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My husband is a lucky man.
I can hear you all saying, “Yes indeed! He is a lucky bloke being married to you, Robin! That guy sure has it made!” (I love when I can work “bloke” into a sentence.)
Yup . . . my husband is a lucky guy, but being married to me isn’t what I am talking about here.
At three recent functions, he won a 36-inch flat-screen TV, a golf putter, and a Kindle Fire. I said, “You can have the TV and keep the putter, honey, but the Kindle is mine!”
Lookie-loo at the cute case I bought for my Kindle Fire, and the not-so-cute glasses required to read it.
I own the first generation Kindle. It was a gift from said lucky husband. Because I am a book snob, I was skeptical about the whole electronic book thing, but I love it. How handy to have dozens of books tucked in my purse. I look up words on a whim, highlight favorite passages, and sometimes let the book read to me. I love the image of a literary giant smiling up at me when I turn on my old Kindle. Maybe it is more like a sneer while they silently say, “Shouldn’t you be writing rather than reading Fifty Shades, Robin? Shame on you.”
So, back to my new Kindle Fire. It has advertisements! I kid you not, advertisements!
Day One of Kindle Fire ownership, I dusted off the cares of the day, put on my jammies, and snuggled with my new electronic device. It is not nearly as cozy as snuggling with my beloved, but a nice way to wind down from the day.
I fired up the new Kindle and what greeted me? An ad for AT&T’s 4G Network. Turn the damn thing off, turn it on again, and what do I see? A commercial for Streisand’s new movie The Guilt Trip.
I’m ok watching TV and having commercials. Less ok with anything but previews at the movie theater. But on my book? A commercial? No way, Jose.
Imagine cracking open your dog-eared copy of Romeo and Juliette and an ad for o-romeo-o-romeo.com is on the first page. Or, curling up with 50 Shades of Whatever and an ad for Viagra greets you at the door. Good grief. Product placement has taken over the literary world. Mr. Shakespeare would be appalled.
I understand Kindle sells these ads to keep the price of the device low. How thoughtful of them. Don’t they make all their money on book sales anyway, not on the Kindle itself? I guess you can pay Kindle $15 and opt out of the ads. Sounds like extortion to me. I’d rather spend the 15-smack-a-roos on more books, so I’ll put up with the ads.
For the record, I am not reading Fifty Shades of Grey and have no plans to. My mother won’t return my copy.
Robin Coyle 
I have the Kindle Fire and have no ads! And I LOVE IT. I have an older version of the kindle, too, that was a gift (as was the Fire) and neither has ads. I don’t know why, as other people bought them for me, but maybe they’re different versions?
I’ve learned that you can buy a Kindle Fire for a little more money and it doesn’t come with ads . . . or as Kindle calls them, “special offers.” Sounds like a euphemism for “ads” to me.
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I still avoid the electronic book (I could say shame on you Robin but I know, it’s the way of things) but ADS?! I’m sure TV ads aren’t getting the advertisers much bang for their buck anymore – how could they with mute buttons, the dishes to get done in 5 minute spurts, and the potty breaks and that new thingy where you can watch your favourite programs when YOU want to watch them and then fast forward the ads … but ads in BOOKS?! The Electronic Age has found all sorts of new ways to grab the dollar – you don’t want ads? Pay me to not give you ads – that IS extortion.
I’ll never give up real books but I have indeed been sucked into the Electronic Age . . . ads and all. Grrrrrr.
That is wrong. Not you getting the Kindle Fire or the dapper case you have for it, but ADS! They are everywhere and very annoying. Enjoy your new device though 🙂
In spite of the ads, I do love the Kindle. Dozens of books at my fingertips! Who could ask for more?
I didn’t want to buy a Kindle, but it was one of the BEST purchases I’ve ever made. The Kindle Fire HD is winking at me, tempting me into buying that now. It’ll get me in the end. Ads or no Ads 🙂
The best thing about the Kindle Fire is you can read it in the dark.
