Kindle-Loving Librarian

I have had my Kindle for about a month and absolutely love it! Although I am a librarian, I tend to buy books rather than get in a waiting list behind 60 other people. Last weekend I purchased the Kindle version of Jodi Picoult's new book Change of Heart. The hardback version goes on sale March 4. I bought my Kindle version for $9.99 and have been happily reading it all week--before the hardback was even released.

I am a high school librarian and spend many hours reading book reviews in order to make purchasing decisions. With a Kindle, you can download a free sample of a book from Amazon. I recently downloaded a sample and read the first couple of chapters. After that reading, I decided that the book in question would probably not appeal to young adults. On another occasion, I read a sample and loved it--and ordered the book. A week later a student asked me for a fun book with a quirky sense of humor--and I knew the book would be just perfect for her!

I tried the free trial for Time Magazine and didn't especially like it. I have never been much of a newspaper reader--they just collected at my door--but I am now subscribing to the New York Times. I enjoy the detailed articles in contrast with the 30 second sound bytes on cable. In the morning I fix coffee, open my Kindle, and begin reading. It is easy to move around through the paper on the Kindle.

What really sold me on the Kindle was the ability to change the font size. As I've gotten older, I have found that some books can be difficult to read. The Kindle is crystal clear--and if it is late and my eyes are tired, I just make the font larger!

I am agreeing with you about Time Magazine. I actually like reading it in the bathtub and probably enjoy the pictures as much as the words. I think I'll be cancelling it. But I also love reading the NY Times and agree it is easy to navigate via Kindle and the changing the fonts when I am tired is definitely a plus for me.

I had a good deal of fun today when I went to meet with my "stock broker" who is handling my IRA - usually he is the "on top of it" guy in the conversation, but after my cell phone interrupted us and we chatted about the sillyness of buying ring tones, I was reminded of buying my Kindle. So I pull it out and showed it to him. He was quite impressed and liked its weight (or lack thereof) and the sampling of books. I felt quite the "early adapter"!

I am a retired school teacher and am tutoring one young lady. I also have been able to use the Search function in helping her.

Nice to read of your experiences.

I'm a retired librarian with more time to read than when I was working. Since getting the Kindle I'm enjoying reading for pleasure as I never did before. The samples are great and I can see how helpful they can be for someone doing collection development. Also I enjoy getting a few blogs even though they are available for free on the web. The good thing about blogs on the Kindle is that you don't have to remember to go to them - they come to you and the few I subscribe to are updated throughout the day.

I have a modest blog for folks who read for fun on the Kindle. Stop on by and see it when you have time. Thanks,

Jan
http://kindlereader.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Jan, looks quite interesting.

What I don't like is the fact that you do not OWN a book you buy. You buy for the right to download that book and you alone can read it. You are not allowed to have someone else read it. You are not allowed to give it away or to sell it. Even reading aloud to your significant other or child is illegal.
When Amazon stops selling the kindle (or switches to something different) it is no longer legal to read the book.
With a paper version of a book, I can do all that without a problem.
Reading samples off-line however is a nice feature.

#5 Where did you get this information? I have not read anything like that on the Amazon site. As I recall, they say you can upload the book to your PC via USB.

Just google on Kindle and copyright or visit the BoingBoing website.
BTW, it is illegal to copy the book to your PC, just like it is illegal to copy a music CD to your PC.

I back up the books I have on my Kindle to my PC, with no problems. Not sure how they would stop me from doing it.

I said it is illegal. I did not say it was impossible.
I have a copy of my recently bought CDs on my laptop. According to the music industry, that is an illegal copy. Until a few months ago, many Sony CDs did not allow you to copy to your harddisk. Unfortunately, the same protection mechanism also did not allow you to play the CD at a lot of hardware, so Sony removed the protection. It is, however still illegal to copy to your harddisk.
The same for your books.

#9 - I'm not a lawyer, and won't claim to be an expert in this area, but I think you are incorrect about backups being illegal. I think they are covered by the 'fair use' clause related to intellectual property.

ibudonna,

I share your enthusiasm about the Kindle but not about the NY Times on Kindle or ANY of the periodical material. I tried the free two weeks and found that the web sites for the NY Times, Newsweek, the Atlantic etc. are all far superior to the Kindle version and they are all FREE. Granted, you will read them on a computer screen instead of the e-ink display but I don't do hours of reading in periodicals to where my eyes start to get bothered by the backlighting on the computer screen (and I don't think many people do). The e-ink is best for long reading times that I put in on Dostoevsky or Virginia Woolf. I would love to know what you think.

Peace