Well, *I* believe you're giving it short shrift. Yes, I know, I was all Bookeen all the time, but since I got my two K2s, I've fallen in love with my Kindles.
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Originally Posted by Elfwreck
My daughter was given a Kindle by her grandfather, who has no idea how ebooks or ebook readers work.
I don't like it. I'm one of those "rant about the evils of Amazon, DRM and the Kindle" people. (Thought I should put the disclaimer up front.) She doesn't like it, but at least some of that is just carryover bias; mom doesn't like it; mom knows All About Ebooks, ergo, there must be something wrong with it.
It'd seem rude at best to just sell it and get an ebook reader I understand. Maybe I'm overlooking the Kindle's good features? Besides, I would like to know how they work.
I'd *love* some advice on how to use this thing, so she could at least give it a fair test before deciding whether or not she likes it. Issues:
1) We don't do DRM. At all. Of any sort. Won't be buying from Amazon.
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There are some ebooks on Amazon that have no DRM. For example, Carl Bussjaeger's "Net Assets", a really NICE read - libertarian near-future SF - has no DRM. I *know* this because I'm the publisher!
Also, there are plenty of DRM-removal tools out there to strip DRM from any eReader.com/Fictionwise/Mobipocket/Amazon(AZW) ebook. And they're easy to use. No, I'm not advocating that you buy DRM'd ebooks in order to strip and share with others. I also note that many Fictionwise titles are sans-DRM.
And don't forget Baen's Webscriptions or even Smashwords. Baen has no DRM and many Smashwords titles are DRM-free. Just buy them in Kindle/Mobi format or convert them to Kindle/Mobi after purchase using Calibre.
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2) We won't be setting up an account at Amazon. (Am not giving access to my credit card to a 14-year-old and whichever of her friends she decides to share the thing with.) I gather this may hamper some of the Kindle's more nifty features.
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Okay, so you're limiting yourself to eReader.com, Fictionwise, Smashwords and Baen for your non-Amazon ebooks. Do you know how many titles that means? Not a problem. However, have you considered buying a pre-paid Mastercard or Visa debit card and let her have that for her Amazon purchases? A $50 or $100 card is probably not going to tempt her to overpurchase from Amazon.
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3) The button arrangement makes no sense to me. Advices here would be VERY VERY WELCOME. The manual is, like most manuals, something that will obviously make a lot more sense after I understand how the device works.
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Now here you're just being silly! Despite having spent all my time prior to my K2s using the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned Bookeen layout, it took me all of 20 minutes to get really comfortable with the Kindle way of doing things - and I'm 52 so I've nudged into the 'old dog' category. Yet somehow I've managed to learn new tricks.
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4) Have not yet connected it to a computer. When I do, what can I expect? Will I see a nice little collection of folders into which I can start throwing .pdb files?
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Yep. But not .pdb files. They'll have to be .prc/.mobi/.azw files. Of course, you *could* download that duakan (dukan?) Chinese alternative OS that switches over to the ePub format - but as this is still in early test phases, I'd not recommend doing so if you only have *one* Kindle. (Fancy that. I have *two* K2s!
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5) Any general-overview, getting-started advice would be welcome. All the Amazon instructions are focused on "here's how you start buying books, which we won't be doing. (At least, not from them.)
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Ummm... Not to be too obvious, but once you've got your Kindle plugged into the computer (comes with its own dedicated cable - and can either charge from the wall-wart or from the computer), it's pretty easy. You just look for the Kindle in your list of drives, open the 'drive' and drag your ebooks into the "Documents" folder like you'd do with a Bookeen.
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I'll try to be polite in my responses, and I promise to actually consider what people say about the benefits of the Kindle.
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That attitude, given that you've not actually worked with the Kindle long enough to justify it, is rather irritating. Now once you've *used* the Kindle for a few months I'd say you have the right to be obnoxious about it. (And I have the right to say this because of my hindsight - clearly 20/20 - wherein I admit that all my bitching and moaning about the 'flaws of the Kindle' were and are pre-K2-ownership.)
Derek