Egypt4u

Whenever I ask Mrs H what she would like for Christmas or her birthdays she will always reply in the same way "Oh there's nothing really that I need" and she really does mean it. She is not a materialistic person, so it is very hard to choose something suitable for her.

I, on the other hand am really easy to please just get me something for my PC or my photography and I am happy enough. She is aware of this, but being a real technophobe she will often just give me some money and say "I was not sure what to get you so here is the money, get something you would like" Now I have no problem with that and usually do buy something for myself, I am a great believer in getting something with the money that you would really like, but would not normally treat yourself to. I also make a point of saying to the said present giver "Here is what I bought with your present money" as that way they can feel good that they bought you something you wanted.

The problem with Mrs H is that I give her the money, but she never really spends it on herself, but will instead use it for something that I would not consider to be a present, like taxing her car with money she has accrued, when that could just as easily come out of the bank as normal family outgoings. In essence she is a very unselfish person and will spend on something other than on herself.

She is an avid reader and always has a book in her hand, so I had hinted at her having an e-reader and extolled the virtues of such things, but she is as I said a real technophobe and I could see she was not keen, maybe because she fears the technology and thinks she will break something or worse still not be able to use it properly. She is also a great supporter of her local library and says that she enjoys going there and having a chat with Mary & Co the librarians. so there is another reason for her not to have one.

Anyhow, yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and have already bought her a Kindle, just the bog standard Wi-fi model without keypad, but still very nice. I have it all set up and working and also have her a Kindle account ready to access on my PC. I have already downloaded a selection of her favourite authors and just obtained another 11,000 books on a CD for her to select from as and when required. So it will be “slowly, slowly, catchee monkey” when it comes to Christmas day in the hope that she warms to the idea of using it. I do have one good ally in the form of a neighbours wife who is also an avid reader and she is all primed to make suitable comments along the line of “Wow! aren’t you lucky to get that” and “Ooh isn’t it nice and light to use, better than a heavy book”

So wish me luck, or there may well be Kindle going cheap in the New Year.

Horus, your account is an absolute mirror of mine and Mrs G's situation, and no doubt many thousands of other couples of a certain age who no longer WANT for anything.......

Mrs G is also an avid reader and library member and I also tried to 'sell' her the idea of a kindle. Our daughter has one and loves it. The missus had a look at it and dismissed it immediately....she likes the 'feel' of the printed book so my Christmas present dilemma is still not resolved...

We will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary in Jan '12 and have finally reached an accommodation over presents. We go shopping together and each choose something we like for under the tree. As far as our grownup kids are concerned we are sooo thoughtful in choosing exactly what each other likes . This year though, we decided that they are grown up enough to cope and we are awarding each other a weekend in Barcelona in the new year . Hope Mrs H loves her kindle as much as I do. It really comes in to it's own when you go on holiday. Perhaps you ought to present Mrs G with a fait accompli, Grandad. Chances are she will fall in love with it straightaway.

Nice to know that both of you have the same problem as I do.

Morgita, that is a good idea to do something together like your Barcelona trip, a bit inconvenient for us at the moment, but food for future thought, we have in the past done similar things ourselves.

Grandad, I had to smile because I can imagine Mrs G reacting in exactly the same way as Mrs H.
I doubt if either of them actually realise the frustration of us poor husbands desperately trying to buy them a gift that means something and show we care, but then being stymied at every suggestion we make. As you say “what do you buy the woman who has everything” or at least everything in so much as they are not in need of anything special.

Being a bit of a techie type myself I can see the wonderful advantages of such devices and I can see that you do too Grandad, but can we convince the other half? So good luck with your search for that elusive gift, I do not envy you, but doesn’t it make you despair at times?

Just as a PS Grandad, I have also decided to get one of those covers for her Kindle, there are lots available (cheaper than Amazons version) and they look very much like a book cover when fitted, I felt the weight of one and it did have the feel of a small novel when holding it with the cover open, so that is another part of my cunning plan!

Perhaps you ought to present Mrs G with a fait accompli, Grandad.

Morgita, the same thought had crossed my mind. They are very good value and my daughter says the battery lasts for ages. It would have to be the basic wi-fi because it is unlikely that we would use it 'on the move' so the keyboard would be unnecessary.

Still got a few days to decide......

Just as a PS. We have got everyone else sorted and packed so no last minute rushes for family etc....

Both Mrs. H and Mrs G would love a Kindle. They're ever so popular here now and many people who never thought they'd use one now won't put a Kindle down.

