I've never owned a Kindle. What about you?

[ProfCrash]

All I have owned are Kindles. I knew of the Sony and the Kindle when I was looking for a device (2008). My boyfriend, now husband, bought me a Kindle 1 for my birthday. I am thrilled he did because Sony's store sucked and I was not really all that savy about where else to shop. Amazon's store was great, growing, and inexpensive.

I am not overly worried about fonts and spacing, so I don't need a device that specializes in formating. I can fit my 600 or so books on my PW2 without a problem, so I don't need an SD slot.

If I should run out of room, I think I can cleanse books pretty easily (move cook books and similar books to my iPad, that type of thing).

I love the fact that I have an e-reader with great customer service, that works well, and has a great book store available. I know how to remove DRM and convert files so I am not tied to any one store and I can change e-readers easily if I need to. I just have not found the need.

I still chuckle at the walled garden comments on this site. If Amazon has a wall, it is about two feet tall and has massive holes cut through it not to mention tunnels. Pretty much everyone here is capable of removing DRM, I would guess just about 75% of the posters here strip DRM, so I don't buy the walled garden line.

Sony is a huge company that is interested in dominating the markets it is in. BN applied enough pressure, with Borders, Walmarts, and Target, to greatly hurt independent bookstores in the name of dominating the market. Kobo is owned by a large Japanese company that is probably interested in dominating the market. So I don't buy that Amazon's desire to make money and dominate is really all that different then the other major e-readers.

Amazon got into the e-reader market before BN and Kobo and had a few years to establish a brand and brand loyalty. Sony was in the market when Amazon entered but had a crap bookstore and poor customer service. It is not like Amazon drove out all the other e-readers. If anything, they demonstrated that there was a market and made the Nook and Kobo viable.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Part of it also may have had to do with my rebel spirit - If the majority were jumping off the Kindle cliff and telling me that I should too, should I have no follow? No!

If people all go like "Oooh... wooow.... *slobber*... Wannahaaaaave!" over a device, without even wanting to see its flaws or shortcomings, then it's almost guaranteed that I WON'T be getting it, because I don't feel well being with such people on forums or in real life.

Spoiler:

It's one of my main reasons for not wanting an Apple device, ever. So shoot me.

Since then things have evolved of course, and I can use calibre somewhat well enough now, and Kindles no longer have keyboards

The first Kindle was just plain uuu-gly. (IMHO.) I don't need a physical keyboard on a reading device. I don't use it for typing anything except when searching for a book.

I had a Cybook Gen3 for a few months in the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008, as you can see by the registration date on the left. I didn't like it; not as a reader, and not with regard to getting content for it, so I sold it; at quite some loss. After selling the Gen3, I didn't post here for almost 3 years.

The Kindle Touch is the first e-reader that made me go like: "Yeah, e-readers are now usable." Not only with regard to the device, also with available content, which seemed to suddenly explode somewhere in 2010. Calibre had grown from a small hobby project into some serious heavy-weight stuff in the e-reading world. So, I started looking into e-readers again in 2011.

I chose to use EPUB as my base format, Calibre as a conversion / library tool (what else? ) and the Kindle Touch to actually read on, because I liked that reader the best at that time.

The Paperwhite is exactly what I wanted: a thinner, lighter Kindle Touch with a built-in light. I'd be quite happy if the Paperwhite was just refined every year (KPW2, 3, 4, 5...). Then I'd just jump from 1 to 3 to 5 or 1 to 4 to 7 or something.

So I began to wonder how many others have never owned a Kindle on this site, given how dominant Amazon have been in e-reading. I realise there's quite a few happier with other brands and products, but many of them have also owned Kindles before.

The Kindle is not my first choice by default.

I also don't buy books at Amazon. I only do that if there is no other option, or if they are VASTLY cheaper than the cheapest EPUB seller.

Calibre + de-DRM-ing gave me the possibility to buy and de-DRM EPUBs, and then choose the reader I like best at the time I'm wanting to buy one. Last year, that was the Paperwhite. This year, I won't buy any. If Kobo or Bokeen or someone else pulls some sort of epic feat next year, waltzing the KPW1, 2 (and 3) into the ground and stomping on it for good measure, I'll buy that.

I don't really care what the device I have uses, as long as Calibre can convert to it without problems.

So yes, I have a Kindle, but no, I'm not a Kindle or Amazon fan(atic) per se.

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I still chuckle at the walled garden comments on this site. If Amazon has a wall, it is about two feet tall and has massive holes cut through it not to mention tunnels. Pretty much everyone here is capable of removing DRM, I would guess just about 75% of the posters here strip DRM, so I don't buy the walled garden line.

On the other hand, i wouldn't be surpised if MobileRead only makes up like 0.01% of all the people who use e-readers...

I would not be surprised if there are many people that just buy books at Amazon and have it sent to their Kindle, just to delete it after they're done reading it, fully trusting on Amazon's cloud forever. (Replace Amazon with Kobo or Sony or B&N or any other company that has its own reader+book store combination.)

[ProfCrash]

Agreed. I would go so far as to say that most people who buy their ereaders are clueless about DRM and formats and simply buy books from the store the ereader is from.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I would not be surprised if there are many people who just buy books at Amazon and have it sent to their Kindle, just to delete it after they're done reading it, fully trusting on Amazon's cloud forever.

Close. But in reality, trust just doesn't really have anything to do with it for a lot of casual readers. For them... once they're done reading it, they're just done with it. Period. Whether they delete it or not, they just have no use for the book/file anymore--in the cloud, on their device, or otherwise.

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by TheMatrix

Have never owned a Kindle I guess for the same reason as others that I just don't like being locked into buying books only from one place and in one format. I buy a lot of things from Amazon, but a Kindle is not one of them. I have had a Nook first gen and now use a Kobo Mini.

