Anybody know much about these things? I'm good with technology, but I've confused myself beyond belief with all the stats and features.

Basically, it's going to be a gift for my girlfriends mother, and I'm looking at the lower price ones like the Nook and Kindle. She will use it really only for reading books, so the high cost ones like the IPads arent necessary. What is giving me the most problems is that she wants is the ability to read books and listen to audio books at the same time. She recently got cochlear implants in her ears, so listening to audio books helps to "break in" the implants. She would also like one that connects to the library, so she can rent books on it instead of buying every book.

Any suggestions or help would be really appreciated.

 

i think the kindle fire would be your best bet! i don't have one but my uncle does and he loves it you can highlight words and it will show the deffiniton if you don't know what the word means and you can watch movies on it and from what a person at best buy said to me i was asking about it that it will read to you too. i would love to get one!

 

I think if all that will be done is reading and listening to books, a regular kindle would work just fine. No internet or wireless connection needed as it is already there, which will not be true of other tablets or the Kindle Fire.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...famstripe_kt3g

I have a Kindle DX (larger screen), but I am not sure they are really selling that any more.

As it is, I no longer purchase paper books, and I can find quite a few free downloads of books that can be transferred to the Kindle by USB. Just use the .mobi format.

Some sites for free books.

http://www.baen.com/library/authors.asp

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

http://www.manybooks.net/authors.php

Also, if you cannot find a .mobi, this software will convert from other formats to .mobi.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

 

I plan on buying my girlfriend an e-reader for her birthday come March. So I've been comparing tablets etc as well. Right now I think I am going to go with the Kindle touch Wifi (w/o special offers). I was originally thinking the fire, but the cost shoots up on those (and she has an iPhone for games anyway) and like your girlfriend's mother, she really just wants one to read books on. The Kindle touch also allows for audio books.

Scroll down on this page and it has all of the features for all of the Kindles side by side. Maybe that will help with your decision.:
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eReader...pf_rd_i=507846

 

I believe the touch without 3g still requires that you have an existing wifi access. The touch + 3g does not. Basically you have a free for life 3g connection to download.

 

My son has a 'Fire' and you can't pry it from his hands.

I'm beginning to suspect OC disorder..............

 

My daughter got the kindle fire for christmas.....plays angry birds on it more than anything else....but she loves the interactive books...

 

I have a Kyros Android based tablet that comes with a reader. Hate it. Do not recommend it at all.

 

Bought the wife the Kindle Fire and she loves it. She loaded a bunch of books and cant stop using it. Also when she puts the kids to bed she will upload a kids book and reads it to them. I know a couple of people that have it and all are hooked.

 

Most places now a days have wifi IMO. I bought my dad an iPad 3g 2 years ago for Christmas mainly for him to use while he was waiting for a plane at the airport. That is really the only time I think you'd be needing to connect with a tablet where there isn't wifi. Most people have it at home, and its even in businesses like Mcdonalds and everything now.

I don't see the 3G premium being worth it unless you are constantly on the move reading. But I'm not sure how many people read and run around at the same time... Or feel the need to download a new book actually.

 

I have a Kindle Touch wifi only with special offers. For 99 bucks, it's all I need. You only need the wifi to download books, and the special offers are not obtrusive at all. The Fire is impressive, but don't try to read a book with it outdoors in bright sunlight. The monochrome E-Ink is much better suited for that. No backlight, so you can't read in the dark unless you get the cover for it with the built-in LED light. Not only can you play audiobooks with a Touch, you can have it read regular books to you if the book has that enabled.

 

I have a nook color and i have a sd card that i've made so it can be a android tablet.

pretty neat, but lately i've just had it as the nook and read magazines, books and listen to pandora.

 

I have the Kindle fire and like it, I will stress though that it is NO Replacement for a laptop, it is nice in addition to a computer or laptop, but not a replacement.

 

I don't have it, and don't know of anyplace near that does. Also why would I want to travel just to download a book. It can also be transferred via computer, but I cannot assume what the OPs girlfriends mother does or does not have at home. That's why I suggested the one with 3g. You can download from anywhere you can get cellphone signals.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. Knew I could come here for some help.

I think I'm leaning towards the Kindle Fire now, just so that she can do other things on it if she chooses. For those of you that have one, can you run simultanious programs at once? I'm just concerned about her being able to run audio and read the book at the same time. If somebody knows, or could check for me, that would be great.