Like Adobe Digital Editions(ADE), Kindle for PC is free and allows the user to read e-books without shelling out for the expensive e-reader.
Kindle for PC
Kindle for PC is software that allows you to read Kindle and .mobi file formats on your computer. Amazon have also released the software for the Mac and other devices.
You can read free books from places such as the Gutenberg Project or indeed purchase e-books off Amazon and synchronise them with a Kindle if you decided to buy one later on.
The Interface.
Kindle for PC is similar to ADE in that it has two main viewing modes; Library and Reading.
Reading Mode
Where Kindle for PC might lag in the library mode below it has some additional functionality compared to Adobe Digital Editions in the reading mode.
Kinde for PC allows the reader to
- Increase the width of the page, increasing words per line and allowing the reader to adjust the width to their preference
- Adjust the text size (though it doesn't split text into two page, or three column like ADE)
- Adjust both text and page colour , white with black text, sepia with brown text, black with white text
- Adjust the brightness
Like ADE it has a search mode (recently introduced) and allows for bookmarking, highlighting and note taking (see picture above).
Library Mode
The library screen for Kindle for PC is actually quite a bit simpler than Adobe Digital Editions. For a start there's only one view, that which you see above. Sure you can change the order in which the books are presented through the sort function, but there is no option to create your own bookshelves.
I have been using the software for some time now am not 100 percent sure how the archiving function works. From what I understand, you can remove the book from your device (pc in this case) and store it with amazon until you need it. I haven't needed to do this yet.
Amazon lists in future improvements, the inclusion of a library management function in the software.
Which do I prefer?
I can't say that there is much between the two. At this stage I haven't got enough e-books to manage to require rigorous use of the library function. Both Kindle for PC and Adobe Digital Editions have enough functionality in the reading mode to allow me to configure them for my reading comfort.
In the end I use both depending on what text I can get from which provider, and what format it comes in.
E-book adventures is my weekly series post outlining my exploration of the e-book format. See other posts here and join in the discussion.
