Sometimes older relatives need a little help getting started with eReaders
I just had a very long but satisfying experience helping my father (who is almost ninety) and my stepmother get set up with a new Kindle.
They live out in a remote rural area, and my father was feeling a little isolated and far from it all. He wanted to be able to keep up on news (regional and national newspapers and journals) easily, and expressed a keen interest in getting an eReader. They also wanted easy access to books. They had never ordered anything from Amazon, and did not have an account. They needed some help getting started.
A few family members and I subsidized the purchase of a Kindle for them. Here are the steps we took:
1) We found out which one of the five types of Amazon Kindle eReaders they wanted. We all agreed it would be better to have a little hands-on with the devices, so we waited until they could experience them for themselves at a BestBuy. They chose the Kindle Keyboard 3G with Free Wi-fi (which has built-in special offers).
2) I then set up an account on Amazon for them. The Kindle was ordered on this account, and sent to their address, so it was pre-registered.
3) After they received the Kindle, they played around a little bit with the device. By the time I called today, they were somewhat familiar with the buttons and the interface.
4) I walked them through first getting connected wirelessly, then downloading a Free Sample Book, then navigating around the Sample to learn the ropes.
5) I then walked them through their first purchase of "Today's Daily Deal" on the Kindle, which was a history book for $1.99. This process included receiving an email, then clicking back from the email to the Amazon website, thus their first experience with buying an item on Amazon (not everybody has done this yet, you know).
6) The final step was to go to the Kindle's "Home," button, click on "Menu," and "Sync & Check for Items." Then, their first purchase was delivered wirelessly to the Kindle. They were in business.
The Kindle can make the life of older people much easier, once you know the basics. Having someone on the other end of the line can be really helpful to get started. It also helped that I had a similar Kindle I was holding it at the time I walked them through their first eBook purchase.
I think this Christmas gift was a hit, and am glad to have made the effort to help get two more converts going with the wide world of eReading.
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