Questions for Kindle Peeps

[grace_om]

I know several of you out there have them and are very pleased. I am starting to have some serious issues with eyestrain as well as RSI, from too much time spent squinting at a screen. This is not good: it's my work as well as my hobby :-/ So I'm looking for ways to do the tasks I need with less damage to my body

Comments

[kimbari]

Rich got me a Kindle for Christmas, over my objections (he only wants to buy me presents HE wants me to have... it's kinda frustrating, but moving right along...) because I had the Kindle application on my hand-me-down Blackberry and it suited me just fine. I sat on the thing for two weeks because it confused me, but after messing with it a while I finally discovered all its secrets and got more or less proficient.

Model: I'm not sure, the latest one I think. Not the big one, though. The little one.
PDFs: I downloaded a couple of PDF *books* to the Kindle. The ones that displayed were too small to read, the rest didn't even display. I don't know if that would be the case for a regular PDF document (as opposed to something that's formatted like a book... if that makes any sense).
Voice: I do have that feature. My granddaughter played with it a bit, but I don't like being read to (no wonder I have no audiobooks! :) so I just disabled the thing.
Voice read anything: It won't read everything, including some books you buy from Kindle. I don't know if it'll read documents, I haven't had the occasion to test it for that... plus I don't like to be read to. :)
Software: Nope! Just plug it into the USB and you can move documents onto it. I discovered a huge cache of free bestsellers (including a shitload of Stephen King books, some of which I haven't read) formatted for Kindle. I downloaded them to my computer, then downloaded them to the Kindle (I'm not sure if you can skip the first step... the books were in this huge file) and there they were. Right now I'm reading the novel "Flashforward" on which the tv series was based. I like the book much better, even though the only character that made it, more or less intact, from the book to the series is Lloyd Simcoe. And the Flashforward was 20-some years, not a few months.

I hope this is helpful? :)

[grace_om]

Thanks, Kim, that is very helpful! I've been resisting the Kindle-fever too, because I read ebooks on my palm pilot (yes, I have one that still works!). And I like having just one small device that I can carry in my purse which serves so many functions. But now I'm seriously worried about eyestrain :-(

That's discouraging about the pdfs. The big format Kindle is sooo expensive, and wouldn't be as portable for my personal reading pleasure either. Darned if I want to spend $400 essentially just for work >>:<

The good newes is the ease of uploading -- I was hoping for that! They don't like us loading any software onto our work laptops, but I've gotten away with drivers so I can use my personal peripherals when I'm working at home.

I do wonder how well the reader could cope with technical text. I tried using voice-to-text software a few years ago, and some of the interpretations were hilarious... So I can imagine what the reverse could be like. I do like audiobooks though. It's the eyestrain thing. When I have time to read for pleasure, I'm often just too tired to look at text.

Anyway, thanks again!

P.S. I'm planning to watch Fringe later this afternoon.