Kindle Tips

Last week I went on my first cruise.  I unexpectedly was the subject of a lot of pictures from strangers (seriously I noticed at least a dozen people covertly or overtly taking my picture.)

It was certainly not my good looks or my chiseled abs, it was my M-Edge Guardian Kindle case.  The case is completely waterproof, floating and virtually indestructible protection for a 2nd Generation Kindle.

One of my favorite things to do is float in the ocean (or in this case the salt water pool) and read.  I can do this only because of the Guardian case.  I bought two of these right when they came out about 3 or 4 years ago.  They were not cheap, $79 a piece, but they were the best kindle purchase I have ever made.

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This is a guest post from Sylvia Nankivell one of the owners of http://www.usedbooksearch.net, a price comparison site for used books

I have always been a good reader and I am working at becoming a good writer. I began by reading or memorizing my favorite story. Now my mind reads and stores text a lot easier. I want to find out what happens next. I don’t want to skip from the beginning to the end of a story. I want to enjoy the journey that the author has created. The curtain slowly opens and reveals the plot, characters or factual reasoning. I like the feel of a used book, with the slightly rough paper and the dog-eared pages. It holds the memory of the reader before me. The crease in the cover or the spine is part of the tale with its unique wear-and-tear. Used books are decorative and entertaining. Visitors to my cabin home will look at the books with a sideways glance to read the titles. The price of a used book is usually low and shipping can be free if you buy more books at one time. But I don’t always have room to store a used book, and over the years the pages can become yellow or worn.

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Evidently, a software upgrade was enough to bring the Kindle Touch (that hasn’t been sold new at Amazon in about 6 months) back from the dead.  The Touch has been available most of the last six months as refurbished, but not available new.

Last week, Amazon released a major update to the software for the Kindle Touch and today it is available, with new updated pictures and video showing the new user interface. Only the Wifi-only model is available.

So the question is What Kindle To buy? Should I buy a Kindle Touch, Kindle with Keyboard, Kindle Basic or Kindle Paperwhite?

Reasons to get a Kindle Touch – it is smaller than the Kindle with Keyboard, stil has text to speech, Audible support, whipersync for voice can be used without another device, and speakers.  Negative – the screen isn’t lighted, it isn’t quite as good as the paperwhite, does not have a 3G available and has smaller storage for books than the Kindle with Keyboard. The touch screen is also a different type than the paperwhite and has a slower response time than the paperwhite. Also no page turn buttons. The on-screen keyboard is noticeably slower than the Paperwhite on-screen keyboard.

The Kindle Touch, a now discontinued, Kindle has a major software upgrade today.  The Touch now has an entirely new menu and interface to make it almost exactly like the Kindle Paperwhite. The new Kindle Touch Software upgrades the firmware to 5.3.2.1.

Whispersync for Voice (ability to sync in between Audible.com Audiobooks and Kindle books) is now working on the Touch.  I believe from reading the documentation that unlike the Paperwhite you can both listen to the audiobook and read the kindle book on the Touch directly.  The Paperwhite does not have speakers or headphone jack so this is one area where you might be better off with the older Touch than the newer Paperwhite.

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