Kindle DX on sale for $239. Still worth it?

[alexvi]

It is now available for 189$ directly from Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Wire...dp/B002GYWHSQ/

Enjoy!

[29decibel]

Is this a sign the new DX version will come out?

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by 29decibel

Is this a sign the new DX version will come out?

Unfortunately I see it more as a sign of DX being end-of-lifed completely, so if someone really wants one, now is probably the time to act. Just a guess, of course.

As some have pointed out, there is also a genuine concern what will happen to basic e-ink Kindles overall, now that tablets and frontlights are all the rage.

Personally I hope regular e-ink option continues in some form. It is really a quite unique technology and Kindle has a great ecosystem for it.

For those abroad, if something is not shipping to you direct from Amazon, you could consider someone like Borderlinx as a forwarding service. It will cost extra, though, but it does work.

[ab7vf]

Got one 3 weeks ago .. $240 .. loaded *doukan* does pdfs, djvus, chms, etc. just fine .. Didn't need any of amazons cruft .. got computers to do computing, tablets to do tableting .and an ereader to eread

so far, so good (YMMV)

Jim

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by alexvi

It is now available for 189$ directly from Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Wire...dp/B002GYWHSQ/

Enjoy!

Thanks for the heads up Mate! Just ordered one and a cover as a backup to my ~3yr old dxg. I love this big e-reader. They are also selling the dxg Amazon leather covers for only $9.99 Total shipping to Australia is only $15. Too good a deal to pass up on imho.

Looks like I'll be a happy dxg reader for a long time to come.

Cheers,
Tom

[29decibel]

Finally I can not resist the temptation to buy one :-)

[SoCalReader]

Originally Posted by hamisertvurdu

Hey all,

I recently realized that Kindle DX is on sale at Amazon for just $239. Is it worth buying it at this price? I am looking for your advices.

I know its technology is pretty old and there seems to be no update in the future. But I am looking for an e-ink reader with large screen to read academic PDFs. As I know, Sony will release an 13.3 inch reader next year but I think they will set a price around $400-$500, which seems a bit expensive for me. Should I wait for Sony (maybe its price would be lower than I expected) or buy a Kindle DX? I am also thinking about buying 10 inch tablet but I wonder whether tablets are better than e-ink readers to read PDF files for couple of hours without eye strain.

I don't have any device (neither tablet nor reader) and would appreciate your help.

Here is my experience as fellow academic who has similar needs. The objective is to read text where the content of the material requires significant concentration to comprehend. Finally, much of the content is in PDF format.

1) E-ink is so much easier on the eyes vs. an self-illuminated screen, that spending money on a good e-ink reader is worth it. If you can concentrate while reading an illuminated screen (either back-lit or front-lit, the physiological effects are similar) then a tablet is your best solution. I use a tablet to read short web pages, but anything beyond a page with equations or a large number of difficult to comprehend concepts, I lose focus. This means for me, iPad, Android tablets, and any unit that for which the lighting can not be set to zero, i.e. the original Paperwhite, are not viable solutions to reading challenging text electronically or reading for more than a short time. (Anything more than 15 minutes leads to a headache.) I can read trash/popcorn novels on most devices while drinking wine. <grin>

2) Virtually all current e-readers are small - 6" in screen size. When compared to a 7" or a 9" screen, the current models seem near postage stamp size. I have both 6" and 7" units and the 7" screen (Sony PRS-950) is noticeably more pleasant for reading anything. To make the PDF page readable on a 6" screen, I must magnify it. Fortunately on the Sony T-2 (as opposed to the PW Kindle), the magnification remains constant in moving from page to page, but it is a less than optimal solution. (Yes, I have used Calibre to convert some of my PDF's to ePubs which can scale more easily, however most PDFs of scientific articles don't translate well. And DRM based PDFs can not be converted legally.)

3) Remember, legally, if you purchase a Kindle, you can only read Kindle books on it. You can not read DRM books from other sources. If Amazon chooses to crack down on people who read Amazon books on other devices or non-Amazon books on Kindles, they have the legal authority to pull all books licenses from you. The probability is low. (But ask people about Direct TV.) However, given this constraint, if most of your reading is PDF, then the Kindle DX might be worth it.

