Kindle Question

[Slamz]

1) Do you purchase the books from a "Kindle Store" of sorts, similar to iTunes Store? Or do you purchase the books from the different publishers or online retailers individually?

I've only ever purchased books from Amazon. You can either order them online through the regular Amazon store front in which case they will be magically sent to your Kindle or you can order them directly on the Kindle itself. The Kindle uses the cell phone network for its wireless communication, so you have coverage basically everywhere and there's no fee for this. (In fact, technically you can browse the web but it's slow, clunky and limited. Still, you can access Wikipedia in an emergency, such as an argument over the history of Guinness.)

2) Another other question I have, and this is actually quite important to me, is:
Can you buy recent/new release comic books and trade paperbacks (various publishers) for the Kindle?
I love a good novel like anyone else, but there are plenty of times when I just don't have the time to sit back and delve into a book and need just a quick fun read. I love comics anyhow, and have a few series' that I collect on a "monthly" (they are never on time) basis.

Not that I've seen. Honestly I don't think the regular Kindle has a big enough screen for this. The display is about the size of a paperback page and most comic pages are bigger than that.

You could get the jumbo Kindle ("Kindle DX") which is much bigger and would be better for displaying images. The Kindle DX also supports PDF format directly. That's a bit of a higher price and a bigger item to carry around, though.

I've yet to try and put anything on the Kindle that I didn't get from Amazon. I hear there's a converter for most document formats but I haven't looked into it.


You might compare it to the new Barnes and Noble reader too. I'm actually excited about that because I think it will end up improving my Kindle. If the Nook allows for easy sharing of books between people then I think Amazon will be pressed to have the same feature for the Kindle, and it seems like something they might be able to add on with just a software update. My biggest question with the Nook would be book availability and how you purchase them. The best feature with the Kindle is that cell phone network thing that simply lets you buy a book from wherever you are without needing to mess with wireless settings, security or anything like that. I have yet to plug my Kindle into a computer. It sounds like the nook has the same feature but I don't get a definitive feel for it from their FAQ.

I'm also not sure how you shop for books on the nook. I'm guessing that's what that lower part of the display is for but there's no keyboard... guessing that's a touch pad or something, and it can display a keyboard when necessary? With the Kindle you just select "Shop" and type in the name of the book you want.

Kindle interface frankly could stand to be easier to use and more intuitive but then I rarely do anything except read books and it's great for that.