class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/image154.png?323f2c" alt=""/>Since I first href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-use-the-amazon-kindle-reader-for-the-iphone-ipod-touch/">reviewed the Amazon Kindle for the iPad and other iOS devices, some pretty useful features have been added in recent updates. From basic annotation tools, an e-book library, and its Whispersync capabilities, the Kindle app now allows users to import magazines and newspapers, as well as personal documents—each of which can be synced between iOS devices.

While the Kindle app still falls short in many areas, the recent updates do provide better functionality for e-book reading.

Personal Documents

Perhaps the best update for Kindle 2.9 app is a feature that allows Amazon members to e-mail personal documents to their Kindle app-supported device using a new Send-to-Kindle email address ([assigned name]@kindle.com.)

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/kindle_7.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="506" height="580"/>

You can attach documents and other files, including PDFs, Word files, JPEGs and PNGs, on your computer or in your mobile device to the address associated with your Amazon account. Amazon says that “A subject is not necessary in the e-mail, unless you’d prefer to have the document converted to the Kindle format. To have a document converted to Kindle format (.azw), the subject line should be ‘convert’ when e-mailing the personal document to a Send-to-Kindle address.”

In order to use the Kindle annotation features, text documents must be converted to the Kindle format. However, in my tests some parts of say a PDF document—the table of contents for example—may not format correctly in the .azw conversion.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/kindle_11.png?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="393"/>

Other people can also send documents to your device after you approve their e-mail address. You will need to log into your Manage Your Kindle account, and select Personal Document Settings to add and improve e-mail addresses. This authorization, of course, keeps your account from being spammed.

There are some restrictions to this personal documents feature, such as submitted e-mails to your Amazon account cannot contain more than 25 attached personal documents, and it must target less than 15 distinct Send-to-Kindle addresses.

This personal documents feature enables users to do less printing, and it is also convenient for keeping your documents archived in the cloud.

Magazines and Newspapers

This Kindle update version for the iPad now also allows Amazon customers to select from over 400 magazines and newspapers in the Kindle Store. You can buy single issues or subscribe to magazines like, Martha Stewart Living, Cosmopolitan, The New York Times, and Popular Science.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/amazon_newsstand.png?323f2c" alt="" width="503" height="430"/>

Some Kindle customers however have commented that the digital versions of publications may not be as good production wise as the printed versions, so be sure to check the customer feedback section before making a purchase.

The User Interface

The Kindle app also includes an updated user interface, so that now downloaded content is categorized by All Items, Books, Newsstand, Docs. Kindle books and personal documents can also be archived to your account in order to reduce the amount of space taken up on your mobile device.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/kindle_4.png?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="151"/>

It would be great, however, if there were a section for purchased Kindle books separate from sample copies of Kindle e-books.

Social Network Sharing

The prior update to the Kindle app includes a feature for sharing selected texts to your Twitter or Facebook timeline, via a link to the highlighted passage which appears on your Kindle profile page.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/kindle_3.png?323f2c" alt="" width="566" height="399"/>

I’m not sure how useful this feature is for sharing with online contacts, but I find it handy for my own reading and review purposes. You can actually access and read your highlights and notes in your Kindle account. You can also follow and network with other Kindle readers .

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/kindle_10.png?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="429"/>

As an avid Kindle book reader, I welcome the new app updates, but I still long for improvements with the annotation tools. Accessing and reviewing notes, highlights, and bookmarks is not a productive experience, especially for students and scholars, in the Kindle e-reader.

Let us know what you think of the new updates. Have you started reading more ebooks on your Kindle? And what additional features would you like to see.

For other articles about the Kindle app, start with these:

• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-use-the-amazon-kindle-reader-for-the-iphone-ipod-touch/">How To Use The Amazon Kindle Reader For The iPhone & iPod Touch
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ibooks-kindle-ipad/">iBooks Vs. Kindle – Which Is Better? [iPad]
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/reading-ebooks-ipad-ibooks-amazon-kindle-mac/">Reading Ebooks on The iPad with iBooks & Amazon Kindle

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/muo-hptp-kindle.jpg?323f2c" alt="" />It’s the tablet that wouldn’t die, the device that kept coming back for more, and despite HP’s dithering over whether they would continue to support webOS or not, the HP TouchPad has exceeded expectations thanks to various fire sales at popular online and offline retailers and its friendly user interface. However thanks to the lack of support from HP early on (it was decided that the company would discard the webOS platform soon after the TouchPad launched) there is a big hole in the number of official apps available for the webOS tablets.

