Comments on: Kindle DX, Textbook Reader

By: switch11

switch11 — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:03:32 +0000

John, searching by ISBN is the right way. You can also search by title.

At the moment it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get more than 40-50% of your text books in the Kindle Store. If you can’t get the 5 or 10 most important textbooks you should probably wait until the selection is better.

By: John

John — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:09:28 +0000

but where do you buy the textbooks to download? how do i know that the textbooks i need will be available? i went to amazon.com and searched for my economics textbook ISBN:9780324586206 and I did not see a link to purchase this textbook for a kindle. a kindle would be a great investment ONLY if i can get the textbooks i need. can somone explain to me how to the system works and how to tell whether a certain textbook is available to purchase for kindle or not?

By: switch11

switch11 — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:44:01 +0000

Tell them that you can get books from the library plus you can read on the Kindle.
The Kindle has lots of benefits -

1) Free wikipedia.
2) Free Internet – it’s a basic browser but usable for some sites.
3) Built in dictionary that lets you improve your vocabulary.
4) For times when publishers enable it -> read to me which converts books into audiobooks.
5) Lots of free books. There’s also a microsoft and library of englangd initiative to add 80,000+ free books. Plus all google free books can be converted.
6) No waiting.
7) 10-15 free book offers a month on new books.
8) Open any time. Plus get books in 60 seconds.

There are a ton of benefits. Tell them you’ll be reading a lot more and that helps a lot of things – vocabulary, grades (if you’re in school or college), your mind and imagination.

By: Renee

Renee — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:08:13 +0000

Great article. I sure do love this site. I am definitely going to show this to my parents, I have wanted a Kindle for months and they are still not convinced. Hopefully this will convince them. I think their problem is that they think why waste your money on a Kindle when you can borrow free books from the library, but the Kindle has so many more benefits. Do you have any tips on how I can argue with them on the library point?

By: switch11

switch11 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:01:54 +0000

Kindle browser is pretty rudimentary. There is a basic mode and there is an advanced mode which in dx is called desktop mode and supports javascripts.
not sure about java applets. i’m in canada so can’t test it out.
you can access pretty much any site that doesn’t use a ton of redirects or loads of advanced stuff.

people have used twitter and facebook and gmal although redirects cause problems.
free internet is probably not advertised because if people start using it too much it won’t be ‘free’ any more.

By: Jack Riggins

Jack Riggins — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:22:58 +0000

What exactly does “free internet” mean, as described in this review? The official Kindle DX promos don’t go so far as to say anything like this. What kinds of webpages will load, and what won’t. How fast is the access? Will Kindle support Java Applets?

Just curious.

By: switch11

switch11 — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:59:19 +0000

Textbooks are on your account. You can download them for free to your replacement Kindle DX. Also up to 6 Kindles can share an account.

If you lose or break your kindle dx, you DO NOT lose your textbooks.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:07:07 +0000

My first obvious question is what happens if it’s lost, stolen, or broken? Are the textbooks tied to the Kindle DX or the PC or personal account? If you could load your textbooks on a replacement Kindle DX if it was lost, stolen or broken that would be costly but acceptable – if you have to re-buy the books too then it’s not worth it. It’s kind of like having all your eggs (textbooks) in one basket (Kindle DX). Somethinhg to concider before buying.

By: Uncarved » Schwarzenegger to Education: Learn From the RIAA’s Mistakes

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:04:02 +0000

[...] Amazon dropped their Kindle DX — introduced with a marketing message explicitly speaking to its value proposition to text book publishers — with such an uncanny confluence of timing. Share [...]

By: Shelley Arvin

Shelley Arvin — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:14:41 +0000

I am curious to hear from anyone how it views figures and charts in textbooks. Since it cannot display color and many figures are colored, this may affect the readability of the figures. Science textbooks include lots of images and charts.