Michele, I asked someone about this recently and a copy of their response is below, which might be of some use to you. It won't answer your download questions though so maybe someone else on here could point you in that direction.
It sounds pretty good and possibly the way most of us will read books in the not-too-distant future. Whether or not it will completely replace books is debateable and a debate for another day. Personally I'm going to wait a while before going down the Kindle route although with storage, practicalities of use when on the move etc I do see the benefits. I do have a problem with e-books generally, hence my reluctance to shell out at this time. Hope the guy's response to my question is of some use to you...... *I bought the Kindle 2 for my wife who 'devours' books on a regular basis. She can easily 'consume' 7-10 books a week. Yes, it was expensive - Just under $410 with a cover, which you really need, and shipping. It doesn't ship with a cover and it just cries out for some form of protection. I am not a reviewer so while reading this please keep that in mind. The device without its (leather) cover is really thin but is more rugged than it looks. Not sure how it would stand up to being dropped and I really don;t want to find out. It is very comfortable to hold for extended periods of time and it really isn't as weird to use as you would assume. I've tried reading e-books on laptops and desktops and I wasn't too keen on it. Recently I have started using the Kindle and it feels comfortable in the hand, much like holding half-inch thick book and with the option of sizing the text to your liking it really is easy on the eyes and the body as a whole. I quickly got used to it and it actually makes me want to read more. Battery (charge) life can be greatly extended if the wireless (3G) is turned off. It has about 1.5Gb worth of storage space and when connected to a PC it shows up as another external device, with no drivers required. It has three folders: Audible, Documents, and Music. Books are in the Documents folder while the other folders are for what they are named, Audio Books and Music. These we have yet to try. It does have built-in text-to-speech, whose performance and sound is average. Then again I don't want a book read to me like I was a five year old about to go to sleep, I'd rather read it myself. Books can be archived as well as be shared with others. This 'sharing' feature is enjoyed by my wife and her circle of Kindle readers. PDF books (and other types) can be "converted" for the Kindle's use by emailing the PDF to the Kindle. Yes, the Kindle has its own email address, which is really convenient if you have many PDF books that you want to transfer to the Kindle. Books are much cheaper then print based books. There are large numbers of books available for free or for pennies. I've purchased several good books from Amazon that cost me $.09. The Kindle uses 3G to browse Amazon as well as for downloading of the books, and it can be used for web based emails and light surfing. Both of which are satisfactory if you're without a computer and want to check your emails or send a message. Obviously its not for prolonged web use as its not designed for that and your battery will require charging after about (an estimated) hour. Here are a couple fo things I wish it had or did: 1 - Display the time - It does this only when you go to the 'menu' but not while reading a book. 2 - Display page numbers - It indicates the percentage of the book you have read. I understand that having the option to vary the size of the text impacts the page numbers. However once you found the text size you're comfortable with it is unlikely that you will change it. As such it should be able to calculate the page that I'm on. If you are a reader that buys paper back books them this can pay for itself over time. Consider a paper back that costs an average $25 and the same book costs an average $8 for the Kindle. Over time you will save enough to justify the cost. Overall impressions: Nice, modern looking, and slick. Definate attention grabber wherever you take it. My wife loves the idea of being able to carry a reasonably sized library (up to 1,500 books) with you. Love the idea of browsing books and buying them and ready for reading in a bout a minute. Perfect for travel or for carry. My rating (1-10) - a strong 8 Hope this helps some of you that are interested in buying a Kindle*. +++++ Regards Len 2009/10/30 Michele A. Berdy <[email protected]> > Hi, Expatniki. As someone with a serious book problem -- where to put all > the books I have -- I've kept my eye on Amazon's Kindle. So far the problem > has been downloading abroad, but now they are selling an international > Kindle with download ability in 100 countries, including -- ta da! -- > Russia. Has anyone tried it? According to their map, most of European Russia > is covered, but... still a bit wary. > > Also, are there any obscure (or not so obscure) laws that a downloading > Kindle would violate? > Many thanks > MAB > > _______________________________________________ > Expat mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat > http://www.expat.ru/forum/ >
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