I'm hoping someone that's used one can give me some information. I've always taken my Rick Steves guidebooks to Europe with me, often after tearing the needed pages out, and stapling them together.
I'm very intrigued about getting a Kindle and buying the guidebooks that way- no ripped out pages, no multiple guidebook segments, no one person reading the background information on the art while the other is looking at it!
I'm wondering how well the "read it to me" function works. Also (a real biggie) is how legible are the maps, and are they functional in this format?
This could be a real space saver and benefit (if it works). Thanks to anyone who's 'done it' and can give me solid information!
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9369 posts
My only concern would be not being able to circle/highlight things and make notes in the margins. When Kindle works that out, I'd be interested.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11647 posts
You can highlight things you want to reference AND make little notes to go along with the highlights. I just bought a Kindle for travel and look forward to reducing my baggage weight from all the books I would have taken! It is not great with maps printed in the books, but I use bigger, better maps anyway.
Posted by
PNW
194 posts
I have RS Venice and RS Florence & Tuscany on my 6" Kindle for our upcoming trip. Some maps are in sections on different "pages" and other maps (hill towns) are on one "page," but very tiny. I'm not sure about the 9.7" version, but I didn't want something bigger than a paperback. I know that I'll be printing hard copies of better maps. I usually make my own guidebook, but it ends up being very thick and heavy. My Kindle will cut down on a lot of the bulk and weight, because I like to do my own research and I'm able to put my personal documents on my Kindle. The other negative thing is that I love to thumb through my RS guidebooks, which is not possible on the Kindle. You have to go to the table of contents to find what you want or move the controller to change chapters. It will be nice, however, not to have to take a bunch of different guidebooks. (I've taken my Kindle on a trip to California and it worked well. I'm sure Italy will be no different.) Not to mention that I can take a bunch of books that might be of interest about the areas that I'm visiting.
Posted by
Boston
12 posts
I have a Kindle app. on my Ipod Touch and got Rick's "London 2010" and "Snapshot French Rivera". I used both in my recent trip- found that it was very good not to have any bulky papers with me. You can "bookmark" sections that you need to refer to often, such as transportation section, for example or "Day At A Glance". Can always find things if you go back to the table of contents. It is easy to read but you need to get used to it. I didn't like maps there (on my ipod touch screen they were tiny but I don't have an actual Kindle book). You should try to buy one guide book to see if you like it- some "snapshots" guides of cities are cheap.
I didn't have "read it to me" function on ipod.
Next time I will also fotocopy Rick's maps from his actual books to bring along.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
524 posts
I have a Kindle and will not use it as my only guidebook. Might not use it as a guidebook at all. Kindle is great at one thing: Reading books from the front cover to the back. Guidebooks are not set up that way. You should plan on still taking some guidebooks (or tear-out portions thereof) as well as maps.
There was a recent article in (I think) the NYTimes. Guidebook writers are going to start publishing their books in e-reader friendly versions. But they're going to focus initially on the IPad. We Kindle (or Nook or Sony Reader) owners may have to wait a few years.
Posted by
OP
Denver, CO, USA
135 posts
I appreciate the feedback from folks that actually own and use Kindles- sounds like the technology is not quite there yet.
Thank you all!
Tony
Posted by
Phoenix, AZ
199 posts
I have a kindle, but I have not used it for a guidebook yet. The "read it to me" function is awful and not on every book. Sounds very robotic and runs one sentence into the next.
Posted by
Phoenix, AZ
199 posts
I just wanted to throw one more thing for you to consider. Though I never had a problem with my kindle, you may what to think what you would do if you used as your only guide and something happened to it. If the screen broke, runs out of battery etc...
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
7613 posts
I am planning on doing both on my upcoming trip. I've downloaded RS Snapshot Munich and Bavaria GB, and I have also downloaded some PDF guides I found online. However, since I am traveling to multiple destinations, I'm bring a couple of other smaller guidebooks as well.
I realize the limitations of the Kindle with respect to taking notes, thumbing through, etc., but I figure that a small notebook will suffice to take any notes I need.
I'm also traveling with my iPod Touch. The advantage of that is that I can use Dropbox to store PDF guides, notes and itinaries and pull them up whenever I want. I LOVE Dropbox - I highly recommend it for anyone who wants portable info.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
7901 posts
Based on how I use guidebooks and experience with both netbooks and an IPod Touch, I would think that the kindle would be great to reduce weight an give you access to a large library of guidebooks.
Where it might fall short is on the go referencing, using a map, pulling out a guidebook for a quick reference or "What is that?" moment. Also, while not much experience with a Kindle, I find electronic media poor for "browsing" or flipping quickly through a book to scan for something. Yes, a search function is nice, but often the eyes are faster and more discriminating than an electronic search.
Overall, I think my dilemma would be: Is a kindle enough? or do I simply use a netbook, avoiding the addition of a Kindle, and keeping my Touch.