Why I love my Kindle
Despite launching my first Kindle book in October last year, I had resisted getting a Kindle, or indeed any eReader, until now. This was because I enjoy the experience of reading a paperback so much, that I thought to myself, "Why replace this with staring at yet another screen?"
Why indeed?
A "Paper" Screen
Well, firstly, most eReaders don't use traditional backlit screens but e-ink. If you've read "Reads like paper", that's because it really does. Tiny electronically-charged black and white ink particles are used to create the appearance of ink on paper. This means that reading from a Kindle does not feel like staring at a computer or mobile phone screen.
Not Ugly
Secondly, I had mistakenly thought that Kindles were ugly. This is certainly not the case with my Kindle 4 (the 6" lightweight 2011 WiFi model) which is silver and sleek. Not only that, but you can get a variety of skins for Kindles, which mean that you can have a Kindle in virtually any colour or pattern - there are websites where you can design your own skin.
Just three of many sample skins from gelaskins.com
A Gateway Into the World of Indie Publishing
Thirdly, and this is my number one reason for loving my Kindle - Indie books. The Kindle gives me access to tens of thousands of books written by authors who are independent of conventional publishers. These are books that I wouldn't usually be able to read because they are not available in print. This gives me access to some truly wonderful titles that have not been published in print either because they don't happen to follow current fashion, their authors have not met the right publisher or they were written by people who aren't in it for the book tours and fat pay checks.
Other advantages include:
- eBooks are cheaper than paperbacks.
- I can store up to 1,400 books on a device about 1/4 the size of a paperback.
- There's an instant dictionary - I just have to move the cursor to a word and a definition is displayed as a footnote.
- A variety of covers are available, which open like books, making the Kindle reading experience even more like reading a paperback, if that's what you like.
- You can change font sizes etc, to suit your personal reading needs.
- Straight Out of University is avilable for Kindle.
+4 comments
Thanks Therese. If I discover any books I think you'll really enjoy, I'll let you know.
What sort of books do you usually read? (Bella permitting.)
What's the first eBook you bought?
I bought "The Silent Hills" by Derek Thompson, but I already had a couple of titles on there from when I used Kindle on my laptop.
I'm still reading "A Hole in the World" by Sophie Robbins. I'm not the world's speediest reader!
I already like them, but any doubts I had have definitely been abated by this blog! :)