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Kindle DX: Amazon's 9.7" Wireless Reading Device

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Great tool for readers and lawyers

Jul 13, 2010

by LoneStarGazer

Rating:

I finally succumbed and bought the new Kindle DX a couple of weeks ago. The primary reason I bought it (at least at first) was to read law books and Continuing Legal Education materials.

First of all, mine is a dream to use, and the legibility is great. It is better than any book I've ever known. I have not tried the competitive devices . . . and thought about the color issues, but trust me, the black on this screen is black and the grayscale renderings of drawing are very useful and easy to zoom in on.

Most legal materials from courses I attend are available as PDF files now, and transferring them from my computer to the Kindle is a snap. For some reason, not all of them are equally legible in the "device width" format, but zooming in on them solves any problem. If you are going to a conference to review an agreement or a document in process, it is so much easier and less obtrusive to take the Kindle than a laptop. The DX fits easily into my smallest folio, and has a much more legible screen (for reading text) than do most small laptops or netbooks.

What the Kindle allows me to do is to read and annotate any PDF File or even a Microsoft Word file a colleague sends me, and it is so much easier to carry with me anywhere than a laptop. Otherwise, it is lighter in weight than most books I read, and I really enjoy reading it in bed in the evenings. The beauty of the Kindle is that it is superbly legible in full sunlight or anywhere else, provided there is an external light source. I have an excellent add-on LED light which comes from M-Edge, as did my attractive leather cover for the DX.

If you turn off the "whispernet" download interface, you can read vigorously for at least several days with the Kindle. I like the key controls and they allow you to zoom in and out of text, which can be useful when you get tired. You can easily organize your library into collections, which are especially useful for organizing substantial material in the form of user files you put on your Kindle. Did I say that if you email yourself (at your Kindle's email address) an unprotected file, they will format it into a Kindle file for a small charge. That is really helpful for reading depositions, as a Kindle file does have some readibility choices (including read aloud) that unconverted files do not have.

My Kindle also has picked up my Audiobooks, but I have not found time to listen to any on it yet. Amazon has amassed a huge collection of books, including classics which are either free or virtually free, so I have populated part of my collections for Law or Reference with items like the Constitution, Blackstone, Shakespeare, and other literary sources I quote occasionally in briefs or in Court.

If you encounter an unfamiliar word, you have immediate (and non-interrupting) access to a useful dictionary.

Of course, reading new books on Kindle is a delight, and it sometimes helps me to bookmark a place in a legal document, take a break and laugh at The Onion or read the news. Newspapers are particularly enjoyable to read, but you'll find you can subscribe to a lot of useful periodicals.

I would have to say I am still learning some of the powerful features the Kindle has which make it particularly useful for attorneys, but it is a superb tool which can only enhance your enjoyment of reading for pleasure or reading professionally. No longer will you have to climb into bed with a heavy tablet or unweildy notebook computer. Of course, you can read your Kindle files on your PC or notebook now, which can be handy at the office.

In closing, I have owned many gadgets, some of which have lived up to their hype and made my life more pleasing or me more productive. Rarely does something come along which excels in both arenas like this.

Now, if Microsoft and Ebook would only make their ebook offerings accessible on Kindle, I would have all of my libraries in one place (except for the several hundreds of real books we own).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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Quick Tip by Alonsh. January 14, 2010

A Quick Tip by Alonsh

Nice site

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About the reviewer

LoneStarGazer
Ranked #1259

Ilive in a small town in East Texas, where I'm happily married, work in a intereting job, but still try to find time to indulge passions for cooking and dining, music, the arts, and reading. I mix and … more