The battery WILL last forever but you have to turn the Wi-Fi OFF. You only need to turn the WiFi on when you're actually downloading a book. If you leave it on then it will drain the battery quickly. I use my Kindle lots and probably only charge it up once every couple of weeks.

I got a black rubber type cover for mine to protect it and on the rubber cover it has printed, 'next' for next page, 'previous' if you need to go back. The toggle switch is open. I also bought for probably about $1 (don't remember exactly) but a clear film screen that I put onto the screen to protect it.

I gave my oldest daughter one last year for Christmas and I don't believe she has put it down since. Loves it.

They are light enough to very easily hold with one hand and so easy to just 'click' the button to turn the page either forward or backward. My daughter tends to like all the 'classical' authors too and I believe she has something like you bought for Mrs H - a complete set of mega thousands of authors. She is never at a loss to have something to read.

The Kindle IS HONESTLY one of those 'gifts' I gave to me and have never had a regret for even a second about it. I DO love my Kindle! It will also really come into it's own on holidays......

Great ideas guys!!!

Horus & Grandad I 'm sure your other halfs will love the Kindle, I've lost count now how many books I've read since I got it in August for my b/day.
I'd be like Mrs H & G & don't like anything new if its technical but as my son was away at the time I had to register & set up my Kindle myself......got there in the end & love it.
I also buy the books from the Amazon site & not the Kindle itself only cause I see better with computer screen, on saying that I've increased the size of font on Kindle to suit my eyesight , I also got the cover & light for it too.
They'll love it.

While we're on the subject of xmas pressies I have all mine bought & wrapped except for 1 which I'm stuck!...my son.......just got over his birthday yesterday, a couple of little things & I planted some notes (money) around the house which he had to find....more or less a warm, hot or cold game it turned into.....lol....now for xmas I've no idea, he's got everything in his bedroom he needs from tv/dvd,Xbox,games etc etc etc..........any suggestions welcome!!

The grandsons this year got 'useful' gifts from me in November when I was up to see them a week or so ago. I took the hint from my daughter they needed new coats and shoes and jammies so that is what they got. Their birthdays are January 25th. I'm still searching stores and hoping for something to inspire me that I can get them for their 2nd birthday.

Haven't bought ME anything specifically yet this year. I'm taking 'me' out for supper last night and next week I'm going on Saturday for a day to Leavenworth. Bavarian style town in the mountains here. Very touristy with a strong German theme. Am hoping I might see something there that inspires me re: their birthdays.

This year I also got a double whammy re: pressies as Dec 21 it is my daughter and son-in-laws 5th wedding anniversary......Have had presents on the brain for quite a while..........

Kiya, I was laughing at the thought of your son chasing around the house after the money, nothing like a bit of incentive

Grandad, my advice would be to just buy the basic Kindle £89 available from practically anywhere, if you buy from Tesco Direct you can also get the loyalty points (another bonus for Mrs H when she finds out)
As Kiya has already said they are quite easy to set up, just make sure that you have the Password Code for your router handy as it will ask for it as part of the installation.

The Wi-fi bit is also correct, as you only need that to be on when you buy books or edit the Kindle itself, it is better turned off. This is very easy to do in the on screen menu and that will really extend the battery (or should I say charge) life to maybe a month, depending upon useage.
After that you just plug the USB lead into your PC every so often to keep it recharged.

It is also easy enough to just access it as another device on your PC, similar to say a camera. In that mode you can also just Drag & Drop a book or two into the main documents folder, if you get my drift.
So to Grandad I would say, that although Mrs G will be baffled by the technology behind it, you yourself will have no problem in setting things up so that she just presses a few buttons to read her books, then occasionally you change the internal library list for her.

I'm not at all good with technological stuff but I found the Kindle really easy to set up and operate and even 'I' was able to set it up easily all by myself. Mrs H & G will love 'em.

Mrs H will love it - both I and Anubis absolutely love ours, and they're far lighter than carrying the usual 6 books on holiday

That is where my Kindle really comes into its own - on holiday. It fits easy into my purse, if I finish one book I've always got mega more to read and the guys who do the inspections at the Airport Terminals don't seem to panic too much about a Kindle being an electronic device you carry on board.

We are getting Kindle for Christmas as well We already have tons of ebooks so it's gonna be great!

Looks like we need to form a Kindle book club
I would imagine that they would be really useful if you happen to live in a less book accessible region of the world.
The more people you speak to the more useful they seem to be, I heard this interesting little story the other day.

