What's the best Kindle to use as a secondary device?

[rosalita]

Hello, all. I have been a long-time user of Kobo e-readers, and I have no desire to change that anytime soon. However, there are some books that are only available for Kindle, and while I have in the past converted them to epub format using Calibre, lately I've been wondering about the economics of picking up an inexpensive Kindle to use for these kinds of books.

In short, I'm looking for recommendations for relatively inexpensive, fairly basic Kindle. I'd like to have the front light, but I don't care about physical page-turn buttons, waterproofing, large screen, etc. Essentially, if I could duplicate the specs of my Kobo Glo HD in a cheap-ish Kindle format, that would be ideal.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rosalita

Hello, all. I have been a long-time user of Kobo e-readers, and I have no desire to change that anytime soon. However, there are some books that are only available for Kindle, and while I have in the past converted them to epub format using Calibre, lately I've been wondering about the economics of picking up an inexpensive Kindle to use for these kinds of books.

In short, I'm looking for recommendations for relatively inexpensive, fairly basic Kindle. I'd like to have the front light, but I don't care about physical page-turn buttons, waterproofing, large screen, etc. Essentially, if I could duplicate the specs of my Kobo Glo HD in a cheap-ish Kindle format, that would be ideal.

The basic Kindle has lower resolution than the Glo HD, but otherwise will do.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DLPWYB7

If you want the same resolution as the Glo HD, get the Paperwhite:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CXG6C9W

[rosalita]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The basic Kindle has lower resolution than the Glo HD, but otherwise will do.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DLPWYB7

If you want the same resolution as the Glo HD, get the Paperwhite:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CXG6C9W

Thanks, that was very helpful to do a comparison. As it happens, Woot has the Paperwhite 3 for $69.99 and that seems like the perfect option for me.

[ilovejedd]

I don't know how good your eyes are.

Personally, the basic Kindle (167 ppi) is too blurry/has too much edge pixelation for my taste. Lowest I can tolerate is 212 ppi (Paperwhite 1/2, Kobo Aura).

If you wait for a sale, you can usually find the basic Kindle for $60-70 and the Paperwhite for $80-90. At $20 difference (and same price as basic Kindle at MSRP), I think the higher resolution on the Paperwhite is worth it.

[rosalita]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

I don't know how good your eyes are.

Personally, the basic Kindle (167 ppi) is too blurry/has too much edge pixelation for my taste. Lowest I can tolerate is 212 ppi (Paperwhite 1/2, Kobo Aura).

If you wait for a sale, you can usually find the basic Kindle for $60-70 and the Paperwhite for $80-90. At $20 difference (and same price as basic Kindle at MSRP), I think the higher resolution on the Paperwhite is worth it.

I agree with you, now that I am a "certain age" I prefer clear type and the 300 ppi of the Glo is quite good for me. And as I posted just before I saw your reply, I found a Paperwhite 3 for $69.99 and that seems like a pretty good deal.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by rosalita

Thanks, that was very helpful to do a comparison. As it happens, Woot has the Paperwhite 3 for $69.99 and that seems like the perfect option for me.

Good choice. The PW3 actually has better contrast compared to the PW4.

Seems like that $70 is for brand new with 1 year warranty as well. They also have refurbs for $10 less ($60).

[teija]

You will be quite happy with the Paperwhite 3! I also got roped into a Kindle with some of the cheap/free items on the Amazon Kindle store, and now although I have always been a big Kobo supporter, and never had a Kindle until last year, I use both about the same amount as each other.

[rosalita]

Originally Posted by teija

You will be quite happy with the Paperwhite 3! I also got roped into a Kindle with some of the cheap/free items on the Amazon Kindle store, and now although I have always been a big Kobo supporter, and never had a Kindle until last year, I use both about the same amount as each other.

I knew I couldn't be the only one! Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll still prioritize acquiring books from Kobo (I am a sucker for BookBub's daily deals) but there are some titles that are either not on sale at Kobo when they are at Amazon, or are just not available except in Kindle editions. Calibre has worked well for converting, but my workflow has moved away from desktop/laptop computers and more toward being iPad-centered, and as far as I know Calibre can't be used on an iPad to convert and send books to an e-reader.

[tomsem]

Personally I think the newest Kindle is perfectly fine (with trade in credit and promotion, I spent $5 for mine). But for a little more (sale time) you get newest Paperwhite, with more storage, higher resolution screen, waterproof. But as others suggest, PW3 may have clearer display than PW4. That does not matter for me, I prefer the thinner/flush form factor, and though I don’t use it for audiobooks, I like seeing which books have audiobook companions since I’m going to read those on my iPad mini.

But none of that audiobook stuff matters if you’re just feeding it with calibre.

[rosalita]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Personally I think the newest Kindle is perfectly fine (with trade in credit and promotion, I spent $5 for mine). But for a little more (sale time) you get newest Paperwhite, with more storage, higher resolution screen, waterproof. But as others suggest, PW3 may have clearer display than PW4. That does not matter for me, I prefer the thinner/flush form factor, and though I don’t use it for audiobooks, I like seeing which books have audiobook companions since I’m going to read those on my iPad mini.

