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| | | Amazon offers two eBook readers, the Kindle 2 and the Kindle DX. Both use Sprint's 3G mobile broadband network to wirelessly download books, magazines and newspapers, making them ideal devices for traveling as well as reading books at home. Both also offer additional functions such as wireless access to Wikipedia, a built-in dictionary, a QWERTY keyboard for adding notes and annotations, and a text-to-speech feature that reads content out loud. For comparison to other eBook readers, see How Much Does an eBook Reader Cost. | | |
| Typical costs: | - The Amazon Kindle2 offers a 6-inch black and white display, weighs 10.2 ounces and its 1.4 GB storage space can store up to 1,500 books. It costs about $259 and will download content either wirelessly or via USB download. The battery will last for up to two weeks of reading time on a single charge, depending on wireless usage.
- The Kindle DX is a larger eBook reader with greater storage capacity. It offers a 9.7-inch black and white display with enough storage for 3,300 books and costs $489. The unit weighs about 19 ounces and the battery offers up to two weeks of reading before it requires recharging. Access to the Kindle Store is achieved via USB connection or wirelessly. Books take about 60 seconds to download.
What should be included: | - U.S. power adapter, USB 2.0 cable and rechargeable battery.
- Amazon offers free software to automatically sync a Kindle with a computer or other mobile device. The software is currently available for use with PCs and iPhones and will soon be available for Macs and Blackberry devices as well.
- Kindle's wireless connectivity is included in the cost, so there are no monthly data charges or wireless commitments.
- The Kindle Store offers free downloads for many classic and public domain books.
- Both Kindle models can also view a variety of text files, including Word and PDF documents as well as picture and audio files.
- Kindle can also access the one million public domain titles available for free download from Google Books either in PDF format or by converting files from the EPUB format (an extra step in the download process.)
Additional costs: | - The Kindle Store offers a selection of about 400,000 books, magazines and newspapers. The cost of downloading books ranges from free to hundreds or even thousands of dollars, although New York Times Best Sellers and most new releases cost about $10. For example, Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" costs $9.60, "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold costs $4.99 and "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell costs $6. Monthly subscriptions to US or international newspapers cost about $6 to $15; magazine subscriptions cost from $1.25 to $11 per month; popular blogs can be downloaded for about $1 a month. A monthly subscription to The New York Times, for example, costs $13.99.
- U.S. customers are charged a fee of $2 for downloading while overseas.
- The Kindle offers access to more than 60,000 audio books at Audible.com. Popular titles cost $7.50 to $35.
- Protective skins, sleeves and cases for the Kindle range from $8 to $120; screen protectors cost about $8.
- A clip-on reading light costs about $20; a bookstand for the Kindle costs about $25. Ear buds for the Kindle cost about $5 or noise-canceling headphones cost $20 to $500.
- A 2 year extended warranty costs $65 for the Kindle 2, $109 for the Kindle DX.
Discounts: | |
Shopping for a kindle: | - Wired offers a buying guide to eBook readers, including the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX.
- eBook Reader offers a buyer's guide to both Amazon Kindle devices.
- Compare features and read customer reviews of the Amazon Kindle2 and Kindle DX.
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Article updated June 2010 |
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