Audio books are becoming more and more popular as their availability is increasing along with consumers demand of easily consumable literature. Both the Kindle 2 and the Kindle DX have sound playback capabilities, which gives these E-Readers the capability to play audio books easily.

“This feature makes the Kindle into more of an “all-in-one” device for people serious about reading.”

There are several ways to download audio books from the internet. More often than not, you will need to purchase the audio book before you can download it. There are free audio books available for download on the internet, these books will be older works that have been released as public domain.

The best source of audio books is considered to be Audible.com. They offer by far the largest selection of audio books and the most options as far as payment goes. They currently offer over 60,000 titles available for download.  You are given the option to either purchase the audio books and an option for a membership based subscription. If you purchase the audio books without a membership the audio books usually costs close to what the hardcover version would cost, sometimes more and sometimes less. This is common among audio book sellers.

If you plan on purchasing a few audio books within the year, the membership option is by far the more economical one. Here are the 2 pricing plans available. As you can see, with a membership the most an audio book will cost you is $14.95. With the Platinum Plus plan each audio books will cost you $11.48. If you sign up for the Gold Plan you can get audio books for just $7.49 for the first 3 months.

Here is an example pricing for different versions

Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist

Hardcover Version	$16.55
Kindle Version	$9.99
Audible Version	$20.99 (w/o membership)

My Remarkable Journey

Hardcover Version	$18.45
Kindle Version	$9.99
Audible Version	$24.47 (w/o membership)

Playing Audiobooks on your Kindle

Now that you have a couple audio books downloaded to your computer, it’s time to get them onto your Kindle and start listening. Because of the file size of an audio book, it doesn’t work to email the file to your Kindle email address and grab the file from there using Whispernet. You need to download the book onto your computer and upload it manually onto your Kindle. Don’t worry, it’s easy.

Once you have downloaded the audio book onto your computer you will need to connect the Kindle to your computer using a USB transfer cable. Make sure your Kindle is powered on. You will see an additional drive under “My Computer” that is for the Kindle, most often times this will be “Drive (F:)”. Navigate to the “Music” folder within your Kindle device and drag or copy the audio books file into that folder. Make sure the transfer is complete before disconnecting your Kindle.

To play the audio book you will see it show up along all of your other content, along newspapers, books, blogs etc. You will just see a speaker icon next to it.

Once playing you have some controls. You can either go forward or backward by 30 second intervals. Or skip forward or backwards by chapters.

Software

There are a few options for software programs you can use to manage your Audible downloads, playback, and library organization. Audible.com has its own proprietary software called the Audible Download Manager. This is the best way to download and organize Audible files, other than iTunes.

iTunes works very well to download, organize and play any Audible files.

Sound Quality

There are 4 different quality types available for download of audiobooks from Audible.com. These qualities range from poor to excellent. The Kindle 1 is able to play formats 2, 3, and 4, not the Enhanced Audio format. The Kindle 2 and DX is able to play only the quality level 4 and enhanced Audio format.

Check out Audible.com for available titles

Even after you have reached your destination the Kindle is nice to have around. You won’t need to lug around a couple books and magazines just in case you find yourself without anything to do, or just get the urge to do some reading. All you need is one thing, the Kindle.

With airport security these days, sometimes passengers aren’t quite sure whether or not their electronic device will make it through security safely or even if they will be allowed to use it once the air plane is at cruising altitude.

The general rule of thumb is: Anything that is capable of transmitting a signal must be turned off during flight, or have the transmit function disabled.

Blackberries quickly added the feature allow users to disable the transmit feature on them so that they could still go through saved emails look at documents and do whatever else.

The Amazon Kindle also has a feature to disable the Whispernet function, so that you will no longer be transmitting a signal. Therefore once the Whispernet function is disabled, you are allowed to read your Kindle during flight.

Going Through Airport Security with Your Kindle

The general rule of thumb with getting your Kindle through the airport security check is to treat it like a laptop. It is recommended that you turn it off and place it in it’s separate bin or along with your laptop.

