Hi, I notice the basic Kindle is now down to £49, can I ask a couple of questions?

1) What type of charger do they use- is it a standard micro USB like a mobile?

2) Could it cope with files like this one http://bbceng.info/Books/On%20Air/co...0Feb-2015-.pdf in pdf, and if so how would I load them on to it.

3) With the new kindle so cheap, is there any reason to be hunting around ebay for second hand ones?

1. One end is a normal USB, which can be plugged into a PC or a suitable USB-output type electrical plug. The other end might well be a micro USB, though, unlike my phone, it will only go in one way.

2. You can email PDF files, though you could also, I imagine, copy+paste them.

3. To be honest, I only use the Kindle because it was a Xmas present from my wife a few years ago. The eBook reader on my iPad is much better, but I haven't told her that.

1) yes.

2) yes, but you need to scroll right and down, to see the whole page. Kindle keeps the page layout, which can be annoying if it is just text. You can use Calibre to convert PDF to mobi and it will reflow the text. You connect the Kindle with USB cable and copy the files on it. Or you email them to your Kindle email. I think Amazon may even do PDF to mobi conversion, too, if you ask for it and you receive a mobi file.

3) up to you, with that price I'd rather go for the new one. As for the other poster, it's individual what one may find better, Kindle eReader or a tablet, personally I prefer Kindle.

Another way of sending files to a Kindle is the Send to Kindle print driver which will take other formats and send them as PDFs

I load PDF and mobi files onto my Kindle simply by dragging them into the "Documents" folder that's inside the Kindle "drive". PDF files may not be as readable because their page format is fixed. If the text lines are long, small point size and serif typeface, they can be tedious to read. With mobi files, you can choose the typeface and size and the text "flows" to fill the screen. There are no "pages" - only screens.

1) If you have a BlackBerry/Samsung charger they fit.
When I bought my Kindle they didn't supply a charger with it. Only the USB cable (which takes forever to charge).

3) With the cost of them now, I wouldn't consider a used one. For under £50 you have a years warranty.