But none of that audiobook stuff matters if you’re just feeding it with calibre.

I actually expect to continue reading my Kobo-purchased books on my Kobo Glo HD, and only use the Kindle for books that aren't available on Kobo. For instance the Amazon First Reads monthly giveaway, and the Prime Reading promotion for those who have Amazon Prime. I had forgotten about the audiobook companion aspect of the Kindles, so I'm glad you mentioned that. I'll have to check it out.

[6charlong]

Originally Posted by rosalita

Hello, all. I have been a long-time user of Kobo e-readers, and I have no desire to change that anytime soon. However, there are some books that are only available for Kindle, and while I have in the past converted them to epub format using Calibre, lately I've been wondering about the economics of picking up an inexpensive Kindle to use for these kinds of books.

In short, I'm looking for recommendations for relatively inexpensive, fairly basic Kindle. I'd like to have the front light, but I don't care about physical page-turn buttons, waterproofing, large screen, etc. Essentially, if I could duplicate the specs of my Kobo Glo HD in a cheap-ish Kindle format, that would be ideal.

Something Amazon is doing now that may interest you is offering to sell the audiobook edition of a book at a reduced price if you buy it at the same time as the kindle edition. Both the basic Kindle and the Paperwhite will play the audiobook if you have a bluetooth speaker, headphones or earbuds. They let you trade back and forth between text and audio forms of the book.

This also works on the amazon Fire HD 7 ($50). I bought one at Christmas time for $25 and other sales come along from time to time. It will also play audiobooks and Kindle books. It has it's own speaker and will play music as well as thousands of movies and TV shows that are free if you already subscribe to Amazon Prime, rent them or purchase them from Amazon. As an ereader it has lower resolution than the Paperwhite and a backlit screen of course.

[rosalita]

Originally Posted by 6charlong

Something Amazon is doing now that may interest you is offering to sell the audiobook edition of a book at a reduced price if you buy it at the same time as the kindle edition. Both the basic Kindle and the Paperwhite will play the audiobook if you have a bluetooth speaker, headphones or earbuds. They let you trade back and forth between text and audio forms of the book.

That's interesting about the Kindle/audiobook bundle option. I'll have to remember that.

[Quoth]

A generic USB audio stick and dumb adapter add audio to a PW3, Only the PW4 of paperwhite models has BT.

PW3 Audio:
You have to download two packages from Amazon. It's really for poor eyesight / accessibility text to speech and I didn't test it with audio books or MP3. The interface is terrible.
The Kindle Keyboard and DX do have audio (MP3 works), but the user interface is terrible.

A phone or tablet with a suitable app is far better for audio books or mp3 than ANY real kindle (The Fire is really a crippled Android Tablet, not an eReader, so may do audio books better than a Kindle).

[rosalita]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

A phone or tablet with a suitable app is far better for audio books or mp3 than ANY real kindle (The Fire is really a crippled Android Tablet, not an eReader, so may do audio books better than a Kindle).

Yes, I would want to listen to the audiobook while out and about, so probably through the Kindle app on my phone.

But here's a question that you may not know the answer to: Is there any syncing between the Audible audiobook and the Kindle ebook? If read Chapters 1-3 on my Kindle, then open the Kindle app on my phone and start playing the audiobook version, will it start at Chapter 4, or will I have to manually navigate to where I left off on the Kindle? And vice versa, of course.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by rosalita

Yes, I would want to listen to the audiobook while out and about, so probably through the Kindle app on my phone.

But here's a question that you may not know the answer to: Is there any syncing between the Audible audiobook and the Kindle ebook? If read Chapters 1-3 on my Kindle, then open the Kindle app on my phone and start playing the audiobook version, will it start at Chapter 4, or will I have to manually navigate to where I left off on the Kindle? And vice versa, of course.

Yes, that should work, provided that the title supports Whispersync for Voice, which provides the foundation for the Immersion Reading feature in the Kindle app (which came some time after W4V was available). So you can freely switch and sync (assuming device has a chance to send last reading position to Amazon, i.e. is not offline).

It is sometimes the case that there is a Kindle edition and Audible editions for a given book (Both based on same print version, translation etc), but for whatever reason Whispersync is not supported. They have to do some sort of ‘processing’ so new titles sometimes do not support it for a few weeks, and some older titles (predating W4V) which have not had the processing retroactively applied.

I probably have 250 titles in my library that support it.

Over the years, I’ve probably made 4 calls to Customer Support fix issues with some of the books in my library, where it should have supported it but didn’t actually let me download an audiobook companion in the Kindle app. I have 2 (that I know of) that are in need of repair and another CS call when I get around to it. So it works as expected 99% of the time, but nice to know you can resolve it when that’s not the case.

Also if you live in the US and borrow Kindle edition from public library, the discounted audiobook price applies just as if you ‘owned’ the Kindle edition.