Books are one of my favorite things. I have hundreds of books. My strong interest in books and all they contained started when my aunt (who was a school teacher) started taking me to our tiny town library well before my first birthday and has continued ever since. I enjoy reading all kinds of books on a variety of subjects. I read everything from history, Christian mysteries/romances, to biographaries, to cultural topics, to anything that catches my interest. Because many of the books (particularly the series) become my 'friends,' I do not like to part with them and will read them over and over again throughout the months or years. Because of this, I have a very large number of books in my apartment...all nicely housed in bookcases in some sort of order that makes sense to me (if no one else!). My best friend recently commented that I would soon either need to stop purchasing books or I would need a larger apartment so that they could have their own room. She meant it as a joke, but I realized that it was the truth. I certainly did not wish to get rid of any of my books (although I did convince myself to do a big purge, which made a local receiving organization very happy). However I knew that it was time to bite the bullet and move from paper books to ebooks. I had been resisting because I could not imagine reading a book that I could not hold in my hands.I started slowly by adding Kindle to my computer and purchasing a few ebooks. I found it a bit strange, but not terribly offensive! lol So after using Kindle on my computer for some time and then receiving gift cards for my birthday I took the plunge and purchased an ebook, a Kindle E-reader 6". Even when I first purchased my Kindle E-reader it took me a few days to even do more than look at it and set it up so that I could make sure it worked. But then I thought I should at least give it a fair shot, so I synced my Kindle eReader with my online Kindle, purchased some more ebooks and began to build a relationship with my new Kindle E-reader. It has been a month and a half now, and I am feeling very comfortable with my Kindle E-reader. No it is not the same as holding a book in my hand or being able to write handwritten notes in the margins, etc. But amazingly in many ways it is much better. I can still read my favorite books as often as I want. I can purchase and read new books easily and quickly. I still have the same wide choices I did before with Amazon. I can still make notes in the books I read. And there are many added advantages for me. The Kindle E-reader saves me room while allowing me to have as many books as I wish without wondering where I am going to put them all. The Kindle E-reader is super easy to use, particularly with the touchscreen feature. There is a dictionary right in the Kindle E-reader, so if I need information I do not have to go to my computer to find it or whatever. It is convenient to take with me, some of the books I like to read can be bulky and/or heavy. This does not matter on the Kindle E-reader. The Kindle E-reader easily received five stars from me. It has worked well and with out any glitches since I first purchased it. As I said it is easy to use and convenient to use. It is definitely a keeper for me, and I would recommend it to anyone who might be considering purchasing an e-reader. One other thing about the Kindle that means a lot to me is the Amazon service that backs it up. Before I purchased my Kindle I called and asked several questions about it, I further called after receiving it for help in syncing it with my computer Kindle. Each time I contacted Amazon I was treated with respect and kindness by a professional and knowledgeable pleasant customer service representative who answered all of my questions and helped me with the syncing, etc. Since I am a person who believes that a product is only as good as the service that stands behind it, Amazon's five star service meant a lot to me, and helped to confirm for me that I had made the right choice in purchasing my Kindle E-reader. I will confess that I still buy a paper book now and then just for old times sake, but basically I am truly enjoying my Kindle E-reader and use it regularly. It has helped me in many ways in my busy life!
It's really a 4+, but for a few issues
The X-RAY feature is a joke.It had (has) huge potential. But the Kindle group has seriously dropped the ball.Instead of using the X-RAY option to create an excellent list of characters to describe their relationships and\or functions to the story, they have opted for the easy way out. They have created a virtually useless quote machine.When I use the X-RAY feature I often get some random quote the character has made or some mention of the character in from the book, nothing about the character's relationship to the story or people.As an example: Mr. Sanford: "Sanford slammed his fist onto his desk and and screamed out a slew of expletives. He and his wife tried to move on but it was difficult." This is a typical sample of the uselessness of this feature. It should have read (something like): Mr. Sanford - VP to President Briggs, husband to... (or some such).The other horrible, lazy and totally useless entry might be from Wikipedia (or the like), which describes an actual person with, absolutely, NO connection to the story. As an example: James Flynn - William James Flynn (1867 - October 14, 1928) was the director of the FBI from July 1,1918 to August 21,1821). The actual characters name but with no relationship to the story. Again totally and utterly useless.I can sometimes figure out the characters relationship, to the story, by using the search feature, which gives a listing of every mention of the character's name. With this option one can usually find, in the early mentions, how the character in question relates.I have had a Kindle for over 12 years. At first I did not like it I preferred books (I still like the tactile aspect to reading) but have become an avid Kindle person. It is very convenient. I really like the Dictionary feature (my original Kindle's Dictionary was FAR better. It would allow one to look up a word in the displayed definition - which the subsequent iterations do not allow {boo, hiss}).I believe this is too sad. Kindle could be so much better than it has become. I still like it, but too often (every day) I am reminded that it is much less than it's potential.What started out as a wonderful and lofty goal became a quasi useful option, which, most often, does not live up to the hypeMy 2 cents (on X-RAY).The other issue, that keeps the rating low, is the reliability. I've had 2 readers die. Both readers stopped opening up. There was only the sleep image displaying. With the first unit, I bought and replaced the battery, with no success - just a waste of time and money. I did not even try to fix the second unit.
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2016Color: BlackOption: Without Kindle UnlimitedOffer Type: With Special OffersVerified Purchase
- Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2016Color: BlackOption: Without Kindle UnlimitedOffer Type: With Special OffersVerified Purchase
