SWMBO's birthday is coming and I wanted to get her an e-reader. She's a voracious reader but doesn't like holding onto most books, so I thought it would be a good match. We have Amazon Prime, so the Kindle is the frontrunner, but which one? Any other ones I should look at instead?
And no, a tablet will not work. She has a smart phone and a convertible laptop already. The e-reader will be an ink one used to read books only.
I bought my wife the cheapo kindle last year. For $70 it does everything you'd want. Not sure if this years models are really any different.
I'd definitely go for the Kindle, tons of free books on amazon and through prime. Even more available for easy purchase.
Keeping with amazon, kindle paperwhite w/wifi. Nicer than the base kindle, but for an e-reader 3g is overkill. A good middle of the road option.
Full disclosure, I have a B&N nook simple touch.
I have the base Kindle new this year to replace my first-gen Nook, and it works well, 3G is handy if you travel a lot, which I do, but I do fine with the wifi-only because I just load up on books before a trip. And I agree, anything more is overkill.
Margie
I have the basic Kindle with the keyboard. I love being able to read without having to put on my reading glasses and anything I order from Amazon downloads in seconds over our WiFi. I've not tried the others but my Prime membership pretty much made the Kindle the best choice. For anything with pictures it sucks but I can read those on the tablet or just get the physical book.
I got a Kobo because it's compatible with Adobe ePub format, which is used by my local library. Kindle doesn't support ePub. Some of the library ebooks have Kindle format available, but not all. But if she's not going to use the library then the Kindle is probably the easiest.
They don't have the Kindle Keyboard anymore?
SWMBO has the 2nd Gen? Kindle with built in QWERTY keyboard, I got it for her as an anniversary gift 5 or 6 years ago. She busted the screen on it about 2 years ago, well outside of warranty, but Amazon still gave us a $40 credit toward a new one, their customer service is amazing. We got her the 4th gen (maybe ?) version of the Kindle Keyboard as a replacement. She didn't like it as much as the previous one, some buttons were in different spots, and she didn't like some other stuff as well as the previous version. Basically she didn't want to learn something new. So I got her a used Kindle just like her original off of eBay, which we should have done in the first place, and the new Kindle became mine.
SWMBO is quite the reader, sits the Kindle in front of the little display/control panel of her elliptical and reads as she exercises just about every night. I've only read 2-1/2 books on "minie."
Having the 3G is handy in a pinch, don't have to have wifi, or a usb cable to get books. Ours came with the 3G service, no additional fees or data plans needed. Unless they're touch screen now, and even if they are, I think I'd miss having a real keyboard.
I had a Kindle fire but my six year old has claimed ownership and has figured out how to completely use all the memory with free games.
We've got an iPad [ducks] which supports Kindle, ePub, Kobo [hides behind upturned table], Overdrive, Acrobat, [waves white flag] and a batch of other e-publishing formats [runs out door during momentary lull in small-arms fire].
I got my wife the old Kindle Fire HD, which is now the Kindle Fire HDX and the new Kindle Fire HD is different with lower specs. So it is a little confusing, but boy does she love that thing. She uses it to read books, but she can also watch movies, browse the web, read and send emails, etc.
I know that you said your wife would just use it for books, but it can do a lot more. At this point the basic Kindle Fire is so cheap I don't know why you would mess around with one of the black and white models.
I am still rocking a first gen Nook for my e ink reader.
They do have some e ink display units now that are lit so that you can read in the dark as well.
If you're in the Amazon Universe and want to stay there, a Kindle Keyboard (which is what I have) or a Kindle Paperwhite will do the job nicely.
SEADave wrote: I know that you said your wife would just use it for books, but it can do a lot more. At this point the basic Kindle Fire is so cheap I don't know why you would mess around with one of the black and white models.
Because she has something like that already and uses it for everything but reading.
My wife has a Kindle Fire HD and she really only uses it for books and Netflix. Just the standard Wifi model.
She loves it.
SEADave wrote: I know that you said your wife would just use it for books, but it can do a lot more. At this point the basic Kindle Fire is so cheap I don't know why you would mess around with one of the black and white models.
My reasons, whenever I actually buy an e-reader:
1. The backlit screen is, IMHO, hard on the eyes and makes getting to sleep more difficult
2. A kindle is a book. I read the book, I have no distractions. The Fire is a computer, I can take a quick break to check email, and hey! That is cool, I'm going to share this video on facebook and on... Stupid, I know, but it is how it works for me (Maybe I'm ADD)
3. For doing computery stuff, I want a computer. I have a laptop at work, a laptop at home, often both with me at home, the fiance has a smartphone, I'll probably have a smartphone soon... It isn't worth the $60 more to me, because I already have 100% of its other functionality with me pretty much all the time anyways.
