littlebylittle Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Those with Kindles - worthwhile purchase? You and your kids reading from it and using it regularly or is it weird reading some stuff off it? Thus far I have not wanted to take the Kindle plunge b/c I have wondered if I'd be annoyed by the Kindle. I know books are cheaper to purchase on Kindle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I love the Kindle. I've had a couple glitches with it, but the Amazon Customer Service is amazingly helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I have an older model (no color or touch screen), but I really like it. I am a book nut, so I really love having the books, though. I like how I can see a book and really want to get it and have it immediately. Also, I like how you can get a chapter long sample to see if you like it and keep it on your kindle until you purchase it later. It reminds me of books I might like to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I got a Kindle for Christmas a year ago and was surprised that I didn't hate it. I read from it some, but not the kids. I rarely find books for dd to read on the Kindle and she has not expressed much interest in it. Of course, I also refuse to pay $ for e-books, so my selection is limited, especially for kids books. I do see that it would be good for teens who are reading classics, as those are usually free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshirtyogapantmama Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Love the Kindle Fire. I got it last year and it's easy to read books off of it and PDF's too. My kids love the apps (we mainly get free ones that are silly/fun sometimes educational). The read-only Kindles are nice too but I decided I want to be able to surf the web and watch movies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I have a Kindle Touch. I use it to store/read instructor texts for school and other books I just want to enjoy. I love that it's so light and I don't have to store those books as we're running out of space for books (6 full bookcases!). My 6yo loves to read on my kindle as well. It has a lighted case, so she can read it in bed. It is somewhat of a treat for her. It also helped when she was making the jump into chapter books. She couldn't be intimidated by the length of a book because she couldn't see how long it was. She also could adjust how large the text was. We check out books from the library for the kindle regularly. My 5yo is an emergent reader so the selection isn't as huge for him. Because his sister loves to read on it, he thinks it's neat too. Anything for him to WANT to read! We also have a Fire that my husband got. As an ereader, it's fine. It handles PDFs especially well. It does have an added bonus of using apps and surfing the net. I wouldn't get a fire expecting to use it mostly as a tablet. It's sluggish compared to the iPad, and the user interface isn't nearly as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 We now have 4 in the house. I am on my third one. My wifi keyboard I gave to my oldest DD. I bought a 3G wifi last January. Around Thanksgiving it froze and Amazon replaced it. My other 2 DD's have the smaller kindles without keyboards. I need the keyboard because I search the store on my kindle and without a keyboard it is brutal. I chose kindle because I cannot read on a backlit screen for the amount of time I read in a given day without headaches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 My 5th grader and I both use a Kindle e-reader quite a bit for reading. My library is very slow at having many e-books available for borrowing, but I'm hoping to do more of that in the future. When we went on vacation it was nice to take one little device rather than a bag of books. I think the availability of all the older classics for free makes it worth the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
three4me Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 My Kindle Touch was the best Mother's Day gift I've ever received. I use it daily for reading the Bible, as well as for whatever else I'm reading. LOVE IT!! I also rarely purchase books for it. So far I've been pretty happy with the selection of free classics, as well as the free daily specials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 My boys like their Kindles. I'm able to get most ebooks from the library. I got them regular read only Kindles. I did not want them to have internet, games, and apps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 OK, I will say that I did not care for the Kindle my mom bought me for Christmas last year. However, DH loves it. He likes to read books on it and loves the portability of PDF files, as his whole work life seems to be one big PDF. :tongue_smilie: DS9 also enjoys it. The best thing about the Kindle at our house is that all the audio books I have bought on Audible over the years effortlessly transferred to it and play just as they would on an MP3 player, which is to say it is proving more versatile than I first thought it would be. Anyway, I like the "romance" of holding a real book too much to fully embrace the Kindle but I do think it is a nifty device worth it's keep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peplophoros Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Love, it, but it's mine. Kids aren't allowed even to get close to it :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I have a Kindle Keyboard (2 years old), dd17 has a Kindle Touch (last year), and dd13 has the basic Kindle (last year). Our library system has a very, very large selection of ebooks which expands each week. The three of us read library ebooks, free classics from Amazon, and we occasionally purchase ebooks (the girls often receive Amazon gc for gifts--I approve purchases). Dd17 is taking two English classes this year and is allowed to have the Kindle in class to reference her notes etc when they are discussing their reading. We are a family of HUGE readers. The three of us have regular books going at the same time as books on our Kindles. We tend to grab the Kindle when we leave the house as one never knows when one will have time to read ;) It was fabulous last year to travel for two weeks with Kindles loaded with lots of books! