I know by some of the threads on here quite a few of you do quite a bit of reading!!
Just wanted to know as anybody had or sampled the new or fairly new Gadget The Kindle??

The last book i bought was Lee Evens Autobiography at a cost of £10.00 so was wondering would it not be more benifictial to invest in one of the Kindles rather than keep lashing out for books all the time!!

I cannot find any web sites on getting some kind of feed back on them either so will have to hope all your replies are pretty much honest cheers The Ditch..

I know at least 3 people at my work who have 1 and they all say how much they like them, especially how the text looks on screen, battery life and how many books they can hold.

Get books from the library, it's free.

Someone should've told Amazon, would've saved them a lot of money/time/effort...

Think they're a great idea. Personally, I can't justify buying one (although the price is amazing i.m.o. for what you get), but they make sense if you're a bit of a bookworm and travel a lot, but don't want to fill your suitcase with bulky books. I have the programme for the computer and it's really easy to use, and there are loads of websites offering free ebooks (including amazon, who give you a certain amount for free if you buy the kindle) Project Gutenberg has tonnes of old literature (From Shelley/Dickens/Shakespeare to foreign language stuff, if that floats your boat), which is so easy to download, and you can keep it for as long as you like.
Happy reading!

Wife has one and wouldn't be without it now.
There is a whole load of support stuff on the amazon web site.

I got the wife one as an anniversary present and she loves it.

The amount of books it can hold is incredible and download speed is excellent. I live in Burtonwood and my Internet runs really slow but it still only takes about 10 seconds to download and entire book via wi-fi.

Also the wife can suffer from head aches and migraines when she looks at a comp screen for too long but has no problem with the kindle due to the screen not being back lit.

I bought Mrs Rogue on for her birthday last year. She loves it. The web browser isn't brilliant, but as an electronic book it's fantastic.

What does not being back lit mean.....?
I want one for my missus, she has a bad habit of reading books in the dark, like on long car journeys at night.

Is 'not being back lit' like reading a digital watch screen, ie ok in light conditions but needs illuminating in the dark....

If so that would defeat the object and i'll buy her a clip on lamp for her book and save about £78 quid ...!

Thanks guys a few positives there might just be tempted into buying one.

You can buy a cover with a light built in that is powered from the kindle.

I love my kindle. Fast download speeds and long battery life are a bonus! There are lots of free books as well as the kindle editions of the best sellers. Not being backlit means that you don't get that glare in sunlight that you get on laptop screens, and as someone else said, I bought a cover with a light attachment for reading in bed! When you turn it off it opens back up in the right place and saves your page. If I had to give up either my laptop or my kindle it would bye bye laptop!

I like real books and I suddenly feel very lonely

Backlighting and how this works in a TV is quite complicated. LCD displays do not produce thier own light and must have a light source behind them. This causes problems for any mobile device with regard to battery life. Plasma and LED displays are different, but I don't think that's what you are asking.

Kindle uses a system called e-ink. Each pixel contains two charged pigments, black and white. It is possible to change the colour of each pixel on demand from white to black, or vice versa. Once done, very little energy is required to maintian the page. It basically reprints the page everytime you turn over. You can think of it in the same way as a page on a conventional book. It is very light as only a tiny battery is required, and it will last over a month between charges.

Other readers produce the light that enters you eye, this means that they are visible without an external light source. They do have the problem that when exposed to a intense external light source, like on holiday, the sunlight that reflects off the screen makes them unreadable. The Kindle doesn't suffer from this, as the image reaches your eye in the same way as a conventional book. It does wonders for your baggage allowance also.

The down side that you mention is that you need a small light source to illuminate the device in low light. But that's just the same as a book, so no hardship there.

Comes down to cost then, new ones are £89. That's about the cost of 15 new books. Add to that, there are so many legit sources of free kindle books, I've saved loads over the time my wife has owned one. Some unscrupulous individuals post anthologies on dodgy wesites, but I'm not into that.

It's not something you can read in the dark, the screen isn't like a phone screen. The best way I can describe the screen is similar to a book page.

The upside is that you can read it on a beach with out the glare of the sun having any effect. Also because it's not illuminated it's better for the eyes.

The downside is that you need to buy an attachable lamp or it. (not sure how much the official kindle ones are but have seen cheaper ones on eBay for about 20 quid)

The Mrs bought me a Kindle for xmas last year and it's one of the best presents I ever received.

As for reading at night, a cheap LED book light from poundland may not be as good as a genuine Kindle light, but it does the job. I also found that a ziplock butty bag is an essential piece of 'kit' when sat by the pool or on the beach on holiday (take a few).