Amazon Kindle - Top 10 Things you Need to Know

James Kara Murat asked:

If you have just heard about the entire latest buzz surrounding the e-book reader Kindle from Amazon, you need to know more. Here are the top 10 aspects about Kindle almost everyone needs to know!

i. MP3 playing

The Kindle device from Amazon has the amazing ability to play all the MP3 songs which you would have downloaded into the internal storage mechanism. Capacities of the internal storage are around 180 MB in space. You could also store these MP3 songs in the allocated SD card slot. You can play the songs in random shuffle and choose to listen to songs in the background while you read the e-book!

ii. DRM support

The Kindle comes with DRM support by means of support for file types of extensions .AZW. It also is compatible with Mobipocket books of the unprotected varieties. Therefore file types like .MOBI, .TXT, .PRC, Word as well as .HTML are all supported by the Kindle. You can transfer files via USB or via email. No more need to print!

iii. Kindle Now Now

This is a new feature introduced by Kindle which enables a powerful search mechanism. By means of a query mechanism you can search for almost anything you wish for absolutely free of cost! This search facility is powered with the help of Mechanical Turn from Amazon which is a distributed system of work.

iv. Blog subscription

You can avail blog subscriptions by paying a meager 2 dollars every month! Besides this, you also get access to a 14 day trial period. For no additional cost, you get to browse the blogs directly via the ‘Basic Web’ which is a browser provided for free. You only pay for access to the RSS feeds but not for surfing the web.

v. Font types supported

Kindle primarily supports two kinds of fonts namely the Neue Helvetica and the Caecilia. These are provided by Linotype. Book texts are all provided in the default Caecilia font. However, other than reading, you can select from 6 font types.

vi. Ergonomics

While the Kindle may not have great aesthetics what with a no-so-great looking color, the shape of the device is very ergonomically designed.

vii. No scroll keys

If you wish to navigate to the next page or further below, there are no scroll down keys provided in the Kindle. To move across content or even scrolling on the web pages you will need to use the page forward keys and the back button for this.

viii. Audible e-books

You can use the Kindle from Amazon to play out audible e-books. However the ‘whispernet’ service provided by means of the EVDO internet connection does not support downloads of such audible e-books on air. You will need to leverage the Audible Manager for downloading and subsequently copy the file to Kindle via USB port on the PC. This eliminates the need for printing altogether.

ix. Text file download

Kindle allows you to easily download text files for future use. All it takes is just 45 seconds to download even massive text files!

x. Files not supported

The Kindle does not ensure compatibility with Mobipocket files which have been DRMed. Also the Kindle will not support PDF file types – not even after you convert the file!