[JamieMN]

My cousin and I decided to do a book club with just the 2 of us.  We've been reading so many books a month it's just getting too expensive for her having to buy the actual books.  She finally decided to get a Kindle.  I haven't kept up with what is out there since I got the Fire.  Which option is going to work best for her.  She doesn't have internet at home because of where she lives, it won't work.  She works in a bigger city so I'm sure she could get wifi at Mcd's or something like that.  Are there still Kindles with the free 3G so she wouldn't have to worry about the wifi?  She can't afford to spend much as her fiancé just left her in Nov so all her extra $ is going towards keeping her house, but she wants to do a little something for herself out of her taxes

 

[ct85711]

Well, just it's looking for a new kindle with 3G, the best bet would be the Paperwhite.  Sadly, only the Paperwhite and the Voyage are the 2 kindles being sold with the option for 3G.  The other bad part is that the 3G option is going to add $70 on to the price, bringing the Paperwhite to ($189) almost the same price as the voyage without 3G.  By what you explained, I'd almost have to say for your cousin to just go with the wifi only option for now, so that it does not doesn't cost as much.  Right now, Amazon is selling the regular Kindle for only $59 but it does not come with 3G option, usually instore price follows  online price, so she can even buy the Kindle at BestBuy/Staples for that price.  There is always the option for getting a refurbished or used kindle for cheaper, that may also work for your cousin.

One thing I would suggest, is if you and your cousin read the same books, may want to consider registering the kindle under your account and you both can share the books saving some more money for her.

 

[JamieMN]

Thanks ct85711 - we were planning on putting her on my account just for that reason.  Yeah, I think the one that is on sale is going to be the way to go too.

 

[jkingrph]

I had a paperwhite, that was not very responsive,  just slow, and jerky when it did do things such as looking for or loading a book.  I upgraded to a Voyage and could not be happier.  Much faster and smoother in downloading, searching, loading books.  Both are 3 g models.  I like the 3 g for when I am away from home.  I do not have to keep as much loaded onto the device and can download from almost anywhere.  It seems to get service even in places where my Verizon iPhone does not show service.

 

[Pickett]

Just my two cents worth, but IMO the extra money for 3G would be worth it over the long run.  It would quickly become a pain to have to go somewhere to download. Plus wifi at some of these spots is very slow. When you spread the extra $70 over the course of the life of the device-let's say two years- that is less than $3/month. 

 

[GBear]

If she had a computer with internet at home (but not wifi) I'd suggest downloading books to and transferring books from the computer. I prefer to do that with library books (free!!!) anyway, since I'm already browsing the library on the computer. Use of the library is a great way to save money, and for me makes 3G (and even WiFi) unnecessary. I've been in airplane mode for two years now.

However, if even internet is unavailable at home, I'd strongly consider getting a Kindle with 3G. If it's a pain to get books, the Kindle is more likely to gather dust.

 

[Ann in Arlington]

And for me: the selling point of the kindle is the ability to wirelessly load books -- whether bought/borrowed from Amazon or borrowed from the library. The original kindles were ALL 3G -- Wifi didn't come in until late summer 2010 with the release of the 3rd gen Keyboard Kindle.

Of course you have also always been able to download via your computer and transfer to the kindle over a USB cord, too. Because even with 3G, there are places in the country that are not covered by the cell network.

 

[John F]

If your cousin does get a Kindle, she should look into the public library in the city where she works to find out if they make books available in Kindle format, for free. That would save her a lot of money.

 

[alicepattinson]

I really love what you and your cousin did.