The Amazon Kindle is the worlds most popular e-reader and they come in various storage configurations. Users can have a choice between 8GB on the entry level Kindle or choose between the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 11th Generation 8GB, Signature Edition with 32GB or the Kindle Oasis, which also has a maximum of 32GB of storage. How many ebooks can fit on a Kindle?
One of the advantages of buying books on the Kindle is that they weigh nothing and don’t take up space in the traditional sense. If you buy paperbacks and hardcovers, not only do you need bookshelves to house them, but they weigh a lot. This is very evident if you have ever had to move houses and had to pack up 10-20 boxes of just books, they are very heavy and are a two man job. Of course, you can carry more books with you on a Kindle than you could in a backpack. But how many more is it? And what would it weigh?
How Large is a Kindle Book?
The first question we have to ask is how big is an eBook? How much storage space does a single eBook take up? Physical books come in many different sizes and the same applies to eBooks. A short book such as a Kindle Single is normally around 00 pages will only take up 1-2MB of storage. Meanwhile, something like a digital textbook or PDF file could be up to 1GB. ComiXology comic books also range in size, on the Kindle they tend to be 100MB for each issue, however on tablets such as the Kindle Fire, they can double in size, due to the color and HD quality. Manga on the Kindle varies in size, weekly chapters are 4MB to 9MB, while an entire volume can take up 50MB to 100MB.
The vast majority of Kindle books are under 500 pages, which puts most ebooks in the 1-5MB range. The average I have noticed is around 2MB in size, such as the quintessential bestseller from a major publisher.
How many books can you download?
1GB equals 1,000MB. If we divide that by 2MB—the average size of an ebook—you’re looking at around 500 eBooks per GB of storage. That 8GB Kindle Basic, or Kindle Paperwhite only has 6GB of storage when you take into account the operating system and all of the pre-installed features. This reader can only hold around 3,000 books. The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition and Kindle Oasis have 32GB of storage, but only 30GB is available, you will be able to house 15,000 books.
If you ever get the message that your Kindle is nearing its maximum capacity, you can remove them from your device by long pressing on the book and removing it from the Kindle. It is then available in the Kindle Cloud to download again at a future date.
What if you decided to forgo Kindle Books and instead go all in with print? What if you decided to buy 3,000 or 15,000 physical books. How much would that weigh? An average 6×9 paperback novel with 300 pages weighs 15.6 ounces. 3,000 average paperbacks would weigh 2,925 pounds. 15,000 average paperbacks would weigh 14,625 pounds. Whereas the average Kindle weighs 61 ounces, so it weighs less than 10 paperbacks or 3 hardcovers.
Wrap Up
If you are a voracious reader, it makes sense to buy digital books. They do not suffer from the same wear and tear as a physical book. They are more convenient, you go to a website, click the “Buy” button, and download the book to Kindle or just buy it from the Kindle Store right on your reader, whereas print books you have to go to the bookstore and pick it up on the same day or order from Amazon and have them delivered in a couple of days, based on availability.
Having a Kindle and buying ebooks is also better for the environment. Emma Ritch conducted a story on the carbon footprint of a Kindle e-Reader vs paperback books. “There is roughly 168 kg of CO2 produced throughout the Kindle’s lifecycle and 1,074 kg of CO2 if you purchase three books a month for four years; and up to 26,098 kg of CO2 when used to the fullest capacity of the Kindle Paperwhite. Less-frequent readers attracted by decreasing prices still can break even at 22.5 books over the life of the device,” she wrote in conclusion. The newspaper and book publishing industries together consume 153 billion gallons of water annually, according to the nonprofit Green Press Initiative. It takes about seven gallons to produce the average printed book, while e-publishing companies can create a digital book with less than two cups of water.
Depending on your reading habits, this would dictate what Kindle would suit your needs. If you just read books, the base model Kindle or Paperwhite would be great. However, if you read newspapers, comics and manga, or sideload in the occasional PDF file, since these take up more storage, you might want consider the Paperwhite Signature Edition or Oasis 3.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.