Amazon Kindle

Ok, Chef told me to post this here and this being my first review of sorts bear with me ^^.

I got an Amazon Kindle for my birthday this year. Now, when the eReader first reared its head, I was one of the ones who said "I'd rather have the book in my hand". Now, give me my Kindle! For those that love to read, being able to take your pick of the 3500 books that it can store from anywhere is worth the $150 price tag.

Whenever I moved, the biggest pain in the ass was boxing and moving all my books. Its ridiculous but I'd never part with one (unless I didn't like it to begin with). When getting settled into our new spot, the first and biggest problem is where to put all my books. Obviously, the Kindle is my best choice now.

The Kindle itself already comes preloaded with a Kindle User Guide explaining all the various facets of the Kindle. It also comes preloaded with two different dictionaries (more on this in a minute). It has wireless internet even on the most basic model. Unless you have a need for the 3G, its money wasted. It also has a experimental section. This is where Amazon tests out the features with user feedback. Its current features are internet browsing, the read-to-me (acts like an audio book) and MP3 player. Since the Kindle is already wireless capable, shop the Kindle shop straight from the Kindle. You do have to have an Amazon account set up for the billing portion but thats truly all. It delivers whatever you buy via Whispernet in about 30 seconds. Seriously, when I saw this as a feature, I truly scoffed.

The internet browser is wonderful. Basic. But you have to enlarge the page to read it and it can be a bit of a pain. But if all you're doing is looking something up and not surfing the web, it works just fine.

The read-to-me is still in its experimental stages and sounds more like Cp30 reading to you than anything else. But when you're busy, say cooking, it works just fine.

The dictionaries that are preloaded work while reading. It has a cursor you just place in front of the word and the definition loads at the bottom of the screen. You can either hit Back to clear it or Enter to see more definitions then return to the spot you were at.

The Kindle automatically bookmarks for you. So where ever you're at in the book when you turn it off, it goes into sleep mode or you leave the book altogether, when its loaded back up it goes right back to where you left off.

You can also organize your books by whatever filters you prefer. Currently, I am on a Sherrilyn Kenyon kick so all her books are in her file, as are all my Nora Roberts, and the Classics. It just makes it easier to find. Even if you don't organize them the Kindle automatically organizes them by title and author.

The weight and size of the Kindle, I would say, is no more than a paperback. The separate keyboard at the bottom instead of the touch keypad is convenient rather than annoying. The battery life is just plain awesome. I got my Kindle 2/2/2011 and have used it daily but only charged it twice. Once when I got it and about a week ago (it still had half a battery but I was taking a trip :P ).

The cost of eBooks is honestly in tune with regular paperbacks. Almost everything is available or being made available on the Kindle store. The newer releases are a little more expensive but when you're looking at the cost of a brand new release hardback, the price is incomparable. The classics that have expired copyrights are free. Yes, truly free. i.e., The Art of War, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Grimm's Fairy Stories, The Man in the Iron Mask just to name a few, were all free. The collection of the free books is massive and any of the Classics I've been wanting to read but honestly didn't want to buy them are there.

All in all, if you couldn't tell, I love the Kindle. The use is basic so even the most tech-tarded could understand. I have 20 books as of today on the Kindle. By the next time I do a ordering round, the Kindle would have paid for itself.