Question from a Dinosaur

[sailm8]

I had the base Kindle and loved it except reading on the boat at night was a pain cuz you need a light. Upgraded to the Kindle Fire and hated it. Could see it in the daylight like at the beach. Sent it back and exchanged it for the paperwhite and love it. If you are good at searching the internet for torrents you can find just about any book for free.

[vjm]

Originally Posted by Scaramanga F25

I drop my books to the floor at times when I doze off.
Can they take a crash from 3 or 4 feet.

Yep, just get a cover. I have an inexpensive one (under $20, and I believe it was under $10) and I regularly launch mine through the air onto the ground. No problems.

They might be fine without the cover, I just have always had a cover on mine so the screen stays pristine. Folds back just like a book for that "Reading" feeling.

[Stumble]

Originally Posted by jrbogie

there's no more an adicted reader than me and they'll have to stop making books with pages before i'll stop turning them.

That's what I said up until I got my kindle. Now you couldn't pay me to go back.

[vjm]

Originally Posted by Stumble

That's what I said up until I got my kindle. Now you couldn't pay me to go back.

Amen. I actually think it is more wonderful for heavy readers. I cannot possibly carry enough for me to read on a boat smaller than the Queen Mary, and I have a hard time with the quality of "popular" books that may be available at free exchanges. But I can carry a ton of reading material in a very light, very easy on the eyes format. Also, no dust mites. Yay!

I do agree that anything that has charts, graphs, technical illustrations, etc. is not terribly usable in eredaer format. My engine repair books and such like are hard copy.

[DreaminFred]

Originally Posted by Paul54

I have an earlier Kindle black and white and a Kindle Fire. I too thought I would miss holding a real book, but I don't. I love the back lit screen for reading late at night. No need for reading light. Plus I can store a ton of books without needing lots of shelf space.

I currently am hooked on my Ipad. I use it for reading, email, and as a navigation device. I like to be able to pop open my GPS and check if I have drug anchor at all, while lying in bed for the night reading.

Amazon/Kindle books are reasonably priced. I read a lot so I now have Kindle Unlimited. It is about $10.00 a month. You can have up to 10 books at a time downloaded on to your reading device for just the monthly fee. Reload when you have a good internet connection then read while off line.

I have similar feelings as above, but I'm a fan of the Samsung Tab4 tablet in the 8" size. About the size of a paperback, but can also run all the nav software available for Android devices. Great screen with the equivalent of one page of text (with the ability to change font size). Hundreds of book on my tablet and long battery life (although I plug in every night).

[basssears]

My suggestion is both

I agree a true Kindle is easier to read in daylight and much easier on the battery life, so it's less of a hassle to remember to recharge / try to shade while in daylight.

BUT... a true tablet serves so many other reading uses (ignoring all it's other uses, just talking reading uses here)... I can check out ebooks from my library (can't do that on a Kindle), I have all my boat documentation / manuals / spreadsheet logs in Dropbox (make sure you have offline access to those) so I don't have to have paper copies of them too.

So maybe looks for cheap versions of both.

FWIW I have a 10" tablet that's a bit heavy when reading in bed... I need the larger screen for other work related things, if I was primarily using it to read I would go with 8", admiral has one and it's a really nice size to use as an e-reader.

Also, what I have found best is for my wife and I to "share" one Kindle account, that means any books we buy end up on both tablets and available to both of us.

[TrentePieds]

Longitude? By Dava Sobel? Had a nice little letter exchange with her when the book was first published. There was a minute, trivial inaccuracy concerning Tycho Brahe's observatory "Uranienborg" on the island of Hven in The Sound twixt Denmark and Sweden. Took the opportunity to chat her up.

She was kind enuff to send me a copy of the book in Danish translation. I gave it to my father who was tremendously tickled by the episode :-)

For me, it's the dinosaur book über alles! I still remember and love the smell of Linotype machines. Most people here will be too young to know what they are :-)!

Cheers

TrentePieds

[denverd0n]

Another vote for the Kindle Paperwhite. I have sat on the beach, in full, direct sunlight, and had no problem reading it. At night, you can turn the backlight down to where it doesn't blind you, but you need no other light for reading.

