Villages PL, I received a Kindle e-reader as a Christmas gift in Dec. 2011. My is just the e-reader, not a Kindle Fire, which is Amazon's version of a tablet. My Kindle cost $159.00 18 months ago, now Amazon is selling the Kindle 3G WI-FI for $69. The Kindle Paperwhite is $119 with WI-FI. The Kindle Paperwhite 3G WI-FI is $179.00. If you are not sure if you want to buy a book or not, Amazon lets you get a free sample of a book downloaded to your Kindle. The free sample is usually about 5 or 6 pages of the book. You can also downnload games onto the Kindle. I have downloaded several word and trivia games onto my Kindle. Games are usually between $1 and $2

I really like my Kindle. I have read more books in the past 18 months on the Kindle than I had the previous 5 years.

There were 25 different covers for the early kindle made by amazon and others, the first covers did not have a light built in and where still the ones most sold until the one with built in pull out light came out I think in 2010.
I now have the paperwhite as it has a built in side light that you can adjust up and down to help with glare and allows you to read at night. It is not backlit as that defeats the whole purpose of the eink which is better for you eyes if you read for many hours at a time than a backlit computer screen.
It is $119 with advertisments that pop up when you turn it on or $139 without. The one most of you are referring to as the original kindle is the keyboard kindle and is now sold for $69 new. If you want to see what kindle books are like you can download the kindle ap to your computer or Ipad but will have to set up an amazon account which is also free. Check my earlier posts on how to get free Kindle books, there are many on the amazon site ie all of the Jane Austin for instance.

The older we get the less we are willing to pay. If it is too high, walk away, but stop whining. We all made things the way they are so live with it or work to change it.

I'll try to answer most of your questions. You can buy a basic wifi kindle for about $70.00. If you don't have wifi in your home, you can go to a nearby rec center that has wifi. You don't need wifi to tead the book, just to download it. They also have kindles that use 3G to download. Best sellers on kindle usually run around $13.00 versus $25.00 in a book store, so you can see that a kindle pays for itself very quickly. They also have many free books. Once you buy a book and start reading it you cannot return it if you don't like it. However, before you buy they will let you download a sample for free that usually is the first 5 or 6 pages of the book. You can also see what others who bought the book think about it because many people post reviews. There are no hidden fees. No on line fees or maintenance fees. If you have any questions, or would like to see my kindle, please pm me and I will be glad to show you all the features.

Thanks, it sounds pretty good. I'll have to give it some thought as to whether or not it will pay for me to get one. I live close to the library and only buy an occasional book about science, if I like it enough to keep as a reference. If I order a used one (like new) it usually only costs about $10 to $12.

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