[Carnyx]

Originally Posted by rwillmer

I have an Kindle Keyboard, my original Sony, and an iPad, which is what I read ebooks on, so I thought for a long time about what would work for him. I came to the conclusion that he just wouldn't be able to cope with buttons; fine for me, but for him, he wouldn't be able to see them, plus even if he could, he wouldn't have the physical capability to accurately press down on a button.

So touchscreen very quickly became the only option.

I'm very curious to see how it works for him.

Yeah, I'm still torn on touchscreen which is why I'll be interested to hear how it goes with the Kobo. One thing that has stood out from peoples' responses is that there's many kinds of arthritis and what works for one may well not for another, so ultimately the proof is in the pudding.

I thought about ipads, but came to the idea that they're too expensive and heavy; and then also the battery life problem kicks in, so in my opinion, E-Ink is the only option.

Yes, they are substantially heavier, battery life is realtively poor, and people say they're hard on the eyes compared to E-ink; so I'd guess you've made the right choice there. I also feared the learning curve might be too steep for someone new to that kind of technology. I *had* envisaged PC-like technical issues as well, but people tell me theese are very much reduced on an Ipad. Anyway, all in all, I decided an E-Reader would be a wise first step, then we could look at a tablet afterwards, *if* she takes to the E-Reader.

Ah yes, now here's the other wrinkle.

My father-in-law is in a care home 500 miles away; we don't know whether the home has WiFi there, and we don't want to stress any of the local family with the responsibility of needing to download the books.

So I've come up with a no-tech solution. If it works, then we'll buy another Kobo Touch and tie it to the same account.

So the plan is that when he gets near the end of the book, one of the local family will tell us and I'll load the next set of new books onto the 2nd ereader, and post it down with a pre-paid envelope so the lovely people in the care home can send back the other one.

So I can handle all the technical problems of buying the books and loading them, and all the local family need to do is make sure the thing is charged up (which I've made easier by labelling up the reader with large print labels saying "On/Off", "Power", "Connect" on the front of the ereader with appropriate labels.

I hope it works for him. If not, I'll have to think of something else...

Rachel

Right, you've clearly given it all quite some thought and it sounds like a good solution - good of you to put in the legwork for your father-in-law like that. Believe me, not many would bother or be able to.
I've decided 3G might work best in this case, the reasons for that being:

- there's no-one in her circle with a PC and she doesn't have WiFi
- asking carers or home staff to intervene isn't an option
- she's far enough away that me downloading books onto a card and taking them round, while possible, would introduce a delay I was hoping to avoid if possible
- if she can't do the ordering process herself(likely), then instead she can call me whenever she wants a book, I can order the book from Amazon on her behalf, and it will be magically beamed to the Kindle via 3G afterwards

Now please understand that I've only mentioned that *in case* it's an option you were unaware of, not to sound like some kind of smart #rse or to be disrespectful. It wasn't even my idea so I couldn't take credit for it if I wanted to - it was suggested by one of the fine people on this thread.
Though, from what you've said, I imagine you probably have already considered this option and it's not do'able in your case. I hope that all came out right - forgive me if not.
Thanks,
David.