Recommend an e-reader for a pre-teen

[Oro_O]

I have a 12 year old step son and I want to stimulate his (already pretty good) reading habits.

a) I have an iPad Air, and use Overdrive to borrow a lot of library books. I also share a family library with my father's iPad (his Kindle library) which has a large collection of his purchases.

b) I want a basic reader that has at least minimal wifi ability to use Overdrive (can we share a library there?) and also access my father's Kindle library. So not dedicated to one platform or the other

This way I can check out books for him, we can read things together and discuss, etc.

Anyone have any experience or ideas here? I've tried googling reviews and recommendations I'm not figuring out easily what I want to know.

 

[InhalingBullets]

The new Kindle fire HD 8" comes out tomorrow for $150. They have some good products and this one will come with tons of extras.

 

[yesthatsteve]

Many Overdrive titles are available in Kindle format. I use my library's Overdrive web interface on my computer or phone and select Kindle format at checkout. Overdrive then forwards me to the Amazon page where I can select which device will receive the book. I can send them to my phone, computer, or regular Kindle, or any combination of the three.

I typically send books to my Kindle at checkout, and then if I'm out somewhere without the Kindle (e.g. having tires installed last week) I can then send the book to my phone and pick up reading where I last left off. When I pick up the Kindle again, I can sync everything to pick up where I left off when reading on the phone, usually automatically.

Some Overdrive titles are not available in Kindle format, but the Overdrive app makes it fairly easy to read those on an Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, or Windows Mobile device.

In addition to the $150 Fire mentioned above, Amazon also has a 7-inch Fire selling for $50 starting tomorrow: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TSUGXKE/ It's lower-spec than the other Fire tablets, but it's still pretty good for the money.

 

[uc50ic4more]

I just re-purposed an old piece of garbage tablet from a couple of years ago as an ereader today, coincidentally. I loaded it up with Kindle, Overdrive, Google Play Books and Pocket; and the underpowered piece of garbage is all of a sudden a very capable little reader. I can't imagine any Android or iOS or any other type of tablet or dedicated ereader device steering you too wrong. The men are likely separated from the boys when it would come to the quality and brightness of the screen, and perhaps storage capacities.

 

[Oro_O]

What kind of tablet did you re-purpose. That sounds like a good approach.

I need to be able to access both Overdrive and Kindle, not choose between the two. Buying an older tablet is an option, but I'm ignorant of much of that hardware; I didn't have one until this iPad air last year and never paid attention to them.

Getting something cheap and doing that is an option. My idea of a dedicated reader was to limit HIS re-purposing of it to games and [censored], which would still be preferable.