Kindle, e-reader, which one?

I use my Nexus 7 as a Kindle, and it's great, if expensive *just* to do that.  It does other things as well of course...

If I were buying *just* an e-Ink reader, I'd get a Kindle Paperwhite, because I think the backlight is essential.

I tried one for a few months.  Couldn't get on with it. Gave it to a colleague. I might do the e-book thing again one day if/when I get an iPad Mini.

Waste of £80. (Now £69)

Wish i'd spent it on some books instead

The other half loves her Kindle. Just make sure you read the terms and conditions and are happy with being tied to Amazon only for purchases.

I tend to read big big books - and have found myself going to a meeting in [random UK city] making the tough choice between bringing all the documents I need for the meeting and bring my book (briefcase can only hold so much!).  Persian Fire was great, but the copy I had was hard-back, which meant no documents at all!

The tube in the mornings was another problem - Northern Line from Clapham is rather full at 8:10, so you're shoved up against someone's armpit, so a big book is hard to manage.

The kindle changed all that, it's so portable.  It fits into the back pocket of jeans too, so when I hit the barbers on a Saturday morning, I don't end up having to read Loaded or FHM etc... 

I've not found the back-light issue to be a problem at all, so am happy with the standard one.   And you can read it in direct sunlight too (tested in 32c blue-skies of Andalucia this summer!).

Wouldn't be without it.

Re the non-Amazon titles on a Kindle - you can do it (I think you need to avoid PDF titles and buy the "mobipocket" or ".prc" files.

Hi 8009514

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE TIED TO AMAZON FOR YOUR BOOKS (Sorry, not really shouting)

Please do a search online for a pice of free software called Calibre or paste this in to your browser:

http://calibre-ebook.com/

It manages books, mags et al beautifully for me and it will convert most formats into a format that the Kindle can read, so easy peasy really. i tend to go for Mobi format mostly.

My bias here.

I have a Kindle Keyboard (e-ink) and I have played with all the new models, I also read a lot and get work docs sent to me in text/doc format so that I can read them when I wish. If you do not go for an e-ink model, please remember that the battery life is only a few hours, my Kindle will easily go 3 weeks before a recharge, thus less kit taken on hols etc. I have 4gb on mine which also allows for a lot of radio4/5 etc podcasts to listen to whilst I read, you may consider this. The Kndle whisper net works well in most areas of the world, I downloaded free books in Turkey, Cyprus, Mauritius and India no probs last year. The Kindle works in bright sunshine and I'm not worried about using it on the beach (tried and tested), it is also lighter than the Kindle Fire - battery only 9 hours or so.

Downside of my version of the kindle is that if you fill it up (yes there are lots of cool free books out there-see below) then the software tends to get really slow.

For free books to read on Calibre and to try out software:

http://drmfree.calibre-ebook.com/by/genre

http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top

Subscribe to this on Facebook and they send you the Free offers from Amazon for thr Kindle..... easy.

http://freedigitalreads.com/

All the best, but if you need any more info, please post as I have tried them all out at some point.

Go for the Kindle Paperwhite for the best reading experience. If she already has an iPad or other tablet find out whether she would rather spend the same money downloading books for that. I love the iPad and intend getting myself one when funds allow, but that beautiful screen, while great for photos, movies etc, is not a patch on the KPW for reading. There are also loads and loads and loads of free books out there. I justified the price of the KPW by telling myself that if all those great classics had been bought as poorly-printed paperbacks, or secondhand, they would have cost something in the order of £300, but I now have them in a pocketable device. Just wonderful. 

The one thing that puts me of kindles, is the fact that our local library service, along with most others in the uk, doesn't support lending ebooks on kindle. This s the trouble with kindle, your locked to one source of books, whereas with an iPad or nexus you can have a kindle app, a Sony ebook app, nook books, overdrive, adobe, etc... All the choice.

And the annoying thing is kindle have teamed up with Overdrive in the US for library lending. 

I am getting my partner a kindle or kobo but cant decide between the two. Then there is the option of getting a tablet as they have e-books installed on them as well as being to connect to the internet but they are a bit pricey. Anyone got a tablet an use it to read e-books? 

+1 nexus 7. brilliant rablet imo

I have got 2nd generation Kindle 3G which I bought when they were first released in the UK and which is fantastic.  The battery seems to last for about a month with the wireless off but that drops dramatically with wireless turned on.  Not long after I got it, I set off on a road trip from UK to Dubai in the UAE (via France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia) and it proved to be an invaluable companion.  Not only did I have books to read all the time, I was able to stay in touch free of charge with home via Gmail and browse the net (albeit, browsing capabilities are limited) as well as having a newspaper delivered to it every morning via Whispernet.  It probably says a lot about mobile network infrastructure in the UK but I sometimes struggle to get a decent mobile signal in my village but managed a half decent connection whilst camping half way up a mountain in Northern Bulgaria!!!)

The Whispernet connection worked everywhere but Syria (where Amazon do not have a Whispernet partner - it was in September 2010 before the current 'troubles' started there)) although not always in 3G.  Power was not really an issue as I was in a car and kept it charged from there.

The first one that I bought just stopped working after about 8 months but Amazon swapped it immediately for a new one without any quibble.

I gather that the latest version - Paperwhite - is even better in all departments and so is probably a no brainer with the 3G version at £169.  I have also got a Nexus 7 which I love equally as a reader but would not swap it for my Kindle if forced to choose, if only because of the battery (I gather that the Paperwhite lasts 'up to' two months between charges even with the screen illuminated!).

Hope this helps.

I read online some concerns from some bloggers around the privacy issues with the Kindle Fire.  Depends on your take on this in this age of just about anybody having just about any scrap of information about us out there, but some people were very concerned.

Yes.  It was one of the reasons I got an iPad (I was reading a book that weighed 1kg at the time) but even it turned out to be too heavy for that purpose.  The Nexus 7 is perfect for reading one-handed*, and serves several other uses as well (though watching iPlayer isn't currently one of them since upgrading to Jellybean 4.2).

*I cannot, however, recommend Fifty Shades of Grey.