There’s talk that the purchase of dedicated ereaders is down, and as the owner of several kindles, I can see why. They’re such excellent devices that it’s like they never go bad.
I’ve got a second gen kindle and it’s still my go-to ereader. Why? Well, it’s got side buttons for easy page turns, and it’s incredibly easy to read on. I have no idea what I’m going to do when it eventually breaks down, but I’ll probably lose my mind because it’s still my baby.
I also have a 8.9″ Kindle Fire HD that I received for Christmas 4-5 years ago, and it’s still going strong. I use it to check my email, watch Netflix and Hulu, and read fanfiction at AO3 or FFN. It may be an older model, but it still works great and I love it. It’s probably the best Christmas present that I’ve ever gotten, including the laptop that barely lasted 2 years before becoming so slow it’s now obsolete.
I think the “problem” with Amazon is that their kindles are too good. You don’t really have to worry about them falling apart or giving you the dreaded half-black screen of frozen death (I’m looking at you Sony). And considering the number of times I’ve dropped my little kindle with only a tiny dent as a result, it’s a miracle it’s lasted in my klutzy hands (unlike the poor Ebookwise back in the day, of which I had three, two of them ending with a cracked screen and the last one deciding not to turn on one day. And don’t even get me started on the Jetbook I once had for a week, which someone decided to put under my seat in the car where it got murdered when the seat moved back. $250 dead and gone. My niece is lucky to still be alive).
Also in my family, my brother has a first gen Kindle Fire that’s still alive, the Kid has a Kindle Fire HD, and my dad has a 8.9″ Kindle Fire HDX. Every single kindle is in working order and shows no signs of glitching or falling apart.
So what does it all mean? Well, Amazon has made some excellent products in their Kindles. From dedicated ereaders to tablets, they’re affordable and they work and if you buy one you pretty much never have to buy another unless you’re looking to upgrade. Unlike other companies, whose products either quickly become obsolete or turn to garbage in your hands.
Say what you will about the “evils” of Amazon, they actually seem to care about their customers. And I guess I like being cared about, even if it just involves awesome return policies and the ability to get ahold of a customer care representative in the rare times when I need one.
And the nice thing about a kindle as a dedicated ereader — Kindle, Paperwhite, Voyage — is that you can pass it around and feel like you’re on Star Trek. The text is always clear and readable. You can flick from book to book and never lose your place. And once you load a kindle full of reading material, you can shut off the wireless to save battery power and read for weeks at a time.
With the use of Fanfiction Downloader, Calibre, and a USB cable, you can be reading free on your little kindle with no concerns of Apple, Microsoft, or whoever peeking over your shoulder like a nosy goon. And to me, that’s pretty nice.
So I’m a kindle fan. I think you probably should be one too. They’re awesome, affordable, and they last a ridiculously wonderful long time.
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Oh, by the way, with Christmas coming up and my birthday in January… I would like to say that a Kindle Paperwhite or a Kindle Voyage would make a great gift. Just saying.
Oh yeah, and I’ve got a store at Teepublic: LeCheese Haut. So if you buy any shirts from there, they’re supposed to kick some money my way. I handpicked all the designs, though they’re all in the order that they were added and I have no control over rearranging them. Still, there’s some nice stuff —
From Hannibal to Dune to Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D to Invader Zim. There’s a little something for everyone.
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