My wife had a basic Kindle but I sat on it and broke the screen, so now she has a Paperwhite with wifi but uses the app on her phone more 
. My son bought himself a Fire and watches youtube videos on it when not playing Minecraft 
. I like them both, but for reading I would stick with the Paperwhite.
I have used my husband's kindle, and it's cool. I have an ipad 1 that I love though. With the kindle app I can save and view pdfs, and download anything available through amazon or google books through the wifi. I wouldn't turn down a free reader, but I find it hard to be without my tablet. 
I love my basic kindle. If I had it to do over I would probably buy the paperwhite strictly for the lighting. Also, battery life seems greatly improved with the wifi turned off on both models.
I'd totally suggest you look into Calibre. This is a free program that does conversion between formats so those pesky epubs and and pdfs are now also supported by your kindle.
Some crafty people have created a plugin for Calibre that lets you remove the DRM from files. This means you can gets books from the library and remove the automatic return that happens. Not that I condone this activity.
I have an HD which I don't use for epubs. I am a Luddite; I prefer the feel of a real book in my hands. If I did it over again I'd buy an Android tablet. Anyway, I use it for minor league surfing, my biggest gripe is that Silk is a crashin' son-a-beech. I try to check the local news and the damn thing freezes up even when using their mobile device browser. I thought it was just the local news thing but it's done it on all kinds of different sites since then.
For those that still aren't getting it... She has a tablet and a smart phone. She hates reading on them. She loves reading a ton of books, doesn't keep them, and we've maxed out the local bookstores on trade-ins (ie - she's read their whole inventory).
Soooo... OG Kindle or the Paperwhite?
my wife has a kindle fire hd ,but for your situation of only reading I think the paperwhite.
Wifey has a Nook Tablet that is pretty nice. I have a basic Kindle that I like using with our Prime account. You get one free rental every month, I think. I've read three books on it already.
Javelin wrote: For those that still aren't getting it... She *has* a tablet and a smart phone. She hates reading on them. She loves reading a *ton* of books, doesn't keep them, and we've maxed out the local bookstores on trade-ins (ie - she's read their whole inventory). Soooo... OG Kindle or the Paperwhite?
At least one of the Kindleaddicts whose blog I read suggests that if you haven't got one (yet) and want to get an e-ink one, get latest Paperwhite. I would, but I'm happy enough with my Kindle Keyboard and the couple of tablets with the Kindle software on it, so I don't want to upgrade right now.
SEADave wrote: I know that you said your wife would just use it for books, but it can do a lot more. At this point the basic Kindle Fire is so cheap I don't know why you would mess around with one of the black and white models.
Because for actually reading text, eInk based devices beat the crap out of a tablet, amazon branded or not?
If I was pretty confident that my primary use was going to be reading (and for me personally, it absolutely is), I wouldn't buy a fire if they sold it to me for less than a kindle.
I have a kindle touch... my kids also have one (passed along from my mother-in-law when she got her kindle fire)
in my mind you only have one choice when it comes to kindle branded e-readers if you want e ink (which is what you want if you plan to read) AND you want new... the paperwhite... then you choose if you want to spend the extra to get rid of the ads (you can pay the extra down the road if you get the ad version and find they are that big of an annoyance), or for the 3g version, I understand the value for some people but with wifi so readily avl and tethering avl from my phone I personally don't see the value
I'm seriously considering upgrading to the 2nd gen kindle paperwhite (what is currently avl) in a few months... I've been reading more and more and I like to read a bit before bed, I have the amazon kindle case with built in LED light and while it works great and is very smartly designed it's SUPER bright... so I end up reading on my tablet or phone to get the brightness down to where it doesn't bother my eyes or my wife (she's fairly sensitive to lights in the room)
even with the old touch the built in touch keyboard works great (I had a friend who went with the keyboard version because he didn't realize the touch had that built in and he needed the keyboard for notes in college class books)... the newer paperwhite is even better using touch technology similar to that on phones, the screen looks better both because of the better resolution and the back light... the light is very adjustable (can dim it for very low light bright for mid light, or off if int he sun if you don't care about the "white" background...
but as others have mentioned... check out what books are avl at your local library... the amazon prime thing is neat but its only 1 book a month last I looked... if you don't mind jumping though some hoops on the computer you can make epub files work on the kindle using a program called calibre but it's not nearly as simple as clicking a book in the bookstore on the kindle or web browser with 1 click buying.
if you don't mind going used you can find some great deals out there on the kindle touch or keyboard models (craigslist around here is full of em at great prices)... and if you are on a budget that may be the way to go... if you do that hold out for one with an amazon kindle case with the light built in.
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