The Amazon Kindle is one of the high points of the 2008 holiday selling season for retailers. The Kindle wireless reading device for reading e-books sold-out before the holidays and at this writing is on a 8 to 10 week back order. There are some great reasons for the popularity of this device:
It holds a LOT of e-books:
The internal memory of the Kindle can hold up-to 200 text-based books so you can take a virtual library with you wherever you go. Whether you are on an airplane, in the train on your way to work, or at home your favorite books are available to read at the flick of a switch.
The quality of the text is great:
Amazon has designed the reader and the "e-ink" used in the Kindle's display to handle books. While this does mean that images display less than optimally, text is crisp and easily read. You also can adjust the size of the text on the display letting those of us with less than great vision keep reading without our glasses or contacts.
Amazon offers a "try before you buy" feature:
Like browsing at a bookstore, Amazon will instantly deliver a sample of any book you might be interested in purchasing to your Kindle so you can see if you'd like to make a purchase. This is a great feature that makes the whole experience more enjoyable.
Many e-books are available for the Kindle:
At this writing Amazon offered over 215,000 titles for the Kindle
The Kindle is lightweight and easy to carry:
You can carry around 200 books in the same space as a typical paperback book
The Kindle also plays audio books:
If you're a fan of Audible.com or have some .mp3 e-books you can put them on your Kindle and listen as you would on an mp3 player or iPod.
Adding more memory to your Kindle -
As mentioned above, the internal memory of the Kindle holds about 200 e-books that are primarily text-based. Books containing images take more memory so the total number of books your Kindle can hold may be more or less than 200. To increase the number of e-books you can store on your Kindle e-book reader do the following:
1. Choose an SD memory card for your Kindle - typically you'll want a 4mb or 8mb card
2. Turn your Kindle OFF
3. Disconnect your Kindle from the charger
4. Turn your Kindle face-down on a hard surface - remember to protect your screen!
5. Remove the back cover of the Kindle - this is the dark gray embossed cover
6. Locate the SD card memory slot on the inside edge of the Kindle
7. Insert your SD card into the slot until it "clicks"
8. Replace the cover
For more complete instructions with photos visit http://www.guidetokindle.com
Michael Piston is a technology enthusiast, voracious reader, and Kindle owner. He edits a web site for Kindle owners http://www.guidetokindle.com.
