Is a Kindle worth it? As a former librarian with great reverence for the written word and books, I never dreamed that I would want an Amazon e-reader device. This until I started to ask myself if is Kindle worth it and researched all about it.
Is the Kindle worth it?
One of our favorite tasks in the library was sorting through the new books when they arrived. We would stack them onto the trolleys and browse through them, looking for new and upcoming authors and much-loved favorite authors. Nothing beats the smell of the fresh pages of a book before it becomes much loved and dog-eared, or so I thought.
When I first started to read about the e-reader, my first thoughts were that I would never want an electronic book reader. It all sounded quite sacrilegious to a confirmed bibliophile who was reading newspapers at the age of four.
The more that I read about them though and the thousands of rave reviews at the Amazon.com site, the more intrigued I became until I knew that I had to have one to see if is Amazon’s e-reader worth it.
Why to buy a Kindle?
I received my device for Christmas, and my then 85-year-old father also received one for Christmas. Not being very tech-savvy and with the fear of the unknown, the device sat for a week untouched apart from the initial admiring of what a sleek little machine it was. Then I found out that Dad had already set up his device, had downloaded some free books, and had started reading. …
Whoops, Dad had never used a computer by then, not even to turn it on, so if he could do it then so could I! So I finally took the plunge, it was so easy to set up, and downloaded my first book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
I finished reading it one night at 11.30 pm and hooked up to the Amazon.com store straight away to download the second in the series. So for me the joy of never being without a book was immeasurable and my fate was sealed, I was officially in love with my ebook reader device.
Are Kindles worth it?
Although I love books, I rarely read a story more than once, so I like the idea of being able to purchase books for a fraction of the cost. There are also thousands of classics that you can download for free. Although we could never have foreseen it, a few months ago in Australia we lost two of our biggest book chains.
Over the past couple of years, we had already seen the demise of some of the smaller chain stores, with the surviving ones located in the city and other faraway places. So for me, receiving my ereader machine as a gift came at just the right time.
Why is Kindle Worth it
Over the past year, my family has listened to me rave about my reader, about how compact it is, how convenient it is, how I can download books any time of the day, how much I love it. Blah! Blah! So this Christmas time, my partner, my Mum, and my sister all decided that they would like an Amazone device as well!
This meant that I needed to do some serious research. Since I received my ereader, Amazon had released a whole new, exciting range.
My Kindle 3 was renamed Kindle Keyboard, and Amazon released the new color Fire devices, which was the first device with a touch screen. At the same time, Amazon released two black and white Touch Screens.
With several other good ebook readers on the market such as the Nook Touch and Nook Colour, the Sony ebook reader, and the Kobo ebook reader, I needed to make sure that the Amazon reader was still the best and if is the ebook reader worth it. And as you know from my story so far, it is, because we now have five people in the family who own a device like this.
But don’t take my word for it (as I am seriously biased), you can read my other reviews for yourself: Nook vs. Kindle or even the Kindle vs. iPad for reading.
My Kindle review
We have all heard the stories of people who buy Kindle, read it and then return it, they didn’t really like the eReader. Others who have bought Kindle say it was just so expensive but never really did much with it, they gave it to a family member and never even bothered to look at it again.
My first Kindle was purchased by my husband before the e-book revolution. I was very excited to get one and I was really pleased with it. I read all day long and it was the best thing I had ever seen. I didn’t have any issues with it whatsoever. The only thing I didn’t like about my first Kindle was how loud it was. I really didn’t like the sound it made so I never used it much. It was in my closet gathering dust.
Fast forward to last year. I received my second Kindle. It’s just like the first one. I love it. This time I did use it quite a bit. After a couple months I decided to go back to school and I didn’t feel like lugging the heavy Kindle around with me, so I gave it to my husband, my son and my mom. Now that I have had it for a little while I have to say I really do like it a lot more. The loudness is still an issue for me. I don’t use my Kindle much anymore. I haven’t even really read any e-books on it.
Kindle Pros & Cons
Here are my pros and cons about owning an e-reader.
Kindle PROS
- If you read on the Kindle for PC application on your computer, you are able to buy e-books for the Kindle. This can save you a lot of money.
- You can access any Kindle application on any computer, including your smartphone.
- You can use your Kindle with any tablet computer or even your PC.
- Have your own Kindle library, which is nice because you can just add books to it on any device you are using.
- There is a built-in dictionary and thesaurus.
- You can add your own bookmarks.
- You can read any book on your Kindle.
- Also, you can carry hundreds of books with you.
- You can easily buy a lot of books on your Kindle for a lower price than any bookstore, because you are buying in bulk and there are no stores to go to, just you and the Amazon website.
Kindle CONS
- The battery on the Kindle is not very long-lasting, so you need to charge it fairly often.
- You can’t go from one device to the next easily, without starting the book over.
Is a Kindle Worth it? Verdict
Although for me and my family, the Amazon machines are great, all of the ebook readers that I reviewed had features to make them special and unique. So you will need to read the reviews to make your mind up to see if you agree that this device is the best.
