Try-it Tuesday - Kindle

About a year ago, Mr. Chewy started talking about wanting an e-book reader. I'm pretty sure I was less than supportive...(sorry sweetie!). After Christmas, he had scraped up the money for the Kindle he'd wanted for quite some time. Since it's arrival - it has been used daily. At one point, he downloaded a book that he knew I would enjoy for me to "try it". It was far more intuitive to use than I had thought and I was pretty much hooked. (Thanks, Honey)

So I decided I "needed" (ok, really wanted) a Kindle of my own. Mr. Chewy loves to shop for these kinds of things, so I set him a looking and he found a used Kindle with case within my budget, and it was on it's way to me.

Mr. Chewy - who is far more techno-knowledgeable than me set it up on his Amazon account and showed me how to "shop" for books, and shared a few books he had purchased (you can have up to 5 registered devices) with me. I also learned very quickly to find free books available for download. In addition to numerous "public domain" titles including most classic literature, Amazon releases several titles a week for free. I used to have a crazy time trying to find them, but again Mr. Chewy steered me towards www.inkmesh.com which has a handy chronological list of the current free books from Amazon.

I was worried that I would end up spending more for books. So far I haven't. In fact, I have spent less - no library fines. I have not paid for a book yet. There are a few books I am interested in purchasing and would like to read, however, I can't even keep up with the freebies at this point, and have quite a few books loaded ready to read. I may purchase a book or two before vacation - as I've been known to do in the past. (And I won't have to pick which ones get to travel on my carry-on!) I know Mr. Chewy also converts blogs and other items to the correct format and downloads them on his Kindle, however, that is currently beyond my realm of understanding.

I'm not going to get much into all the features, what the screen looks like and all that as there are plenty of reviews and descriptions out there. Like the rest of my try-it Tuesdays though, I will list what I like, and not so much.

What I like about the Amazon Kindle:

• It is big enough to read/hold easily, yet fits in my purse/bag easily
• I can take along countless books, in less space than I would use for one print book
• If I only turn the wireless option on for downloads, the battery lasts weeks
• Amazon offers plenty of books at no cost

What I find "not so much" about the Kindle:

• Still not a totally widespread format for new books, especially from smaller publishers
• Maneuvering through books that you don't always read in page order (cookbooks, Bible, etc.) can be VERY "fiddly"
  

What I think makes the Kindle a good choice for a "Chewy Family"

• Doesn't use paper
• Shop for books without driving to the store/library
• Saves space over traditional books

Yes, I'm aware there are other e-book readers out there - and I'm sure a lot of this information is the same for them as well, but I am speaking in Kindle context, because that is what I know firsthand. Hope you find it helpful, but for me - it's time to go read!