One of these missing apps is Kindle. While you will easily find Amazon’s eBook reading app on the HP TouchPad in the USA, outside of the country (in places such as Europe and Australia) Kindle isn’t listed in the HP App Catalog. As tablets are popularly used for reading, this is clearly disappointing. Thankfully, however, there is a way of installing the webOS Kindle app on HP TouchPads in territories where the app is unavailable.

So Why Is the HP TouchPad Kindle App US-only?

style="margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/amazon-kindle-logo.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="205" height="205" align="left" />Well, to begin with it depends on your definition of “US-only”. For many TouchPad users in North America, the Kindle app is an easy to use and enjoyable eBook reading experience. But these are the lucky ones. Thanks to some initial confusion or a problem with the app (the reason has never been made clear) the Amazon Kindle app was shipped with some first wave TouchPads but then removed from later devices, replaced with a placeholder “coming soon” app.

Fortunately, if your US-based TouchPad doesn’t have a working Kindle app, you can now find it via the HP App Catalog.

Preparing Your HP TouchPad

Before proceeding to install the Kindle app on your HP TouchPad, you will need to download a few tools (this method can be used on Windows and Mac OS X). The first thing you should do is head to href="http://hotfile.com/dl/128523150/76e47a4/com.palm.app.kindle_0.11.499820_all.ipk.html">this link and download the Kindle .ipk file. An .ipk is the installer file format used on webOS.

After doing this, download the webOS Quick Install software from href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2774158/WebOSQuickInstall-4.3.1.jar">here. This is a tool that allows the testing of unapproved applications on webOS devices such as the HP TouchPad, and requires you to have Java installed on your computer (available from href="http://www.java.com/getjava">here).

Next, connect your HP TouchPad to your computer using the supplied USB cable. The Connected dialogue box will appear, but you can select Close to continue – the USB Drive mode cannot be used for this process. You will then need to find Developer Mode, revealed by typing the following string into the search box: webos20090606

Tap the Developer Mode icon to proceed and then slide the switch in the top-right corner to activate; you may be prompted for a password, but click Submit to bypass this.

The next stage is to run the downloaded webOSQuickInstall-4.3.1.jar (you might have a different version) file and follow any prompts to download additional software (such as the Novacom driver for creating a stable connection between your computer and the tablet).

Installing The Kindle App

With all of the above installed and running, adding the Kindle app – which is in beta so might be slightly unreliable at times – is a simple task.

The webOS Quick Install application on your desktop computer will display a largely empty screen with a handful of buttons, including + and – on the right-hand side. Click the + button to browse for the previously downloaded Kindle .ipk, which will have a filename in the form of com.palm.app.kindle_0.11.499820_all.ipk (although the version number at the end may differ). Select this file and then click the Install button and wait a few moments.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/muo-hptp-kindle2.png?323f2c" alt="Sideloading the Kindle app onto your HP TouchPad" width="580" height="371" />

When the process is complete the .ipk file will no longer be listed in the Files to Install section of the webOS Quick Install application, so you will be free to close the software (it can be relaunched by running webOSQuickInstall-4.3.1.jar).

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/muo-hptp-kindle4.png?323f2c" alt="Signing into the Kindle app on the HP TouchPad" width="580" height="435" />

Next, double-tap the menu button on your HP TouchPad and go to the Downloads tab where you will find the Amazon Kindle app listed. Tap to launch and enter your credentials (or register) to continue.

A few moments later, the main screen of the app will appear. If you have used Kindle in the past,  your books will be listed; otherwise you will be prompted to visit the Amazon Kindle store, where you will find free and paid-for titles to download direct to your TouchPad.