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I have the Nook Touch (e-ink) and I love it! My daughter is too young for them, but Overdrive seemed to have a pretty good selection of "Young Adult" books. Overdrive is what my library uses for ebooks. Although I think the library can tweak what ebooks are offered. I've read several myself just because they looked interesting. I love that I can make the text big. Much easier on the eyes, particularly since I read to fall asleep. I should pay more attention to the Free Book Of The Day offering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbeym Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 If you're not sure about buying a Kindle yet, can you download one of the free apps for a smartphone, tablet, or your PC and try it out on that first? My mom got a Kindle in 2011 for Christmas and I liked it but wasn't sure how much I'd actually read on it. I'm one of those book-in-hand types too. But I have to admit that using the Kindle app on my phone, and more recently on my tablet, I am hooked. I just found out that our library offers Kindle downloads too, which is a major bonus. There's a great website out there that shares links to daily Kindle freebies. It's always lots of kid books, cookbooks, stuff like that. I can't find it right now, but it's Homeschool Freebies or something of the sort if you want to google it. I'll keep looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I know books are cheaper to purchase on Kindle! Not always. Sometimes they cost just as much, or even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I'm on my second Kindle and can't imagine life now w/o an e-reader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 My dds each have a basic Kindle and they love them! I love the fact that they can immediately look up a word they might not understand as they read -- that alone makes the Kindles worth it to me. I've loaded lots of free classics on theirs, in addition to books we have bought for them. They still read regular books, too, but the Kindles are definitely worth buying, imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmpmelmack Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Ds got a kindle fire for Christmas, and I got a kindle paper white. Ds loves his, and I haven't had any problems with him ,aging games or apps vs. Reading. They have a freetime app it's 2.99 a month if you have prime, and has all sorts of books for free on it. And not just silly ones either, he has read the first five ivy and bean books for free this week. So for us it's been worth it. We also are desperate to save space as we live in an rv, we only have so much space for books! Also I love my paperwhite, I can finally read in bed while nursing the baby! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrookValley. Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I have had a Kindle for a few years now and I big puffy heart love it, for sure. I don't use it for/with my kiddo--but he's just five, so that may change. I have the Kindle Keyboard with 3G. I do still use the library and I do still buy used hard copy books sometimes, but the thing I love most about the Kindle is instant gratification. Hate to say it, but there it is. My library rarely has anything on the shelf I want to read and I'm too impatient to deal with the county's website, put books on hold, etc. I try not to be too spendy with it, but if I'm laying in bed and I want the next book in a series I'm reading, well, I download it in less than 60 seconds. My weakness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 We use the devil out of ours. It's great for night reading, it's also a heck of a vocabulary builder with the dictionary that is built in. All you do is touch the word and the definition pops up. Big bonus. Now if I had to choose between an iPad and Kindle, I'd definitely go iPad, because the ability to purchase textbooks for under fifteen bucks is super powerful. Granted there is a huge disparity between the prices of the two, but feature wise, there is a world of difference as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunriseiz Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 We use the devil out of ours. It's great for night reading, it's also a heck of a vocabulary builder with the dictionary that is built in. All you do is touch the word and the definition pops up. Big bonus. Now if I had to choose between an iPad and Kindle, I'd definitely go iPad, because the ability to purchase textbooks for under fifteen bucks is super powerful. One*mom, can you tell me about the textbooks??? I have an iPad.... OP, I have been using the kindle app on my iPad for ~18 months and I just bought a Kindle. As much as I loooove my iPad, i have found enough books (free and library) that I want to be able to carry it in my purse. Last night I actually ordered one more for DS so I can load lots of old books from Gutenburg for him. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I'm just going to throw out generalizations (in the middle of a project here) but a few years ago, apple made it a format to include textbooks on their platform but with the caveat that they could not cost more than 15 bucks. An example you can find on iPad textbooks is the famous Miller science series. (Again, a generalization) but if you were to go out and fetch this spine in hardcover, it's a LOT of money. Over on iPad, you can pick it up for less than 15 bucks, plus have interactive content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raceNzanesmom Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 We love the Kindle! Wish we had a second one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I loved mine. I purchased two more for kids. Mine died. I will not purchase any more. They just don't last long enough to justify the $. