My leather case for my kindle & I are getting along fine.

Amazon sent me some offers today kind of them, just in case I was getting buyers remorse or keen to add a.n.other kindle.

- 2nd generation 3g kindle refurbished with warranty 159$
- 2nd Gen Kindle DX 3g with warranty - 289.99$

The DX was upgraded a while ago - so the DX and the Kindle have both had refreshes recently to "version3" with the newer ink screen which is supposedly clearer, longer battery life, and of course - wifi.

So I got my new toy today, after wearing out the refresh button on the DHL website it arrived this afternoon in true Australian style thrown into my driveway from a speeding white van, somehow I managed to put "Signature on file" on the van as it sped down the road (grrrrr aussie couriers)

First off - the screen is truly amazing. Out of the box there are instructions on the screen under a plastic cover and Im serious it looks like its a printed bit of paper.

Books really do take 60seconds from "buy this" click to the book being readable. It synched the books in my Ipod version of Kindle for Ipod and when I open them on the Kindle they are at the same page I was at. Very cool.

Tried a few newspaper subscription (Asian Herald Tribune & Time Magazine ) both very readable.

It weighs nothing. and the screen is just soooooo amazing it looks like its a dummy one in a shop printed - i cant believe its an electronic screen. Its driven by demons inside I reckon with fountain pens.

Now I can remove the dog eared copy of Time from my leather case, and put my shiny new kindle in there. The kindle weighs less than the leather case(!).

Web browser included is pretty neat if you are in an emergency or want to browse something handy its ok - bbc news website rendered ok pretty quickly. It seems fairly solid - doesnt seem fragile , would be ok being thrown in and out of my briefcase i reckon.

Damn you. It sounds too good, but I can't justify buying it, but then again I want it so I'm going to buy it, but I can't, because Mrs JTL will kick my arse.

I see it gets time magazine and the economist, what else is available. 'The Times' would be good, or the New York Times. I just need one good publication to get it over the touchline.

JTL

Likewise. I'm getting increasingly tempted reading this thread - especially Spalen's post today. If I can get The Times/Sunday Times that would probably tip the balance..........

Got a kindle for my b-day last month love it! Read a good bit and no glare off screen like pc.the free downloading of books anywhere is excellent.my fav bit though is the app for iPhone which syncs with kindle so if I forget my kindle I can read my book on iPhone and it syncs so I can pick up wherever I left off

Haven't had any problems buying any books

IF you look on Amazon website it shows you the periodicals/newspapers that it will auto sync. You can try some I think on kindle for PC (Free)

There is a beautiful app on the IPad that gives you digital scanned copies of the real paper - but ipad is totally different kettle of fishes.

Reading a newspaper on the kindle is weird because you read through in sequence - article after article - they are in sections , like you get "World News" which will have 14 articles or "Asian Business" with 12 articles and then the 12 articles are presented in sequence inside that section - like a chapter. You lose the free flicking through that you get with a paper and the randomness but you read more of it iguess.

It is incredible to read from though. im still in awe of the technology somewhat.

We have some friends visiting and they have an iPad. From all the stories, I thought I'd be stunned by it.

But no, it's alright, its a big touchpad device. Its good for looking at photos and stuff. It didn't have the 'wow' factor for me. It's a big iPhone without the phone part.

If the Kindle is practical and I can read newspapers and books wherever and whenever I want, I think that is the route to go. I'll check out what newspapers and magazines are available again

Then I have to convince Mrs JTL to let me buy one

JTL

I had a look at the Kindle for PC, it only lets you download books, but strangely once you've downloaded the Kindle for PC app, you get to see what magazines and newspapers they have on offer. It's a bit weird that, initial on the website it showed about 6 magazines so I can now see they offer the economist, they don't do 'The Times' but I suppose The Telegraph or The Independant will do.

One final question. Now that you got your Kindle, with its 6" screen, do you wish you'd gone for the Kindle DX with its 9.7" screen, or would that be to clumsy to hold?


Thanks,
JTL

i dont know about the screen size. It works really well the size it is , I wanted it to be portable I dont know if the DX would be as mobile i thought it was more the size of an ipad.

6" screen is fine for newspaper/books etc - You dont get any better layout on the 9" DX just more words on the page. for the price difference Id get the smaller one you can always sell it if it does you in , they're trading at a premium on ebay because of shipping delays.

I'm a bit baffled: according to the Amazon site there's a total of 58 books available for download in Australia. This can't be correct?

No , there are about 635,000 , maybe 634,000 I kinda lost count there in the middle

I've never used the US Amazon before, only the UK one, so I don't know what their categorising is usually like, but I've got to laugh at some of the kindle stuff.........Alice in Wonderland is under Historical Fiction, and Sherlock Holmes is under Erotica
Not a bad selection overall though.....and I guess it can only grow from there.

Am I right in thinking that for Aus you have to buy the kindle itself from the US Amazon store? So, stupid question time - do you then have to buy the books from the US site as well? And do I have to start up a new account for the US site, or can I transfer my UK Amazon account over (I'm guessing not, but......)

Thanks!!

I have just tried to place an order for the DX via my UK Amazon account and:

Important Message

• Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 9.7" Display, Graphite, 3G Works Globally – Latest Generation cannot be shipped to the selected address.

so no-go there!

From what I've seen you'll have to buy the actual kindle from the US site....don't know about the books themselves though.

I'm hoping Bernie gets one in the next couple of weeks then I can try before I buy as I'm still not 100% convinced yet.......

Me neither! Many of the books I would like to read don't seem to be available.