[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by chilady1

I don't mean to sound offensive or nasty, but given everything you have said in your post and you overall dislike of the product, why not return it (Amazon provides a 30 day window to return) or sell it. It clearly sounds like the Kindle is not the product for you or your daughter, based on the list you provided. Just a thought!

We're past the 30 day mark. (Grandfather was keeping it packed away for special occasion day gift.) And I'd rather not dislike a product I've never actually used; all my dislike is abstract at this point.

And daughter, once she gets past my biases, might enjoy it. She perked up at the idea of a dictionary, and annotations are probably more useful to her than to me. (I'm not at all dismayed at keeping a separate notebook for annotations instead of using the very limited functions in some portable devices; if she can't note it on the screen, she's not going to bother.)

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

keep up. it was a gift from the grandfather.

That's what I was thinking. And I really should try it first--or rather, learn enough of how it works to let *her* really try it.

ok, elfwreck, the only buttons you really need are the home (the house) (and I am working off of a K1, so sorry), the alt and font buttons, and the <- arrow along with the toggle switch.

Hmm. Will check those out when I get home.

go to smashwords, find books you like, download them to your computer, go to calibre, download it, drag the titles to calibre that you want it to work with, plug your kindle in, right click on the send to device, send it to the kindle, wait for the silver wheel to finish spinning, unplug the kindle, move the cursor to the book, click, read!

I probably want to avoid Calibre for now. (I have an older version that doesn't create mobi, but it's a really big download for dialup.) I've got plenty of ebooks for her, including some I bought at Fictionwise last summer when we got her a Jetbook, on which the screen broke in her purse.

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

There will be a folder called documents, you just drag your books there. You'll want Mobipocket format (.prc or .mobi, not .pdb). You can also put the books in folders by author inside the documents folder if you want to keep the directory more organized.

Right, prc. I knew I wanted mobi, and I'd've remembered when I looked at the actual files. I used to convert a lot of things to eReader pdb.

I guess if there is a benefit to the Kindle it's that it's probably one of the simplest devices on the market to use. The dictionary is a nice feature for some as well and so is being able to search the text.

Not sure what you're looking for instruction wise as it pretty much 'just works'. You use the joystick to move up and down your list of books, press the joystick to select whatever is underlined at the time and use the page turn buttons to change the pages (obviously). Menu will let you select various tasks like adding highlights and bookmarks, accessing the table of contents (if there is one), toggle wireless on/off. Back will bring you back to the page you were reading if you do an extended dictionary lookup.

This is what I needed--the buttons make perfect sense *after* you know what to do with them.

Next task is "figure out how to turn on/off wifi." (Followed by, "convince her school that this is a reasonable device to read in class when she's done with her work instead of having to carry a book.")

Sounds like you already don't link or want it around.

I don't have to like it for it to be worth keeping; she does. And I don't want to poison her against it.