I have several thousand Kindle books. My friend is a scholar of Victorian literature and times and, like many other friends, likes "traditional" books. Some people mention the smell of a book. But, for me, the fact that I can get a book in 60 seconds of deciding to get it instead of going to the library is a big attraction. As an older person, I like being able to have the print the size I want it. Another feature of the Kindle reader is that I can highlight a stand-out sentence with my finger tip. What can be very helpful is that a single file of the highlights I make in a book can be sent from the Kindle, without any connection of any kind, to my email. It has happened that a book club or a presentation focuses on a book I read a while back and that file of highlights has brought the book back to me. It is easy and quick to post the file as a web page on a Google site.
I have looked into competing products such as Nook and Kobo but I find the selection, the prices better with Amazon, another of the big tech companies that some people charge are ruining our country. I am not such a person but I admit that Amazon is very aggressive about letting me know it has other books and other products I could buy. We got into using ebooks at a time we happened to be surrounded by traditional books and we were in danger of getting lost among piles of them, never to be found. Even my Victorian friend admitted that picking up a lightweight Kindle reader for travel, with dozens of books already in it, is quite handy.
Another friend lives in Canada and is unable to accept and download an Amazon ebook gift. However, I have sent ebook gifts successfully about 100 times. All I need is the recipient email address. In addition to buying ebooks, I sometimes use the apps Libby or Overdrive to borrow electronic books. I can usually get them for a two week period, enough time for me to learn if I want to buy the book. Borrowing ebooks is nice because the books simply disappear when their due date arrives. Programs like Calibre can be helpful in finding and using ebooks. Kindle software is free for tablets, smartphones and computers. As always, I recommend using a computer for most computing business because of its greater power but I like to keep a simple Kindle reader handy for just reading, not answering messages or other activities.
