Take $30 off a new Amazon Kindle, our recommended budget ebook reader
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Today's Dealmaster is headlined by a nice discount on the Amazon Kindle, which is currently down to $60. That's tied for the lowest price we've tracked for Amazon's entry-level ebook reader and a $30 drop from its usual going rate. The deal also bundles a three-month subscription to Amazon's Kindle Unlimited ebook service, which typically costs $30 on its own. Just note that the subscription will be set to auto-renew at $10 a month once the free period is up, so you may want to set a reminder for yourself if you wish to cancel.
The Kindle is the "best budget" option in our guide to the best ebook readers. We like it for offering a decent 6-inch display with adjustable front lighting that helps it stay visible in darker environments, a lightweight (6.01 oz.) and comfortable design that takes up little room in a bag, solid battery life that lasts roughly four weeks a charge, and Bluetooth connectivity that lets you connect wireless headphones and listen to Audible audiobooks. And like any other Kindle, it comes with access to Amazon's massive ebook library.
To be clear, though, this is priced below Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite, our favorite ebook reader, for a reason. By comparison, the entry-level Kindle's display isn't as sharp, with a 167-pixel-per-inch (ppi) density compared to the Paperwhite's crisper 300ppi display. This won't be a major nuisance unless you're coming from a sharper ereader display, but the Kindle's text is fuzzier, and the drop-off will be particularly noticeable with image-heavy material like comic books and manga. Beyond that, the Kindle lacks the Paperwhite's waterproofing, its display is a tad dimmer due to having one fewer LED front light, it has half as much storage space at 4GB, and its display is recessed from the rest of the design, not set flush a la the higher-end model. In either case, you still have to put up with home-screen ads (unless you pay a one-time fee) and DRM protection that effectively locks your ebook library into Amazon's platform.
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