Amazon No Longer Kindles Its Fire

First, I love your articles, they are very helpful. I have three Kindle. Two are Fire. I use them on and off all day long. Love them and all the free stuff Amazon offers.

I have an original Kindle Fire. I've had it for nearly three years. The hardware is good. It's a decent tablet although battery life is too short. Software is another story. Apps can only be ordered from Amazon.The browser isn't very good and you can't download Chrome. If you want a fully capable Android tablet, you'd be better off with a Google Nexxus. If you want an easy way to order merchandise and e-products from Amazon then, by all means, buy a Fire.

I also have a Kindle Paperwhite 3G with "special offers". When I bought mine, 3G cost extra. As Bob said, the ads are very unobtrusive. Downloads from the cloud or the Kindle bookstore are very fast over a wireless network. Downloads over 3G are slower but you can use it just about anywhere you happen to be. The Paperwhite is a great e-reader and I'd recommend it to anyone.

I am on my 3rd Kindle (First 2 broke, my fault). I use it daily for reading mainly, I do play some games to pass the time, when away from laptop I use it for email, facebook and general browsing. Needless to say I don't go anywhere without my Fire. With that said My biggest complaint is the lack of organization capability for the books on the Fire. The first Kindle reader had an excellent way to organize the books but that was dropped with the Fire. With over 1000 books it would be nice to be able to organize them so that they can be referenced by whatever method I choose (sort of like the folders on my laptop.

I find tablets and e-readers too large to carry around and I certainly wouldn't want to carry both an e-reader and a phone. I prefer to use my Galaxy S3 for everything except surfing at home, which I do on a desktop, and I do all my reading using the Kindle app on my phone.

I'm still giggling over your comment about scratching off the K-word. Yes, I'm a bonafide Amazon groupie. Have a K Keyboard for reading only and a Fire HD for browsing and other stuff. I may be a tablet junkie- also have a LePan Mini. Am liking it so far, but haven't had it long. I swear it seems like they're debuting a new Kindle every week- I'm waiting for Kindle Glasses and the Kindle watch (wink).

Is there any E-reader that will read to you, say if your eyes are tired or do you need a tablet with and a different kind of book, say an audio book?

I own 2 kindle tablets. The Fire is used for reading in bed. The Touch is used for reading outdoors. It has the free 3G. That is one of the reasons I bought it. Use them both almost daily.

I also have a 10.1" android tablet that I use as a music book for pdf files. A needed a larger screen for that.

According to Wikipedia: "The Nexus 7 is intended to take advantage of the different media formats available through the application store [Google Play], including e-books, movies, music, games, magazines, and television programs."
Nexus 7 is the tablet I use for most things away from my PC. It's also easy to use to download ebooks borrowed from my public library. I also have a Kobo Touch which I enjoy using for reading books I have purchased from the Kobo store. I can download to Kobo from the library via Adobe Digital Editions on my PC, though I rarely use that feature. The Kobo software works very smoothly with the epub format of the books I buy.

I have a couple of dedicated Kindle ereaders with 3G and got a wi-fi Fire HDX 8.9 tablet on a lightning deal on Amazon about 6 weeks ago. I prefer the dedicated ereaders for books and use the tablet for browsing and email. The tablets aren’t the greatest for my eyes as an ereader, although I would use it as such in a pinch if I had to although I would eagerly listen to the book on the Fire. Videos on the HDX are stunning and the silk browser is fast. The size is just perfect. Also like the built-in ability to dictate emails on the Fire. I think each has its place. Both are compact enough to carry with me.

Duane - Best to use a tablet and hook into the local library (ebooks). You sign in with your library card and password and download from there. You can find an app to cover this (ebooks library app). I've downloaded an audio book before and it was lovely. I lay in bed with my head-phones on.

Dave -- There is an app for the Fire that allows you to organize your book titles. I haven't tried it so I can't attest to its capabilities.

Duane -- The Kindle Keyboard (originally called the 3rd Generation Kindle)had a voice synthesizer that would read text to you if the publisher allowed it to be enabled for their titles. You can choose a male or female voice and the reading speed. My wife loves it even though the voices are very mechanical sounding. You can still order a used one from Amazon.

The other option is to order the Audible version but this is much more expensive than the regular e-book.

Not all Kindle e-readers have sound capability. The Paperwhite has none.

To Duane
If you just want an e reader,you could look into audible.com. They have a large choice of audio books and with an initial subscription, they often have free audible readers.(They are just audio, not readers).I've used audible for years and really enjoy it. I know, I sound like an ad, but I'm really just a consumer.
Also, they have apps for smartphones and computers.

I'm on my 3rd Kindle..upgrading each time. I now have a Fire 8.9". I must admit to being a junkie,too. I use it for reading and listening to books. My preference is listening and since I've gotten a wireless headset, I can walk around the house as I'm doing chores and not bother my husband.
I also surf the web, watch TV programs and movies(thru Amazon Prime), check email, play games, and do almost anything I can do on my computer, but with the ability to do it anywhere. I'm hooked!