I hate you – I love you
Thing is, I don’t want it to be dead. We have had a relationship for five years and I am not prepared to move on. I don’t want to give up on Kindle, don’t want to replace it with another. If Kindle really does turn out to be done for, I am considering giving up on ereaders entirely. Kindles have gotten pretty inexpensive but if I am going to have to buy a new one every five years or so then I want no part of it. I would rather spend the same money on books that will never have a technological failure. Plus Kindle’s periodic fits make me all kinds of grumpy and woe to anyone who gets in my way. Bookman can attest to how pissed off I was when I left the house to catch my bus to the train station Wednesday morning. I’m afraid I blamed him for everything because he had just added a book I had mentioned I might like to read to Kindle. Poor Bookman!
I would get rid of Kindle in a heartbeat if, in spite of everything, I didn’t get something out of the relationship. Trouble is, I like Kindle because I can make the font just a little bigger so I can read on the metro train without having to fiddle with wearing my reading glasses. I can no longer read book print comfortably without glasses unless I hold the book at arm’s length and that just won’t do on the train. Plus Kindle is slim and light and fits easily in my bag without adding a lot of weight.
I feel caught in a dilemma. If Kindle refuses to come back to me, I don’t know what I will do. I grow weary of love-hate relationships and want peace and harmony. Kindle seems to feel differently. I guess I will have to wait and see if we can work out our problems over the weekend. If not, then I will decide what to do. Stupid Kindle.
Get a new Kindle or maybe a Paperwhite and, of course, the iPad Mini for reading on your commute. I know you have the big iPad, but the Mini will never fail on you and has the same Kindle app.
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Richard, backlighting is my enemy. It makes my eyes tired and I spend a lot of time reading outdoors and you can’t see LED screens in sunlight while wearing polarized sunglasses. So an iPad mini is out. Should I get another ereader, it has to be one with e-ink and no extra lighting.
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iPads are too shiny to read on. I bought an iPad mini for work, so I bought a couple of interactives (e.g. Dante’s Inferno) to try out on it, but it’s a horrible way to read. I hate my Kindle too and only use it for out-of-print oldies that I can’t read any other way, but there is no doubt that the screen is much more eye-friendly than iPads are.
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Lisa, yes, they are too shiny. I tried reading a book on my iPad and it was no fun at all. Magazines seem to work well but not books. I only read public domain books and ebooks I borrow from the library on my Kindle because I don’t to give Amazon any more money than I have to.
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Did you know that you can read your kindle books on a computer? I mean, you wouldn’t want to on a desktop, but a laptop might be ok if there’s something you really want to read and the kindle you’ve bought has died. Sometimes when I was reading Balzac, (who as you probably know wrote a zillion short stories) I would simply find it on project Gutenberg and open it up using Kindle for PC on my laptop, and because it was short and could be read in under an hour, it was ok reading it propped on my knees in bed.
This is also something you can do if you travel with a laptop, saves carrying two devices.
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Yup, I have the kindle app on my Macbook but it’s just not comfortable for me, it makes my eyes tired so fast especially since I spend all day at work in front of a computer screen. Ah, the troubles of technology!
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Love your Kindle stories. But Richard, I’d never say never! Why are you so convinced that an iPad mini will never fail? I love Apple and their devices to tend to be robust, but still that’s a confident claim. Do you work for Apple? 😉
Like Stefanie I have an iPad and a Kindle. I love love love the iPad but not for intensive reading. I find the screen too harsh, so I haven’t even bothered to put the Kindle app onto it.
And Stefanie, I applaud your philosophy about not replacing the Kindle – you go with your sustainable view of the world. Why should we have to replace technology every few years BUT I’m afraid that does seem to be what we need to do. I have replaced my Kindle once – but that was because my Mum wanted my old one and I needed the touch Kindle for quiet reading in bed. I’m hoping it will last quite a long time now. But, as I think I’ve said on a previous post, Mum is now having trouble with that old Kindle 2 which would be around 5 years old too. It doesn’t seem to remember where she’s up to consistently and when that happens on an ereader it seems far harder to find your place again than in a paper book that you can flick through.
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whisperinggums, I find the iPad screen too harsh for book reading too. Magazines are great but not books. Plus I need to be able to read outdoors in the sunlight. I really hate that technology goes out of date so quickly. Since e-ink kindles are so basic, I expected they would last a long time with no worries about them needing to be faster or have more memory. It really isn’t environmentally sustainable to have to get a new one every five years and I resent that. It already makes me mad I have to replace my laptop every 5 years or so. I just had to get a new Macbook because my 5-year-old one decided to start overheating and was taking an alarmingly long time to start up. You replaced your kindle for a good cause 🙂 Mine is a Kindle 2 as well. I wonder if Amazon put a self-destruct timer in them? I’m not sure what would bug me more, Kindle just not working or what your mom’s is doing.
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Yes, magazines and the newspaper app (for my city’s paper) are OK – short articles at a time. Did you MacBook fan start making noises? Mine started doing that – and no my new one is nearly 2 years old. Wah!
