Kindle Aboard

[Sailabel]

A while back on a post, I asked about potential gifts. One poster recommended 'Kindle', an electronic book format where 'books' can be downloaded from Amazon. We're really interested in this, as we'll be leaving to more out-of-the-way places and my wife is an avid reader. So, does 'kindle' seem to hold up in a boating environment and is it realitvely easy to download new books if an internet connection is available? Our goal is to be able to obtain new titles (in English) while outside of the US.

I guess the downside is not being able to exchange books in cruiser's hangouts.

Your input is greatly appreciated.
Steve

[Keegan]

Kindle downloads off the Sprint network and not the internet. You must be in the US and have cell coverage to get a download. On the new kindles you may can download the book to your PC over the internet and then transfer the book to the Kindle but I dont think that you can do this.

We have two kindles and love them. We download lots of books prior to leaving the US for the boat. Not having to carry around all those books in hard copy is fantastic. A drawback to Kindle is if you have a book that has a lot of photos, charts or drawings, it does not always show up well on the screen, so a hard copy of the book would be better. I assume that in future versions of Kindle and other book readers that this will improve greatly.

The Kindle is an electronic gizmo that is not water resistant so it will break if you get it wet or drop it really hard. We have not had any problem with breaking one but I suppose that we could. Our boat stays very dry inside while underway.

There are other book readers now on the market and coming to the market. Sony and others have a new one that I would look into if I were you. Other book readers will not require you to buy only from Amazon and will allow you to trade E books with others.

[Efraim]

Kindles are cool, however you can forget about trading books. You might want to consider buying some other ebook reader, Sony has one, and Barnes&Noble are coming out with one in the new year. If you want to go high end you can buy the Irex reader. The Kindle is limited to Amazon ( as already noted ) and Amazon's DRM policies.

[barnakiel]

One of the netbooks with swivel screens is also very good for reading books! And they can be any format!

b.

[nautical62]

Previous Kindle thread:

The Kindle

[MikeZ]

On the new kindles you may can download the book to your PC over the internet and then transfer the book to the Kindle but I dont think that you can do this.

Yes, you can. I have the original Kindle and have it in Mexico now (and it's been to a bunch of other places, too) and have no problems at all downloading books on my Macbook and transferring to the Kindle.

You're right that it's not too useful at present for books with lots of graphics, but for text it's fabulous. Sure beats traveling with a separate suitcase packed with HEAVY books!

By the way, it's a great conversation starter, too, both outside and inside the US. People are curious about it.

Mike

[bobfnbw]

I live my kindle. It will hold a ton of books (1500 they claim) holds a charge for a long time if the wireless is off... and syncs with my Iphone so I can read either on the kindle or the phone. Text is easy to read but no backlighting so you need some background lighting to read by.
I only download from the wispernet that comes with kindle. I would suggest down loading all the books you want prior to going off shore. Many are free or at reduced price, and t he ones that are not are usualy 9.99 in price.
You can not share them however unless the other person has a kindle that shares your same email on amazon.
Google is in the process of digitizing all written books, will one day be downloadable.
Now that will be cool.
But for now, the kindle is the future of reading.
All the words are searchable vial a built in dictionary. If you don't know the word, look it up.
Worth the price.

[FrankZ]

It looks like Amazon will be offering an international Kindle.

Amazon.com: Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, U.S. & International Wireless, Latest Generation): Kindle Store

[Agur's Wish]

You can download from other sites other than Amazon. I have downloaded from several of the free sites. You just have to make sure the book is in the correct format, the free sites usually give you a choice of which format you want. Unfortunately, you can't download from libraries. You may want to save books downloaded from other sites to a different memory thing (brains not working this morning) because when you remove them from your Kindle to free up space they won't be saved to an account like the ones from Amazon are. To explain further, when you are finished reading a book you can remove it from the Kindle device to give you more storage room to download more books but if you ever want to re-read the book you go to you Kindle account on Amazon and re-download it.