Reading Books On Your TouchPad

Amazon’s Kindle app provides similar functionality to tablets and mobile phones as can be found on the popular dedicated eBook reader. Utilizing an Amazon account and providing access to the Kindle store, the app allows the user to download free out-of-copyright titles (such as the works of Shakespeare and Charles Dickens) as well as find the latest titles to download and read on their device.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/muo-hptp-kindle5.png?323f2c" alt="HP TouchPad Kindle app book library" width="580" height="435" />

With versions available for Mac, iOS, Android, Windows and Windows Phone, Kindle apps extend the functionality of the dedicated device to users of other hardware, often those for whom an Amazon Kindle app would be desirable if it didn’t mean carrying multiple devices. The HP TouchPad version of Kindle is just as good as the others and will allow you to download and enjoy books on your tablet wherever you are.

If you are a HP Touchpad owner, and you tried to download the Kindle app using this method, let us know if you were successful.  Or maybe you know of another way to install the Kindle app on the Touchpad?

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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-reasons-amazons-kindle-tablet-kick-butt/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="125" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/kindletabletthum-150x150.jpg?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="kindletabletthum" title="kindletabletthum" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">4 Reasons Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Could Kick Butt

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Kindle for PC is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your PC.

View full post on FileHippo.com

Kindle for PC is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your PC.

View full post on FileHippo.com

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/kindle-cloud-e1320776717922.jpg" alt="" />Recently, Amazon launched their href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/amazon-cloud-reader-web-app-kindle-books/">Kindle Cloud Reader, which allows Kindle users to read their books in many of their favorite browsers. However, one browser that was missing from the list was Mozilla Firefox. From day one, the HTML 5 based service supported Google Chrome, and the mobile and desktop version of Safari. Seeing as Firefox is one of the more popular browsers available, leaving it off the list of supported browsers seemed like an odd choice. Another thing that is extremely odd about this is that Firefox is one of the browsers at the forefront of HTML 5 support.

Now, only two months after the first launch of the service, Firefox is officially supported. This is great news for Kindle users who are loyal to Firefox, because sometimes a computer with a web browser is the only way to get access to your book library. I can’t imagine what caused the delay, but none the less, the wait is over, so all Kindle users who support Firefox can join the rest of us in reading our favorite books.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/kindle_cloud_reader.jpg" alt="" width="560" height="373" />

At this point, Internet Explorer still isn’t supported, and neither are many other mobile devices such as the BlackBerry PlayBook. However, because of the adaptability of HTML 5, it shouldn’t be long before Amazon adds support for these as well.

Source: href="http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/11/08/it-only-took-two-months-amazons-kindle-cloud-reader-gets-firefox-support/" rel="nofollow">The Next Web

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/kindle-cloud-e1320776717922.jpg" alt="" />Recently, Amazon launched their href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/amazon-cloud-reader-web-app-kindle-books/">Kindle Cloud Reader, which allows Kindle users to read their books in many of their favorite browsers. However, one browser that was missing from the list was Mozilla Firefox. From day one, the HTML 5 based service supported Google Chrome, and the mobile and desktop version of Safari. Seeing as Firefox is one of the more popular browsers available, leaving it off the list of supported browsers seemed like an odd choice. Another thing that is extremely odd about this is that Firefox is one of the browsers at the forefront of HTML 5 support.

Now, only two months after the first launch of the service, Firefox is officially supported. This is great news for Kindle users who are loyal to Firefox, because sometimes a computer with a web browser is the only way to get access to your book library. I can’t imagine what caused the delay, but none the less, the wait is over, so all Kindle users who support Firefox can join the rest of us in reading our favorite books.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/kindle_cloud_reader.jpg" alt="" width="560" height="373" />

At this point, Internet Explorer still isn’t supported, and neither are many other mobile devices such as the BlackBerry PlayBook. However, because of the adaptability of HTML 5, it shouldn’t be long before Amazon adds support for these as well.

Source: href="http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/11/08/it-only-took-two-months-amazons-kindle-cloud-reader-gets-firefox-support/" rel="nofollow">The Next Web

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Kindle for PC is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your PC.

View full post on FileHippo.com

Kindle for PC is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your PC.

View full post on FileHippo.com

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/kindletabletthum.jpg" alt="kindle tablet" />Rumor has it that Amazon is preparing a Kindle tablet that should launch by the end of the year. This is exciting new for the tablet market, as it’s been dominated by the Apple iPad so far.