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

I wanted a reader. The kindles are IMHO not. They are just portable amazon shops.

Well, really. With all due respect, I have 40-odd books on my PW1 out of which THREE are from Amazon.

I started in 2009 with epub readers and then bought first Kindle in 2011. Nowadays I buy all books watermarked and get 3 formats for price of one. I don't have to strip and convert and I haven't updated Alf's tools since God knows when. I only use Calibre to embed font (if necessary) or tweak this or that. And I enjoy my PW1 for the features it has, don't even mind collections anymore (I used to strongly prefer folders) Amazon bookstore is quite irrelevant for me. What walled garden. I think I was in fact drawn into Kindle world and quite like it.

I think it can be done in both ways - buy Amazon content, strip convert for epub reader without owning a Kindle or buy content somewhere else and only own Kindle reader. Of course the easiest is to own the Kindle and use Kindle store, after all what is REALLY wrong with that?

Katsunami looky look my ipad1, it is fantastic, oooh, wooow!

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

I haven't updated Alf's tools since God knows when.

Blasphemy! Blasphemy I say!

Not updating Alf's tools that is; it has nothing to do with God.

Hm. Maybe it does, after all. "Alf and associates" == God. without them I wouldn't be reading a single DRM-ed ebook, ever. Not on a Kindle, nor anywhere else.

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

Katsunami looky look my ipad1, it is fantastic, oooh, wooow!

Stop pulling my leg

[ucfgrad93]

I got my first Kindle in January 2010 as a birthday gift. I got my Kindle Keyboard in June 2011 as a Father's Day gift. Gave my daughter a Paperwhite as a Christmas gift last year.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

I wanted a reader. The kindles are IMHO not. They are just portable amazon shops.

I have lots of books on my Kindle that I didn't purchase from Amazon. Alf and Calibre are my close friends.

[Laridae]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

I've never had a Kindle Fire. They're nice, but I prefer more "open" Android devices.

Me too. I've never had a Kindle product (or an Apple, either, for that matter) for the same reason. I'll stick with my Android tablet, thanks.

Plus, until recently, Kindle products were not readily available and supported in Canada.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by KoolReader

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Amazon/Kindle sells 70% + of all books sold in the world today.. digital and print.. they dominate.. just ask Barnes & Noble, Chapters, and Borders.. etc.. they Kill the competition with sledge hammers..

Worldwide? Yeah, I think your wrong, but thanks for playing.

[samhy]

When I bought my first ereader, Sony was the only brand readily available. When I decided to buy something new, I briefly considered a Kindle but Kobo was meeting my needs.
So far all my ereaders have been bought in stores, which I find more convenient, and I didn't realize that some stores were selling Kindle ereaders (e.g. Darty) when I bought my first Kobo.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by KoolReader

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Amazon/Kindle sells 70% + of all books sold in the world today.. digital and print.. they dominate.. just ask Barnes & Noble, Chapters, and Borders.. etc.. they Kill the competition with sledge hammers..

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Worldwide? Yeah, I think your wrong, but thanks for playing.

I have no idea where s/he got that number from but I would not be surprised to see that the number is close to that. I have no stats to support anything below. My thoughts are based on what I have seen posted here and at other sites. I am basing all of this on old news reports and anecdotal evidence.

I would guess that Amazon has a massive share of the US market. I would not be surprised to hear that they were at the 75% range in the US. I have heard anecdotal evidence that makes it seem like Amazon has a very large share, if not dominant share, in the UK. People have posted that they see more Kindles in the wild in the UK. The Kindle does well in Canada and through out Europe. It might not be dominant but I would not be surprised to hear a number around 50%.

We know that the Nook is tough to get outside the US. Kobo is easily available outside the US but I don't know how well it is marketed outside of Canada. I do know it is not all that well marketed in the US. I have only ever heard commercials on NPR and that is going to get to a very small percentage of the population. Sony has a good device but the bookstores have been lacking so that could be hurting its sales. Amazon is known throughout the world, the Kindle is well suported, and the bookstore is pretty good.

I would not be surprised to hear that Amazon has between 50%-60% of the overall ereader, ebook market. Maybe a bit higher then that.

I suspect that the ranking would go Amazon, Kobo, Sony, Nook for the mainstream devices.

Again, pure speculation on my part based on gut instincts and impressions from this board and others.

[theinfamousj]

I have never owned a Kindle. I would eRead on my PDA or smart phone. After a friend with a Nook demonstrated the utility of an e-reader, I bought a $20 Literati (has Kobo software) and my complaints were the LCD screen and the battery life.

So, naturally, I replaced it with an eInk Kobo ($40) since the software was just fine.

Kindles always cost twice-or-more what I was looking at and didn't provide twice-or-more function, so it seemed a no Brainer to not spend unnecessary money.

[LovesMacs]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Part of it also may have had to do with my rebel spirit - If the majority were jumping off the Kindle cliff and telling me that I should too, should I have no follow? No! Heh, but that rebellious instinct only kicked in because there were major things I already didn't like about Kindles (I'm perfectly fine with going with the flow if I'm happy with something).

Satisfied Kindle owner here. I just wanted to point out that while the Kindle is pretty dominant in the US, it has much smaller market shares in other countries, from what I read.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by KoolReader

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Amazon/Kindle sells 70% + of all books sold in the world today.. digital and print.. they dominate.. just ask Barnes & Noble, Chapters, and Borders.. etc.. they Kill the competition with sledge hammers..

Just like B&N, & Borders put small bookshops out of business. And B&N bought Fictionwise just so that they could kill it. When they fold I will throw a party since justice will have been served!