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Kindle and I

January 27, 2014 — 3 Comments

APE Cover

In November I decided to go big and stay home with Amazon Prime. To make the most of the services one needs to own a Kindle for the lending library. I purchased the Kindle Fire and later the paperwhite. The Fire has an audio component with good sound. I enjoy the readers much more than I thought I might and new reasons are added all the time. Today as gift from Guy Kawasaki I received a free copy of APE, Author Publisher, Entrepreneur in my Kindle. Since the book was a gracious gift I added narration for an extra $1.99. I have not tried it yet, but it now gives me the option of reading or listening to the book. Since the paperwhite has no audio I will obviously use the Fire which so far I have used for cookbooks, instructional books, and poetry. This is such a cool transformer feature. I have always enjoyed audio books and frequently bought them after reading some book I liked. Now they are combined for one low price if you decide at the outset to purchase it. It bookmarks your place audio or reading. This is an upgrade. I am excited to try it.

The paperwhite reading experience is easy on the eye and fits perfectly into the hand. When I read A Religion of One’s Own on it recently I particularly enjoyed the vocabulary feature. When you touch a word you access a dictionary and the word is automatically added to your Kindle’s vocabulary builder list. The word remains on the list until you remove it manually. This feature thrills me because I am a word and language lover, but not always a stop and get the dictionary person. Reading should expand the vocabulary and glossing over meanings that are vague can lead to misunderstanding the author. I thought maybe I had been silly in buying the Fire model, but now am pleased I have one that can use the added narration feature. I love both of my Kindles and the fun eternal lending library which is included in Amazon Prime membership. I still love all the paper and print books in my home, but I see myself carrying all my books on Kindle as I buy them in the future. The advantages of Kindle ownership are numerous:

Tiny, light, and holds a charge for a long time
Books, audio, and magazines are published in the format
Font size and lighting are adjustable
More and more books are available on Kindle all the time
Amazon gives super customer service and the free lending library

If you don’t have Amazon Prime you can do a free trial for a month, but to take full advantage of all it offers you need to own a Kindle. I am extremely pleased with my decision to join and to buy my Kindles. Now I am going to enjoy reading/listening to my new book to learn how to publish a book on Amazon. It is all very fitting.

Rock, Paper, Paperwhite

December 11, 2013 — 1 Comment

I am a recovering reading addict. I will probably be an over-reader for the rest of my days, so the question is where why and how to read. I received my Kindle Paperwhite yesterday and am very pleased with it. It has a very adjustable screen that allows you to fine tune the font and the backlight to suit all situations. It is light and I find it is much easier to hold than an iPad, where my first Kindle books resided. There has been much thought and design work put into this creation. It is for reading, without distraction. It is a noticeable upgrade from paper.

People used to hold newspapers up to read, and some still do. This is a kind of space divider that lets others know (or think) that we are busy reading, learning and becoming more informed. I used to read the Wall Street Journal almost every day with the small print and big ads. If you hold that paper up to read at the Starbucks you are making a statement about your interests. I used to read Architectural Digest and Yoga Journal all the time. I still have subscription to The Week magazine which I am much more likely to read in the digital version, while the paper one sits around unopened. I just cleared out years of them from my magazine rack, most with almost no pages read. I bought a 5 year subscription, and I do love the reporting/curation because it features articles from journalists around the world rather than an American only perspective. While Newsweek is returning to print for subscribers only, my involvement with paper publications is dwindling. If I have a burning news question I ask twitter what is happening. My conversion to digital makes my life easier and better because:

The Paperwhite and it’s cover fit nicely into my purse
The entire Amazon Prime lending library is available to me on it
The advanced comfort and ease of the adjustable settings is stellar
I can store books in it for reading with no Wi-Fi
I have nothing to return to the library or eliminate if I don’t like the book
The screen stays on for recipe use, which is a problem with iPad
It has a super long better life so I can read for days without recharging

In the kitchen or on the go, the Paperwhite is the tiny portable but unlimited library I always wanted. I am sure I will return some day to the Pima County Library, but for now I am perfectly happy to have my library in the cloud.