I have been saving funds earned as an Amazon affiliate to purchase a Kindle, and if you have visited recently, you may have caught my post about whether to buy a Kindle or a Nook. I settled on a Kindle after doing the research. The iPad is far outside of my price range for a e-book reader. I purchased the Kindle, but I had to wait some time before it shipped, and I’m not sure of the reason.

The Kindle arrived on Dylan’s birthday (April 16). Steve unboxed it before I could get home from work, but I took some pictures of the Kindle.

I bought a cover for the Kindle, and I’m happy I did. I’m not sure how I’d have kept it safe otherwise. The Kindle all snug in its cover looks like a nice Moleskine notebook.

Here’s a picture of the opened cover. The buttons are small but easier to use than the iPhone keyboard. Navigation didn’t take very long to learn.

The Kindle changes the display on the screen when you put it in sleep mode. Most of the images have been of authors, like this one of Mark Twain, but I have also seen what looked like an illuminated manuscript.

I already ran into an issue when I tried to download my textbook for Educational Research onto my Kindle. I already have it on my Kindle for iPhone and for Mac. Well, I kept receiving a message that said the book could not be downloaded onto my device. I did a search online and discovered this problem can be traced back to the publisher who most likely set the number of times the book could be downloaded onto a device very low. It figures a textbook author would do that. I don’t blame Amazon for that issue; it’s the textbook company.

I have been happy with the Kindle so far. I checked out some of the free books, but I’m not sure what to download. It’s all so overwhelming right now.

I know a lot of the romantics think I’ve committed heresy, but I will say this. I love reading. Period. Books, e-readers, online (although reading books online is very hard for me). It doesn’t matter to me. I’m sure there were folks who romanticized manuscripts when the printing press was invented and books came into being. The book’s run is not over, and I have not defected to the other side. I have simply added a tool that will allow me to read books more easily on the go. I just don’t understand why it has to be an either/or prospect.