Entries from April 2009 ↓

EDIT: Amazon has recently added free international 3G wireless (coverage in over 100 countries) to both of its Kindle devices, with enhancements including improved PDF reading ability, Facebook & Twitter Posts, Book Collections, etc. Among the two models of Kindle, the Kindle DX (9.7" Kindle) can be a good choice for you if you plan to use it for reading textbook or newspaper. Personally, I’ll go for the Kindle 2 (6" Kindle, currently at its best price, added native PDF support) because it is more handy; I love the ereaders because they are “mobile ebook readers”.

When we talk about the Kindle 2 we have to ask ourselves "Is Kindle 2 worth the price?" It depends on what you are actually hoping to achieve for the most part, but the short answer is yes it is well worth the money.

The initial investment for the Amazon Kindle 2 is worth it when you look at the big picture. For the avid reader it means the ability to house as many as 1500 books at any given time on your Kindle 2 with the overflow able to be stored on Amazon Kindle servers for free retrieval later on. One of the top reasons that the Kindle 2 is worth the price is due to the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of titles available for low prices.

It is said that on average, if you purchase 70 Kindle books, the money you saved on actual books already covers the price of the Kindle device! In addition, there are over 5,000 titles which you can download for free on Amazon as well as over 25,000 titles which you can get at the price of under $1. Over time, the savings on these titles will pay for the Kindle 2’s base price over and over again.

Imagine going on a trip, perhaps on vacation and your goal is to read some of the books you have been putting off for a while. Would you rather take a box of books with you, or would you want to pack the lightweight Amazon Kindle 2 into your purse?

Look at it this way. You’re going to read these books anyhow. So let’s say you went out and bought 22 of these books in the print edition. Now you have to take them wherever you move to, and not only that, the pages will get old and fray, and all the while you could have purchased the Kindle 2, had the same number of books, and they would be stored within the lightweight Kindle 2 able to go where you go, anytime, and yes, once again, the Kindle is well worth the price.

The best place to read people’s opinions on this latest electronic book reading device is the actual customer reviews of the Kindle 2 on Amazon. Click on the link below to go there:

Get the Kindle 2 for the Best Price

Discover the Best Actual User Reviews of Kindle 2

I have compared different speed-reading programs to find an appropriate one, and this time let’s look into Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics.
I am comparing popular tools with each other and results of these comparisons are described in articles published on our website. What I have found is given below:

Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course Pros:

Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics is one of the most popular and large selling speed reading tools. Evelyn Wood Speed Reading was developed for nearly 40 years ago. This course is available in the form of book and DVD.

• "I tested my reading speed initially and was at 225. By the time I had finished the book I was at 397, so I did improve." — Portion of customer report on amazon.com
• "Every junior high, high school, and college student should read this book. It takes lots of practice to learn how to do it proficiently." — Part of consumer opinion on amazon.com
• "A life-changing experience." — Taken from execuread.com
• "Maybe the end results are not as impressive, but the Evelyn Wood organization still teaches some important rapid reading basics." — Taken from user review on thespeedreadingreview.com
• "I did Evelyn Wood Dynamic Reading and found it excellent." — From customer feedback on lesswrong.com

Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course Cons:

• "The presentation here is well organized and easy to follow but there is a lack of detail and a failure to address key points." — Portion of user complaints on amazon.com
• "I read about 230 words per minute. Well, after reading this book, I read about 250 words per minute." — Portion of consumer review on amazon.com
• "There may be speed reading courses available that do get results but, the Evelyn Wood course I took was a scam." — Part of discussion taken from forums.randi.org
• "Don’t believe their ads about how simple it is, though — it’s not easy, it’s quite a lot of hard work to retrain the way you read." — From customer complaint on friendfeed.com
• "original courses were 21 hours of classroom instruction over a period of three weeks. This video is about 2 hours. So what you have is basically an introduction to speed reading–not a full course." — From user feedback on movie-list.com

Compare with Speed Reader-X:

We found the following about Speed Reader-X when compared with Evelyn Wood Speed Reading:

Speed Reader-X Pros:

• "the software (and overall system) does deliver and has made a huge difference in my reading speed. It’s better than more expensive programs I’ve trial/tested." — Portion of user review on amazon.com
• "It also does exactly ‘what it says on the tin’ - it gets on with speed reading right from the start." — Portion of customer feedback on amazon.com
• "This is the same standard program as the more expensive ones." — Portion of consumer opinion on amazon.com
• "Now my reading speed is 460 wpm according to the test in Speed Reader X, I was 240 wpm before." — From readablog.com
• "I have been sreious about it and put some effort into it and my speed has gone from 200 words to 600 words." — Taken from 4boxreviews.com

Speed Reader-X Cons:

Compared to Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics, Speed Reader-X is not a famous tool due to its short history. Below are the shortcomings that I’ve found:

• "The software is a bit primative. Not many options." — Portion of customer review on amazon.com
• "The Mac version is buggy so if possible, stick with the Windows version." — Portion of customer review on amazon.com
• "It would have been a close call between your first and second if it were not for price." — Taken from 4boxreviews.com

You should read reviews on Speed Reader-X to make a wise decision in the process of selecting a speed reading course. Here you can find information about the product, customer feedbacks, and methods to use it efficiently and effectively. For more product information, click here.

EDIT: Amazon has recently added free international 3G wireless (coverage in over 100 countries) to both of its Kindle devices, with enhancements including improved PDF reading ability, Facebook & Twitter Posts, Book Collections, etc. Among the two models of Kindle, the Kindle DX (9.7" Kindle) can be a good choice for you if you plan to use it for reading textbook or newspaper. Personally, I’ll go for the Kindle 2 (6" Kindle, currently at its best price, added native PDF support) because it is more handy; I love the ereaders because they are “mobile ebook readers”.

When it comes to different functions, the Apple iPhone would top the Amazon Kindle 2, but let’s look it for the purposes of reading a book, which is what the Amazon Kindle 2 was created to do.

The Amazon Kindle features a larger screen, to make for easier reading than you could do with the iPhone. The iPhone screen is but 3.5 inch diagonal color screen while the Amazon Kindle 2 features a 6 inch screen with 16 levels of gray for higher resolutions. The Amazon Kindle 2 also features re-sizeable type for those that have a little trouble with small type.

The Kindle 2 also offers basic web-browsing features on text-based websites such as Wikipedia and Google. The screen gives a "paper" like appearance, and the pages flip over much faster than those in the Kindle 1.0. This wireless access is free to purchasers of the Kindle 2, so there only other fees you’ll pay are for the books that you buy. You can buy bestsellers to read on the Kindle 2 starting at just $9.99 per title. The iPhone currently cannot connect to Amazon to purchase such books. I’m not sure you would want to anyway, given the size of the iPhone’s screen. It’s too difficult to see the type properly.

The Amazon Kindle 2 can subscribe to various newspapers and it will be delivered to your Kindle 2 daily, and this won’t be possible with the iPhone. And with the Amazon Kindle 2 you can store the purchases on the Amazon servers for later retrieval, and connect anytime to retrieve a book, free without depending on finding WI-FI hotspots.

All in all, if you want a telephone then buy an iPhone, but when you want to read a book, why trouble yourself with the small print and screen of the iPhone? The Amazon Kindle 2 is better by far, with a larger screen and re-sizeable type too!

Get the Kindle 2 for the Best Price

Discover the Best Actual User Reviews of Kindle 2