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CurrerBell

Member since: Aug 31st, 2010

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The Best e-Readers Compared: Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Reader Throw Down (Switched)

Sep 2nd 2010 8:41AM @jackieelisabeth

starskeptic is absolutely right! Pay the extra $50 for the 3G, because eventually you'll regret not having it if you're somewhere without a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Only thing is, where do you live? You might want to check with Amazon and make sure you'll be able to get 3G access. I have no problem anywhere in the Philadelphia PA area, but I have had problems when driving through some areas of northern New England and also in some mountainous areas (like the Berkshires in western Massachusetts), though Amazon may have improved its 3G network in the past year or so.

They used to have a map somewhere on line showing 3G availability, but I don't know a URL for it. You might want to call Amazon Customer Service and check it out.

In most parts of the country, though, you shouldn't have any problem and I think you'll really find that 3G access useful.

The Best e-Readers Compared: Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Reader Throw Down (Switched)

Sep 1st 2010 4:42AM @starskeptic

I know the Collections feature isn't available for K1. That's my point. The Collections feature won't work properly if the Kindle has external storage, and that's why it makes sense that the SD-card slot isn't part of the K3, and that's why I disagree with your criticism of K3's lack of external storage.

The elimination of the SD-card slot (starting with K2 and with K-DX, and now carried over into K3) is what makes the Collections feature feasible. That's why, though I miss having on my K2 the SD-card slot that I have on my K1, its loss is justified because the post-K1 hardware configuration of a unitary hard-drive makes the Collections feature feasible.

Maybe I didn't word things right. What I'm trying to get across is that your criticism of K3's lack of external storage doesn't take account of the fact that external storage would create major usability problems for the Collections feature. That's the trade-off. If we want the Collections feature, we have to give up the SD-card slot, and I personally think most Kindlers would gladly do that.

The Best e-Readers Compared: Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Reader Throw Down (Switched)

Aug 31st 2010 3:30PM As far as your comment on the Kindle's lack of a memory card slot, the K1 had an SD-card slot but this feature was discontinued with all later Kindle versions. I was disappointed in this, and that's a main reason I still keep my K1 as back-up even though I upgraded to K2 as soon as K2 was released. (I don't plan on a K3 upgrade at this time since my K2's quite sufficient for everyday use.)

In fairness, though, Amazon finally (a few months ago) created the "Collections sorting" system that Kindle users have been asking for since day one. This system lets you sort the contents of your Kindle hard-drive by assigning eBooks to "Collections folders" and also allows you to assign a single book to multiple folders.

The catch? What you're doing is creating short-cuts in "Collection folders" that point to fixed hard-drive addresses for eBook files. The "Collections sorting" system won't work if Kindle has external storage because it's going to louse up the whole short-cut system whenever you swap SD cards. Although there may be a way that Amazon could program around this problem, it would probably create usability issues, and Jeff Bezos has always been big on keeping Kindle as simple as possible for the user (which I agree with).

On balance, though I miss the SD-card slot that was part of the K1, I'm happy to give it up in exchange for the "Collections sorting" system, and that's the technical reality we have to face, that the "Collections sorting" system is incompatible with external storage, at least without creating significant usability issues.