Is reading on a kindle the same as reading a book?

Don't get a Kindle Fire. I'll address that in a moment.

Reading an e-reader doesn't have quite the same feel as reading a paper book, but for the black-and-white readers, it's pretty close. What you may initially miss about turning pages is greatly outweighed by cheaper book prices, nice feautres like searches, on-the-fly word definition lookups, automatic bookmarking, making highlights and margin notes without having to actually mark up a book, and being able to carry your whole library around in your purse. It may take you a day or two to get used to, but you will absolutely love having an e-reader.

Now the bit about the Kindle Fire. The KF, and other full-color e-readers, aren't like reading a book at all--they're like reading a laptop. That may be tolerable to you. However, a full-color screen has all of the problems of a laptop: it washes out in bright light (especially sunlight), and it drains the battery pretty quickly. The black-and-white e-readers read almost like a paper book. The screen is polarized, which means that once an image is displayed on it (like a page in a book), it requires no more power to display the image. You can look at the same illustration or page for 30 minutes and it won't drain the battery any more than just flipping past the page would have.

I understand why you're attracted to the Kindle Fire. A full color screen, fully touch sensitive, with the capability to play music, download apps, play games, and watch video. That's pretty tempting. However, Kindle products use their own OS, so game and app choices are going to be limited. Also, Kindle products use a proprietary Kindle e-book format, so the hundreds of thousands of titles in e-PUB and PDF formats, many of which are free, are inaccessible to a Kindle. Many of these books will have Kindle editions available, but not all.

If you want a full-color device, an Android tablet or an iPad is a much better way to go. Both platforms offer free applications to view e-books both for the Kindle and for other e-readers, so no title is out of reach for you. The screen and battery life will be similar, and when reading e-books, you won't notice the difference between the tablet and the KF. Your access to games and apps will be a thousand times what it would be on the Kindle platform, also. If you choose one of these, I recommend you demo both an iPad and an Android tablet. Personally, I prefer Android for a few reasons, but both platforms are excellent.

However, if the device is primarily for reading e-books, I HIGHLY recommend you get a black-and-white e-reader. Again, the B/W Kindle will let you read only Kindle format e-books. My recommendation is the Barnes&Noble Nook, first edition. The Wi-Fi version (you don't need 3G) is priced at $79 right now, and the accessories are on sale for dirt cheap also. You can get fully outfitted for under $100, and have plenty of room left over to stock up on books. The B/W screens do NOT wash out in bright light, and are much easier on the eyes are color screens. The first edition features a little color touch screen at the bottom, which can be used to view color illustrations and perform various other tasks. It shuts off while you're reading, so it isn't a big drain on the battery. You'll easily get a week (sometimes two) on one charge, even for hours of reading nightly.

The downside is that the Nook v.1 is pretty much a dedicated reading device. There are a couple very basic games, and a web browser which is fairly clunky to use. But, you have a computer, right? If you really need the extra stuff, get a tablet and not a KF.

Fun fact: you can now borrow e-books for FREE from most local libraries. Some libraries also offer Kindle format e-books, some don't. The e-books are electronically "checked out" and downloaded, and then automatically "returned" once the borrowing time is expired. You can download books from your library from anywhere in the world, as long as you have a library card. You can even place holds on books, or put yourself on a waiting list if the title you want is already checked out. Once the title becomes available, it's automatically downloaded to your e-reader.

I'm reading on an iPhone, which has a smaller screen than the Fire, and it's just as satisfying. What's better, you don't need to hold pages in place and worry that the book will snap closed or that you'll break the book's spine. You can also read at night easily! I never miss real books.

http://www.squidoo.com/which-kindle-for-christmas

I've never read on a Kindle, but I do like the feeling of real books.

No. You only see one page at a time, and it gets kind of irritating to have to press the page turner button all the time. But if you're the kind of person who wants a variety of choices in what to read and you read at places other than home, it's not bad.

But if you lose it, or leave it somewhere...and it's difficult to punch numbers into the search box, the keyboard doesn't have numbers, it has a drop down menu of all the symbols. What a pain.

No- I dislike Kindles. There is nothing like crawling under the down comforter at night and "opening" a great book!!

I have a sony ereader and I rarely even use it becuse I can't find the type of books I want for cheap prices or for free. Also turning the pages yourself makes you feel alot better than reading something electronically

It's an irritating piece of technology meant to show off for people, that's all.

you don't get the same satisfaction as with actual books; Kindles are more for people too lazy to pick up a book but want to look smart anyway.

I know what you mean. My brother has one, and I tried reading it, but it's just not the same. I want a REAL book, with pages. Besides, you don't have to plug in real books to recharge them.

Una buena cantidad y calidad de dispositivos Kindle en Amazon, http://amzn.to/1GkMM37 aquí hay detalles.

Me gusta perderme en el mundo de los libros y que mejor y práctica manera de hacerlo con los aparatos Kindle, he comprado un Kindle muy práctico en Amazon, es fácil de emplear, pesa casi nado, es igual como si leería en libro pero en cualquier lugar sin interrupciones, un precio excepcional para un producto excepcional.

only thing about kindle is it has a bit of value and so is a tad more likely to get stolen than a book.