I talk about my new favorite iPhone app (best of all, it's free) in Sunday's Savvy Shopper column. (Previous columns here.)
Here's a sneak peak:
I was initially skeptical about those digital book reading devices you may be hearing about lately, such as Amazon.com’s Kindle.
Then I saw its well-lit face. Now, I’m a believer. I’m in love.
Here’s why. If you’re like me, you sometimes like to read in bed.
That’s all fine and dandy. But if your spouse wants to sleep, you know the drill: break out the book light.
Guess what makes the book light irrelevant?
That’s something I realized after downloading Amazon.com’s free Kindle application for the iPhone (also available for the iPod Touch).
Just crawl into bed and rest the iPhone on a pillow or hold it in front of you. The iPhone’s brightly lit screen makes it easy to read the text. (You can also adjust the size of the text if it’s too small.)
Turning the page is a breeze, too. You just make a dragging motion on the screen with your finger.
Here’s something else that sweetens the deal. Books that you download versus buy at the store (aside from used book stores) are cheaper.
New York Times best-sellers and new releases are usually $9.99 at Amazon.com, for example, so you’d save $4 versus, say, buying the hardcover version of Michael Crichton’s “Pirate Latitudes” novel.
It’s also a few bucks cheaper if the book has been out for a while. For example, I just downloaded “Shadow Divers” for $6.39.
The Kindle app just comes with the basics, including remembering the page you were last on and letting you highlight portions of text.
But if you don’t have an iPhone and want more bells and whistles or you’re thinking about a gift for the book lover on your holiday shopping list, Amazon’s Kindle device, for example, is $259.
That price is steep, to be sure.
But it’s apparently well worth it. It has received an average four out of five stars based on more than 8,000 customer reviews at Amazon.com.
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