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The fan didn’t start making noises it just plain quit! Plus it would take five minutes or more to shut down or start up. And it was on its third battery and starting on the road of losing its charge faster than it should. The new one is lighter and oh so speedy it feels like a sports car. I’m sure in 2-3 years it will start to feel otherwise. I wish they lasted longer!
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Me too … I love how fast a new one is, though.
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I agree that there comes a point where the technological infallibility of a paper book seems hard to beat. I quite like reading on my Sony Reader, partly because it’s not even WiFi so I can’t be tempted into distractions, but mostly for the ease of increasing font sizes and taking it along wherever I go, like you and your Kindle. But Sony seems to be going out of the e-reader business (they’ve already shut down their e-book store and merged with Kobo). If / when this thing fails, I don’t want to be pushed into the same replace-replace-replace cycle things like laptops create. I do have an iPad mini but I agree that it is too bright to read very comfortably on for long — and it’s still a bit heavy / edgy to hold up for long periods, too. Ah, technology! It’s great as long as it’s working, but when it’s not …
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Yes, that’s the thing about the tablets – even the minis from what I’ve seen – they’re not light and easy to hold. With the cover on my kindle, I can hold it exactly the same way I hold a book – it’s just that the page I’m reading is always on the right! I love the fact that it holds like a book because it’s comfortable. All that said, I still mostly read paper and primarily read the Kindle when I travel.
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Rohan, yup, for all the interesting things digital technology has allowed us to do, sometimes I think it is more trouble than it is worth. I’ve heard about Sony closing their ebook store and it does seem likely they will stop making readers which is too bad. The only real alternative to Kindle without Sony is the Nook and I have read many a news story about how their business is limping along. Sadly, I think we readers are the ones who lose in the end one way or another.
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I have started getting the large print books when I can, I am not ready for a Kindle. Yet.
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Yet … love that rider. For my mother, the enlarged font capability on the kindle is a big positive. She uses the kindle mostly for classics because all her classics are old books with tiny print. She suffers badly from arthritis … I don’t think the bigger size and weight of large print books would be comfortable for her.
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Ah Lydia, I thought about that but the print always seems to be too large and it would force me to admit just how old my eyes are getting!
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This is precisely why I am so reluctant to buy an e-reader. The problem is that digital devices are not built to last. This makes sense in a way because technology keeps on improving. In the case of my phone or even my laptop this does not bother me. In the case of books, I like the fact that I do not have to buy a special device to read a paper book.
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Ed, sadly it is the case about digital devices. I was hoping it would be different with ereaders because it isn’t like they need to be faster or have more memory or anything. The constant upgrading of phones and laptops annoys me but it is a necessary evil. I don’t want the same cycle for ereaders, it seems too ridiculous to me.
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I’m sure you’ve tried this, but when my Kindle occasionally (very occasionally) blanks out the bottom half of a page, I turn the page and the whole page is visible on the new page and the old page is fine when I turn the page back again. Sometimes my heart drops when I ask Kindle to show me a cover and the screen goes blank, but that’s only because it’s taking its time getting all those pixels (or whatever they are) for the cover illustration.
That said, I hate all electronics and feel they and my appliances (washer, dryer, refrigerator, stove, etc.), and sometime electric outlets, are all out to get me! Please point me to the Luddite village!
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Joan, I’ve tried everything, turning the pages, choosing a different book, restarting it, removing the book Bookman added. No luck. And just think, appliances are getting “smart” so they can talk to each other and you! One more thing stress us out when our refrigerators keep track of our groceries and how long the leftovers have been sitting in there! A cabin in the woods is definitely sounding very nice 🙂
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I have the Kindle Paperwhite, but feel that it slows down a lot when I try to read 2 or more books on it. I actually prefer using the Kindle app and reading them on my iPad , i just find it easier all around.
Good luck – hope it cooperates.
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Diane, thanks! Sadly, it seems Kindle is dead. Oh well.
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Have you tried ringing the Kindle technicians? When I have had a problem they have always sorted things out in a matter of moments.
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Alex, it is a screen problem and not reparable. Since it is long out of warranty I’m out of luck 😦
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I totally hear you. Thankfully my Kindle Paperwhite has never turned on me… and I really, really love the adjustable backlight (so handy for reading at night!). I have (reluctantly) accepted that I enjoy the convenience of it enough that if it dies on me, I’ll probably get another. I usually read paper books but for travel or camping or something where I don’t want to pack books, the Kindle is really great. Haven’t gotten into it as a daily thing, but I really love it for tucking into a bag when I know I’ll be waiting a long time or whatnot; I have a very sensitive neck and can’t handle much weight in bags so it’s been great for that. It’s a pain to know that it will likely have to be periodically replaced but I figure it’s like a computer… sometimes, you’ll just have to upgrade. Thankfully, they still make paper books so you always have the option of opting-out!
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wherethereisjoy, your paperwhite hasn’t turned on you yet! Bwhahaha. Hopefully it never does but it should not be trusted. Ereaders are so convenient but I am not keen on the constant updating of gadgets so it is a good thing I will be able to opt out for print should I decide to.
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Well, you *are* reading a ‘ghost story’ on it–maybe it is possessed? 😉
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Danielle, heh, maybe I need to take it to an exorcist! 🙂
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