reviews

MoleskineŽ Kindle Cover with Reporter-Style Notebook (Fits 6" Display, 2nd Generation Kindle) Black

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Looks nice and I am a big fan of Moleskine products... however, am I the only one that thinks that doesn't make sense for right-handed people?

Imagine that you are reading this on a plane/train/car (passenger of course). I typically hold books with my left hand and flip pages or write with my right so let's go with that. Do you really want to cross your line of vision to jot down notes? Even if you lay it down on the desk, you would still find it difficult to write as you read.

I thought about folding it back all the way so the notebook is in back of the Kindle and that makes even less sense because then you would have to completely take your eyes away from the screen. No matter how you think about it, this setup is cumbersome.

As an improvement, I would allow the user to choose a left-handed or right handed version. Or the product could be made modular and the user could decide where the Kindle and notepad should go. There could be fasteners for either on both sides or allow the user to flip the cover over... though that could lead to problems with the elastic band but hey, I didn't say I had the answer.

My wife got a Belkin pouch Belkin Neoprene Kindle Case (Fits 6" Display, Latest Generation Kindle) when she gave me a Kindle for Christmas. It's perfectly usable, but I was always taking it in and out of the pouch. I wanted something that would protect the Kindle while I was reading.

I purchased the Moleskine cover with notepad because I liked the idea of having a place to jot notes. It arrives beautifully packaged with two notepads. You have to unwrap the notepads and insert one into the inside front cover. There are 98 un-lined pages per notepad. Only a subset of the pages can be easily detached. The notepads have a black cover and first page is stiff with space to write contact information in case the Kindle is lost.

There is even printed text that reads "As a reward: $___". I thought this was interesting; what if I choose not to put in a dollar value? Would I offend a potential Good Samaritan if I didn't put in a number, or worse, if they felt the number was too low? In the end, I wrote, "reward if returned".

The construction of the Moleskine cover is very good, with rigid front and back panels and ample folding space. You can clip a pen to the spine and not feel like you're squeezing it in. A pen is not included.

When closed, the cover has a quarter-inch elastic band near the right edge that's used to keep the front cover closed. To my eye it seems a little flimsy, but in practice, it's worked well and has been easy to use.

The Kindle itself is held in place by half-inch wide black elastic bands at each corner. The bands are tight and double-stitched. I fumbled a little while putting my Kindle under the bands, but once there, it's held securely with no play.

It's these bands that cause my only complaint with the Moleskine cover; the on/off sliding switch at the top of the Kindle is partially covered by the top-left elastic band. I fiddled with the position of the Kindle to put the band to the left of the switch, but it makes finding the left-edge of the switch somewhat harder.

It's not a huge problem, but has put a little wrinkle into turning the Kindle on and off. A similar issue exists with the volume up button on the right. It isn't as much of a problem as you just have to press down and not slide a switch. All the other buttons and controls are accessible.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase and would recommend it to others.

Pros: Attractive styling, excellent construction, good feel without adding significant weight.

Cons: Placement of elastic bands at the top left corner can affect how easily the Kindle is turned on/off. Also, I wish this product was available in other colors, such as brown.

Special Note about Left vs. Right handed: When I wrote this review, there was discussion regarding how the notepad is placed to the left of the Kindle on the inside of the front cover. Right-handed people wonder how useful that would be.

As a left-handed person, I cannot give an opinion on that. However, I can say that it's not possible to flip the cover around to put the Kindle on the left and the notepad on the right. While the Kindle could be rotated and mounted that way, the notepad itself is secured by sliding its back cover into a slit near the top of the inside front cover. The notepad cannot be inserted "upside down".

The economies of scale make it difficult to market a left-handed version of a product. The market is 90% right-handed (generally). Manufacturers have to decide whether or not the cost of producing a variant of the product will be offset by additional sales. Many times, a left-handed person adapts to the right-handed product.

