I discovered immediately the fact that with a Kindle, public domain books are free. Before I even purchased a Kindle edition of a book, I already had at least twenty novels on my Kindle without costing me anything. Last semester for American Lit, I didn't need to buy an anthology because all the poems, short stories, essays, etc., I found on-line for free. Score! That's a pro.
Also, when you get bored in class (not that this ever happens), your Kindle can sit inconspicuously on your desk and all you have to do is subtly push the button to turn the page as you read a book, rather than the obvious paper book with its loud page turns. Pro.
When you want to buy a book for a Kindle, all you need to do is click the "buy" button and it is wirelessly downloaded to the Kindle. It's so easy: even easier than putting music on your ipod, which involves connecting it to a computer. If you need a book quickly (like I did last semester for a paper I had to write) it's so nice: no tracking it down at a bookstore, no lines, etc. Pro.
I soon realized though when I was using a book on the Kindle to write a paper, that skimming around and finding page numbers was a pain in the butt. I play around with it and try to figure it out, but I still haven't figured out how to find an actual page number, not the Kindle location number (if any fellow Kindle users know how to do this, please impart your wisdom). Con.
And, this may be just me, but I have a really hard time reading non-fiction on my Kindle. Like, I'm reading The Case for Books on my Kindle right now, and it is REALLY slow moving. I feel like I have read a ton, but on my Kindle it says I'm only 6% along. It's grueling. Con.
Overall, having a Kindle for school is really nice. It's small and not heavy, unlike all those books I normally lug around, and I never had to step foot in the bookstore to get my books. I'm still figuring it all out, but I'm glad I have it.
As for finding the page number, I think it depends on what version of the Kindle you have. I recently bought the newest one, and it tells me the real page numbers when I hit "Menu" from wherever I am in the book. But Amazon seems to indicate that this was a new update, so yours might be older.
ReplyDeleteI like the pros and cons list (especially being able to read in class, definite pro). I guess even with actually books there are pros and cons. Kindles can be handy tools but technology sometimes can be annoying. I don't have a kindle but it is nice to know the things that are good and bad about it.
ReplyDeleteCool post. I've been thinking about whether to get a nook, kindle, or ipad. Thanks for being so very informative.
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