To Kindle Or Not To Kindle?

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

I don't get all the light complaints either--with people complaining about compact flourescent bulbs etc. I've never had any issue with any light bulb anywhere I've tried to read--be it a real book or the Kindle (though I've only been reading it for a few days).

But maybe that's an age thing (I'm 30) or an issue for people who read for very long stretched (I generally only read for 1-2 hours continuously).

I'm very picky about light, but like you say, I do read for long periods. There's a huge range of light quality and color with CFLs. Some flicker. Some take a long time to get to full brightness. Aside from just reading, they can really change the feel of a room for me. I've had some bulbs that made the room look dingy and depressing, others that were so bright blue everything looked cold and sterile. They've gotten better over the years, though. The first generations were horrible.

Oh and as for the booklight thing, I wake up in the wee hours sometimes and I'll like to read until I get drowsy again. If I were to get up and go to another room, I'd never get back to sleep so a booklight keeps me from waking up my husband but still getting a chance at more sleep myself.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

Okay, first of all, not true... the 2nd year of the extended warranty would cover a battery replacement. So yes, $64 for what would otherwise be a $59 replacement.

Here is a copy of the 'extended warranty" Nowhere does it say the battery is covered..........

""Protect your Kindle 2 for two full years -- Adds an additional year and more comprehensive protection than the one-year manufacturer's warranty, including coverage for accidental drops and damage (limited to one incident). This helps avoid the inconvenience and costs associated with a broken device. The warranty stays with the device even if it is gifted or sold to another party.
The Kindle 2 Extended Warranty is offered and sold by an experienced service management company, Service Net Retail Solutions, LLC ("Service Net"). If your Kindle 2 experiences a covered failure during the plan's term, Service Net will replace your unit at no additional cost. Service Net will even cover shipping costs for both the defective and replacement unit.
What is Covered

* Two years of coverage for failures due to normal operation of device
* Two years of coverage for damage attributed to lightning or power surges
* Two years of coverage (limited to a single claim) for accidental drops or damage

How it Works

* Purchase 2-year Extended Warranty plan for your qualifying Kindle 2 (you will receive an information packet in the mail)
* Contact Service Net customer service at (877) 441-3836 if your Kindle 2 fails
* Receive a replacement Kindle 2 and return your damaged device to Service Net ""

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

* Two years of coverage for failures due to normal operation of device

That would cover a bad battery.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Alisa

...

Oh and as for the booklight thing, I wake up in the wee hours sometimes and I'll like to read until I get drowsy again. If I were to get up and go to another room, I'd never get back to sleep so a booklight keeps me from waking up my husband but still getting a chance at more sleep myself.

That's one of the reasons my wife & I sleep in different rooms. Plus if I try to read in bed until I get drowsy, my back gets to hurting so I still can't go back to sleep. So I have a nice chair in my bed room (and a computer wirelessly connected to the net) so I can get up to read and my back won't be hurting later.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

That would cover a bad battery.

So you would assume. However, since its not specifically stated I wouldn't bet my pennies on it.

Did you notice, also, that you are only getting ONE year of coverage for your $65?

Amazon covers the first year. This warranty only extends it for one year.

Is anyone noticing also, this warranty is not covered by Amazon? Its from a third party, Service Net Solutions.

I will be interested in seeing what type of customer service they supply.

[Astabeth]

Originally Posted by Alisa

Oh and as for the booklight thing, I wake up in the wee hours sometimes and I'll like to read until I get drowsy again. If I were to get up and go to another room, I'd never get back to sleep so a booklight keeps me from waking up my husband but still getting a chance at more sleep myself.

Yes! My situation exactly.

Originally Posted by Octochick

As far as the "being able to read in the dark", this tells me you have missed the whole point of e-readers.

??
The point of e-readers for me is I can carry less than a pound around with me instead of 10 lbs. of books. How does wanting to lay in bed and read it without having a light on that will keep my husband up mean I have missed the point? I know that eInk is not backlit, I've looked at a Kindle 1. My point was the Sony 700 had a slight added advantage (for me) in that it has a built in light.

