Question about the Kindle ebook reader

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  • Rene
    Participant

    I’m looking to purchase my first ebook reader and am considering a Kindle but I’m confused about something.  I know that it’s wireless – does this mean I can NOT connect it to my computer with a cord and transfer pdf ebooks onto the Kindle?  How would I get ebook that I already have in pdf format onto the Kindle or is that not possible?

    Debij
    Member

    Rene – My husband has a nook from barnes and nobel, he loves it, it holds 1500 books, I’m not sure about the kindle but I know my daughter downloaded from her computer to his nook the complete series of dune 🙂  I know there is an FAQ on amazon about the kindle, but the cool thing and one of the reasons we bought the nook was: 1 it was a little cheaper, 2 you can lend books to others, so my daughter and husband can share their books, and 3 – I went to barnes and nobel and played with it first to kind of try before you buy and ask questions with their employees, where you don’t get that option with Kindle.  The other thing is wireless means that you can wi-fi over your network to download books and make purchases at any wifi hot spot. The nook came with the computer cabel and power cord.  Just food for thought

     

    DebiJ

    Yes, you can connect it via usb cable and copy files to it natively in windows as if it were a hard drive. (per my computer savvy husband 🙂 ) I love our Kindle.  I go to the kindle store, sort the books by price and download all the free books I want and there is alot.  Glad we spent the money.     

    Rene
    Participant

    Thank you both!  One more question that my husband has.  If we do not want to use the wireless feature, can I buy kindle books from Amazon, download them to my computer and then transfer them via usb?  Or if I want to buy kindle books from Amazon do I have to use the wireless feature?

    Rene
    Participant

    Nevermind, I found the answer.

    We don’t have wireless internet at home so I wanted to be able to just download to my computer and it appears that I can.  Yay!  I ordered the new Kindle 6″ and should get it sometime mid-September.  I’m so excited! 

    Doug Smith
    Keymaster

    The Kindle wireless doesn’t depend on your having wifi. It has a built-in wireless connection like cell phones use, except you don’t have to pay any connection fees or have a subscription.

    Rene
    Participant

    The Kindle I bought is just wi-fi – it does not have 3G – and I was under the impression that I had to be near a wireless internet connection to be able to use the wireless feature.  But I admit I don’t know much about these things – I just learned the difference between wi-fi and 3G yesterday. LOL

    One woman in the Kindle review section talked about buying books on Amazon at home, and then driving to a McDonalds that had wi-fi and the books downloaded to her Kindle.

    Doug Smith
    Keymaster

    Oh that’s right. I was thinking of the original models and forgot they introduced a cheaper one that didn’t have the 3G cellular connection.

    Des
    Participant

    Renee i’m so jealous that you’re getting a Kindle!!  I’m hoping to get one for Christmas

    Sanveann
    Member

    I love my Kindle! Thinking about maybe upgrading to the newest one … haven’t decided yet 🙂

    And to answer the original question, yes, you can also plug it into your computer with a USB cable.

    The Nook’s lending feature SOUNDS cool, but when I read more on it, you can only lend a book to one person … one time ever. (So you can’t even lend it to one friend, and then another.) I don’t know if that’s all that useful!

    Rene
    Participant

    I’d been wanting an ebook reader for a very long time but they were so expensive that I never even considered it.  Last week someone on a yahoo group posted that buy.com was selling a Bookeen reader for $80 plus free shipping.  But by the time I was able to get the okay from my dh to buy it they were sold out – like an hour later!  Then 2 days later I found the Sony 600 at Sears.com for $119, went to purchase it and it too was sold out.  So then I found out about the new Kindle that was only $139 with free shipping.  There is about a 2 or 3 week wait right now, we probably won’t get it until after mid-Sept.  We are very excited! Smile

    Doug Smith
    Keymaster

    We picked up an iPad a while back and it’s amazing how much it has changed things around our house. It tends to get carried around along with other books and has become an integral part of our homeschooling. It’s not unusual to see it on the kitchen table while the kids are doing school and being used for reading books, looking up related information, and listening to pronunciations for a Latin study they are currently doing.

    When you add up the cost of free or inexpensive e-books that you might otherwise buy in paperback or print yourself, it doesn’t take long for an e-book reader to actually save you money.

    Lesley Letson
    Participant

    So Doug (or anyone else), I have been coveting the iPad for some time now Embarassed. I have also looked at the Kindles/Nooks. Do you see any advantages of one over the other? I like that the iPad can read color – I have some ebooks with color that I’d like to read, but is the screen on the b/w readers easier on the eyes? I’m a big Mac nerd, so I am drawn to the iPad, but I didn’t know if for the reader part if the traditional ones were better? Thoughts?

    Sanveann
    Member

    To be honest, I can’t imagine reading books on something backlit the way you can on the Kindle. The eInk is really MUCH easier on the eyes, and it has the benefit of being a lot more readable in direct sunlight, too. I like to sit out in the back yard while the kids play and read my Kindle 🙂

    Of course, the iPad does do a lot of other stuff that the Kindle doesn’t (games, etc.), so there’s a tradeoff!

    Rene
    Participant

    I totally agree, Doug.  If I had thought of buying an e-reader just 2 weeks ago I’d have saved $30 that we spent on “public domain” classic novels at Half Price Books that I didn’t want to have to print.  That $30 could have gone towards the Kindle and all those books we bought are available for free.

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