A friend of mine was on board a plane that was about to take off, he was on a business trip and desperately needed a technical reference book. The stewardesses were doing their rounds and ensuring all devices such as phones and laptops were switched off. He found what he wanted seconds before she arrived at his seat where she stopped and gave him a stern look, he hit the buy button and started to switch it off. As he did so the book was instantly downloading onto his Kindle as they hurtled down the runway. He said he felt as though the book was trying to catch up with the plane before it took off into the air.

@Silvermagpie - are you getting a Kindle or KindleFire? I have an old regular black and white Kindle, push the button/click/turn the page. The new Kindle Fires were released just in time for the Christmas season and they sure look wonderful. Don't have one but I think they can do everything 'cept fly about the room. Colour!! Backlighting!! Wifi and an ability to check email!!

If you don't have your Kindle yet - please let me know how you like it. Am sure you're going to find it wonderful.

I 'think' (don't know for sure) that one can now "lend" books that have been purchased. Haven't figured out 'how' to do this but I do believe it is now a feature.....an ability to lend! :):)

We are getting a basic Kindle for now. Reading some reviews on the web, sounds like Kindle Fire still got some features to be improved so we will wait till the next version to come out for that

We were wondering if we should get 2 (one for me & one for my hubby) but decided to buy one first and see if we can get to like it or not. Though having read some comments here, we would probably love it and end up with getting another one right away

A buddy of mine who is a big techie type tells me to avoid the new Kindle Fire at the moment, he reckons it is not as easy to read as the screen is reflective and battery life is poor.
Silvermagpie, if you do finish up buying two Kindles, remember to use the same Amazon account that way you can share the books you buy between the two machines, you would just remove it from one Kindle (after reading it) and upload it to the other. If you register two accounts ie. Mr Magpie & Mrs Magpie, them Amazon see them as seperate accounts and only allow access to the books purchased by that person on their own account.

LLL, you cannot exactly 'lend' any books as such, (at least for now) but it is quite easy to just drop a couple of files into your Kindle if you know where to look. Out of interest, have you tried just connecting your USB lead to your Kindle, then going to 'My Computer' on your PC and clicking on the drive 'Kindle'? If you do you will see that there are some folders, the only one you need to bother about is the one called 'Documents'. If you open this folder you will see all the books that are currently loaded onto your Kindle. you will see some little book icons and they are what is known as .mobi files, these are your books.

The other files in there are files that make certain things work such as links to other books at Amazon or the same author, some are the front covers and some may add things such as page numbers (hardly needed when they read as percentages rather than pages). So if you were to have a book that has been converted to be Kindle readable by some software program (legally of course, I cannot advocate pirating) then you would just drop those files into the 'Docs' folder and they will show up as a book on your Kindle. After reading the book you would just remove those same files, as you would if deleting something from your PC.

If you are confident to try it sometime, I can email you something.

Silvermagpie, if you do finish up buying two Kindles, remember to use the same Amazon account that way you can share the books you buy between the two machines, you would just remove it from one Kindle (after reading it) and upload it to the other. If you register two accounts ie. Mr Magpie & Mrs Magpie, them Amazon see them as seperate accounts and only allow access to the books purchased by that person on their own account.

Ah, thanks for the tip. We haven't thought about that. We already have Kindle for PC loaded on our laptop so we should use the same one on Kindle as well then.

I just came across a 'new' (well new to me) feature at Amazon.com that is applicable to Kindle owners. There is here what is known as the "PRIME" membership. If you are a Kindle owner for the mere sum of $79/yr USD you can join essentially a 'library' of books that you can 'borrow' electronically for any amount of time you want. Seems there are new releases and popular titles and you can borrow what you want but I think only one at a time.

Amazon is really touting the 'free 1 month trial' so you can see if you like this concept of borrowing vs buying.

I'm now mulling this seriously as I probably do pay more than $79/yr in book purchases and once I read a book I rarely read it twice. Just wondering though IF the Amazon 'lending library' with a bizzillion titles will carry what I like to read???? Hmmmmmmm...... Or do I just stick with the library and borrow on my laptop as have been quite happy doing all along..........????

If you are satisfied with your local library, then why pay Amazon any money? We in the UK still do not have this lending option available to us via the public libraries, it is blocked by Kindle for some reason even though the libraries are prepared to lend electronically. If yours are anything like ours you can always ask them to get a particular book and they usually oblige, Mrs H often gets recent releases this way although I am not sure if this would still apply to ebooks.