Amazon could be just the company to present a competitor with sales volumes similar to the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-20-free-apps-ipad/">iPad. Allow me to explain why this upcoming tablet could be a serious challenge for everyone else.

It’s About The Money

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As competitors to the iPad have been released, their prices have surprised many. Traditionally, Apple has been a luxury brand, particularly in the laptop and desktop markets. With the iPad however, there’s not much of a premium to be paid. The entry-level model is accessible at $499.

Part of the reason why Apple has managed to keep prices low despite excellent hardware is the app store. When a consumer buys an iPad, they are not just handing Apple the purchase price of the tablet. They’re also buying into an ecosystem where every song, every app, and every movie purchased funnels a bit more dough into the vaults of Cupertino.

Android tablets so far have not been able to harness this because they’ve used Google’s href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/android-market-marketplace-for-android-apps/">Android Marketplace. Amazon has its own app marketplace however, as well as its own services for books, music and movies. Rumor has it that the Kindle tablet will start at $250, and the fact that Amazon can sell the tablet as a loss-leader no doubt contributes to this very low price.

The Complete Experience

The fact that Amazon has a complete line of services to bundle with its tablet is also an advantage. Many geeks, including your truly, have bemoaned the fact that Apple’s iPad is bound to the app store unless it is href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/jailbreaking-ios-pros-cons-voiding-warranty/"> jailbroken. For the average consumer, this is preferable. It provides a simple, consistent user interface.

Although it will be based on Android, rumor has it that Amazon will customize the operating system and integrate its own storefront into the device. This should give consumers a better user interface, which will make the device less frustrating to use than your average Android Honeycomb device.

Sized For Your Pleasure

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/kindletablet2.jpg" alt="amazon kindle tablet" width="440" height="297" />

One aspect of tablet design I’ve never understood is the insistence on a ten-inch form factor. This is something that I don’t think Apple has right. While a larger display does allow for more pixels and a better multimedia experience, it also creates a device that’s a bit heavy and difficult to handle without two hands free.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-reasons-avoid-blackberry-playbook/">BlackBerry’s PlayBook, which I generally don’t like, did prove to be much easier to wield than its competitors. Rumor has it that the Kindle tablet will be of similar size, with a seven-inch display. If that is true, they’ll have created a device that strikes the perfect balance between usability and portability.

Clash Of The Marketing Departments

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/kindletablet3.jpg" alt="kindle tablet" width="453" height="301" />

Marketing has long been one of Apple’s greatest strength. The brand’s image is reinforced by a wide range of TV and online ads, and Apple’s prominence ensures that the company’s new products are fondled by the press. It’s free advertising!

Companies like Acer, ASUS and even Motorola simply don’t have the same excitement behind them, but Amazon is in a better position. The company is still considered an innovator and is, of course, the web’s biggest online store. This gives Amazon the marketing platform required to launch a successful device, as the original Kindle proved. While there’s no doubt that Apple’s brand is stronger, Amazon is at least in the same ballpark.

Conclusion

Please note that while I am comparing Amazon’s tablet to the iPad, I’m not suggesting that the Kindle will “kill” the iPad, or any such nonsense. In fact, if the pricing rumors are correct, the Kindle tablet will only partially compete with the iPad.

Still, the Kindle tablet would be the first product to present a serious challenge to the iPad. Will it slow Apple’s sales, or will the iPad juggernaut continue on without hesitation? I’ll leave those predictions to you.

Image Credit: href="http://www.engadget.com" rel="nofollow">Engadget

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/5145997604_757ded8dde.png" alt="kindle web sites" />Seeing how Amazon is probably launching their new reader/tablet device in the next couple of months and recently produced their ingenious href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/amazon-cloud-reader-web-app-kindle-books/">Cloud Reader, the Kindle is a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/kindle-sony-reader-headtohead-comparison/">hot topic for a lot of people. Even after a multitude of other tablets have surfaced after its birth, the Kindle remains a great e-book reader gadget and of course, still packs a lot of potential for reading enthusiasts. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the number of blogs, services and tools dedicated to squeezing the most out of your Kindle, a bunch of which we will list up next.

