Any Kindle owners interested in joining/starting a TechExams lending library?

I know there are a few Kindle owners on here. I've only had mine since March, and most of the certs I've been working on this year didn't have any Kindle materials, but having been able to use the text to speech function to chew threw the CISSP All-In-One over the course of a couple weeks on my commute to work, I swear by it now. I can't see myself ever buying a bound certification study guide again.

So, there's also the fact that you can lend books out to other Kindle owners.That got me to thinking, among all the Kindle owners here, we could probably get a pretty good selection of books and lend them out to each other as needed.

Is anyone interested in contributing to this effort?

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Comments

ConradJ

I'm very seriously considering a Kindle. I would definitely be interested in this if it took off! Good plan, Batman.

whatthehell

I have a Kindle DX I just got a couple months ago -- totally love it! Keep me posted on this -- I would be interested in doing something like this

Devilry

How do you like the Kindle DX for PDFs? I have the basic wifi model and its impossible to read any technical books.

I am interested in joining this group, let me know what we need to do.

erpadmin

I would do it. I have popular TE books that I know would want to get borrowed.

Darril Gibson's SY0-201 book (which can be used for the SY0-301),

Sybex PK0-003 guide

and others...like Mastering Windows Server 2008 R2.

ConradJ

You just answered my questions, Devilry. I have a bunch of PDFs that I wanted to read on an e-reader, but if they don't go across well to a Kindle I guess I will have to re-think.

erpadmin

The Kindle is not a PDF reader/tablet. It's an e-reader. The PDF functionality on the Kindle 2 is bad, but I didn't buy a Kindle to read PDFs (actually, I didn't buy it at all....vendor swag!

)

I will be scouring the internet for a good tablet deal though. It's high time I got one now but I know the holiday season will get me a great deal.

jmritenour

All right, I looked at the logistics a little more, and one big monkey wrench I've found is that lending has to be enabled by the publisher, and I have yet to find a single tech book I own, or am planning on getting soon, that has it enabled. Now, this is a relatively new functionality, so it might be a while before it's adopted by publishers. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

So, do we want to keep going with this now, or table it for the time being and see if it's been more widely adopted in another few months?

Claymoore

I checked my Kindle DX library and the only book I have that supports lending is
Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V: Insiders Guide to Microsoft's Hypervisor

Besides the publisher having to allow lending, there are some other restrictions on how many books you can lend/borrow at a time and how long you can have them out. I am an Amazon Prime Member, but I haven't dug in to the free lending library that Amazon recently announced to look for tech books.

I have had my DX for a couple of years, I really like it and will keep it around as my primary eReader even after my Kindle Fire is delivered next week.

demonfurbie

erpadmin wrote: »

The Kindle is not a PDF reader/tablet. It's an e-reader. The PDF functionality on the Kindle 2 is bad, but I didn't buy a Kindle to read PDFs (actually, I didn't buy it at all....vendor swag! )

I will be scouring the internet for a good tablet deal though. It's high time I got one now but I know the holiday season will get me a great deal.

i came to the same realization when i looked at replacing the screen on my netbook.

i think im gonna save up for the new transformer

erpadmin

I'm looking at the iconia, transformer and any other tablet that's cheap. This isn't for me, but for wifey. I'm taking the one laptop we have in the house with me to Atlanta so that I can (potentially) do school work when I start grad school in January (registration opens next week). She's gonna need something and it's gonna be either an Android tablet or a decent, non-s--tty laptop for inexpensive price. I pray that Black Friday is good this year for that. That $99 HP touchpad would have been just what I was looking for.....lmao.

demonfurbie

look at this one

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005MED31W/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

it has really good reviews for the price

veritas_libertas

My wife has been hinting that I will receive one for Christmas.

Devilry

erpadmin wrote: »

I'm looking at the iconia, transformer and any other tablet that's cheap. This isn't for me, but for wifey. I'm taking the one laptop we have in the house with me to Atlanta so that I can (potentially) do school work when I start grad school in January (registration opens next week). She's gonna need something and it's gonna be either an Android tablet or a decent, non-s--tty laptop for inexpensive price. I pray that Black Friday is good this year for that. That $99 HP touchpad would have been just what I was looking for.....lmao.

