Kindle in academic settings

[Usehername]

Has anyone used a Kindle for academic journal articles?

Given the price of ink cartridges, and given that I have a neverending reading list of PDFs to finish, I think the $139 Kindle 3 will more than pay for itself over time.

But how easy is it to read on the 6 inch screen? The DX model is not as nicely priced. And do I need to move the PDFs from my computer onto the Kindle, or can I access JSTOR/other databases and Blackboard from the Kindle itself?

Any other comments related to Kindle for academic use?

 

[Giggly]

I'm with you on this. I'm so ready for textbooks to go fully digital. I have the Kindle 2, and I love it for reading. I've got some PDF's on it. No textbooks though. The only downsides are that a) they are not in color and b) you can not zoom in and make anything, including tiny print and pics, bigger like you can with the normal Kindle format. The latter is the bigger hurdle but they may have corrected that with the newer Kindle. I'd check into that if I were you before you buy it.

There is also the issue that the screen does not light up on the Kindle but I just attached a book light and solved that problem.

edit: Oh and another thing is that the kindle does not have page numbers so that might make it harder to follow along with lessons assigned by page numbers.

 

[coconut]

edit: Oh and another thing is that the kindle does not have page numbers so that might make it harder to follow along with lessons assigned by page numbers.

Can you do a word search to find specific chapters/passages?

 

[mmhmm]

i use the ipad, it's just a way better universal content consumption device.

 

[figsfiggyfigs]

I got the Sony reader. Even though I'm not using it for school at the moment. It was worth the money.

Can you highlight and add comments on the kindle?

Man reason I like to BUY the actual books ( for school) is so I can highlight and write on the sides of columns as I please... also, it doesn't have a battery life

 

[Giggly]

Can you do a word search to find specific chapters/passages?

Can you highlight and add comments on the kindle?

Yes, to both of these.

also, it doesn't have a battery life

A charge lasts for like 2 days, which is more than laptops and fancy mobile phones.

Still, if you want it for textbooks, I'm not sure if it's worth the money yet since there still aren't enough of them out in digital form yet.

i use the ipad, it's just a way better universal content consumption device.

This costs like 5X's as much as the Kindle.

But how easy is it to read on the 6 inch screen?

It's disorienting when there are pictures or diagrams. with words it's fine. You jsut turn the page more frequently. Oh and you can transfer PDFs directly from your computer to the kindle.

 

[freeeekyyy]

This costs like 5X's as much as the Kindle.

And also sucks for reading. Anybody who hasn't seen e-ink in action doesn't know what they're missing.