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Kindle touch help
JJ75
19-06-2012
Hi,

I'm thinking about buying a kindle touch, are they any good? Can I only download ebooks off Amazon or can i get them from anywhere?

Really am clueless, any help much appreciated!
Nasalhair
19-06-2012
Being an Amazon device the prime source of your ebooks is Amazon, but you can download them from e.g. Peoject Gutenberg. You can't download them from other online bookshops though unless they are in the Kindle format (.mobi)

Is the Kindle Touch any good? No idea - I've got the Kindle Keyboard which is excellent, but I really don't like the idea of the Touch - all those finger marks on the screen.
JJ75
19-06-2012
Originally Posted by Nasalhair:
“Being an Amazon device the prime source of your ebooks is Amazon, but you can download them from e.g. Peoject Gutenberg. You can't download them from other online bookshops though unless they are in the Kindle format (.mobi)

Is the Kindle Touch any good? No idea - I've got the Kindle Keyboard which is excellent, but I really don't like the idea of the Touch - all those finger marks on the screen.”

Thanks for replying. Ok, so different places do different formats. There seems to be loads of ebooks on amazon so I dont suppose I will get stuck for choice.

Never thought of the fingermarks!!! As I read I usually have a bag of peanut M&M's to hand - could get very messy!
skimminstones
21-06-2012
you can download books in epub format from anywhere else and use some software called calibre to convert to mobi and copy to your kindle.

Id recommend calibre for anyone that has a kindle.

Originally Posted by JJ75:
“.

Never thought of the fingermarks!!! As I read I usually have a bag of peanut M&M's to hand - could get very messy!”

it was pretty much that reason that i chose against the touch and got a normal kindle. The buttons on the side just seemed nicer to turn page for me
ASIFZED
21-06-2012
I still have the superb 3g keyboard Kindle, but have checked out a relative's Touch. Nice enough but the one drawback, which some have commented on, is that using it left-handed may be an issue. As a Tube commuter, it's pot luck whether I have to grab the handrails with left or right hand. If I had to use this with just my left hand, for me, it's unworkable. I'd just end up touching and going back a Page if my right hand was hanging on for dear life. It's not as easy as a good click button. It might not be an issue for some, but was for me.
tdenson
25-06-2012
Originally Posted by ASIFZED:
“I still have the superb 3g keyboard Kindle, but have checked out a relative's Touch. Nice enough but the one drawback, which some have commented on, is that using it left-handed may be an issue. As a Tube commuter, it's pot luck whether I have to grab the handrails with left or right hand. If I had to use this with just my left hand, for me, it's unworkable. I'd just end up touching and going back a Page if my right hand was hanging on for dear life. It's not as easy as a good click button. It might not be an issue for some, but was for me.”

I would argue the opposite. I am left handed and have both the orignal Kindle and the Touch. For me the Touch was revolutionary. Until I got the Touch my preferred reading device was my iPad, now it's the Touch.
I have no problem operating the Touch with my left hand, and what I found with the keyboard Kindle was that I was forever accidentally turning pages by catching the buttons on the side, whereas that doesn't happen with the Touch.

Actually when I think about it I can't see what this left handed problem could possibly be. It would seem to me that it's more of a problem operating it with the right hand because to move forward (which obviously is the more common operation) there is more of the screen you can touch and it's no problem at all to reach with the left hand, but to move backwards it is difficult to reach the narrow column on the left with one's right hand.
ASIFZED
25-06-2012
Granted, it won't effect everyone and depends on optimum holding position and balancing it in your left hand. As the left margin is designed only to take you back a page, I found that it required some juggling to ensure your thumb fully extended to either tap the 'page fwd' zone or was just plain awkward to swipe from right to left, using only your left digits. Using right handed was far easier, as I tend to move forward (as you do...), rather than moving back a page constantly.

Again, if you use it holding in your left hand and can occasionally free your right hand to tap forward, not a problem. But if your right hand is occupied (grabbing the pole), then it's a question of timing. For me, the slimmer bezel on both the newer Kindle models gives you less to grip and hence, would never consider a trade in for these models.
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