Book Loving Kiwis discussion
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A ereader dilemma - advice please
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I use my iPhone, which is not ideal, but it means I can use Kindle, Kobo and Amazon apps. I seem to prefer reading ebooks on Kindle - not really sure why. I think it is slightly more user friendly. However, Kobo have some cool functions where you earn badges for reading behaviour etc. It is a hard one! Let me know what you decide, as I would prefer a bigger screen too. I'm sure if I read too many more ebooks on my iPhone, I may become permanently cross-eyed! Not sure I've been much help!
Ipad or phone would certainly be the wrong choice for your mum - the problem being that they are light emitting, and just like looking at a computer screen too long, can be hard on the eyes. I don't have an e-reader... one day...
Don't know about the Kobo, but I love my Kindle. My cover has a built in light, and you can resize the text from tiny to GIANT. It also has a narrator option, but that's a bit like being read to by Stephen Hawking. You can upload PDFs to Kindle but the text resizing doesn't work then, and you have to turn the Kindle display to horizontal to read it better.
Love it when the older generations embrace technology. My 80 year old grandma got a reconditioned laptop last Christmas on which to write her 'memoirs'. She was petrified of it at first, then had a few lessons, and you can't get her off it now.
With books being so expensive in NZ I think you save money pretty quick with an eReader.
Hi Julie,Kindle, no question about it. I have 2 already including the new Kindle Fire which is light emitting. Would recommend the Kindle Touch for your Mum.
You can order on from Amazon.com. Their international shop ships it all over the world and cheap too.
If they wont ship it to NZ, use a service like viaddress.com to have it sent there and on to you in NZ. I used this for my Kindle Fire and it worked out great.
The books you can get on Kindle in comparison to other readers is phenomenal. You won't regret it as a choice.
As an aside, as an author, I made my eBook exclusive to Amazon Kindle, such is their buying/selling power.
Kindle no doubt, had one for just over a year and the money I have saved on books! You can buy e books from other places not just Amazon. From friends who had the Ipad, they still have kindles for reading. If you have already purchased books from Amazon you can put onto kindle no problem.
Thanks very much for your comments guys, it is a big help. And extra special thanks for the viaddress link, Greg. I have checked it out and now have a US address and I am going to use their concierge service to get a Kindle Touch. Am very excited about that.By the way, Greg, I saw that your novel was free and had intended to get it, so I took the opportunity to download it to my Cloud. I look forward to reading it very much.
Cheers
Julie
Thanks Julie. Glad to help and hope you enjoy my novel. It is a first attempt so naturally there is room for improvement. I value any and all feedback.
You'll enjoy it, Julie. It really got me thinking. There is a thread (prob under group reads) with lots of discussion entitled The Spanish Helmet.
For anyone interested to know, the novel had a couple of reviews recently in some Kiwi newspapers (small community papers) and has taken off massively int he last week on Amazon.It is a nice feeling to see it move up the ranks on the US and UK Amazon sites and finally has me feeling like the effort I put into it was worth it (it already was from personal satisfaction but had been a financial loss, hard to sustain in these times).
Now, however, it is selling a few hundred copies a week. A lot of that comes down to my Goodreads friends and you're continued kind words and support. Thanks.
Congratulations Greg on the success of your book! On the ereader questions, the Kindle is fantastic for novels and I love mine. Amazon has such a huge range and an excellent delivery system.
If you want to access more design-centric books, then ereaders like the Kobo that work with the internationally recognised and open EPUB standard are good. EPUB3, the next standard, allows for audio and video and the standard is good for accessibility.
I'm sometimes asked whether we actually need dedicated ereaders, but I like having one because I tend to get VERY distracted by the web if it's available!:)
Amazon has also just launched the Kindle 8 format. This is a book format that authors can create their content in and make there books much more interactive and entertaining.It uses the latest web technologies (HTML5 and CSS3) and will bring all sorts to life. Think, interactive colourful childrens books, etc.
I imagine books formatted with this will look better on devices like the Kindle Fire, but they must also work on older Kindles.
Yes, true. K8F is Amazon's 'answer' to EPUB:) I think one might need the Fire to get the full benefits.On a side issue, one of the problems with the Kindle Fire from a non-US perspective is that access to their vast array of media content via Amazon Prime (arguably the main point of the device), isn't really available. So far, I'm happy with my Kindle. I think if I wanted a tablet, I'd go for another one instead. But things change.
Good to be chatting with you:)
I grabbed a Kindle Fire from the US using a Viaddrss.com address.Then I rooted the Fire (Android speak) and now have a very nice full-fledged Android tablet with Kindle App on it and enjoy the benefits of all I could need, for a quarter the cost of a heavy and clunky Apple product.
Absolutely love it. Still have a normal Kindle too though. My wife prefers that.
Bit my 2 year old adores some of the things she can do on the Android. Baby pianos and baby telephones etc. Also some neat ABC and numbers learning things.
It isn't 100% easy to do, and I can't tell you how to do it for legalish reasons... but any slightly techie person you know will be able to do it for you. It is just software changes and doesn't involve opening the product or anything.They will be able to find information online about how to do it.
I'm guessing it voids the warranty, but at the price and being away from the US anyway, who cares?
My complication is that it will also be used by my Mum who is 88. She's an avid reader and quite clever with technology. I've looked at the Amazon Kindle that is available in Dick Smiths and also the Kobo Touch at Whitcoulls and the Sony at whiteware stores.
I really like the Kobo touch but seem to be restricted to the Whitcoulls site where books are expensive and limited. I WANT a Kindle Touch so I can have the simplicity and the Amazon library, but can't have one here it appears.
I have book on my desktop from Kobo, but they've been downloaded as PDFs and I don't think they will sync to a reader as EPUBs. I also have books on my Kindle Cloud and presumably would have no trouble putting them on a Kindle.
Decisions!! And I don't want to regret what I buy. I don't have a phone that allows me to download and read books and that would be no good for Mum and don't want to spend the money for an ipad.
So any advice about what you have and how you manage it and where you got it from, would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Julie