Topic: Any Kindle Users

[Bob Wessner]

Both my wife and I have Kindles and love 'm. Had a problem with hers some months back, kept draining the battery very quickly. Normally, good for at least a week or more with heavy use. Thought it was a bum unit. Called them and it turned out to be the design of the cover, not the unit (internally the retaining hooks were contacting the battery pack). They provided a gift certificate plus $25 that allowed us to upgrade her replacement cover to one with a reading light included.

I noticed on mine, the lettering on the keys was disappearing from wear. Researched the problem and many Kindle owners were suffering the same fate. I tried the cleaning that was suggested, but the lettering was actually rubbing off. Called them today and they are replacing mine with a new unit with one day delivery. The new units do not suffer from this problem. Since this seems to be a widespread problem, I would suggest anyone with the same problem, contact their customer service. Many firms could take a lesson from Amazon support, top-notch in my book.

[BeSeeingYou]

My wife has a Nook from Barnes and Noble.  The main reason she picked that one was that it interfaces with the public library.  The Kindle does not at least here in Minneapolis.  She is a big reader and it is great for vacations so we don't have to drag along a suitcase full of books.

[Radam]

I got one of the 3g ones for my wife last x-mas. She has had a problem with it just going blank one or two times. I guess I'll go ahead and exchange it for a new one. The battery lasts a lot longer if you turn the internet off when you aren't using it. My friend has a nook and loves that it connects to the library. It would be nice if the Kindle did that, but I bet it's only a matter of time before it can.

[Bob Wessner]

You can definitely extend the battery life by turning off WiFi and network when not in use. My wife's has both, mine just WiFi. I would call their customer service about the problem you are having. As said, they are very good and accommodating. I'm somewhat addicted to the free game EveryWord. 

[Radam]

Yeah, my wife and I play that some. It's fun. I'm still debating on getting a Kindle myself. I may wait a year and upgrade her to something better and take the Kindle for myself. I like the screen on the Kindle better than the other readers, but the library thing is pretty f'n cool. I hope Kindle gets that soon.

[Bob Wessner]

I'm sure the other eReaders to do this as well, but I've also loaded mine several PDF references. I putz around in photography and there are some references it is nice to have along, but in paper form it would be a hassle. I either have them in PDF form, or convert them and then download into the Kindle and just pack it along with the camera gear.

There are a ton of free books also for virtually all the readers. My wife tends to read current novels (i.e., still under copyright). I've found many things to my liking that are so old they are no longer covered, so they're free.

[Glenn Stauffer]

Amazon is teaming up with OverDrive to offer books through local libraries.  Not sure if Amazon support will be in all of the libraries that use the OverDrive service, but you can get a list of those that are connected with OverDrive here:

http://search.overdrive.com/

I've been really happy with my Kindle, but noticed that it unexpectedly rebooted a couple of times recently - maybe cover issues?  I'll have to cash in on the upgrade deal that Bob mentioned.

[Bob Wessner]

Glenn, that was one of the issues with my wife's in addition to the batt running down too quickly. They were well aware of the problem when I contacted them on that as well, and indicated it was "a bad batch of covers."

My replacement just arrived today as a matter of fact. 

Edit: Thanks for pointing out Overdrive. Turns out all the Ann Arbor libraries are covered as well as many of the surrounding communities.

[HondanutRider]

I'm sure the other eReaders to do this as well, but I've also loaded mine several PDF references. I putz around in photography and there are some references it is nice to have along, but in paper form it would be a hassle. I either have them in PDF form, or convert them and then download into the Kindle and just pack it along with the camera gear.

There are a ton of free books also for virtually all the readers. My wife tends to read current novels (i.e., still under copyright). I've found many things to my liking that are so old they are no longer covered, so they're free.

Bob,you mentioned loading "PDF references".  Do you mean that PDF documents can be loaded onto the Kindle and read?  If so, that feature would make them very attractive as a portable reference reader. 

I'm not too familiar with the Kindle, but my daughter has one and really likes it too.

[Bob Wessner]

Hondanut,

Yes, PDF is an acceptable format. The only problem I have ever had, not really a problem, is that you often need to change the page orientation from portrait to landscape for PDF documents, otherwise the font is a lot smaller than my old eyes can read.  Easy to do on the kindle, but when you make that change, it's global. Then if you want to go read something in the standard portrait format, you have to change it back. It would be nice if the Kindle 'remembered' the orientation by document.

There are a couple of ways to load PDF's to the Kindle. One is just copy them from your PC to the 'document' folder on the Kindle. The other is to send the PDF to the Amazon server and download them from there. I think the only reason to do it this way is to provide a copy in the 'archive' for  your Kindle should you ever have to restore the Kindle contents from your account.

I've found a number of PDF's on a couple of photo forums I belong to. They include exposure guides, some view camera movement references and development references, pretty handy. If I find something useful on the web that is not in PDF format, I just use a tool to capture the page(s) in PDF format, then transfer them to the Kindle.

You might want to look at a program called 'Calibre' for managing things on your Kindle. Pretty handy tool, it's free, though donations are accepted if you like it, etc.

[Kframe]

One of my cow-orkers dropped her Kindle and the screen got wonky, she called Amazon and they replaced it for free and sent a pre-paid mailer so she could return the old one.  They called it normal wear and tear and did it under warranty.  She'd owned it for 11 months at that point.
Great customer service!