Thank you all so much for all the advice. I actually bid on a Kindle 1 on eBay last night, but lost. I will probably try again once I'm back from my trip next week.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Alisa

I'm very picky about light, but like you say, I do read for long periods. There's a huge range of light quality and color with CFLs. Some flicker. Some take a long time to get to full brightness. Aside from just reading, they can really change the feel of a room for me. I've had some bulbs that made the room look dingy and depressing, others that were so bright blue everything looked cold and sterile. They've gotten better over the years, though. The first generations were horrible.

Fair enough. I changed every bulb in my condo (except for one that's on a dimmer that I use when watching movies at night) to CFLs and really didn't notice a difference. But I'm not picky about light, and actually like to keep the place pretty dim most of the time. So that's probably the difference.

Originally Posted by Astabeth

Thank you all so much for all the advice. I actually bid on a Kindle 1 on eBay last night, but lost. I will probably try again once I'm back from my trip next week.

There's always a flurry of bids in the last 2 minutes. You won't win one (without an outrageous bid) without being online with a good connection and doing the 1 click bids over and over the last couple of minutes enough times until you finally win one.

Problem I had was the ones I tried for were ending up in the $235-250 range, and my limit was $200. So I turned to Craigslist and had good luck, but as you said in the other thread that doesn't work for those of you not in major cities where there are a lot of kindles listed.

Originally Posted by sirbruce

That would cover a bad battery.

It would cover a defective battery, but would it cover one that died late in the warranty which would indicate that it had just hit is 300 (or however many) max charges?

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

So you would assume. However, since its not specifically stated I wouldn't bet my pennies on it.

Now you're being unreasonable. You might as well suggest it doesn't cover a USB failure since it's not explicitly stated to your satisfaction.

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Did you notice, also, that you are only getting ONE year of coverage for your $65?

Amazon covers the first year. This warranty only extends it for one year.

I've heard this "theory" from others and it's simply not true. Read it again; the accidental breakage coverage is for the full two years. This is not something Amazon covers. So if you were correct, if a Kindle were dropped and busted in the first year and not the second, the extended warranty wouldn't cover it. And that would be wrong, not to mention pretty darn stupid. Same goes for the rest of the two-year coverage.

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Is anyone noticing also, this warranty is not covered by Amazon? Its from a third party, Service Net Solutions.

I will be interested in seeing what type of customer service they supply.

Hopefully one won't ever have to find out. But do you think Amazon would promote them if they didn't think they were a good partner? Look, extended warranties offered by third parties are quite common. They're basically short-term insurance policies; they run the numbers and make their money simply by the fact that most people will never collect. There's no need for them to drag their feet on repairs for a few extra dollars; this isn't health care.

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

It would cover a defective battery, but would it cover one that died late in the warranty which would indicate that it had just hit is 300 (or however many) max charges?

Probably not, but I ain't gonna recharge it that many times in 2 years. Although not covered under warranty, Amazon itself doesn't expect you to have to replace your Kindle 2 battery every 2 years, either.

Look, let's look at it a different way: if the battery is not holding sufficient charge, there's no way for the consumer to know if it's a 'normal' battery cycle problem, a 'defective' battery, or faulty electronics elsewhere in the device. And Service Net is not going to do repairs, either. All they do is get a replacement from Amazon and swap. So the only way they care is if Amazon then turned around and dinged Service Net for it. And why would they? If Amazon decides it's just the battery, it's easy enough for them to replace it and use it for further refurbishment needs.

If for some bizarre reason Service Net doesn't accept it as faulty, I can just as easily "drop" it right then and there and get a full replacement if I haven't already used that excuse up.

But if it makes y'all feel better to think that you're smarter than the people are getting ripped off by the extended warranty, go right ahead. I'm not trying to convince anyone to buy one.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

Now you're being unreasonable. You might as well suggest it doesn't cover a USB failure since it's not explicitly stated to your satisfaction.


