Best Library I have ever had
I have had this Kindle (1 - the original, first generation) since October 2008. I have downloaded from Amazon via Whisper Net and have been able to read within seconds to minutes - this is included in the price. Within a few weeks, I realized I wanted more storage to be able to take additional books along on trips and purchased a memory chip. Currently I have over 300 books on my Kindle and have lots of memory still available if needed. Most of the books are stored on the chip, but I also store them on an external hard drive that connects to my computers.

Reading on the Kindle is just like reading any other book. I use a reading light that attaches to my book cover when I read in low light situations. The font is variable and I sometimes use a larger font if I have forgotten my readers. I have used the Kindle at home, on airplanes, in cars (when I am NOT driving), and have even taken it on cruises with me. I was happy to hear that the Kindle may now be international and am anxious to try this the next time out of the US. (No, reception of Whisper Net downloads does not happen faster in the left lane of the highway :-).)

As far as books go, usually Amazon has books at .99 or less like they promised. However, Amazon does often have newer books at higher than that. Greed I guess! There are many, many sites on the web that allow free and reduced price downloads. Even Amazon carries many public domain books for free, just look for them. Overall, I am very happy with the Kindle and have recommended it to many of my friends. With it's expanded storage capability it really is much more than an expensive toy. This is the wave of the future in reading devices and it is available now. I have not tried other e-readers, but it always pays to shop around. The initial cost may seem expensive, but the convenience seems to be worth it to me. When I went on two week trips, I always took along 4 to 6 books. Now I could go for months and never need to reload.

This kindle has worked well for me, but I have had to reset it a few times. It has frozen about for times and my heart stopped each time. Reset has worked each time. I have also replaced the battery once. The original cover was poor and I replaced that in a few months. The replacement cover was well worth the price and has additional features that Amazon did not think of when the product was first introduced.

Travelling with a Kindle in Asia
An Australian based Kindle travelling through the North Eastern parts of India can be a frustrating exercise. I was on a three week vacation in West Bengal covering the major city of Kolkata, a seething mass of 15 million people, in a climate that was becoming hotter and more humid on a daily basis. From there it was onto Darjeeling, a place famous for its tea, tourism and remnants of its former colonial heritage. Currently this area is in 'dispute' with the West Bengal government and is seeking self status - Gurkaland - so the difficulties of travel in this area are compounded by poorly maintained roads so bad that trips of 50 -60km can take up to 3-4 hours and rolling 'strikes' from the separatist movement.

Now the picture is painted how does my Kindle work within this environment - all of the hotels at the 4/5 star level only have an internet connection and no PC - this is generally the case wherever you travel these days. In this part of the world you do find a 'business centre' in each of these hotels - however it is generally a single PC and an aged one at that. As an Australian Kindle this is your only power source and you are hardly going to leave it to charge for an hour or two whilst you mooch around the local haunts -chances are it won't be there when you return!

So once the battery drained after the initial flight to Singapore it was game over for reading and a reversion to the hardback I was forced to buy on my travels.

The Kindle for us Aussies is fine - at home and in your own residence. Outside that environment its a paperweight and I certainly won't bother taking it on my travels again. Until we can charge the Kindle up through a power source it will never become the international bedside companion. I have though of using the Power Monkey - a portable charger that pumps out a very low voltage for mobile phones and the like but I am reluctant to test this theory as it may cook the unit. Any ideas out there for my new paperweight?

Lost without it
Love the Kindle - wish it had a dictionary lookup feature independant of the books it holds. I'd be lost without my Kindle.

I Love My Kindle
What was life like before a Kindle - truly all kidding aside it consisted of reading books from Amazon and listening to books on my Apple Ipod.

Then last Xmas along came my Kindle and my life changed again - now I exist in three realms - I consider myself lucky and privileged to be at the crossroads of the three media - paper books, Ipod and Kindle books. I have all three and life is perfect.

But (I am ashamed to admit) I read a lot of classical and obscure books. And over and over again I am finding that my taste in books (example: Lytton Strachey, Lawrence and Gerald Durrell, Yeats, Maugham, Walter Scottand et cetera) is not only readily available for my kindle - it is rewarded by being so inexpensive that it is almost free!!!

I DO LOVE MY KINDLE and all the paradisical privileges it brings with it!

I love my Kindle!
I received a Kindle for Christmas and I wasn't thrilled about getting the product. After sitting on my shelf for 3 weeks and my husband making me feel guilty about not using it, I finally took it out of the packaging. I hate to read manuals and I'm not good at electronics so I figured I would quickly be putting the Kindle back into its box. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the setup was amazingly easy. Within minutes I was set to go and quickly downloaded my first book. Reading the books on the Kindle have been great on my eyes because since I turned 40 it has become more and more difficult to see up close. The Kindle has solved this problem for me. I've even downloaded a magazine subscription for B000FI73MA.25 a month. The only downside I can even think of is that since I'm reading the book at a larger font and I'm a fast reader, I spend alot of time hitting the "NEXT PAGE" button.