kindle questions

[MichelleB]

Can I categorize books? For example, a category for my husband's and a category for mine? This would allow us to have various books on one unit for both of us.

My DH's boss told him a drawback to the kindle is that it only works if you have an internet signal. What about when you fly? Does this not work then? I suspect he didn't know what he was talking about because I'd think that once you download a book to the kindle, it's available to read anywhere. Is this correct?

 

[bumbershoot]

At this time there is no way to categorize books on the Kindle. Very very annoying. And they know it (hubby works in the department...trust me, they know it).

The Kindle comes with its own internet access through the 3G network. You turn on the wireless, download books, then turn it off and read to your heart's content. Turn it off b/c without the wireless on, your battery can last a week even reading every evening and while you exercise (OK that's my experience). You don't want to waste that battery life by keeping the wireless on when you don't need it on.

When flying, after they say you can use electronic devices, you can use it *without* the "radio" (as hubby just called it, but he doesn't mean radio-radio, he means, in my words, the wireless...which, it just occured to me used to be a word for radio, hmm...) to read. Of course you'll want to make sure books are downloaded onto it already.

 

[MichelleB]

Do you know if it will "bookmark" more than one book? Say I read and mark my place and then my husband reads and marks his. Will it keep both?

 

[Ephany]

We bought my kindle first, so DH is on my account. When the book is purchased, you can select which device to send it to from a drop down menu. You can also go into your 'manage my kindle' page and tell it to send the book to another device. This is nifty because although we read some of the same authors, it's not all the time. If he's in my amazon account, he'll have the book sent to his device, or I'll have it sent to mine unless one of us is buying a book for the other.

There's also a link at the bottom of that page that says 'manage synchronization between devices'. You can have the synchronization on or off. If it's on and you're reading the same book, it'll ask you on your kindle if you want to go to the furthest page read if another device is farther along than you are. You can select yes or no depending on what you want to do. If you turn synchronization off, than it doesn't even ask. It's a neat little feature, I used to have our off, but now that I have an itouch, I leave it on so if I don't have my kindle I can still read my book on my itouch.

Edit: I realized that I totally misread your question, sorry. As far as I know, there's no easy way like folders to manage a kindle so you can have categories like that. Hopefully someday. Oh, and even if you don't have whispernet available you can still download the book to your computer and transfer it to the kindle using a USB cord, it's pretty easy to do.

 

[labdogs42]

Do you know if it will "bookmark" more than one book? Say I read and mark my place and then my husband reads and marks his. Will it keep both?

Yes, it will keep the page in every book. Just don't try to read the same book as your DH, that will mess you up!

 

[MrsPete]

Can I categorize books? For example, a category for my husband's and a category for mine? This would allow us to have various books on one unit for both of us.

You have two options for categorizing: You can make your books alphabetical by author or alphabetical by title. You cannot have a category for each family member, nor can you divide your titles into "Mysteries, Classics, Romance". This is a drawback.

My DH's boss told him a drawback to the kindle is that it only works if you have an internet signal. What about when you fly? Does this not work then? I suspect he didn't know what he was talking about because I'd think that once you download a book to the kindle, it's available to read anywhere. Is this correct?

Yes and no. You can only BUY books when you have an internet signal; however, once the books are purchased, you turn off the internet and you can read anything that's already on your Kindle. You really must turn the internet off when you're not actively buying books; with the internet on my Kindle battery lasts 3-4 days -- with the internet off, it lasts over 2 weeks. You don't want to recharge constantly.

Analogies: You need a computer to upload music to your iPod, but once it's there, you can take your iPod anywhere you please.

Recently we vacationed to some very remote spots, and we didn't have internet service. I read my Kindle every single day -- regardless of internet service.

 

[staticgirl50]

http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,1769.0.html
I just had a bunch of questions too. Someone gave me this link-- great site!