I got my Kindle in December 2010 and it has been my reading companion for the last few months. Kindle is a product by Amazon.com, an American company.  Amazon does not deliver Kindle to Singapore direct, hence the only way to get it is through concierge service like comgateway or vpost.  I got mine through a dude who ships in Kindle first hand to sell. It was more expensive to get it through a dealer, about $30 more than I would have paid if I get it myself.

In total, I paid about $240 for the Kindle, and $40 for the 3rd party cover. If I had gotten the Kindle by concierge service, it would have cost about $211. The cover would have cost about $28-30 with shipping.  So in all, dude earned a cool $40-$50 from me but for the sake of instancy and convenience, I went through the dealer route. He sent me a print screen of the purchase for warranty sake. Amazon offers a 1 year limited warranty.

So let’s say I paid about $280 for the Kindle. Each book in Borders/Kinokuniya/Harris/MPH (which is closing down) costs about $20. I would need to read 14 books to recover the cost – which I definitely have!

It’s also cheaper if you like to read books in a series. I hate reading like the 1st 2 books and having to wait around for the 3rd and 4th book.

In Singapore, you can’t purchase books direct from Amazon.com but there are ways to get around it. I did a lot of research and the Kindle owners in Singapore posted a lot of information and research on it as well. My mantra to Kindle was via this blog. There are also several f*rums that you can d*wnl*ad books from.

There are several versions of ebooks out there. Here’s a comparison. This article from Straits Times pretty much summed it all up.  Contrary to the article, I have read latest titles, sometimes even before it is released in Singapore. You just need to be smart to work your way round it.

I like using my Kindle to read as opposed to an Ipad because of its ink technology. It looks like a book so its not glaring as opposed to that of an Ipad. There’s also a keyboard for you to take notes for the book that you are reading. You can use the keyboard to type words to search as well.  I used to put my readings in my Kindle for easy reading as well.

Each charge on a Kindle last pretty long. I think I have gone on weeks without charging and I do read for long hours each day.  There are wireless and web browsing functions but I do not require them. I turn them off to save battery. I heard that Facebook in Kindle is black and white.

Sometimes, books have images such as book cover and it comes out in black and white.

In hibernation mode, the kindle shows screen savers. I think its possible to change the screen savers but it’s a lot of trouble so I didn’t bother.

I enjoy my Kindle because of its portability and also, it’s cost savings as well as it enabling me to save book space in my room. I used to think that “hmmm, maybe an ebook reader is not for me because I do like the feeling of turning the page of a book and seeing the pages accumulate”. I’m glad that I am a convert now.

A short summary…

The good:

1. It saves space in my room. My room is too cluttered already.

2. It saves money which could be spent on other things: dance lessons, gym lessons, clothes, food…

3. I get to read serials which I previously might not be willing to spend that much money on buying a 4 books collection.

4. I still get to read latest titles and good books with a little more resourcefulness and adaptivity from myself.

5. It is a perfect travel companion – provided you can read on  public transport.

The bad:

1. It is irritating to spend time on the web trying to find a good and “clean” copy of the book you want. Sometimes the ebook could come in an entire text without proper paragraphing (this is usually the problem).

2. Some titles might not exist virtually. Probably there is a copy, you just have to spend a bit more time finding.

3. The initial cost might be high, especially for those earning their own keep.