How annoying are ads on Kindle w/ special offers?

[ponyo]

It's finally time to get a dedicated e-reader. My daughter is starting 4th grade and is avid reader. Amazon sent me 40% coupon code for Kindle w/ or without Special Offers. ($65.40 for the regular Kindle vs $47.40 for the Kindle with ads). How offensive and annoying are the ads on the Kindle? Is it worth paying $18 more to get the one without the ads? Price is important because I would much rather get the Nook for the epub compatibility rather than the Kindle, but I'm bang for buck guy.

 

[Deeko]

Not at all. The screensaver is an ad instead of a picture of an author, and there's a banner at the bottom of the home screen. Nothing in the reading.

 

[bearxor]

Yep, not annoying at all. Save the $.

Do they still have the offer where if you don't really like the ads you can pay $30 later to turn them off? Worst case scenario you just hate them so much that you pay out later to get rid of them.

If it were me, though, I'd be waiting on a Kindle with a built-in light. But that's just me.

 

[sygyzy]

Not annoying at all!

 

[Deeko]

Yep, not annoying at all. Save the $.

Do they still have the offer where if you don't really like the ads you can pay $30 later to turn them off? Worst case scenario you just hate them so much that you pay out later to get rid of them.

If it were me, though, I'd be waiting on a Kindle with a built-in light. But that's just me.

Yea I got the email about the 40% off too...since its been about a year since the last Kindle was announced, I'm sure this is a "clear the inventory before the new models render these obsolete" type of deal.

 

[cl-scott]

Further, from what I understand, unless you have the Kindle connected to the Internet via wifi (or possibly 3G) it will never download the ads to begin with. So even if you buy books off Amazon's store, you can just download them to your PC and sideload them onto the device using something like Calibre (which is great for converting epubs) or just manually copying them.

Also, I would personally go with the Kindle over the Nook. When you look into some of the details of the Nook, B&N partitions the internal storage, and the bulk of it is given over to space you can only use for stuff bought from B&N. Very little is available for you to use with sideloaded content. You can root the device and rework this partition setup, but seems like kind of a hassle when the Kindle just has the one big pool of storage space, which is double that of the Nook IIRC, and you can use Calibre to convert epub files to mobi.

 

[jhansman]

Virtually unnoticable. When I got mine I had resigned myself to having to deal with them, but they've turned out to be a non-factor.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I'd spend the extra for no ads especially if it was a gift. What's 18 dollars for never having them. I got a kindle fire though so there wasn't a choice.

 

[ponyo]

Thanks for the replies. :thumbsup: Decided to go with the ads one.

I really don't care about the upcoming backlit Kindle. It's going to be priced around what backlit Nook cost, and like I said, I much prefer the Nook over the Kindle, both in hardware design and software, especially if I'm paying full price. My daughter has an iPad so reading in dim/dark isn't a problem.

 

[ponyo]

I'd spend the extra for no ads especially if it was a gift. What's 18 dollars for never having them. I got a kindle fire though so there wasn't a choice.

It's not the actual $18. It's the thought of paying more for the exact same thing, minus the ads. I'm weird like that.

 

[Bateluer]

Just my perspective, I'd find any ads on my nook annoying. And since its a 1 time discount, I'd personally prefer to pay it and be done. Again, just me, but I'd rather not have the e-reader sitting on my desk at school with an ad for Bed Bath and Beyond as a screen saver.

 

[notposting]

Yeah I got that email and came close...was looking at the ads version plus little case with integrated light for only ~80.

But I think the Touch would be better for my uses (thinking of putting recipes on it for cooking with). I have a few days to decide still...

I didn't find the ads on my mom's Kindle Touch bad at all though for sure.

 

[TheStu]

Yeah I got that email and came close...was looking at the ads version plus little case with integrated light for only ~80.

But I think the Touch would be better for my uses (thinking of putting recipes on it for cooking with). I have a few days to decide still...

I didn't find the ads on my mom's Kindle Touch bad at all though for sure.

I hope that they add back physical page buttons into the Kindle Touch 2. The touch screen is superior for content selection, and using the onscreen keyboard (even if it can't keep up with your typing), but a physical button that I can press to change the page would be better than having to shift my thumb every time.

Of course, then again, I hardly use my Kindle since getting my iPad so...

 

[Syran]

There are actually some decent ads. I wish I could turn ads on with my Kindle 2, and get a $40 credit from Amazon (they should implement that for older kindles!). My wife's kindle has ads, and they don't bother her at all. I keep having to sneak peeks to see if I want any of the deals.