First, for those that have recently acquired their new Kindle, a good starting point would be href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-download-completely-free-amazon-kindle-ebooks-to-your-pc/">this article on how to download e-books from Amazon to your PC (or href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/reading-ebooks-ipad-ibooks-amazon-kindle-mac/">this href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-use-the-amazon-kindle-reader-for-the-iphone-ipod-touch/">one if you own a Mac).

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2011-08-30_021548.png" alt="kindle web sites" width="480" height="356" border="0" />

Next, you can browse href="http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=2245146011">Amazon’s Free eBook collection, href="http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page">Project Gutenberg ( href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-best-6-sites-to-get-free-ebooks/">one of the ultimate public domain e-book libraries), href="http://www.archive.org/details.php?identifier=texts">the Internet Archive, and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-websites-amazon-find-great-kindle-books/">the other sites where you can find great Kindle books in the Classics category, though you may occasionally find contemporary free works as well.

Public domain books are well and dandy but if you fancy some other types of books, including modern literature and works, the following are a few noteworthy websites that are serve up daily doses of free or very cheap e-books.

Sites With Free Or Heavily Discounted e-Books

I find that the following sites may offer you the same free e-books and offers occasionally, but sometimes they find different books available for free so it’d probably be wise to check all of them regularly.

href="http://amzn.to/FreeKindleBooks1">Amazon

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2011-08-30_101153.png" alt="kindle sites" width="580" height="450" border="0" />

The link above leads to the results of a specific Amazon keyword search; it skips samplers, paid books, public domain or classic works, etc. This link is a goodie gathered by the good people at Pixel of Ink, which we discuss up next.

href="http://www.pixelofink.com/">Pixel Of Ink

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2011-08-30_100519.png" alt="kindle sites" width="681" height="593" border="0" />

Pixel of Ink is an extremely popular website that’s updated several times a day with free or cheap e-books. It’s probably one of the blogs you definitely want to keep an eye on since it’s a rich source of Kindle (and Nook!) steals and bargains. The website is easy to navigate on your computer as it allows you to browse books by genre and tag.

You can also href="http://www.pixelofink.com/subscribe/">subscribe to their daily email newsletter that lists the most recent free and bargain e-books, or check out their sister site, href="http://www.inspiredreads.com/">Inspired Reads that lists affordable Christian reads for the Kindle.

href="http://www.ereaderiq.com/">eReaderIQ

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2011-08-30_102604.png" alt="kindle sites" width="580" height="520" border="0" />

This site does a few more things than other e-book bargain hunting sites. It actually provides price drop email alerts, has a href="http://m.ereaderiq.com/">Kindle-optimized web site, lets you know when your favorite books will be available on the Kindle AND it offers international support, which should make a lot of our readers happy. Their Kindle book search function can take a lot of parameters so users that have specific search criteria will likely find the advanced book search very helpful.

href="http://blog.booksontheknob.org/">Books On The Knob

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2011-08-30_123415.png" alt="free kindle sites" width="580" height="378" border="0" />

This site has provided free/discounted e-book finds, occasional special offers, and deals for games and music on the Kindle (and to a lesser degree, Nook, Kobo and other readers ) on a daily basis since 2008.

There are many other blogs that update frequently with free e-books or great e-book deals -  href="http://thefrugalereader.com/">the Frugal eReader, href="http://freecheapreads.tumblr.com/">Free (& Cheap) Reads, href="http://randomizeme.wordpress.com/">RandomizeME,  href="http://www.kindleworld.blogspot.com/">Kindle World, href="http://kindlenationdaily.com/">Kindle Nation Daily, href="http://ilmk.wordpress.com/">I Love My Kindle, href="http://www.freeebookdeal.com/ebook">Free Ebook Deal, and  href="http://dailycheapreads.com/">Daily Cheap Reads. And since we’re on the topic of saving money on e-books, don’t forget you can compare e-book prices in the Kindle, Nook and iBook book stores with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/leatherbound-ebook-price-comparisons-kindle-nook-ibookstore/">Leatherbound.me.