I hope I am dead before the time when books come only via electronics.
I don’t think we will ever forgo “real” books.
On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Robin Coy
I think we will. They will go the way of newspapers and magazines.
That will be a sad day.
You are right! Ads have taken over everywhere.
Well, if you have questions, I am reading “Fifty Shades of Grey”. Had to. Had to know what the fuss is about.
Scott
What do you think of it? Curious minds want to know.
The book is fascinating. It is very sexual in nature (of course). Well-written and I enjoy the POV and the way it is portrayed and handled. The book is not an omniscient view; it is first person and you are inside the woman’s mind. You are with her every thought. I don’t know if I will be reading the entire trilogy, but this has, certainly, been much different than what I thought it was going to be; much more.
Scott
Hmmm . . . interesting. I’ve heard a bunch of pans, but the books are making millions for good reason, I guess!
Well, I bought it in paperback, not kindle.
Cheaper at the time.
Scott
There are ads on high school football fields and on school buses around here. I hate the renaming of the college bowl games…the Tostito Bowl name just makes me hungry.
Ha! My husband watched the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl the other day. Really? That is just silly. As far as the Tostito Bowl goes, football, tortilla chips, and salsa is a perfect combination!
You can buy kindle versions that Don’t have adds, The 15 bucks sounds like a cheeper way to get out of them. What is extortion is the price so many places are charging for the covers! I got a nice Brown leather easle cover for my wifes Nook for 15 buxk including shipping- on Amazon. Ao manye peopl are selling them EVEN in walmart for up hear $50. That is extortion to my mind
$50 for a e-reader cover seems excessive. Think of all the books you could by with that much money.
Your hubby is a very lucky ‘bloke’! I have a Galaxy Note that doubles as a kindle, but I’ve never seen adds on it (thank goodness!)
Do you like your Galaxy Note? I haven’t read any reviews of it.
It’s fantastic. My mother gave it to me for my birthday this year and it does everything my laptop does (and more) and is so much lighter 😉
And fits in your purse, right?
I was thinking of getting one, but now, I think I’ll stick with the iPad lol 😉
Xx
Have you found the problem with reading on the iPad is the glare if you are in the sun. The Kindle is easy on the eyes.
I haven’t had any problems with that, but then again, I don’t tend to sit in the sun lol, I burn way too easily. So that’s why I’m so pasty looking 😉
Xx
Pasty is healthy!
Then I must be the picture of health.
ditto here.
He he he 🙂
Xx
Well, that sucks! I suspect I have a Kindle Fire wrapped and under the tree since I’ve been dropping hints for two months. Now you tell me it has ads unless I buckle under to extortion! I’ll take the damn thing back before I see one ad! I will. I really will. I use my old original Kindle and feel darn good doing it. HF
Don’t be too hasty. I was being melodramatic over the ads. I’ve learned to ignore them and turn to the page of the book I was reading. Hope one is under the tree for you!
Your husband is quite lucky. I never manage to win anything good. =[ As for the ads, that must be quite annoying. I have a non-Kindle tablet so thankfully I can read uninterrupted. In the long run, $15 is a good investment; it would prevent much fuming!
After winning the third raffle I said, “Let’s go you Vegas! You are on a roll!”
I have the Kindle Touch and opted for the cheaper price with ads. Actually, it doesn’t really bother me because the ads are just on the “sleep” page and not on the book pages. When I turn on the device, the ad goes away. I love my Kindle and I have the cover with the built-in LED light that runs off of the Kindle battery. I works really well for the devices that aren’t backlit. Anyway – to have this great ebook and to be able to carry around all the many books that I’m reading at one time (as the mood strikes me) is heaven. It also speaks to my instant gratification gene. Want a new book? Order it online and get it literally instantly. Oh well…
I love me Kindle too. It has had a negative impart on my budget. I buy books on a whim! Someone recommends a book on their blog and BAM . . . I buy it!
