Tuesday 26 October 2021

The 'One and Only' Kindle

 Back in October 2012, I bought my first Kindle e-book reader: A 'Kindle Touch', which has kept  serving me faithfully for 11 years by now. But one day last week, I think it was on Thursday, it was suddenly behaving very sluggishly - it took forever just to turn a page, and every now and then it went on auto-restart, but seemed unable to finish the job properly. I also tried to restart it manually a few times, but that did not seem to help either.

As I'd been thinking for a while about perhaps buying a new one anyway - just to get a brighter, 'paper white' display -  I decided that it was probably time to go ahead and do so. 

Since a year or so, I know Amazon has also established themselves in Sweden, so I went to the .se website to  check what was on offer there. It turned out they did not have the one called Paperwhite, but they had one just called Kindle (I think "10th generation") - a little simpler (like lower resolution), but otherwise similar, and looking paper white enough to me. It also seemed to be the only kind in stock. So I ordered it, I think this was on Thursday - and got prompt response that it would be delivered on Monday, to my nearest parcel delivery service (= my nearest neighbourhood convenience store).

As soon as I'd got that confirmed, I discovered that my old Kindle had managed to cure itself from whatever it was it had been struggling with, and was back to functioning as well as ever again. I suppose it had  been spying on me and did not like the idea of getting replaced...

I told the Oldie not to worry - as I have almost my whole Kindle library (with hundreds of titles) downloaded and sorted on it, I'll not abandon it but keep it on as 1st Archivist (as long as it's feeling up for that job) while the Newbie's job will be primarily to deal with what I'm currently reading...

Over the weekend, while waiting for my delivery, I visited amazon.com for some comparative research. To my surprise, I found that there, every kind of Kindle e-reader was marked as either "currently unavailable" or "temporarily out of stock"! Wow. I was beginning to feel very lucky that I had managed to order one at all!

The package arrived yesterday as promised. I had also ordered a special cover for it, and that arrived as well, in a separate package. Also no problems downloading the software and connecting to my account etc - I've just had to spend some time to figure out where to find things etc, as they've made some changes (and hidden some things in different places compared to my old one).

  
 
The main difference is the possibility to change the brightness of the display though, and that was what I wanted. (My old one has a grey display, which works comfortably enough in the right light, but can't be adjusted to varying light conditions.)
 
My new Kindle to the left, the old one to the right:

(The book I've recently started reading is Elena Ferrante's Neopolitan Novels (boxed set), which I recently found as a cheap deal for Kindle.)


The Oldie has a pink leather cover which flips upward/back (so that it can stand by itself on a table, for example). The Newbie has a grey cloth cover that flips open like a book, but on the other hand it has the ability to automatically turn off the Kindle when you close the cover - and when you next open it, the Kindle also opens automatically to the last thing you were reading. (Again, this was the only cover available for that model, so I just bought it...)

What's giving me the most headache at the moment is trying to sync my book "collections" between different devices (also including my computer, my phone and my tablet). That's a total mess, because when I tried to do that, old collections that I thought were long ago deleted and replaced, also turned up again... Ah well. It's mostly a problem with all the free titles by unknown authors that I never yet found time to read. I now have no idea in what category some of those belong... (My old Kindle, the Archivist, is probably still the one who knows best.)

Today, I went back to the Swedish Amazon website to check something... Guess what? Now they too seem to have no Kindle e-readers at all in stock. Did I manage to get the last one in the world??

10 comments:

  1. i am so glad you got it and the cover on same day and it just might be the last one, i have never tried to sync my kindle with computer, phone or tablet. I only read on the kindle and if it quits suddenly can just go to Amazon content and devices and dowload the book I was reading on another device. at one time I had 3 at one time and still only used one. i did have books on the others but have no clue how to sync. i could figure it out but since I like using one why strain the brain.... I have my fonts customized and in bold, because I can't see if they aren't and I read so much I need it big and bold. i like that i can make the spaces of words more or less, i have to saved custom fonts

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    1. Thanks Sandra. Syncing book from one device to another is no problem. (They just need to be downloaded on both, and on WiFi.) I often switch between reading on Kindle and listening to the same book as Audible book (on my phone) (having bought quite a few books as combination deals). I also sometimes switch between reading on the Kindle device vs on the Kindle app on my tablet.