I will be ordering a DX to evaluate it for the sole reason of reading PDF articles, but have no plans on purchasing books from Amazon because of their insistence of using non-industry standard format.

If the 13.3 Sony is released, given the number of documents I currently print out, it too will be worth investigating.

Fine print: Again, this is my experience with my electronic reading objectives. Clearly other people will not agree with me and I'm more than happy if they can point me to a solution that works better for me.

[makeminemaudlin]

I REALLY hope they don't run out before the end of the week. I want to buy one so bad!!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by 29decibel

Is this a sign the new DX version will come out?

It's a sign of no more DX of any kind.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's a sign of no more DX of any kind.

Fellow members: Jon's quote [above] is an opinion, but is not stated as such, although it should be.


Don
(Moderator)

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ab7vf

Got one 3 weeks ago .. $240 .. loaded *doukan* does pdfs, djvus, chms, etc. just fine .. Didn't need any of amazons cruft .. got computers to do computing, tablets to do tableting .and an ereader to eread

so far, so good (YMMV)

Jim

I'm wondering that if you PM'd them (if you wanted to, of course), on whether or not they would credit to your account the difference in price. I mention this because I think there's a 30-day window in which to return an item.



Don

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by SoCalReader

I will be ordering a DX to evaluate it for the sole reason of reading PDF articles, but have no plans on purchasing books from Amazon because of their insistence of using non-industry standard format.

If the 13.3 Sony is released, given the number of documents I currently print out, it too will be worth investigating.

Fine print: Again, this is my experience with my electronic reading objectives. Clearly other people will not agree with me and I'm more than happy if they can point me to a solution that works better for me.

As a longtime dxg user I agree with most of your opinions. Like you I used to be kinda annoyed being locked into Amazon for e-books but I have gotten over this now. This is because I have found that Amazon has the best selection and most of my junk-reading books are free anyway. I just have a look at this link once in a while for something that interests me;

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-K...ding=UTF8&tf=1

While I mainly (+90%) use my dxg as a simple ebook reader I also have a number of technical manuals pdf's that I find very handy when I don't have my laptop pc readily available. Most of the simple pdf's translate very well on the 9 inch dxg and are much more readable than on my 6 inch Kindle Keyboard.

There is a very useful app that lets you convert pdf's into much nicer to read pdf's. It's called k2pdfopt and you can read about this here;

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=144711

I've tried this on a few hard to read pdf's and it works very well. Best thing it's a free app and does not require any hacks.

If you have 3g coverage the dxg makes it very easy to buy books and do a little basic (preferably mainly text based) web browsing.

For travelling I use a simple/cheap ebay10 inch netbook case. The dxg with it's Amazon dxg leather cover fits perfectly.

I't's a real shame that Amazon appears to be dropping the dxg imho. Anyway, I have another one ordered as a backup to my +3yo dxg.

Cheers,
Tom

[bookwurm70]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

And of course, as others already have stated: Tablets, albeit heavier and more power hungry, do a phantastic job with PDFs. GoodReader for example on iPad offers sheer endless options and is way faster than your average reader...

I'm reading this post because I am very frustrated with trying to read PDFs in GoodReader on my iPad.

I find eye strain is too much to be reading PDFs on my iPad for academic study. I'm looking for a large eInk. I have an Aura HD, at 7" is still way too small for PDFs and I found it slow and frustrating to be scrolling around. But I just can't take reading PDFs on the backlit screen. I do have an old iPad 2, but I find PDFs loading to be very slow in GoodReader.

[Dr. Drib]

Please be advised that the links to k2pdfpt [ThomasC's post above], as listed on Willus' earlier posts, appear to be no longer functional.


Now found:

Here's a new link that is working (much later and in the same thread as mentioned by ThomasC.):

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...144711&page=39

and then to post #577


Don

[jeffyen]

Originally Posted by SoCalReader

I will be ordering a DX to evaluate it for the sole reason of reading PDF articles, but have no plans on purchasing books from Amazon because of their insistence of using non-industry standard format.

Thanks for the detailed writeup, I think it may persuade me to get the DX in the next few hours.

One thing though about the non-industry standard format thing. An easy way to go around this is to think that Amazon *does* indeed use the industry standard format, while the rest do not. (Because Amazon prices are usually the cheapest and they have the widest selection of books.)