Sunday, November 14, 2010

eReaders, Part 2



How I Use My Kindle
In my previous review I enumerated several reasons why I think eReaders can be very useful for Christians. This time, I’d like to share how I have personally benefitted from my eReader.
Although my device gives me wireless 3G access to the Amazon Kindle Store, I’ve never actually bought anything. I suppose I will in the future, but for now I just don’t see the need. So what do I use my Kindle for?



Prayer List – Having an electronic prayer list helps me to keep track of all the items that I should be praying about. Removing, updating and adding new items is easy, since it’s all done by computer (no more tedious penmanship XD). This also allows me to copy and paste large portions from missionary and other ministry updates that I receive by email.
Sermons - I don’t’ have to take out my laptop and log on to the Internet anymore every time I want to read a sermon or article from any one of my favorite teachers (John MacArthur, Bob Kaufflin, CH Spurgeon, among others). I can just copy, paste and format, and in five minutes I’ve got several hours worth of spiritual food ready for consumption, anywhere, any time.
Free eBooks – Nearly all of John Piper’s books are freely available in PDF format on his website, DesiringGod.org. Countless other sites offer simple text versions of Christian Classics that you can easily convert into PDFs. (I already have more eBooks in my Kindle than I know what to do with!)
Study and Message Notes – One of my main ministry roles is teaching, so I tend to have a lot of study notes and kodigos for when I deliver a message. Normally I’d print these out, but I don’t have to anymore since I started using an eReader.

The Cost
The basic Kindle now costs $139 or a bit over Php6,300. A leather cover costs about $30 (about Php1,400), if I remember correctly. All-in-all, a Kindle will cost you about Php9,000, plus shipping if necessary. But if you put it to good use, you’ll certainly get your money’s worth.

Where to Get It: To my knowledge, there are no Kindle retailers in the Philippines, although you may find some second-hand pieces being sold online. If you want the latest model (better, cheaper) then you’ll have to have one shipped here or delivered to a friend who lives in the US, who can then bring the package to you when he/she returns home.


Also read:

  1. Making Kindle eBooks 
  2. Taking Notes with the Kindle 
  3. Kindle: Makeshift Table of Contents 

8 comments:

  1. Kitokits, I'm praying for a Kindle. Ang ganda niya: I tried using one, and it felt like reading on paper.

    That means I'll start saving for one.

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  2. Awesome, Lance. The Kindle 3 (the newest model) will be even better than the one you tried. :D

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  3. By the way, Albert Mohler is also a happy Kindle user. Check out his review, if you want. :)

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  4. Michael Hyatt also has a very thoughtful review of the Kindle 3.

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  5. This is a nice review, Kito. I myself have been thinking about buying a Kindle. I'm thinking of using it primarily for sheet music and chord charts. Do you think the Kindle would be good for that purpose? Some of my requirements are, I need to be able to flip pages very quickly, and I need to be able to write notes-- in case I need to make last-minute corrections/changes on the chord sheet. I've been checking out video demos on YouTube, and it does look like Kindle can handle what I need. But I need a second opinion from a Kindle user like you...

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  6. @ egocks: I appreciate you dropping by, kuya. My Kindle 2 is not the latest model, but I don't think that the Kindle 3 has any additional features relevant to your question. The Kindle will be able to handle sheet music and chord charts in PDF format, but this will have certain limitations:

    1. You'll have to view the PDF in shrunken (zoomed out) mode, unless you format the page size specifically for the Kindle. Even with the Kindle DX, which is larger, the screen will simply be too small to view normal-sized PDFs.

    2. If you get the page size just right, page flipping only takes one button-press. Get it wrong, and you'll have a bit of trouble.

    3. You can't edit file text on a Kindle, only insert notes. And with PDFs, even note-taking is not an option.

    The Kindle is a specialized eReader designed to make reading books and documents as easy as possible. The flip side, though, is that it can do little else. I don't think it's the best choice for what you have in mind. A netbook or tablet would be much better at handling sheet music and chord charts. :)

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  7. Thanks for the insight, Kito. That was very helpful. I was considering the iPad for my purposes, but I thought it was a little bit too much than I need (and more expensive at that). And I guess the Kindle is too little. And I didn't care to consider other brands, since I believe the two that I mentioned are the most competitive. I guess I can still go with Kindle for the purpose of carrying several bible versions, and perhaps a few bible study reference materials. So I'll still keep it in my wish list...

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  8. @ egocks: The Kindle will definitely be able to help you with that, and a lot more, kuya. I'm looking forward to a growing community of Christian, Kindle users who will be able to create and share great resources formatted especially for our device.

    GB!

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