Midnight Book Blog

Archive for the ‘My Kindle’ Category

I love my Kindle and I have the Kindle 1 that Dale gave me for Christmas.  I really love my audio books best from Audible.com, but so many are not yet available that I want to read. Yes, I can purchase books on  CDs (or sometimes only tape is available), but it’s such a pain in the ass to convert the CDs in iTunes  (or any program) into something I can download into my iPod, Kindle or other MP3 player.  Thus, I need my Kindle to read what is not yet available for audio download, as I can easily enlarge the  font size for my comfort.  It’s really too much of a pain to try to find books I want to read in large print at the library……….so, my Kindle is one of my most prized possessions.  I’ve been looking over the new Kindle 2 and what it has to offer and it sure looks sleek compared to the Kindle 1 I have now.

In looking over what the Kindle 2 has to offer, I noticed it now has text-to-speech technology and you can listen to a computer voice read your book to you.  I guess this would come in handy for the sight impaired, as this is certainly less expensive than buying CDs or even purchasing an audio download.  However, as a lover of audio books for the past several years, I have my favorite narrators and I can’t even imagine listening to my novels told to me by a computer-generated voice!

The thought of listening to my favorite David Baldacci novels without Ron McLarty, or listening to the Dune novels without Scott Brick and/or Simon Vance, just does not compute.  How could a computer-generated voice deliver all those wonderful character voices and accents Jim Dale and Stephen Fry deliver in the Harry Potter series?   The thought of listening to The Hobbit and/or the Lord of the Rings without Rob Inglis telling the 55-hour story makes me cringe!  Listening to the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries, without hearing Johanna Parker’s marvelous voice, would be just awful!

Regardless of the issue of digital management rights, IMHO the audio book listener (for the most part) will continue to have their favorite narrators, consider them in their purchases, and choose not to listen to a computer-generated voice.  Listening to a favorite book, with the voice of a favorite narrator in my ear, is like putting on that favorite pair of comfortable shoes, visiting with a beloved old friend, and a computer-generated voice just won’t cut the mustard.

A Kindle for Christmas…

Christmas morning finally arrived and my loving husband gave me a Kindle!  (I knew about this ahead of time, but he still made me wait.)   Read more about the Kindle here!

All I can say is WOW!  I opened it up and it was so easy to set up and easy to use.  Remember, I’m 62 and not what you would call a techno-geek here.  I immediately plugged it in the charger and began to look for a book to download.  I easily navigated to the Amazon Kindle Store and began to browse.  I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks lately and wanted to find something by an author I enjoyed that had some books that weren’t available at Audible.com.   (Sometimes older books are only available in abridged editions and I only listen to unabridged editions.)

At any rate, I decided on Sandstormand Map of Bones, by James Rollins, his first two Sigma Force novels (and they are not available unabridged to listen to.)  I started to read the first on and discovered how easy it is to enlarge the font size so I can easily read in any position with my bifocals.  Perfect!

Next I wanted to try listening to some audiobooks on the Kindle from Audible.com.  I went to the Audible site, followed the instructions for Kindle users and downloaded the software I would need.  I had been using an iPod previously and my downloads were automatically exported into iTunes and I needed to change that for my Kindle.  I found all went well with this first task.  Now I can download into iTunes and my AudibleManager.  Again, perfect.  I moved Grave Sight and Grave Surprise, by Charlaine Harris, into my Kindle and began listening.  Once again, perfect.

Now, I needed to figure out how to use my Kindle on my stationary bike.  I have a Schwinn Aerdyne, which also exercises your arms, and I needed to figure out how listen to or read my Kindle while using it.  My husband came up with the idea of using a Zip Lock bag and some Velcro strips.  We added Velcro strips to the display area on the bike, added more strips to one side of the Zip Lock bag and I slipped my Kindle inside when using the bike.  I cut a little hole in the bottom of the bag for head phones if I happened to be listening rather than reading.  I could adjust the font for my comfort when on the bike and easily use all the controls on the Kindle.  Again, perfect!

At this point, I haven’t opted to purchase any newspaper or blog subscriptions,as I’m retired and have plenty of time to read these on my laptop at home.  However, if I were on the go a lot and still working, used public transportation frequently, etc., I certainly would opt to subscribe to several.

What more can I say about the Kindle?  It’s perfect for my lifestyle, what I like to read, and I now have the choice of either listening to audiobooks or reading books because I can adjust the font to my comfort.  There is nothing like being able to have access to thousands of books via Amazon’s Whispernet, or being able to carry several around with me with out needing a trunk and a pack mule.  I love my Kindle!