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I loved mine. I purchased two more for kids. Mine died. I will not purchase any more. They just don't last long enough to justify the $. Did you call Kindle customer service? They're fabulous about replacing problem Kindles. My original Kindle (a K2) is . . . I think almost four years old and still works fine, although the battery doesn't hold out very long now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2squared Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 We have a kindle keyboard, and it rarely gets used. We read a lot, but we just don't enjoy the kindle. I don't like that I can't see how many pages are in the book, and I miss being able to page through when reviewing a book for the kids. Wen I preread school books, I leave notes for the kids on stickies inside the book. I can't do that on the kindle as easily. Also, we don't buy books,a nd that hasn't changed with the kindle. I'm too cheap, and I prefer for the library to store my books there. I do like the kindle app on my iPad, though. I like brining up the PDFs and having them look like the PDF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 We just got a Kindle Paperwhite for our oldest at Christmas. He LOVES it. He can carry just that in the van with him instead of bringing a stack of books, and he can read it at night in the van and in his bed without having to have another light source (it's backlit, but still e-ink). We also have a Kindle Fire for my DH, but he has stopped using it since he got his Nexus 7. I use a Toshiba Thrive 10" tablet for Latin and some other stuff, but reading on a tablet vs. an e-ink device is very different. The e-ink is easier on the eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I love my Kindle. I still buy regular books most of the time, but I love being able to get OOP book on my Kindle and books that are a lot cheaper. We don't use it a lot for homeschool, but my kids are still young. I did get all the McGuffey readers on there for free and my son reads those. I would say it is a good purchase. If you don't want them to be able to sneak and use the internet instead of reading, don't buy the Kindle Fire! :coolgleamA: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I got one for Christmas. Our libraries use a different format but I haven't worked out the conversion yet but I am told it can be done. I was wondering the other day if their has been a revival in classics reading. I haven't bought anything yet but I think I might ask for amazon giftcards for my birthday. I love knowing I will have lots of reading choice wherever I am though. No more boring waits - though my phone is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WonderRed Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 We have the Kindle keyboard (e-ink). I have one and my 2 older boys each have one. I am able to borrow ebooks from our library for the boys to read. I love the text to speech feature. I downloaded all the free active content word games on them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatherwith4 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 DS7 and I have both have Kindle Fires. We are loving them! I just have to limit my spending. :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Did you call Kindle customer service? They're fabulous about replacing problem Kindles. My original Kindle (a K2) is . . . I think almost four years old and still works fine, although the battery doesn't hold out very long now. I did. They offered to let me purchase a new one at a reduced rate. However, I could purchase one with ads for the same price. They would not allow me to take the discount on the one with ads. That just made me mad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I have a Kindle Fire. I like it better than the iPad I had. The iPad is dependent on a primary computer in good working order that is hooked up to wifi; that is something I just cannot maintain longterm. Since I got my Photon Q phone, I hardly ever use the extras on the Kindle Fire, and am going to trade it for a Paperwhite 3G. I use my Kindle a LOT for library books. My vision is starting to go, and trying to get glasses that work right has been an unsuccessful venture so far. I much prefer to relax with a novel, in Kindle form, than a hardcopy right now. I still prefer hardcopy curricula, but my favorite thing is when I have both a hardcopy AND a Kindle version of my favorite curricula on my Photon Q phone. The Kindle Fire is a great device if it is the ONLY device a person has. It does everything if you need it to, if you have access to a hotspot. It's the only way I know to check out library books onto an e-reader without the aid of a laptop. I wish I could check out books with the Photon Q and then download them through the Paperwhite 3G, without the use of a PC/laptop or wifi, but so far I have not figured out how to do that. I have several good options, but not lack of BOTH. If I get really stuck, I can download and read adobe epubs on the Photon Q, but for any Kindle I need at least wifi, to get a book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I loved mine. I purchased two more for kids. Mine died. I will not purchase any more. They just don't last long enough to justify the $. I can respect that opinion. To me the value would depend on how much you use it. Since Jan.1st I've read over 1,500 pages on mine, so with that kind of average use I don't think mine would owe me a dime after a year. Companies do sell extended warranties but for me the extra cost wasn't worth the protection with the price of a new one being so low now, even with the keyboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Caitlin Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 This purchase is certanly worth each penny spent on it. I'm absolutely satisfied with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunriseiz Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I'm just going to throw out generalizations (in the middle of a project here) but a few years ago, apple made it a format to include textbooks on their platform but with the caveat that they could not cost more than 15 bucks. An example you can find on iPad textbooks is the famous Miller science series. (Again, a generalization) but if you were to go out and fetch this spine in hardcover, it's a LOT of money. Over on iPad, you can pick it up for less than 15 bucks, plus have interactive content. Thanks! I'll investigate!