I have the Kindle app on my tablet, so I haven’t run into anything like this. I’m like you. I’d rather spend the money on actual books lining my shelves rather than keeping my Kindle ad-free. I have yet to fall in love with my Kindle app. I’m still getting books out of the library just because I can’t be without a book.
There is nothing like holding a real book. I’ll never give them up completely. But the Kindle is so handy for travel. My husband uses the app too and isn’t thrilled with it.
What a lucky man!
I love your cover. Mine is plain black.
Isn’t it cute? For 30 bucks on Amazon, you too, can own one.
*Cough* At that price, I’ll stick with plain black 🙂
A kindle – how fab! I’m not a fifty shades kinda gal either
When I heard Fifty Shades called “Mommy Porn,” I said no thanks.
I had to read the first one for myself after all the reviews I read and as I don’t like to give up on a book, I struggled to make my way through it.
You know what I just thought of? A bazillion copies of the book have sold, but I haven’t seen one person reading one in public. Is everyone reading them in the closet?
Still not got a kindle myself, it’s not that I don’t want one, it’s just that nobody has won me one yet!
The ads would annoy me too, it’s a device that you’ve paid for (usually), you don’t want to pay to have someone advertise to you.
Since my husband is on a roll, I told him we should head to Vegas! Want to join us? I know you spent some time there.
I’ve learned to ignore the ads, but the idea still bugs me.
Ooh, yes please! I was there four and a half years, I still kind of miss it sometimes.
I seem to recall your husband saying he was going to get me a lottery ticket.
Hey pretty good on the winning front. How cheeky of your prize to have ads though 🙂
With his winning streak, you should be able to retire soon!
lucky you to have a lucky husband
I’m a lucky gal! He needs to head to Vegas. With me, of course, to chaperone.
“..and sometimes let the book read to me.” I had noooooo idea.
Nice touch but advertisements—Ack, no way. It’s bad enough I was at the movies Saturday night and had to put up with all those commercials…are we to be inundated ad nasium? Everywhere?
My old Kindle’s voice was rather robotic sounding. The new version’s voice has a nice lilt to it. She does a pretty good job.
Gosh, yes! The previews and ads at the movies go on forever now. With most of the previews I think, “Don’t need to see that movie now.”
I need to start hanging out with your husband, he wins good stuff. The last time I won something at a function it was a note book that said toast masters on it.
Who would enslave toast?
The ads are just when you turn the kindle on, right?
Just have to comment here – skipping through the comments quickly I read that you had won a note book that said ‘toast matters’ on it, and I thought to myself, yes, toast really does matter! Now I want to get that printed on something…
Yes, the ads only come on when you turn it on. If they popped up while reading, I would throw the thing out the window.
I’ve seen you order your toast around. Nice to have power over an inanimate object, right?
And Vanessa, now I know what to get you for Christmas! I’ll through in some butter and jam.
I think that is downright terrible about the ads. I do hope you give them an earful! Did you check with your local library to see if they offer free books? ( a little shout out to the library world here folks) We do and people love it.
As for the Fifty Shades of “Whose book is it?” — oh my to the both of you :). I’m with Carrie– buy the powerball ticket now!! Goodness he has good luck–
I am not on the e-book bandwagon. Hard to convert
I heard that our library has e-books you can check out but have not tried it. I think you can keep it for only two weeks and can’t renew the book. Hard for me lately to get through a book in two weeks.
I don’t know what happened to my husband’s good luck when we were in Vegas a couple months ago. Dropped $100 at the roulette table in about 20 minutes. We weren’t at the table long enough to get our “free” drinks!
I just learned about the ads. Like you I have one of the original Kindle, so this was news. There is NO WAY I’d put up with ads. It is complete B.S. I’m a mellow person, but that is something I must take a stand against! No way.
I was surprised by the ads too. My husband thinks that since the thing was free, I should spring to opt out of the ads. I’ll take up the anti-ad stand with you.
