Kindle started its life as an e-book reader from Amazon. Now Amazon offers a range of Android tablets under the same brand name. Six generations of e-books readers and three generations of tablets have been introduced in the market till date.
The e-book readers have E Ink displays, while the tablet have LCD displays. E Ink display brings paper-like contrast to the electronic devices. So, they are easier on eyes while reading. Unlike LCD and other backlit displays on tablets and mobile phones, E Ink display can be read in sunlight. In fact, it needs light to read, because it isn’t backlit. For voracious readers, readers with E Ink display are very useful.
The primary file format for e-books on Kindle is proprietary AZW. It is similar to Mobipocket (MOBI) format. This came from a French company that Amazon had acquired. On tablets apart from supporting AZW and MOBI, Kindle support KF8 format, which incorporates more advanced features for e-books.
Unfortunately Kindle does not support EPUB format, which is otherwise becoming a standard format for e-books and is used by other e-book readers like Nook, Sony Reader etc. If you have an EPUB file that you would like to read on Kindle, you can use the converters provided by Amazon to convert EPUB files into the supported format. You can, however, read PDFs natively on the latest generation Kindle devices.
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- Top 5 Ways to Score Free Books For Your Kindle (fatwallet.com)