People have said that they kept their Kindle inside their carryon or backpack and have gotten through fine, if it is a hassle to take it out go for it. I’m all for getting through that check point with no troubles though and the airport security may ask you to take it out or do it for you. Slowing the entire line down.

The data on your Kindle should be fine, there is no reason to worry about loosing your books or settings.

The reason the huge changed in maps occurred between January 19, 2008 and February 26, 2009 was that the Kindle 2 was released. Once the Kindle 2 was released Amazon worked very hard with Sprint to extend coverage to much more of the United States.

Theoretically, the Kindle 1 and the Kindle 2 should have very similar ranges. Notice even in the past 3 months the differences between the February 26, 2009 map and the June 3, 2009 map.  It looks like the coverage areas are continuing to improve both for the higher speed EVDO and for reaching areas previously unreachable even by using a low speed uplink.

Click Here to View the Whispernet Coverage Map from Sprint

January 19, 2008

February 26, 2009

June 3, 2009

The new Amazon Kindle Reader is starting to make sense more and more as people are beginning to realize how it can change their lives. Like all new technologies, it takes some time for people to realize the true potential for its uses. The Amazon Kindle Reader is no exception.

Initially debuting with mediocre reviews, mostly concerning the high price tag and seemingly low amount of features, made many poor first impressions among the general public.

Any time a new device hits the market consumers spew a barrage of questions.  For example:

How will this device make my life better?

In this article, I will attempt to rebut one of the most common debatable arguments about purchasing an Amazon Kindle Reader. That argument being that the Kindle is priced too high for what you get, and along with that you pay for books, newspapers, and even blogs.

The Kindle is currently priced at $399 US. On top of that any content must be purchased. After you purchase your book, magazine subscription, newspaper subscription, or blog, that content is delivered to your Kindle via Amazon’s free Whispernet service.

Here is a breakdown of The Economics of the Amazon Kindle Reader – aka Kindlenomics

Cost: I would imagine that many people thinking about purchasing a Kindle already have a penchant for reading. I currently own 162 books (last count). Thankfully, I do not keep track of how much I spent on those books, but lets make a guess:

• Hard Copy - 162 Books X $20 (avg) = $3,240
• Kindle - 162 Books X $10 (avg) = $1,620

Space: Now let’s factor in approximately what cost or disadvantages it is causing me by keeping hard copies of books, versus digital copies. I’m not going to factor in the cost for those bookshelves, as if they weren’t there some kind of art would be. What I am getting at here is that space that it takes in my house. It is a lot. Also, I cannot count the amount of books, blogs, writers, and professionals who swear by benefits of reducing clutter in your house.

• Hard Copy - 162 Books = 3 Large Book Shelves
• Kindle - 7.5″ x 5.3″ x 0.7″ = 1 Note Book

Weight: I move a lot, some people do not. However, I would bet that most people move at least a couple times in their lives, and when done so, books are one of the most dreaded things to move en mass. Professional movers dread them, boxes hate them, water loves them, and the moving damages them. Moving books is just plain no good.

• Hard Copy - 162 Books X 1 pound (avg) 162 pounds
• Kindle - 10.3 ounces

Back Ache: One great benefit I see for the Kindle Reader is to be used more in the classroom. How many of you can remember your college days where 1 backpack was enough for 2 maybe 3 classes. Educational textbooks are huge, heavy, and insanely expensive. I imagine the day where students textbooks are all in digital format.

• Hard Copy - 5 College Classes X 1.5 Books Each X 5 pounds (avg/book) X 5 Days a Week X 180 School Days per Year = 33,750 pounds on your back per school year
• Kindle - 10.3 ounces X 5 Days a Week X 180 School Days per Year = 579 pounds of Kindle on your back per school year

Benefits: It is probably pretty obvious that because the Kindle is an electronic device, that it is many ways unlike a real book. So what does that mean? It means that the Kindle is not actually just a book, but a multi-capable device. Yes, books are capable of doing things that just being read like hammer nails or crush bugs, but I won’t pay extra for those features.