I use the Kindle app on my iPad, so I haven’t encountered any ads. Thank goodness. I suspect that would annoy me greatly. As for your husband’s winnings? Think if I buy a Powerball ticket he’d ‘bless’ it for me? Might increase my chances of winning.
He’d bless your Powerball ticket if you promise to split the winnings with him. We’ll be rich!
Deal. 🙂
My Kindle Touch 3G runs small ones at the bottom of the “home page” and will use ads as screensavers. But one doesn’t show up every time I turn in on. Have you looked at the product specs on Amazon? Maybe there are different versions, some of which come with ads?
That may be the case. Since it was a raffle prize, the organizers of the event probably went for the cheaper-with-ads version.
An added thought–what’s even more annoying is, no one told me, so I have no idea how long they’ve been there. Discovered them by accident. Don’t know why kindle fire would do that. I suspect it’s icing on the cake. I don’t think it’s to keep the cost of the device down.
I haven’t seen an ad on your blog. Hmmm . . . Your comment prompted me to learn more about those ads. Here is what WordPress has to say . . .
At WordPress.com, we sometimes display advertisements on your blog to help pay the bills. This keeps free features free!
We only run them in limited places, and we do not show ads to logged-in readers, which means only a very small percentage of your page views will actually contain ads.
To eliminate ads on your blog entirely, you can purchase the No-Ads Upgrade. The upgrade is especially attractive and useful to business blogs in order to eliminate any possibility of competitors’ ads displaying on their domains.
The No-Ads Upgrade costs $30.00 per blog, per year.
Me again . . . they say they don’t how ads to logging-in readers. Huh? I’m always logged in and I see the ads on some blogs.
Just to clarify here, I believe some people choose to have ads on their blogs, and they receive a percentage if people click on those ads – those ones you will see whether or not you are logged in, but the other ones that WordPress just choose to put on there when they like aren’t seen if you’re logged in. I once saw the ads on my blog when I wasn’t logged in and was completely confused about what they were doing there!
Oh, well now. That makes sense. Thanks! Do you remember seeing an ad here? I wonder how much bloggers get when someone clicks on an ad if they opt to allow an ad on their blog. Any idea?
I haven’t seen an ad here, but then I’m probably always logged in when I’m over here. I have no idea how much people get, but do you follow Peg-o-Leg’s blog? She’s one of those who chose to have ads on there, they come at the bottom of each post I think. She spoke about it on one of her posts and I think she said there has to be quite a large number of clicks before she gets anything. Check her out if you don’t know her, she’s great fun (not that you probably want to add more to your lengthy blog reading list!) – http://pegoleg.com/
I do follow Peg-o-Leg but don’t remember seeing ads there. Maybe I’ve learned to turn a blind eye to them. I’ll head over there right now for a look-see.
That is weird. I’ve seen that message, but the price I saw was 89.00. And why do I see add on my own blog when I view it? Does that mean I’m not actually a WP member? 🙂 I don’t know.
The mysteries of WordPress continue.
Several people are saying its my browser??? Not being terribly computer literate, I’ll have to research this further…
Let us know what you uncover. Why would your browser make a difference?
My WordPress blogs recently began putting ads at the bottom. I was VERY annoyed, but I can only get rid of them with an 89.00 donation–excuse me, “upgrade”. WTF?
I’ve wondered why/how some blogs have those ads at the bottom. I don’t think they have shown up on my blog, have they? Seems like they should have to ask your permission. $89 seems steep to opt out.
The ads really annoy me. Wish we had a choice. Apparently Toyota truck ads are on mine frequently.
I guess since I am logged-in, I don’t see the ads on your blog.
Ads are everywhere… I’m not sure why as if most people are like me, I tune out for the duration – they don’t influence my purchasing habits. I haven’t gone to an e-reader yet, still on books and using my smartphone for e-books simply because I couldn’t bear to cart one more device around.