Ways To Send Long Articles To Your Kindle

If you’d like to see how you can read long-form articles from your favorite blogs on your Kindle, there are several options. You can use the feed aggregator service href="http://www.kindlefeeder.com/">KindleFeeder, which delivers 12 of your selected blogs in Kindle-friendly views straight to your device if you have the free, non-premium service.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2011-08-30_094133.png" alt="free kindle sites" width="420" height="553" border="0" />

You can also wirelessly get a selection of weekly articles hand-picked by href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/read-great-longform-articles-kindle-delivereads/">DeliveReads.

To send articles to read later from your computer to your Kindle, you can use the href="http://kindlebility.com/">Kindlebility bookmarklet to prepare and send yourself a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/kindlebility-websites-kindle-friendly/">Kindle-friendly view of an article, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/sendtoreader-web-pages-to-kindle/">SendToReader if you own at least a Wi-Fi Kindle 3 model, or the popular href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/calibre-read-instapaper-ebook-reader/">Instapaper and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/read-web-content-read-free-android-21/">Read It Later.

Lending Clubs

You can enable lending on your Kindle with the tips detailed in href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/loan-kindle-ebooks-amazon-members/">this post, but you’ll possibly encounter more book choices if you join a lending club, such as the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/borrow-kindle-ebooks-kindle-lending-club/">Kindle Lending Club or href="http://lendle.me/">Lendle.

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href="http://www.thekindlechronicles.com/">Podcast: The Kindle Chronicles

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This weekly podcast discusses all things Kindle: news, interviews (with, for instance, href="http://www.thekindlechronicles.com/2011/08/05/tkc-159-dave-limp/">the Kindle VP) tech tips, Amazon announcements, e-book deals, etc. A few interesting topics include how to publish your own e-books, and upcoming Amazon changes, like href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000702481#">the Kindle Textbook Rental program.

Tools

To-Do List: href="http://kindletodo.com/">KindleToDo

The Kindle was never meant to replace your smartphone or agenda, but if you need to quickly scribble down some notes or a few to-do’s, there’s a website that makes this simple.

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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/kindletodo-to-do-list-for-kindle/">KindleToDo is a minimalistic website aimed at Kindle users that want to either create a simple to-do list, note or glance at a monthly calendar. The site will automatically save and load your to-do list or note on your next visit.

Customizable Startpage: href="http://www.bookmonk.com/home/">BookMonk & href="http://kinstant.com/">Kinstant

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As you can see in the screenshot, BookMonk allows you to create a simple startpage for your Kindle web browser from either your computer or on the Kindle itself. If you’re comfortable with the default links, you can navigate to the site from your Kindle and click on a Start Page link, which will prompt you to save the resulting text file with the links in a Start Page folder in your Kindle. Otherwise, use your computer to modify the links.

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Kinstant is another start page website that you don’t actually have to save to your Kindle. You simply navigate to it on your Kindle’s browser and click on the links to a dozen or so Kindle-formatted blogs. You can also add the URLs of your favorite blogs, which will be automatically loaded next time you visit the site.

Want To Be Alerted When Your Favorite Title Becomes Digitized? Check Out href="http://oscurapress.com/mysteria/cgi-bin/mysteria.cgi">Mysteria

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Instead of constantly checking to see if your favorite book, movie or music item is available in digital form, give Mysteria a try. All you have to do is go through a simple signup, create a public wishlist on Amazon and that’s it!

If you know of additional noteworthy Kindle web sites, please let us know in the comments!

Photo credit: href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kodomut/5145997604/in/photostream/" rel="nofollow">kodomut

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/image154.png" alt="" />A while ago I wrote a post about href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-4-websites-find-free-ipad-books/">places to find free books for the  href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ipad/">iPad. In that post, I compared the iPad to designated eReaders and expressed the opinion that it’s not a worthy substitute. Following some comments on the matter I tested the iPad again as a regular vessel for eBooks and was surprised – it does provide quite a good experience.

In my quest I found myself debating which platform I should use for books – Apple’s own href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks/id364709193?mt=8">iBooks, or Amazon’s href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kindle/id302584613?mt=8">Kindle for iPad. True, there are other readers such as href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stanza/id284956128?mt=8">Stanza, but for the purposes of this review I will focus on the former two. So which one is better, iBooks or Kindle for iPad?

iBooks

iBooks is free to download from the app store and is probably one of the first apps one downloads when getting a new iDevice.

This is the basic library view of iBooks. Very graphic and library-like. You really feel like you have books.

