Next year you can get her an Amazon gift certificate so she can keep buying books.

I just got mine too, and I'm enjoying it so much. What a generous gift to your friend. Glad to hear it was well received.

I have been waiting for my ds to come home from college to download some books from my pc to the kindle. Seems I can't get r done and I'm usually pretty good at that.
My dd can download on her NOOK anywhere in this house, so I'm jealous! The Kindle needs 3_g coverage and it's not available here. sad.

I'm glad your friend is loving her's. I thought she would.

Hi Toni. Where do you live? I didn't know there was a specific "coverage area." My friend lives in the Ozark mountains in northern Arkansas. They cannot pick up Verizon or Sprint cell phone service; I can't remember the one they do get, but it can be spotty.

Still, she doesn't have any problem with the Kindle. She's downloading books without having to hook up to the PC at all.

I'll ask her if there was anything specific she had to do adn let you know. Do you have the smaller, newer Kindle?

OK, all this Kindle talk has made me rethink this.

We got one of the very first Kindles that came out as a gift. I have no idea how he managed to get one, but ours is still in the orginal box - never unwrapped.

At one point when they were so scarce and in demand I even considered selling it on Ebay.

Are they really that different from reading a book? Maybe I should open this thing and try it out.

yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wonder if you will be able to get a loaner kindle book from the library! LOL

Tally, give it a try. You won't be losing anything if it doesn't work!

The "difference" between the Kindle and physical books seems to be that you can download hundreds, or thousands, of books into one Kindle. Also, it's easily carried around, and the downloaded books are far cheaper than the "boughten" ones. There are many, many book downloads that are free, too.

Go to Amazon and read all their info and instructions. I bet you'll love it.

If you decide you don't like it, maybe we can work a deal! LOL (Am I allowed to say that?)

Now you have me thinking! Does the Kindle allow you to make the fonts bigger?

My mother is 87 years old and loves to read, but her hands have trouble turning the pages and holding the book open.

This might be a Godsend for her.

Hey Caroline, I'll keep you in mind if I actually figure out how to make the thing work and still don't like it.

Thanks for the help :)

Yes, the text size is changeable, at least on the new ones. I don't know about the first editions. Amazon should be able to tell you.

Also, my friend uses hers in the "horizonal" position. She turns it on the side, and gets a longer, and bigger, line of text.

When reading at home she uses a laptop computer stand (it functions as her side table) to hold hers. She loves it. It's at the perfect height and angle for reading, and she doesn't even have to hold it.

Caroline, I live in the small part of Nebraska that doesn't have 3-g coverage. Luckly I'm going to see my son today where he lives so we'll have to bring the pc and the kindle to him. He has transfered several books , back during his Christmas break. I hope I bring the right cords!

I would like to know how much it cost to download a book?

I always buy my books at the thrift store...so I'm used to "cheap".

patti

Patti, the electronic books range from free, on up.

My friend used a $40 gift certificate and got 19 books at one sitting. Some were free, most were 50 cents or so, and I believe she got one for $10. New and best sellers, of course, will cost more in most cases.

Amazon had a program running where a lot of new authors first books were available free for a limited time. That gave exposure to the authors, and the Kindle.

I think Amazon has a section just for downloadable books.

I like mine because it is light and small. It works well for reading in bed, carrying in the car to read anytime I have to wait anywhere (dr. office, for example). I visit kindleboards.com which is a group of people just as nice as here, and they answer questions and are totally helpful.

So far I have downloaded very cheap ($1.50) or free books (I only have 3 so far, don't laugh, some people have many more.) I downloaded Great Expectations, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. The more current books or best sellers are up to $9.99. There are other places than Amazon to download books, some free, but I don't know how to do that yet.

The screen is called i-ink or something. It's not backlit like the new ipad. It appears grey with black letters, a little like a newspaper. There is no fee for the Whispernet which lets you download books. You can also make it read aloud, however the reading is by a computer--it's not too bad--but you can download audiobooks as well.

I'll stop now. Can you tell I like my Kindle?

what about college course books??