Newbie Question

[kindlezzz]

First off, glad I found this site, been reading it most of the day now but want to ask a couple quick questions to ensure I'm on the right track here! I'm actually not the reader per say, just ordered the new Kindle3 for my wife (reads a book per week) She has been watching the industry for awhile now and was probably going to ask for one at Xmas so I figured why wait - since the new edition is on route right now.

Ok - to the questions, when it gets here - do I assume it's not ready to go out of the box so to speak ? Wondering as follows (so I can maybe get things ready for her in advance - she's kinda impatient with setups LOL )

- Does it need a pre-charge ?
- Ordered it as a gift so she can register it with her own Amazon account, once she does that online can she simply start buying books with it right after the config process or?
- We use a MAC, does this thing come with some kind of accompanied Kindle Software as well for computers? (I've read up on Calibre and file formats so I think I am clear on that quest - I'll figure that out no problem) Guess I'm wondering if the process is similar to an iPod for example where iTunes keeps track of your purchases from the device when you plug it into your machine if you purchase through the device itself (backs it up etc)
- Can I get magazine subscriptions with it yet or are there only some newspaper subscriptions available at this time?

Thats it for now, looking forward to getting this little gem for sure and contributing to the site.

Cheers,

[Mike L]

I'll have a shot at answering:

- Does it need a pre-charge ?

No. It should be ready to go straight out of the box.

- Ordered it as a gift so she can register it with her own Amazon account, once she does that online can she simply start buying books with it right after the config process or?

Yes. There's no delay of any kind. In fact, you can order books via the Amazon website even before you register the Kindle, but I don't see any reason to do that.

- We use a MAC, does this thing come with some kind of accompanied Kindle Software as well for computers? (I've read up on Calibre and file formats so I think I am clear on that quest - I'll figure that out no problem) Guess I'm wondering if the process is similar to an iPod for example where iTunes keeps track of your purchases from the device when you plug it into your machine if you purchase through the device itself (backs it up etc)

Not an issue. You don't have to use any particular software. In fact, you don't have to own a computer. But if you have do have a computer, you can attach the Kindle to it, provided the computer supports USB. The computer then sees the Kindle as a disk drive. This is the same for Macs and PCs.

You don't need anything that's the equivalent of iTunes. Calibre serves a similar function to iTunes (in a limited sense), but is by no means essential.

- Can I get magazine subscriptions with it yet or are there only some newspaper subscriptions available at this time?

In most countries, you can get both magazine and newspaper subscriptions. I'm not sure whether that applies to Canada, but no doubt someone else here will answer that.

Hope this helps. In general, your wife should find the Kindle pretty hassle-free, but come back if you have any more questions.

[kindlekitten]

re: the charge... it will come with probably a small charge. plan on hooking it up for about 4 hours.

you can actually start buying her books (and freebies) on your own Amazon account. you can have 5 kindles on any one account

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by kindlezzz

- Ordered it as a gift so she can register it with her own Amazon account, once she does that online can she simply start buying books with it right after the config process or?

She, or you, will probably need to de-register it from the account you ordered it on (Amazon pre-registers them to the ordering account), but yes once it's registered she should be all set to start getting books. She can even start getting books now if she wants using Kindle 4 Mac.

[kindlezzz]

Thanks for the quick replies guys, yeah I've just read up on Kindle for Mac as well - that seems like a pretty cool application - going to install that for sure.

So Calibre sees the device as a drive basically ? Now I get it - I assume then there are folders that you simply drop your converted files into and they appear on the device thereafter... ok - got it.

I figured when I ordered it that I had to select the gift option so it would not automatically register itself to the account I created but I suppose that doesn't matter anyway... since you can have more then one linked and I probably will never get it away from her so there may be two at some point!

Hey thanks again...

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by kindlezzz

Thanks for the quick replies guys, yeah I've just read up on Kindle for Mac as well - that seems like a pretty cool application - going to install that for sure.

So Calibre sees the device as a drive basically ? Now I get it - I assume then there are folders that you simply drop your converted files into and they appear on the device thereafter... ok - got it.

I figured when I ordered it that I had to select the gift option so it would not automatically register itself to the account I created but I suppose that doesn't matter anyway... since you can have more then one linked and I probably will never get it away from her so there may be two at some point!

Hey thanks again...

yep, you WILL get hooked!

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by kindlezzz

So Calibre sees the device as a drive basically ? Now I get it - I assume then there are folders that you simply drop your converted files into and they appear on the device thereafter... ok - got it.
:

Yes, that's correct. But as I said earlier, you don't have to have Calibre (or any other software) in order to connect the Kindle to the Mac. The Mac will also sees it as a drive. Calibre is an optional extra - but a very useful one.