Product Review SundayI never thought I would like an e-reader over paperback or hardcover books. I still have friends that are naysayers about electronic readers too. But, not only do I love my e-reader, I read more now with my Amazon Kindle Fire than I did before I owned it. And, a report by the Pew Research Center shows that one-fifth of U.S. adults have read an e-book in the last year and that e-reader owners not only prefer to buy rather than borrow books, but they also read more books.
It's a Computer Tablet Too:
I owned a first generation Kindle and have used the Barnes and Noble's color Nook. But, my favorite of all the e-readers I have used is the Amazon Kindle Fire. The reason the Kindle Fire is far superior to all other e-readers is that it is not only an e-reader but you can use it as a tablet computer. The Amazon Kindle Fire has a color 7-inch multi-touch display screen which includes access to the Amazon Appstore, movies and television shows, Kindle's e-books, and complete Internet access. It’s great to just pick up a lightweight Kindle to read a book, to watch or a movie, play a few games, or just browse the web while lounging on the sofa without my heavy laptop.
The first day I brought the Amazon Kindle Fire to my nanny job I googled a dinner recipe and followed the instructions while cooking in the kitchen. I didn't have to go upstairs to a desktop computer to print out the recipe on a printer to follow the recipe while cooking. It was literally liberating.
But more importantly, (I'll say it again), I am reading more with the Amazon Kindle Fire than I did when I had to order a book on Amazon.com or go to a Barnes and Noble to buy a paperback or hardcover book.
Here are the reasons I love the Amazon Kindle Fire:
Order a Book and Start Reading in 60-Seconds:
Last week a nanny friend suggested I read a specific book. I ordered the book on my Kindle Fire and 60-seconds later I was reading the book on my Kindle.
You Can Loan Kindle Books:
Think you can't loan books on your e-reader like a typical paperback or hard cover book? Wrong, the Kindle Fire allows loaning books! A nanny friend who lives on the other side of the country loaned me a great book from her first generation Kindle to my Kindle Fire in just seconds.
Free Kindle Books:
Another reason to choose the Kindle Fire over the slightly more expensive Nook is that two-million books that are free. Users can select reading material using the Kindle itself or through a computer at the Amazon Kindle store and can download content through the Kindle Store.
Renting Textbooks for Students:
Amazon began a program that allows college students to rent Kindle textbooks from three different publishers for a fixed period of time. This is an incredible cost saving feature for students.
Borrow Library Books on Kindle:
You can also borrow books from the public library on Kindles. More than 11,000 libraries in the United States offer public library books for Kindle to read on any generation Kindle device, free Kindle app, or in your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader. Public library books for Kindle provide the same unique features as Kindle and Kindle books, including Whispersync technology that synchronizes your notes, highlights, last page read, real page numbers, and more.
Free Unlimited Storage on the Cloud:
There's also no need to worry about storage on the Kindle Fire because Amazon allows free Cloud storage. It's better than the storage I have on my personal computer. The Kindle Fire gives you free storage for all your Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud. Your books, movies, music, and apps are available instantly to stream or download for free and at a touch of your finger. I love that books I bought on my first generation Kindle are on my Kindle Fire too thanks to this free Cloud storage.
When you register your Kindle Fire, Amazon gives you a kindle.com email address that is unique to your device. This is handy when you want to send a document to the Amazon Kindle Fire. Simply attach it to an empty email, and send to the Fire's email address. The Fire will download and save the file to it's internal memory.
Bookmarks As Useful as Turning Down Page Corners:
If you love turning down the corner of the paper pages of your books don't worry you can easily bookmark any page by simply touching the top right corner of the page on the Amazon Kindle Fire. You actually see a blue bookmark and can see your list of bookmarks at anytime. Pages can be bookmarked for reference and notes can be added to relevant content. The device also remembers the last page read for each book.
Highlighting Text and Clipping Text:
Are you like me and like using a highlighter pen to mark text in paper books? Well, the Kindle Fire solution allows users to highlight text on the Kindle and you can make notes on the Kindle Fire. Pages can also be saved as a "clipping," or a text file containing the text of the currently displayed page.
Definitions and Synonyms:
Another fun feature of the Kindle Fire can even search for synonyms and definitions from the built-in dictionary on the Kindle Fire.
I still love paperback and hardcover books. Owning and using the Kindle has not reduced my trips to the public library with the children in my care. We still like going weekly to the library to read books, play with puzzles, and attend story time.
I also still love Barnes and Noble. It's fun taking kids to Barnes and Noble for story time, read books, play with Thomas the Train set, share a snack at Starbucks located in Barnes and Noble, and for buying gifts for friends and family.
From one former skeptical e-reader to another, take the leap, get a Kindle Fire!
I recently bought a Kindle Fire and it worth everything, especially because I can read my favorite eBooks downloaded from All you can books... really a great site, which was told by a very good friend who loves to read quite a lot. He recommended me some really great titles... I can't wait to have time to read them.
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