One of my favorite Kindle features is "sample this book." For no charge, you can download the table of contents and the first chapter or two of any Kindle book and decide at your leisure if you want to buy the book and read further.
Now you don't even need a Kindle or other e-book reader to sample books in this way. You just need a PC (no Mac version yet, but Amazon promises it is on the way) and Amazon's free sofware
In addition to providing sample chapters of the 376,000 books available in Kindle format, Kindle for PC displays color. Lack of color for most books is no big deal, but graphic novels, childrens' books, and maps need color.
Steve has recently started learning to play guitar, so we're going to try downloading music books (at the lower Kindle price). Music books would be much too small to read on a Kindle, but I think they'll look fine on a monitor.
Of course, I don't intend to start reading all my books on a PC now, but it does provide one more option. Try it out!
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skypixie0
jlsathre
Deven McKay
Ersatz Reader
Donna Ski
Christine Bollerud
Salon.com
Comments
Stellaa, Hi. Kindle for PC is supposed to work with iPhone, too. That's interesting that you like iPhone reader, I thought it would be too small, but it's amazing how you can adjust.
Procopius, Coyote -- taking up ebooks doesn't mean giving up on real books. It certainly hasn't for us.
Juliet -- good point. Some readers like backlighting for the extra light, others like the e-ink non-backlit format for a sharper image. I like that there's a choice.
Thanks for the info though. R
But I wonder (and wish I had the time and money to do it) what the break down of environmental costs for producing and distributing Kindles versus traditional books is.
My gut tells me that books are still more economical and affordable than Kindles.
I'm at least comforted that it will take decades if not longer before the beautiful books we know are relegated to the recycling heap.
Great post, again and good reading!