Here's a clicky to the Kindle on Amazon. It's pretty neat use of technology but as others have said, it's pretty expensive at $359. It uses cell phone technology to allow you to download the books so if you are in an area with no cell phone reception you won't be able to download new content. The thing claims to hold 200 books and can be expanded via memory card so it shouldn't be a problem to download enough content to keep you busy when you have cell reception to get you thru periods without reception.
Since you don't have to have any kind of a cell phone subscription, Amazon must have roaming agreements with various cell providers. I'm sure the cost of the books includes a portion to pay for the use of the cell network.
It says that no computer is required since everything is done wirelessly but it includes a USB cable in the box. Can anyone that has a Kindle elaborate on what the cable is for? My guess (hope) is that it could be used to DL content from your PC that isn't available from Amazon.
* This post was
last
edited 07/03/08 09:11am by strollin *
View edit history
strollin wrote: Since you don't have to have any kind of a cell phone subscription, Amazon must have roaming agreements with various cell providers. I'm sure the cost of the books includes a portion to pay for the use of the cell network.
They have a Verizon deal. Just cell service alone isn't good enough, you'll have to be where you can receive the Verizon EV signal.
strollin wrote: Since you don't have to have any kind of a cell phone subscription, Amazon must have roaming agreements with various cell providers. I'm sure the cost of the books includes a portion to pay for the use of the cell network.
They have a Verizon deal. Just cell service alone isn't good enough, you'll have to be where you can receive the Verizon EV signal.
Once you download, it's in the memory and you shouldn't have to have the signal, right?
Bill & Linda
Ladymc & Shuttlebird
2008 Silver Dodge Diesel Dually 3500 - "The Silver Bullet"
Towing 1998 35 ft. Newmar 5th wheel
20K Husky Hitch & Blue Ox Bedsaver
Handheld Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS AND Sat. in dash mounted GPS in the truck
READY TO ROLL!
strollin wrote: Since you don't have to have any kind of a cell phone subscription, Amazon must have roaming agreements with various cell providers. I'm sure the cost of the books includes a portion to pay for the use of the cell network.
They have a Verizon deal. Just cell service alone isn't good enough, you'll have to be where you can receive the Verizon EV signal.
Once you download, it's in the memory and you shouldn't have to have the signal, right?
That's true, which is why I pointed out that you could store 200+ books in memory.
Mountain Mama wrote: We have a good friend at church who is loosing his sight and needs large print and thought this might be something he'd like and could use. Does anyone know if the Bible is a choice to buy to download? I've sent him the info about these but was wondering about the Bible. Thanks!
My friend's Mom is in the same situation, but she solved it by getting her Mom a CD player and buying the Bible on CD's for her to listen to.
Her Mom loves it!
I've seen and held the Kindle (a neighbor sells them on his website), but it's not for me. I like to always have a paperback with me--the Kindle will not fit in my purse, and as expensive as it is, I'd be worried about losing it.
Mountain Mama wrote: We have a good friend at church who is loosing his sight and needs large print and thought this might be something he'd like and could use. Does anyone know if the Bible is a choice to buy to download? I've sent him the info about these but was wondering about the Bible. Thanks!
My friend's Mom is in the same situation, but she solved it by getting her Mom a CD player and buying the Bible on CD's for her to listen to.
Her Mom loves it!
I've seen and held the Kindle (a neighbor sells them on his website), but it's not for me. I like to always have a paperback with me--the Kindle will not fit in my purse, and as expensive as it is, I'd be worried about losing it.
Bill will disappear for hours in the bedroom or outside just to read. He's hard of hearing too so the CD's won't work for us. The Kindle is for him, more than me because of his vision problems.
As an aside to all who think it's expensive, I'd just like to say why I'm biting the bullet on the price: He's given so much to our 4 kids and never spent hardly anything on himself, that now, we have extra funds and since he's had a stroke already, I want him to have things that make his life as comfortable as possible. We can afford it, so why not? In the long run, if anything happens to him, I don't ever want to say "I wish we'd have done such & such or got such and such." Besides, he's worth it...
ladymc53 wrote: ....As an aside to all who think it's expensive, I'd just like to say why I'm biting the bullet on the price: He's given so much to our 4 kids and never spent hardly anything on himself, that now, we have extra funds and since he's had a stroke already, I want him to have things that make his life as comfortable as possible. We can afford it, so why not?
Well, sure, if you can afford it and you want it...why not?
I feel the same way about a lot of things. It's all about choices.
The Kindle will come down in price quickly, and more and more books, magazines and newspapers will be available soon.
I love gadgets and would get a Kindle except for one thing: The books I like to read are not available. Maybe its the age of the books or something. I read a lot of Sci-Fi and there are none of my favorites available. I also like Tom Clancy stuff and there is one offering. There is little or no John Varley stuff even though I was under the impression he has been writing for some time and his Gaea trilogy is considered by many to be a "standard" in the fantasy realm. Nothing by Keith Laumer, I think perhaps one book by E.E. "Doc" Smith, the father of technical Sci-Fi. I think the technology is great, but they need to expand their offerings by a factor of 10 (at least). I'm sure it's fine for recent releases.
I've had the kindle for a couple of months and love it. It was great on our last trip where we were gone for a week and I didn't need to carry a bunch of books with me. I'm a fast reader and can go through a book a day if left alone. If you check on the amazon website, there is a forum that will help answer your questions but you can download and use other electronic books on the kindle, they just have to be in a specific type file format. The kindle uses their "Whispernet" connection which is actually through Sprint - not Verizon.
Pam
2007 Coachmen Captiva 245DS
2007 Toyota Tundra double cab 5.7-liter V8
One DH
two DS's (one left at home still in school)
two very spoiled camping dogs
So glad to see this topic as I have been looking at the Kindle also, I read a lot (3 books a week) and have been wondering how I was going to be able to carry enough books in the fifth wheel when we go full time and this looked like the answer but couldn't find anybody who had one. I will read just about anything, but do like murder mystery the best.
What kind of a selection of books do they offer and can you look to see what books they have before you buy the Kindle?
Thanks
Him and Me
06 Dodge drw
06 Crossroads Zinger (searching for our dream fw)
Offline
