Amazon Kindle

[#1]

Still having problems with the connection.  Sky support advised trying without a security setting and it worked!  So now when I have chance I have to try changing it to WEP instead of WPA [which I put back on!].
Someone on the Sky User Forum [who is on Virgin!] suggested changing from the TKIP encryption but that did not help.  
And Amazon just make it appear that being wifi is effortless!

[#2]

Aw man, so nearly got one, then noticed the couple of books I was going to get with it, were cheaper as paperbacks, than the kindle versions...
Sure I like tech, even have a Sony Ebook from a few years back.... but I can't justify spending >£100 on a new reader, when the books themselves would be cheaper.
Ah well... someday that'll change.

[#3]

Most of the books I've read on it so far have been freebies.

[#4]

Well suddenly my Kindle and the Router started talking to each other so have downloaded mainly free books and the others I have downloaded have all been under £3 - mainly under £1!

[#5]

Have downloaded a fair number of books from the Amazon site, some free but never anything costing more than £1.
Whilst there is a lot of rubbish out there  I have be mainly impressed with the standard and have come across some good authors such as Clive Cussier and others whom I have never heard of before.
One thing does puzzle me though and that is the various people advertising e-books on e-bay, one example was 7,000 books for £5 with the claim these were in the public domain so they were in order to sell them, looking at the list of what was available a number were books written by Authors in recent years so I find it hard to accept the publishing company or Author are in agreement with this,perhaps I am wrong but if not this may well be the death knell for a lot of book shops.

[#6]

They probably "sell" you a link to Project Gutenburg for your £5

[#7]

you could be right but if they talk about sending you a couple of disks there must be more to it than that, equally I would guess there would be a fair few complaints and e-bay would stop people advertising the item.
Be interesting to hear from anybody who has purchased one of these disks, feedback from the sellers is fairly high 

[#8]

Quote from: phil4

Aw man, so nearly got one, then noticed the couple of books I was going to get with it, were cheaper as paperbacks, than the kindle versions...

It's worth keeping an eye on the bargain spotting sites such as HotUKdeals, etc as Amazon often dip prices of selected titles (often the first in a series or by an author, presumably in a bid to tempt people to read it and get hooked). There's also several authors who post regularly to the Amazon Kindle forums pointout out their own titles. There's also an ongoing push to move the pricing control to the retailer, and away from the publisher (currently a large factor in the high pricing of some titles).
There's also the Calibre option for converting content from other formats, and Gutenburg is just one of the legitimate sources for free material.

[#9]

My hubby reluctantly bought me a Kindle for my birthday at the beginning of April, insisting it was a complete waste of money and this years fad. Within a week of using it, I found myself constantly having to hunt the Kindle down to find where he had left it after HE last finished reading it  :P. It's truly an impressive little device for the cost and he now wants one for his next birthday !
Having been laid low following a neck injury the last 4 weeks, it's proved an absolute Godsend. When my current book finishes, I can simply browse and instantly download a new book, without leaving the armchair and have a constant supply of reading material without waiting for the postie to deliver something new.
We bought one for my mum's 80th birthday a few weeks after I had mine. She is now completely hooked too and has no difficulty in using the device, as its controls are simple and easy to navigate. She has difficulty holding even a paperback these days, so the Kindle case she has with a display stand, has been a great help to her meaning she only needs to press a single button to turn a page whilst the Kindle remains on the table. I would say for anyone with a disability making it difficult for them to visit the library / book store or physically unable to hold a book, the Kindle would be superb - it can even read to you if you want it to.
As for the 'negatives', it's true that some of the newer titles can be the same price as a paperback, but there are many, many more that are less than £1 or even free. Colour pictures don't appear in colour obviously, but photographs in biographies etc, do appear as very good greyscale images.
The only true negative I can find is that you can't lend a Kindle e-book to a friend to read, unless you lend them the entire device. You can, however, register up to 6 Kindles to the same account and share the same books on all devices.

[#10]

...and you can download a sample of most books on Amazon to see if you might like it before paying.

[#11]

Bookshops have had that feature with proper books for quite a while. 

[#12]

To steer gently to the OP. The simplest answer is to switch on the wireless only when you know you have new items to download. Otherwise leave it switched off. This will also extend battery life many-fold. Even "Kindles" own advice is to do this.
The question "what's wrong with reading a book" er! nothing, personally I do both. It all depends on the content of the book. Kindle works with novels very well, in fact they're much easier these days. The binding of modern paperbacks can make them very difficult to handle since printers very rarely leave gutters these days which puts much of the content in the tight inside margin forcing a breakage of the books "spine" Kindle places the entire page on view easily, and you can set the font and size to suit yourself.
As a voracious reader of anything from Quantum Theory to Greek mythology I thought I would never get on with a Kindle. But I happily admit I was wrong, for novels I'm completely sold but, for anything that includes photo's or diagrams I'll take the "real" book any time indeed, some Kindle versions don't include diagrams or storyline maps included in paperbacks.
And of course, a Kindle takes up a lot less space than bulging sagging bookshelves.

[#13]

PS. I also use a (much cheaper than the Amazon offerings) folding (imitation) leather cover, which not only is it quite stiff protecting the Kindle from "bending" and screen damage but, also increases the "feeling" of opening a book to read it, even if the pages are on one side only. Although this does make a bit of a mockery of the "lightness" of a Kindle, but is still lighter than some paperback tomes (the 1200 page Shogun for instance)
As far as back-lighting is concerned, before the Kindle was purchased I borrowed and tried a back-lit type (was it a Sony? can't remember) and can confirm (for me) the non-back lit is far better. The only downside is having to keep a light on in bed while reading to SWMBO's annoyance. The screen on the Kindle 2 is rather better than Kindle 1.

[#14]

Agree completely Petlew, the Kindle could never replace books entirely. For the same reason some of us still need to own the CD or even vinyl when MP3's can do the job far more cheaply and conveniently ... sometimes you just want to see the real thing  
For novels its far better, but anything involving photographs would without a doubt be far superior in print. I can't imagine it taking the place of a text book for exam prep. either.
I saw a little gadget (on Amazon I think), to hook on to the top of a case as a reading light. Not sure how well that would work, but it might save a few bedtime arguments lol.
Like any new technology, some will love it some will hate it. Me? I'm completely in love  

[#15]

Quote from: caryn

I saw a little gadget (on Amazon I think), to hook on to the top of a case as a reading light. Not sure how well that would work, but it might save a few bedtime arguments

This is the case I have. When I ordered mine it included as a gift pack the light, the silicone case and screen covers that are shown elsewhere in the Kindle accessories listings. I don't use or need any of the others, but the case is far far cheaper than the Amazon (see below) and according to some better!!
http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/leather-style-case-with-light-for-amazon-kindle-black-p28760.htm
The light I found useless as it was brighter than my dimmed anglepoise lamp, and anyway wouldn't stay where it was required and kept slipping around.
While on the subject of covers. I can't imagine how Amazon justify the extravagant cost of theirs. Even if the light (which I can't use) is built in.
The downside! almost daily email adverts from the seller. But I expect they can be stopped, I've just not round to it.