I can’t watch live TV or listen to the radio anymore. The ads drive me nutso! There are some things I won’t buy BECAUSE of their ads. The DVR and Pandora are my new bestest friends.
I have Pandora as well, and Spotify 🙂 but no DVR.
hmmm I have a Kindle Fire and no ads? I also have about 75 books on it and I only bought 4 of them.
What comes up when you turn it on?
Colorful pictures of cameras, typewriter keys, rolls of film, its ever changing……
I understand there is a cheaper-with-ads version of the Kindle Fire. That must explain it.
Product placement is everywhere.
Does that guy Vegas90403 show up in Kindle?
Who is Vegas90403? Don’t know the guy.
Since it was free, won in a raffle, I’d pay the $15….. And as for Fifty Shades of Grey, when I saw it on your nightstand over the weekend I figured your mother had returned it. Must be a new copy?? 🙂
Busted!
We were in an airport magazine/book kiosk recently and my husband picked up a copy of Fifty Shades and started reading aloud. I had to punch him. He is a man who doesn’t need a microphone, even with his inside voice. You should have seen the heads snap in his direction.
Please say he did it in a pirate voice.
More like a James Bond voice.
Ha ha ha. Very funny, Mr. Coyle. The copy of Fifty Shades you saw on my nightstand is the one you are reading in secret.
I still want to get a Kindle. I’m shocked to hear there are ads. It’s so hard to get away from them. All the same, I hope you enjoy it!
I love it. We travel often and I would fill half of my suitcase with books. I have an irrational fear of running out of reading material, as tho the places we travel don’t have bookstores 🙂 With the Kindle, all the world’s books are at my fingertips!
I haven’t ventured there yet but I’m sure I will one day. At the moment, my quotient of reading time is spent reading blogs!
I don’t read nearly as much as I would like to. Like you, I read a lot of blogs. I guess that counts as reading, right?
I think so. There are some amazing writers in this world I have recently discovered. I like the fact that I am reading peoples’ work in real time. It is fresh and relevant and I can interact with these amazing writers. I do love books but I have barely read one since I had my 4th son…that was 6 years ago. At the moment I am reading a book called “Beautiful Boy” which is about a father ravished journey through the drug addiction of his son….it will take me a while but I felt it was an important story for me to read.
It is fun to hear fresh voices on so many topics. Some sad, some funny, some informative, some crazy. I get something out of every one. What do you think of “Beautiful Boy”? Enjoying it? Well, not that you would enjoy the sorrow of the man’s son’s drug addition, but you know what I mean?
It’s a very well written memoir which interests me in its own right, as that is what I am trying to do myself. At the start of the book, the reader is told that there is a happy ending but I am sure it will be a gruelling and painful ride the further I get into it. Have you read this book?
I haven’t read it, but you have me curious about it. If you think of it, will you give me a review when you finish it? Your life story will make a compelling memoir.
I’d love to write a review (I haven’t written one since school) once I’m finished. And thank you by the way for your encouragement.
I love your new Kindle cover, it looks very cute indeed. I have a first generation Kindle and love it. It’s not so bright on the eyes as paper, therefore more reading can be done before my eyes start getting tired.
Isn’t it cute? I bought it on Amazon. $30 or so. My only complaint with the first generation Kindle is not being able to read it in bed without turning on a light. I often wake up in the middle of the night and want to read. With the old Kindle, I had to go out to the family room so as not to disturb my husband.
I bought my wife a new Kindle Paperwhite. The advertised price was much cheaper than the original Kindle I have, but by the time I payed extra to not have the ads, and extra so you could use the Whispernet instead of paying for a network, the price was pretty close to the same.
Progress.
You can probably pay to not have the ads after you register it.
I suppose since the deal-io was free, I can spring to not have ads. Does your wife like the Kindle Paperwhite?
She’s just getting into it, but really likes the back lighting feature and how portable it is. My prediction is that she’ll become an addict.
It is pretty nifty.