Tell me about Kindles

[#2ontheway]

I'm thinking about a Kindle for our seven year old. We're a low tech family and I want to keep it as simple as possible. Mostly I want it to be an e-reader with the ability to link to our library account and perhaps some other limited capabilities such as playing music and audio books. I don't want the kids version with the connectivity to videos and games and such. Is the basic version our best bet? I'm just starting to research but I'd love a little perspective. Thanks!

[KrisM]

If it's for reading, get an ereader instead of a tablet. DS1 and DS2 both have kindles. DS1 has a paperwhite and DS2 has a touch. They read on them. There are some very basic games, like tic tac toe, but that's it. DD has a Fire and rarely reads on it, but does watch videos adn does photo editing.

[#2ontheway]

If it's for reading, get an ereader instead of a tablet. DS1 and DS2 both have kindles. DS1 has a paperwhite and DS2 has a touch. They read on them. There are some very basic games, like tic tac toe, but that's it. DD has a Fire and rarely reads on it, but does watch videos adn does photo editing.

I was thinking this one maybe: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...669702011&th=1

Is this similar to what your kids have? I'm fine with basic games but I guess I can't tell if this has games or not.

[KrisM]

Yes, that is a newer version of what DS2 is using. It works fine and he likes it. It does need an external light if you want to read in the dark. You can look for "active content" for the kindle to see games.

[JBaxter]

I listen to kindle music through mine ( basic kindle fire $33 last Christmas ) I have amazon prime so I can also watch movies on it through amazon and it has my alexa too. The boys have iPads but we are more high tech Jack figured out how to make his ipad show up on our 65 in TV to watch youtube. There are other tablets brands also.

[#2ontheway]

I listen to kindle music through mine ( basic kindle fire $33 last Christmas ) I have amazon prime so I can also watch movies on it through amazon and it has my alexa too. The boys have iPads but we are more high tech Jack figured out how to make his ipad show up on our 65 in TV to watch youtube. There are other tablets brands also.

Are you able to remove apps you don't want from the Fire? My seven year old doesn't need Facebook etc....

[JBaxter]

I had to download my apps other than the preloaded. You can not hook up to wifi or just put the password in when you want to download or connect to a server. I think the audible, docs calendar camera were preloaded a few others calculator clock weather etc but things like facebook, Pandora news messenger all have to be physically downloaded.

check youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNya6mbDjL4

[JBaxter]

there are a bunch of youtube how to set up a kindle fire videos

[jam224]

I'm thinking about a Kindle for our seven year old. We're a low tech family and I want to keep it as simple as possible. Mostly I want it to be an e-reader with the ability to link to our library account and perhaps some other limited capabilities such as playing music and audio books. I don't want the kids version with the connectivity to videos and games and such. Is the basic version our best bet? I'm just starting to research but I'd love a little perspective. Thanks!

I don't have the Kindle E-reader, but I do have 2 different generations of the Kindle Fire tablet. I looked at the one you linked (B00ZV9PXP2) and I also looked at the Paperwhite model. As far as I can tell, they don't support Audible and they don't play music. They also don't have headphone jacks or built-in speakers. The Kindle you linked does have a feature called Voiceview, which sounds like a text-to-speech feature, but you would need Bluetooth headphones or a Bluetooth speaker (alternatively, you could buy an adapter for an aux input, but I think a Bluetooth device would be simpler).

If you want access to music and audio books, I think the basic Kindle Fire tablet (B00TSUGXKE) would suit your needs. If you can forego those added features, then the Kindle E-reader would be fine.

[TwinFoxes]

I'm thinking about a Kindle for our seven year old. We're a low tech family and I want to keep it as simple as possible. Mostly I want it to be an e-reader with the ability to link to our library account and perhaps some other limited capabilities such as playing music and audio books. I don't want the kids version with the connectivity to videos and games and such. Is the basic version our best bet? I'm just starting to research but I'd love a little perspective. Thanks!

The low-tech version is the Paperwhite (well, there's the basic kindle, but it doesn't even have a light so you can't read in the dark). It doesn't play music and audio books (no speaker). Kindles are all just E-readers, period. (I have a Kindle Paperwhite, and love it. But we have iPads for tablets.)

The Kindle Fire is a tablet. It has apps and games and a speaker, so you can listen to books and music. It also has a forward and a rear facing camera. It's a completely different machine than the Kindle e-reader.