I have always been sceptical about e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle. When I received one recently as a present I looked upon it wearily, I was more comfortable with holding a physical book in my hand and nothing beats the smell of a brand new novel. However the Amazon Kindle has banished any preconceived ideas I had about e-readers and it truly has transformed the way I read and shop for books.

For students like myself the Kindle is the ultimate aid, especially for subjects which require a lot of reading. Given my particular studies I have to read a lot of old texts (Shakespeare and the like) and usually I would have to buy all the plays, taking up a lot of room and more importantly money. While the initial cost of the standard Kindle, at £89/$139, may seem quite a lot, many books can be downloaded for free and so you soon make back the money you lost on the initial expenditure. Similarly, books can be downloaded almost instantly and if you are unsure about a particular book then (on most) you can download the first few chapters to see if you like it. The Kindle does away with all the issues that books pose- they deteriorate and are heavy and awkward to travel with. The Kindle is light weight, less than 170 grams, and is about the size of a smallish book and at 8.7mm thick it is very portable. Another ideal feature of the Kindle, especially if you are taking it somewhere bright,  is that its “E-Ink” screen doesn’t reflect light like most screens do meaning you can read in almost all conditions.

However the Kindle cannot replicate that feeling of holding a real book and although having a cover(which I recommend you purchase) makes it seem a bit more familiar it is just not the same. However given its vast capacity, up to 1400 books from an available library of over 1 million, and extensive battery life, which can last up to a month, its pros outweigh the cons. For those of you who travel often, perhaps can’t splash out on books as much they would like to or purely love to read all the time then I wholly recommend that you pick up a Kindle.

Related articles

• Amazon Kindle introduces parental controls(telegraph.co.uk)

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• Rumor: Amazon to cut Kindle Fire price by $50(neowin.net)

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