While I suspect right-handed people are not keen to the idea of adapting to something that seems inherently left-handed, that doesn't mean they couldn't adapt and find similar value in it.

Looking at how the Moleskine cover is constructed, I think they could change the product so that the notepad could be inserted from either end, thus making it "flip-able". The slit at the top of the inside front-cover is the only limitation currently.

So I'd heard about Moleskine cover mods for Kindle and iPad via [...]. They'd included a link to this cover, so I clicked it to see what the deal was.

The integrated notepad was a nice touch, it seemed. I'd actually spent the prior few days bemoaning the fact that the Kindle has a keyboard but no simple text app. There are hacks out there sure, but it just seemed silly not having this capacity. Still does, by the way. Anyway, including a nice notepad was one way to resolve this dilemma.

And Hoo! It was on the left side. I am left-handed, so I was hooked. Bought it. Boom. It just arrived tonight via FedEx so I sat down to open the package.

Remeber, Kindle owners, how much of a presentation opening the Kindle box was? The big reveal, how well put together the presentation was, the little touches? Well it's the same here. Inside the FedEx box was another 6 x 10 box with a black ink band about the middle around the box reminiscent of the Moleskine notebooks themselves. "Kindle Cover + 2 Volant Notebooks," then to the left of that a drawing of the open cover with Kindle and notepad, and below that, "Limited edition for Amazon Kindle."

Open this, and there is the cover wrapped in black crepe paper bound by a black sticker that says "Kindle Cover." Unwrap this, and there is the cover itself with the notepads inside.

Lovely presentation.

First thing I noticed, the smell. I have an M-Edge cover I've used since January, and it took about a month before the chemical smell went away from that fella. This, however, has a nicer smell to it. Moreover, the smell doesn't permeate your hands like with the M-Edge. The interior is cream-colored, like a chamois. The Kindle is held in by four elastic bands that were a bit of a struggle to get on.

The Volant notepads have black covers and off-white pages. Almost too nice to doodle or rough-draft upon. But, this is the purpose of these pads, to be used. Once the pad is slid into the pocket on the left there is room to clip a pen into the pocket. A loop for a pen sewn along the inside spine might be better in the long run.

As with the Moleskine notebooks there is an elastic band on the outside meant to hold the cover shut, which is good especially with the notepad flopping around. Yeah, the notepad does not have a rigid back to it so it sags, especially if you have the cover folded over for one-hand use, as I always did with the M-Edge. A workaround I will try is to use the elastic to help keep the notepad in place. We shall see...

Overall, my first impression is a very good one. The price is comparable to the Amazon and M-Edge covers, the presentation was lovely, and having a notepad with the Kindle is good if you need to jot down ideas, swatches of interesting text that bomb through your head (this happens to me you see...) or whatever. One of the other Amazon reviews talks about having difficulty finding replacement notepads. That's as may be, and we'll see what happens at that time. I may have to darken the door of a bookstore that carries Moleskines to see what's what, or search online. These notepads are wider than traditional reporter notepads, and are not spiral-bound like all the ones I've had. The lack of a rigid back is disconcerting, though I might just try sliding a piece of cardboard into the pocket in front of the back cover to see how that does.

I still give this five stars, even with the very few downsides I see. Short of making something of your own this is a great cover for the money. Plus if you're a lefty you really ought to just *get* this, if only for the fact that it's something set up ideally for us.

This only makes sense for lefties! What about righties?

I would buy this in a second if there were two versions!

I was a little hesitant about getting this because I purchased a new Kindle 3 and saw this wasn't made to fit those. After reading another user's review stating the Kindle fit, I took the plunge. I'm happy to say my new Kindle 3 fits well. At first, it seems like it isn't secure enough, but the micro-suede and the elastic keep it firmly in place. I'll be sure to upgrade to a cover that fits once Moleskine releases those. That said, the cover is beautifuly made, like all of Moleskine's other notebooks, and the two pads for inside add a nice touch for those who like to doodle while they read. Some say that this cover is geared toward lefties, but as a right-handed person, I like my book on the right side - so this fits fine with me.