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Your library can be searched and the search is live, so the results are updated as you type. You can easily sort your books and delete them to customize your library. It’s all very immediate and convenient.

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If you want to read, you need books. In iBooks, you can simply access a store from the app itself and download loads of free (and paid) books. You can also download ePub and PDF files and upload them via iTunes or even e-mail them to yourself and open them using iBooks.

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Being able to add PDFs is a nice feature (see href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-ipad-tricks/">here how to do it), and you can also sort your library by collection (books, PDFs, whatever else you want).

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As for the reading experience, iBooks tries to imitate a real book – “pages” and all. You turn pages by tapping the appropriate side, but you have to endure a turning page animation every time you do so. Page turning is rather responsive, but it tends to be a bit slow when you just load the app.

These are the default settings iBook comes with. I didn’t find this very appealing:

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After tweaking it a little bit, I got something I could enjoy reading. You can choose between several fonts, two font sizes, turn Sepia on and off and control the brightness. The menu icons are there unless you tap the page in a specific way to make them go away. Generally, I found myself reading with them there more often than not.

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You can easily search within a book (only the one you’re reading) and the results you get are very focused. You don’t get a lot of context with them. You can tap a result to go to that page, and the result will be highlighted.

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While reading, you can long tap on any word. You can then copy it, search for it in a dictionary, highlight it, write a note about it or search for it in the book. The highlight looks very real, almost like a real marker!

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You can also bookmark pages and then access them by tapping the table of contents button and then looking at bookmarks. You will also see your highlights and notes here.

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Kindle For iPad

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kindle/id302584613?mt=8">Kindle for iPad is a free download from the app store. You can use it in addition to a regular Kindle or as a substitute.

The main library is dark and pleasant. It feels very eBookish.

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If you want books, you’d need to register the Kindle with a Kindle account. It will then be synchronized and you’ll get all your books.

You can get more books on Amazon, or download .mobi files. The simplest way to upload these is to e-mail them to yourself. From the Kindle app you can also access your archived items and easily download them to your iPad. I couldn’t find a way to search for books in the library.

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This is the default reading experience. Minimalistic. I love it. As you can see there are no menu icons in sight (they disappear automatically) and no “pages”. Turn pages by tapping the screen lightly. If you want, you can even cancel the annoying page-turn animation. It’s just a white screen with words.

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To make it even better you can play with the settings. You can choose from three types of backgrounds, 6 font sizes and also change the brightness. You can’t change the font, though, so whatever comes, you’re stuck with it.

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Searching within a book is easy and quick and you get a full context for every query. Again, tapping a result will take you to the appropriate page.

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A long tap on a word will give you the option to highlight it, add a note or share on Twitter or Facebook. You will also get an automatic dictionary definition at the bottom of the page.

I wondered what sharing meant, but when I tried it I got a “Sharing not supported” error message. So when is sharing supported?

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If you make a bookmark, highlight or note, you can access them easily by tapping the book icon and going to My Notes & Marks.

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One of the best features in Kindle for iPad: you can read white on black. You can also make the font pretty darn big. This means you can easily read at night in bed without having the light on and disturbing whoever’s sharing your bedroom. Awesome! (check out  href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-ipad-tricks-2/">this post to find out how to do this for iBooks).

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Bottom Line

For getting new books, iBooks has a small advantage – you don’t need an extra account. It’s also slick and easy to use and the library and annotations tools are great. But when it comes to the reading experience, I choose the Kindle hands down. For me, nothing beats the minimalistic feel of seeing nothing but words. And the night reading – the future really is here!

Which do you prefer? Or do you enjoy another reader? Share in the comments!

Image credit: href="http://thumb15.shutterstock.com/thumb_small/59068/59068,1312047506,1/stock-photo-group-of-books-and-teblet-computer-d-model-isolated-on-white-digital-library-concept-81933127.jpg">Shutterstock

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Kindle for PC is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your PC.

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Kindle for PC is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your PC.

View full post on FileHippo.com

Kindle for PC is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your PC.

View full post on FileHippo.com

Kindle for PC is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your PC.

View full post on FileHippo.com

Kindle for PC is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your PC.

View full post on FileHippo.com