I've heard this "theory" from others and it's simply not true. Read it again; the accidental breakage coverage is for the full two years. This is not something Amazon covers. So if you were correct, if a Kindle were dropped and busted in the first year and not the second, the extended warranty wouldn't cover it. And that would be wrong, not to mention pretty darn stupid. Same goes for the rest of the two-year coverage.



Hopefully one won't ever have to find out. But do you think Amazon would promote them if they didn't think they were a good partner? Look, extended warranties offered by third parties are quite common. They're basically short-term insurance policies; they run the numbers and make their money simply by the fact that most people will never collect. There's no need for them to drag their feet on repairs for a few extra dollars; this isn't health care.

Well, heres some interesting information. I just called Service Net.

(Contact Service Net customer service at (877) 441-3836 if your Kindle 2 fails )
I asked if the battery was included in the warranty, and this kind gentleman at first told me the battery wasn't replaceable. I explained to him that it wasn't 'user replaceable', that it had to be sent back to Amazon. He backpedaled pretty quickly and said yes, thats what he meant.

Seems that if my battery fails, they will send me a new or refurbished Kindle, and take the one I send in , refurbish IT and re-sell it. I will NOT get mine back. WTF??? I kid you not.

Now, tell me why I want to get a new Kindle, and have to replace all my books?

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Seems that if my battery fails, they will send me a new or refurbished Kindle, and take the one I send in , refurbish IT and re-sell it. I will NOT get mine back. WTF??? I kid you not.

Now, tell me why I want to get a new Kindle, and have to replace all my books?

Uhh, yeah, that's pretty standard. Amazon won't guarantee you'll get your "original" back, either. The whole point of sending you a *new* one is that you don't have any downtime. Yes, you'll have to redownload your books to your new Kindle. The horror!

[InlawBiker]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Now, tell me why I want to get a new Kindle, and have to replace all my books?

Hm, if you bought books from Amazon they should be on Whispernet right? So whatever you bought should be able to sync onto your replacement Kindle as well. I thought that was one of the advantages of Whispernet - they keep the books for you and you can re-download them whenever you want.

Anything you put there manually, like with Calibre, you'd have to copy to your new device by hand.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

But if it makes y'all feel better to think that you're smarter than the people are getting ripped off by the extended warranty, go right ahead. I'm not trying to convince anyone to buy one.

Oh nothing like that. As I said I just don't think it's a good value as you'd spend more buying extended warranties for all your electronics that you would replacing the couple that break on you over the years. Especially since if you get a lemon it will likely break in the first year.

The accidental damage coverage that Amazon offers is nice--a lot of extended warranties for other stuff won't cover things like dropping them, spilling stuff on them etc. But I'll still take my chances with electronics I'm careful with my stuff and I think I save more in the long run by not buying them.

But buy all means if someone is worrisome and gets a lot more peace of mind out of buying extended warranties there's no reason they shouldn't do so.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

Uhh, yeah, that's pretty standard. Amazon won't guarantee you'll get your "original" back, either. The whole point of sending you a *new* one is that you don't have any downtime. Yes, you'll have to redownload your books to your new Kindle. The horror!

No downtime? From the time the battery dies, to the time you get the "new' unit, to the time you re-download the books....you have downtime.

I wouldn't want a "new" Kindle. Its a stupid battery, for crying out loud.

And duh, like I don't know how to re-download my books......but the point is, I shouldn't have to.

Amazon, by re-designing the Kindle as a "new and improved" format has instead made it more difficult to accomplish what was a 5 minute job.

Maybe its standard, and maybe its accepted by some. That doesn't mean its right.

Now, had amazon just kept the blasted battery replaceable by the user, there wouldn't be a problem, would there?

[LifeLongReader]

I hadn't noticed the Dictionary features in the Kindle lines before. What does this feature do? How is it used? Have people found it useful?