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnMama Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I love my kindle, and I use it every day. It was worth every single penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle My Bell Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I just got myself a Kindle Fire for Christmas and I LOVE IT! I use it to read, check my email, organize my life (I LOVE THE APPS!!! Most are free or less than $2, I haven't bought any yet), play a game or two and watch movies on Netflix. I purchased Apple earbuds (their newest version) and feel very spoiled indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 We use the devil out of ours. It's great for night reading, it's also a heck of a vocabulary builder with the dictionary that is built in. All you do is touch the word and the definition pops up. Big bonus. Now if I had to choose between an iPad and Kindle, I'd definitely go iPad, because the ability to purchase textbooks for under fifteen bucks is super powerful. Granted there is a huge disparity between the prices of the two, but feature wise, there is a world of difference as well. Do you have any links regarding textbooks on ipad? I appreciate your help :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I will add we love the new kindle fire HD. If you get the e-book and the audible book that have the whisper sync feature, then you can read a book with the "immersion" experience where you can listen to the audiobook and read the text at the same time with the words highlighted as they go. I got this for ds for several books such as the The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. You can actually get the immersion experience for many classic books inexpensively or free in some cases. I think this is a great feature for harder to read classics such as Moby Dick or Dickens for ds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I don't have a Kindle, but I do have the Kindle app on my iPad, and so far, I love love love it. I have really small hands, and it's very hard for me to hold a paper book comfortably with one hand (and my other hand is usually holding the baby); the electronic reader is so much easier for me to hold. I also love how easy it is to bookmark and change print size and everything. My DD, who likes reading but who is easily distracted, loves reading electronically (she can have fewer words on the page, less tendency to flip around, dictionary is handy, etc.). I also love that I can have a bunch of free public domain books loaded at any time, so we always have something to read with us. I big puffy heart (love that description by a PP) PDFs on the iPad and on my cheapie e-reader (E-matic); it is SO pleasant and easy to use them. The only thing I don't like is that I don't buy a lot of books new (can't afford them); we use our awesome libraries a ton, though. They have lots of paper books but not a huge selection of e-books yet. (But the ones I've gotten, via the Kindle app, are really seamless to download through amazon.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Do you have any links regarding textbooks on ipad? I appreciate your help :001_smile: Take a look here to start: http://www.apple.com...ooks-textbooks/ You can also download the itunes app on any PC http://www.apple.com/apps/itunes-u/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbeym Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Here's the link I was looking for yesterday: http://www.freehomeschooldeals.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Here's the link I was looking for yesterday: http://www.freehomeschooldeals.com/ Nothing on this page works for me, not a single link. Anyone else having a problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 LOVED my kindle--until it broke. :glare: Imagine if your bookshelves collapsed and it left the books that you'd stored on it unusable. I had heard the warnings from others that it was possible but I didn't really believe it would happen to me. First my three year old ripped it from its lovely cover and broke it slightly, but the final straw was when my kindle turned on while on my purse and the "ink" stained the screen. It was less than a year old. Books never disappointed me like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Nothing on this page works for me, not a single link. Anyone else having a problem? Yes, it looks like all her links are broken. They worked last week when I went to her site. Hopefully she gets it fixed soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 LOVED my kindle--until it broke. :glare: Imagine if your bookshelves collapsed and it left the books that you'd stored on it unusable. I had heard the warnings from others that it was possible but I didn't really believe it would happen to me. First my three year old ripped it from its lovely cover and broke it slightly, but the final straw was when my kindle turned on while on my purse and the "ink" stained the screen. It was less than a year old. It was awful when mine broke. :crying: An entire weekend without my Kindle. That's how long it took for Amazon to ship the free replacement to me. I had to finish the book I was reading on my ipad, it sucked. After reading about the possibility of loosing my memory before I purchased my first Kindle I have always limited what I keep on the Kindle. I read as I put things on and then archive them quickly or put them in a 'read' collection if I'm looking for future titles. I only had to go through and find a few titles by purchase date to download to my new Kindle. I have changed over and am marking on my Book in a Week list if I am looking for additional books by a certain author in case I loose my memory again. Books may not disappoint me in the same way but I could never afford the same number of books, nor could I store that many. My Kindle is my reading, the bookshelves are for anything that anyone else in the family may also read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelsi Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Another Kindle lover here. I have the Kindle 2. Dh got it for me about 4-5 yrs ago for xmas (for $275! can you believe it?!). Basically it's a bit heavier than the newer kindles, no color or touch screen, and it has 3G but no wifi. I use it a ton for myself and also my 8 yr old has begun using it. Right now he's reading The Sign of the Beaver on it because I got it for a fantastic deal. I get a bunch of e-books from the library as well. At some point I plan on getting a newer one (not the Fire though, I just want a dedicated e-reader) and I'll pass this one down to my ds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drum1019 Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 We purchased a Kindle for our 9y/o and it has been the best investment. She is a voracious reader who goes through so many books in a short period of time. So access to books has been a life saver to meet her needs. There are many classic books that are free, as well as borrowing from our local public library. The educational games available are also worthwhile and very inexpensive. I want one for myself!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.