Look into the Vizio tablets, I heard they dropped bigtime in price. Where did you decide for grad school?

odysseyelite

Anyone use the text to speech apps with android? I usually like getting the physical book for at home and sometimes they come with a pdf version. Now that I have a 50 minute commute I am thinking about a e-reader or trying to use the pdf to speech app for my droid to listen to my books in the car.

erpadmin

demonfurbie wrote: »

look at this one

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005MED31W/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

it has really good reviews for the price

I got this bookmarked. This is EXACTLY what I'm looking for, but I have to wait the Black Friday season to see if I can get better price on this OR something comparable. However, this is everything she needs. I will no doubt have to upgrade my 802.11g router to an N finally....I have my PS3, laptop, PSP (hers), sometimes both of our phones, and now this thing....yeah....my 7-10 year old router is probably due.

Devilry wrote: »

Look into the Vizio tablets, I heard they dropped bigtime in price. Where did you decide for grad school?

I saw one tablet that was nowhere near the specs of the one DemonFurbie sent me and it was only $30 cheaper on Amazon....lmao. I'll keep looking though.

I register for NJIT next week. I'm going for a graduate certificate first before I formally matriculate/apply. Lets me get my feet wet without worrying about GREs and such. (I want to do the GREs in the spring/summer.)

whatthehell

Devilry wrote: »

How do you like the Kindle DX for PDFs? I have the basic wifi model and its impossible to read any technical books.

I am interested in joining this group, let me know what we need to do.

IMHO the Kindle DX rocks for PDFs and tech books. Screen is nice and large, easy on the eyes, and the battery life (with internet connection turned off) is ridiculously long. Highly recommended IMHO.

Whiteout

Great idea, it is legal though right?

erpadmin

Guys, newegg is running a promotion for the 16GB Toshiba Thrive going for $299. Since one of my friends had gotten his from groupon for the same price, I figured I better jump on that.

Free shipping too...but of course, with newegg I have to pay tax....(NJ, TN and California.) You guys will have much better deal for sure....

EDIT: Thrive, as expected, sold out. Feels nice that I got in on a good deal.

My next project related to this will be to root her android phone so she can wifi-tether for free. [This ought to be fun...]

She has a cheap phone that's still stuck on Eclair (Samsung Continuum). So I'm not worried about voiding warranty/bricking it.

universalfrost

I have a kindle (got it free with some preplogic cert kit promo this summer), but don't use it much. I have a netbook and a Samsung Tab 7" tablet that get most of the use.

I do have the Server+ book by Lao and an ITIL v3 foundations book that I could lend out (I don't know how to use this feature so I would have to be shown how).

Anyway, count me in.

Bokeh

This sounds interesting, when the details get worked out, let me know.

Devilsbane

I'd be in, but I have yet to buy a Kindle. I'm still liking the DX the best, but I don't think I can justify the $400 for an ebook reader.

Anyone had the opportunity to test a Kindle Fire yet?

Whiteout

Haven't tested out the Fire yet. Mine should of shipped from amazon today though. Probably dumb to buy it without actualy trying it for myself, but oh well.

Mike-Mike

I would be in with my wifey's Kindle

Devilsbane

Got the Fire now, you could count me in. (although I don't own any books yet)

jmritenour

Sorry for not checking in more frequently since I started this - I guess let's post what books we have that are lendable for now so we can get started.

Amazon's help page for lending & determining if a book is lendable. Amazon.com Help: Lending Kindle Books

Personally, I've got nothing tech related that can be lent at the moment. :-\

Devilsbane

Are you limited to the number of times you can loan out a book? My aunt has a nook and she says that you are only able to loan out a book once. I didn't see anywhere on that page where Amazon speaks of limiting you.

jmritenour

I know you can only have it lent out once at any given time, but as far as I know, there's no limit to the number of times you can lend an item out.

themagicone

I'm not implying anything but... there is a way lend ANY e-book. Google be your friend.

Joshsevo

I would be as well.

onesaint

I won a Kindle Fire at my company's Christmas party. You can count me in for lending. How are we going to go about lending?