I will also second the comment that it is not the best if pictures, diagrams, maps, etc. are an important part of the book. But, of course, for most books that is not the case.

The other thing that I like about it is that almost all of the great classics of literature are available for free. So, all those books that everyone says you should read at some point in your life, you can get them and read them for free. And, yeah, you really SHOULD read some of them! Just finished "Great Expectations," by Dickens and it is a really good story. Working now on "David Copperfield." I had never read any Dickens before I got the Kindle, but now I am desperate to work my way through everything he wrote.

And, of course, it's great for on-board a boat, as you can carry a thousand books in barely the space that one would take up. Kindle Paperwhite. You won't regret it.

[jkindredpdx]

My daughter gave me the basic (no backlight) Nook with a leather cover a few years ago. I love how many books it holds, how long it holds a charge, it's very durable, and I can check-out ebooks from the library web site. I don't like how hard it is to compare diagrams etc while reading text, so I think it's better for novels, not so good for celestial navigation or diesel repair...

When my BN Nook fails, I'll probably switch to an Amazon Kindle...

[SURV69]

Sounds like you might benefit from having a few larger books on both the nook AND in hard print.

That way when you want to read during the day, you can read from the nook ... when you need a book to fall asleep with, you continue with the actual book.

This might not make much sense, inthat if you have the book, you don't need the nook ... but the nook can hold all kinds of stuff ... not just books.

[dkroar]

I have an Ipad, but I do almost all of my reading on my Kindle Paperwhite. You can save battery by leaving off the backlight, and then when you need it, turn it back on. I also have over 500 books, and I got most of them for free. I use BookBub, and I pick up 1-7 free books a day. I'm saving up for the non-internet cruising days.

https://www.bookbub.com/

[CaitB]

I use one device for everything - an iPad. I have a Kindle app on it, can use iBooks, watch tv, download movies, use Skype and FaceTime and email. Plus I have it loaded with iSailor navigation systems...

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by jrbogie

there's no more an adicted reader than me and they'll have to stop making books with pages before i'll stop turning them.

We are fast moving toward that world. Actual paper book sales are cratering and a lot of authors are moving towards electronic only.

I expect you will start seeing an ever growing premium for actual paper copies. It's the same problem the post office is facing. Other than a few specialty items, electronic has all the advantages. This forces publishers to raise prices as they lose the "economy of scale" which in turn drives more customers to the electronic, which further undercuts the "economy of scale".

If you get most of your books from the marina book exchange, you may get a few more years till you are forced to switch but I've noticed fewer book exchanges and when there is one, the books they have tend to be older and less desirable titles.


Another comparable item is music. I knew lots of people who said they would never give up their cassette tapes. As the market died, you could get some really cheap older tapes for a while but eventually, you just couldn't get them anymore.

[a64pilot]

We have every kindle ever made, my wife loves them and every time a new one comes out I get it for her and the rest of the family gets the hand me downs. Last one I bought was the fire, and I think it was $50. It goes unused, nobody likes it.
We have several Ipads and I got that Pro thing as I can use it as a second plotter down below as it communicates with B&G via gofree.
Ipad works, but not in sunlight, is way more expensive, fragile and heavier than a kindle, but has much better graphics, a kindle is almost indistinguishable from a paperback black and white book, it isn't even close to glossy, color printing, but it replicates a paperback perfectly.

If your a reader a Kindle is one of those things that once you get one, you won't know how you got along without it.
The kindle app can be put on a phone, Ipad or computer and they all sync, so you can go from one to the other, never losing your place. caveat, they have to have internet connectivity to sync.

[sailstax]

I also have the Kindle paperwhite. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the 3G and WIFI. When you travel, you can use either depending which is available. I like being able to step off a plane and sync my device or download a book or news paper.

I also like that Amazon gives your device an email address so you can send any .pdf directly to your Kindle. Amazon will also convert files if you select that option. Sometimes that works well and other time not so much.

I also use the Kindle app on my tablet and the Kindle reader on various laptops and desktops. That way you have access to your library no matter what device you have access to.