• Hard Copy - A tangible copy of literature with the possibility of withstanding Earth’s elements for a couple centuries.
• Kindle - GPS Positioning, Google Maps, Very Portable, Picture Viewer, Minesweeper, and the cool possibility of having a whole library at your fingertips while waiting for a flight in JFK.

Total Savings

• Cost – Half the Cost for Books
• Space – Very Small Percentage of Space
• Weight – 161 pounds
• Back Ache – 33,171 less pounds on your back per school year
• Benefits – Does way more than a book can

Kindleing – verb - The action of a person reading a book on a Kindle Reader.

"Francis was Kindleing while on the train this morning."

So it is not exactly official, I have yet to see Webster officially recognize the word "Kindleing", however I believe that they will soon think about it.

More and more I am hearing mention of the Kindle among friends and co-workers. I have witnessed on several occasions people toting their Kindle around or reading through some Kindle pages while in public. They are what I refer to as "Kindlers", people who are using the Kindle Reader. There is another one for you Webster.

Here is a link so that we can all submit this definition to Webster for inclusion on their dictionary. Include Kindleing

Ask any reader what the most memorable books they have ever read were, and often times the answer will be a book that was written many scores ago. These old classics that I have in mind are huge volumes with eccentric points of views and mystical tales of the mind.

I thought about it for a while, and came up with 3 books that I consider to be in my favorites list that are also available in the public domain.

Here they are:

1 – Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

• Published in 1615
• Paperback version is 992 pages
• Newest translation is by Edith Grossman

“Having lost his understanding, Don Quixote throws himself into the romantic adventure of knight-errantry. He prepares himself for his adventure by gathering: Sancho Panza, a squire (formerly his neighbor); Rozinante, a trusty steed (a worn-out horse); and Dulcinea de Tobosa, his lady (a poor girl, who doesn’t even know Don Quixote exists).” from an About.com review

Download the Kindle version

View the Paperback version on Amazon

2 – The Art of War by Sun Tzu

• Written in the 6th century A.D.
• Paperback version is 80 pages
• Newest translation by Lionel Giles

“A Washington Post best-seller “Absorb this book, and you can throw out all those contemporary books about management leadership.”— Newsweek “A breast-pocket favorite of many commanders and U.S. Marines.”— Christian Science Monitor “The Art of War soon could join Machiavelli’s The Prince as required reading in the executive suite.”— USA Today“

Download the Kindle Version

View the Paperback version on Amazon

3 – The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

• Written in the early 14th century A.D.
• Paperback version is 928 pages
• Newest translation by John Ciardi

“Dante Alighieri’s poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise-the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.“

Download the Kindle Version

View the Paperback version on Amazon

Additional Resources

• Review of Don Quixote
• The Divine Comedy on WikiPedia

This is something that really startled me. I personally love to read magazines. I think it would be really cool if I could get all my magazine subscriptions to be sent to my Kindle. Instead of having stacks of magazines laying around my house that I hate to throw away, I could have them all in digital form sent and saved to my Kindle. However, there are currently only 8 magazines available for the Kindle, yes, just 8.

Maybe this is because the Kindle is so new, or maybe because magazine publishers are not wanting to adapt to the Kindle digital format. However, compared to the number of publications in the other categories, magazines are really behind the 8 ball on this one.

Here are the number of available publications for each category:

• Books – 95,778
• Newspapers – 13
• Blogs – 310
• Magazines – 8

Amazon has generally been marketing the Kindle as a book reader. Evidentially book publishers have no qualms about selling books digitally. The number of books available is huge.

The amount of newspapers I feel is also quite low. Granted, I am not one to want to read multiple newspapers as they all have much of the same content and many of the articles are locally related. I stick with the New York Times and I am a happy camper.

Blogs I am sure are easy to convert to the Kindle format, as they are just a reformatted RSS feed. More blogs in the future would be great, however there would be a potential for a lot of information clutter. I believe it would be easier just to have the blogs I like to read sent to an RSS reader on my computer.

So what is the problem with having a decent selection of magazines for the Kindle?

I am not quite sure. So far my theory is that magazine publishers are reluctant to adopt to the device. What do you think?