      The sync problem I was referring to is with the 'collections' that I've created myself (and made a few changes to over the years) - to be compared with bookshelves for physical books, except that you can put the same Kindle book in more than one collection. I recently tried to import collections from my Kindle (or so I thought) to the app on my laptop but ended up with a confusing mix of both current and old collections (that had evidently been saved somewhere in the Cloud instead of deleted as I thought). And now what collections appear on my new Kindle also seems to be a bit different from what I see on my old one. It's not the end of the world, just a bit confusing! ;) As for the books with authors or titles that I know, those I can easily find. The problem is with the free and cheap ones I never heard of before but downloaded anyway, because they seemed interesting just then. (If they're sorted into the right collections, that improves their chances of being found by me again at some point!)

      As for text fonts and size etc, I experiment a bit with those. I find that for me it varies a bit from one book to another what works best.

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  2. We would sure have to call the computer guy to get all this changed over, etc.! So glad it turned out to be just what you wanted! I bet they have been running out so much because of the pandemic.

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    1. Ginny, as I know all the books are still there in the Cloud (and most of them also downloaded on my old Kindle) I don't really feel I need everything "changed over" - it's more about getting to know the differences between the various devices. I'll take my time downloading stuff to the new Kindle. Even if it has space enough for my whole library, I don't think I really need to have everything downloaded...

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  3. How typical, isn't it, that your old Kindle decided to work properly again as soon as you had ordered the new one!
    Delivery and logistics problems are on the main news here almost every night now. But instead of encouraging people to simply buy LESS (of mostly unwanted presents and unnecessary items anyway), the official advice is to "buy your Christmas presents early"...
    That aside, I am glad you will have more reading comfort now with the display better suited to your needs!
    I am still with my first Kindle, a birthday present in (I believe) 2012; it can't "do" anything but store and display books, and is my perfect and trusted travel companion. For reading at home, I mostly use physical (paper) books.

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    1. Meike, I'm actually relieved that the old Kindle decided to "go back to work" as well! :) - as I have almost my whole library downloaded on it. Hopefully that gives me more time to get gradually acquainted with my new one and decide how much and what I want to keep downloaded on that one (and to sort out how best to organize my collections!)

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  4. My first Kindle, which I had years ago, had a "keyboard" and the ability to send and receive emails - a facility I only ever used once. A few years ago I dropped it on the tiled floor and it was no more - the screen cracked. I chose the paperwhite as a replacement, which is basic, but easy to read - especially in the dark. It's synced to my computer, and all my downloads were also on my tablet, which also no longer works. I notice that now, when I purchase a book, the acknowledgement states that it's sent to my 2nd Kindle.

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    1. CG, my old Kindle (Touch) also had/has some experimental web browsing features which I've hardly ever used (as I've had other devices better suited for that sort of thing...)

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  5. I've never tried using a kindle but I have a tablet with the kindle app, I find it really good and easy to use.

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    1. Amy, back when I got my first Kindle I did not have a tablet, only a desktop computer. Now I do have a tablet, and I agree the Kindle app on that works very well too. Sometimes (and for certain books, for example with illustrations) I prefer it, because of the larger display.

      I also have the app on my phone and have used that too sometimes, away from home (like when having to sit for a while in a waiting room).

      The main advantage of a separate Kindle I think is that if you read a lot, it's easier on the eyes than a computer/phone screen. It may also feel a bit more like reading a book, as there are no distractions from other apps that may pop up while reading on a tablet or phone.

      If you keep the Kindle offline, the battery also lasts a long time, so an advantage for example for those who travel a lot. You can keep many hundreds or even thousands of books downloaded on it and so literally carry your whole library with you, in your pocket or handbag.

      But if you feel that reading on a tablet works well for you, and that covers your needs, I'd say there's no need to get a separate Kindle. :)

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