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A significant factor in the success of Amazon’s Kindle reader has always been the enormous number of Kindle titles on offer for customers to choose from. At the moment, Kindle owners can take their pick from more than 725,000 paid titles. Amazon also offer 1.8 million books which are now out of copyright and can be downloaded to the Kindle for free.

Apart from making huge volumes of reading material available for Kindle owners, Amazon has also gone out of its way to make it easy to read Kindle books without a Kindle reader. This has been done by making a number of Kindle apps which allow Kindle books to be read on a range of different devices freely available.

At the moment, free Kindle apps exist for the Windows PC, the Apple Mac, any device which runs the Android Operating System, the iPhone, the iPad and Blackberry’s smart phone. At first glance, it almost appears as if Amazon is setting up in competition to itself, but the truth of the matter is that each of these apps acts as a retail outlet for Kindle books.

Amazon has just announced that, in the near future, Kindle owners will be able to “lend” each other Kindle books. Amazon has not yet confirmed the exact date - but it should start prior to the year end.

Kindle users will have the option of lending Kindle books to their family and friends for a couple of weeks at a time. The “borrower” can read the book on their Kindle reader - just as if it was one of their own purchases. The original purchaser will be unable to access the book whilst it is “lent out”. Just the same as real book in point of fact.

It won’t be possible to lend every book. The publishers will have the final decision as to whether or not books may be lent. It will be interesting to learn how different publishing houses respond to this.

Amazon has also confirmed that its currently existing free Kindle apps will be extended to include magazines and newspapers in addition to Kindle books. The Apple devices will be activated first, followed by desktop applications and Android devices.

Over the last couple of years or so, the ebook reader and ebooks have really taken off. Although the ebook market is still developing and is at an early stage, the public already seems to have accepted ebooks. This latest development by Amazon brings ebooks even closer to the functionality of conventional books. Apart from balancing the leg of a wobbly table or pressing flowers, ebooks can now do just about anything that conventional books can. It’s another major step forward for ebooks and ebook readers, and it will help them to become even more widely accepted by the reading public.

Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.

It’s now been three years since Amazon released their original Kindle reader. Notwithstanding the huge influence of the Kindle, it’s worth recalling that it wasn’t the first ebook reader to be launched. However, ebooks are now becoming accepted by the public - mainly due to the influence of the Kindle. Whether traditional printed books could eventually become obsolete or not is debatable - but it looks as if ebooks are here to stay.

However, many people are getting themselves an ebook reader. The recent ebook reader price cuts from Sony, Amazon and Barnes and Noble has made ebook readers a much more affordable option for a lot of consumers. The Kindle may well be the market leader, but there are other readers to choose from. So what should you look for if you’re considering buying your first ebook reader?

One of the most important factors that you need to consider is the quality of the display. Special e-ink technology displays are used in most ebook readers. This gives a reading experience that is surprisingly similar to reading text printed on paper. It’s considerably easier on your eyes than reading on a back-lit computer screen. It is also easy to read in direct sunlight or even glare from fluorescent lighting. A further advantage of e-ink technology displays is that they use power only when “turning the page” - so battery life is extended.

It’s tempting to go for the largest display possible. Obviously readers with larger screens have a higher ticket price than those with smaller displays. They are also physically larger of course - and they weigh more. This will impact upon the portability of the device. That may not represent a problem for you if it’s your intent to read mainly at home. However, a larger reader will be harder to operate with one hand - something which many users like to do.

One of the key factors in the success of the Kindle was its ability to browse for, buy and download books in less than sixty seconds from practically anywhere. Nevertheless, both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have now launched Wi-Fi only entry level models of their readers. These cost a little less than the 3G readers and could be a good option for anyone who doesn’t foresee the need to download books without using a computer or connecting via a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Obviously there’s not much point in having an ebook reader unless there’s a good selection of books to read on it. At the moment, no standard format for ebooks has been agreed. Google uses the ePub format - but Kindle books are in a format which is proprietary to the Kindle. However, Amazon has made free apps - which allow users to read Kindle books on a variety of different devices (e.g. the Windows PC, the Apple Mac, the iPhone, the iPad) - freely available.

Ebook prices can be vary dramatically across different readers. In fact, If you read a lot of books, then picking the right reader could potentially save you enough money on ebooks to make the reader pay for itself in a just a few months. Before you decide which reader to choose, it’s well worth checking.

Discover the Kindle reader for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.