I am writing this for those of you thinking of buying it for the new Kindle Three. The other reviewers have pretty much said everything else about it. Beautiful craftsmanship and a worthy compliment to the Kindle. Here is the good news. The new Kindle fits perfectly and securely in this cover. It is also light enough to hold for extended periods of time in one hand and the note part folds back quite nicely. All in all I am very happy with this cover.

I am a huge fan of Moleskines so I was really excited when I discovered this product, but was disappointed to see it get a low rating. That being said I actually read all the reviews and as it turns out most of the low ratings come from people who don't even own the product! People complaining about the way it looks and one who was even reviewing a different product altogether, and a few who were just complaining that it was for Kindle and not other e-readers or tablets. Seriously people, what the heck?

I own one of these and I think it's probably one of the best Kindle cases on the market. The great thing about Moleskines is the presentation and the preciousness of them as well as the excellent quality, and I found the Kindle case to have all these. The cover is the typical material found on other moleskines, but the inside is covered in a wonderful suede-like material. Unlike my last case where the elastic corners covered buttons, the moleskine case has a much better design and none of the buttons are blocked out. I read a lot of reviews from people complaining that the pad is on the left side, but I don't find this to be an issue at all, it is easy to hold and make notes in it. In fact I haven't found a writing position yet that makes it so my arm covers up the kindle. There is also a nice gap between the notebook and kindle where you can keep a pen clipped inside without being forced.
I also have to give Amazon and Moleskine props on the packaging. Remember when you got your Kindle and it was in that nice special box, and it was all wrapped up inside. Well the Moleskine case is packaged in a similar way! Something about the added effort there just helps to make it more special.
I think it's impossible not to develop feelings for your Kindle, I mean we get sentimental and romantic over our physical books so it's natural that you'd love the mechanical thing that lets you read so many books. I think this Moleskine really just adds to that, it gives the kindle a natural feel and almost makes it so you don't even acknowledge that the Kindle is a mechanical object. That being said I think the best thing about this case is its appeal to Moleskine fans. If you've never had a Moleskine and are just looking for a good case then by all means this is a great one. However if you are a Moleskine fan and love your Kindle, then you SERIOUSLY will NOT be disappointed in this! There's no way you can't love it.

Note pads don't have rigid covers or tops. Because of that the top few papers get rumpled, and the whole thing falls out like an upside down book... depending on how you hold it. Nice quality, but not practical. Once the Kindle is installed the whole thing is way to thick.

I like the notebook in the cover but really don't like the corner retaining elastic. The slide clips designed for the kindle are a far superior option. I buy moleskine notebook products because of the quality. The functionality for the kindle cover is just not there e.g.:

- the corner retaining elastic;
- the vertical page holder for the horizontal opening notebook that's sits across the edge of your kindle. Serves no purpose.

There are really only four things wrong with this Kindle cover:
1) Because it uses elastic straps to hold the Kindle in place, the power switch is a little hard to get to. Why they didn't use the metal bars like in the Official Amazon cover I don't know, but all of the third party covers use the elastic straps.
2) You're effectively doubling the thickness of your Kindle. One of the great things about the Kindle is how thin it is. With the cover, plus the reporter's notebook this really feels like you're carrying a hard cover book with you, which maybe a good thing.
3) The reporter's notebook included is paperback so it feels flimsy. I'm used to the hardback Moleskine notebooks, the paperback ones just don't seem practical.
4) No place for a pen.

If you're looking for a Kindle cover that also includes a notepad, this is a great one with an amazing name and excellent build quality.

If however you are looking for a kindle cover that won't add too much bulk to your Kindle get this one: Amazon Kindle Leather Cover, Black (Fits 6" Display, Latest Generation Kindle)