Kindle Advice?

[WartHog]

Am working a light-duty assignment at a local Sutter Hospice Thrift Store while awaiting knee surgery for a Workers Comp injury. My job is testing the Electronic Devices/Appliances people donate to be sure they are in saleable working condition. Have two Kindles that appear to be in good working condition and I'm thinking of buying one to get into reading e-Books. I know nothing about Kindles so I'll try and describe them to aid ID.

The first is a Model #DO1200 and measures approx 6.75" x 4.75" and has a non-color, 6" diagonal display. Power button, Charging port, Headphone jack on bottom edge and two speakers on bottom back. Seems to take/hold a charge and is in good physical condition.

The second I can't make the Model # out on. It measures approx 7.5" x 4.75" with a 7" color display. Power button, Charging port, Headphone jack on bottom edge and two speakers on top edge. Seems to take/hold a charge and is in excellent condition.

So, what am I looking at and which would be the better reader? My gut tells me the newer, color unit but again, I know nothing about Kindles. The Manager at the Thrift Store said I could have the nicer one for $15.





Mark on screen from photo flash

[Mute]

In dim lighting the color version will be better, though the best kindle reader is the paperwhite version. Readable and easier on the eye in all lighting conditions compared to the other two.

[Citadelgrad87]

The paperwhite version is the best reader. Particularly ifor you read before going to sleep. Phones, I pads and laptops trick your brain into thinking it's daylight. Paperwhites are front lit, not back lit.

[tommyboy619]

For reading, go with the B&W one. The battery will last longer. Or in the spirit of Calguns, buy both.

[glockman19]

I have a Kindle 7 color. Love it. My wife likes the Kindle White paper, (the backlit kindle)...and her Ipad mini.

[MaHoTex]

You can get a brand new unit on Amazon for $40.

[The Original Godfather]

Paperwhite.

It's the most comfortable on the eyes and the brightness adjustment is much better for when reading in the dark around others (on a plane or in bed) compared to a tablet.

[sholling]

I love Kindles and I've been a Kindle owner since 2011 and during that time have owned a few B&W (a gen-1 Kindle, a first generation Paperwhite, and the new 3G Kindle Oasis) plus one old Kindle Fire tablet. The B&W unit that you found is a 2012 model Kindle Touch. That was a pretty good Kindle e-book reader. These are strictly e-readers and work really well under bright sunlight or in a well-lit room and if the battery is still good (new they last for weeks @ 1-2 hours/day) it may be worth buying. The one in question is wifi only (as opposed to wifi plus 2G or 3G) and includes "special offers" (screensaver based advertising). Brand new they run about $80. Bear in mind that you'll need a reading light to enjoy reading it in bed. If it works and takes and holds a charge then $10-20 seems fair.

The color sounds like a Kindle Fire 7" Tablet. The early Fires were cursed with an awful interface that traps you in Amazon Land and only had 8GB of storage (plenty for an e-reader but not really enough for use as a tablet) and only 6-7 hours of battery life. Kindle Fires are pretty good for streaming Amazon videos and for reading illustrated magazines or even books as long as you are inside during the day but the screen will appear washed out under bright sunlight. Brand new they start at $50 (sometimes less). If you must have a cheap color tablet then get a brand new 16GB version ($70).

The Kindle Paperwhite (prices start around $120 and can go way up depending on options) that everyone is urging you to buy really is a big readability improvement over the Touch because the front-lit screen is much easier to read in low light. There are also two new high-end monochrome Kindle e-readers (Voyage and Oasis) but they are mostly form-factor improvements over the current generation Paperwhite and not a must-have product. They share the same processor and software as the latest Paperwhite and probably aren't worth investing in as a first Kindle. If you can afford it a Paperwhite and a good cover are the best investment.

Most of the above are loaded with books via a wifi connection and require manual wifi configuration and unless bought new require manual setup on Amazon. Hopefully, the old owner removed the device from his/her account, otherwise, setup may be a problem.

If you do buy one then check out http://daily.ereaderiq.com/ for free and low-cost Kindle book deals.

[stevebla]

Kindles are cool. Almost all copy right expired books are available for free or low cost. Kindles have an email address that is a derivative of your account email. email a pdf and put convert in the subject line and you can read it on your kindle.

[gorn5150]

I have several kindles and a kindle fire 5th gen tablet. My daughter has a kindle paperwhite with light. For reading and battery life the b/w kindle would be your best bet. The early fire tablets were not real good. You can get the 5th gen tablets for $39.99 now. The one I have I picked up a couple of weeks ago just to see how they have improved.

One of my kindles is the original with a built in keyboard. It's still going strong. I keep one loaded with survival manuals and a solar charger in my gear bag. The problem all kindles have and now so does the nooks is lack of storage. The original nooks could use micro SD cards for book storage. My wife only reads off of the older nooks, she likes to have her 18,000 book library in her reader.

Even with the neutered storage of the kindle you can still get over 1,000 books on it.

[C.G.]

Kindles are cool. Almost all copy right expired books are available for free or low cost. Kindles have an email address that is a derivative of your account email. email a pdf and put convert in the subject line and you can read it on your kindle.

You can get out of copyright e-books free here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/

If you want this unit as a reader, paperwhite is the way to go as mentioned by others.

[WartHog]

Thanks for all the replies, tips & advice!

I've been playing around with the Fire but am having problems with the Touch. I charged it and attempted to register it to my Amazon account but get a "Unable to connect - There was an error while registering your Kindle. Please try again later" message. I reset it to Factory Defaults and tried again with same result. Was able to enter my WiFi password so don't think that's the issue.

Edit - just got off the phone with Amazon and they told me the device is locked to the previous user and that it cannot be registered to a new account unless the prior account is deregistered. Amazon said that only the registered user can do that so I guess the Touch is off to e-waste for recycling - shame as it is very nice condition.

[WartHog]

Another e-Reader

I found a Barnes & Noble Nook Glowlight Model BNRV350 in the bottom of the box of stuff I brought home to test. It seems to also be willing to take a charge and is in good physical condition externally - what can you guys tell me about this Nook? How does it compare to a comparable Kindle model? Would I be able to put Kindle books on it or e-books from my Public Library?

[sholling]

I found a Barnes & Noble Nook Glowlight Model BNRV350 in the bottom of the box of stuff I brought home to test. It seems to also be willing to take a charge and is in good physical condition externally - what can you guys tell me about this Nook? How does it compare to a comparable Kindle model? Would I be able to put Kindle books on it or e-books from my Public Library?

I haven't used it in years but Calibre used to be pretty good at e-book format conversions. I have no idea if it still works but it was a lot of trouble when you can just buy cheap or free Kindle books from Amazon. Not everything is cheap but there are enough free and cheap offering to keep you busy for a while. On top of that, there are offerings from Baen.

As for Kindle vs Nook, Nooks were good but the Kindle Touch for $10-15 is probably a better investment. Really, the only thing wrong with Kindles is Amazon's refusal to provide any way to organize the hundreds or thousands of books you'll accumulate in your online library. With EreaderIQ linking free and low-cost books it doesn't take long for your collection to grow huge.

[WartHog]

Thanks, sholling.

The Kindle Touch I have is e-waste as it can't be deregistered. In doing some searching, this Nook with Glowlight appears to compare favorably to the Kindle Paperwhite so I think I'll give it a go as my 1st step into the eReader/eBook world. If using Caliber to convert is too much of a PITA, I'll just move on to a Kindle Paperwhite.