Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have the 7" Kindle Fire HD, and love it. When I decided to get something larger to use for out of town travel, I considered just about everything out there, but ended up purchasing the 8.9" Kindle Fire HD. I couldn't be happier! I put my hands on as many tablets as possible in the stores to make sure I was making an informed decision. I even considered plunking down $600+ on the new ipad with retina display; also seriously considered the top of the line Toshiba tablet (has a great screen, among other things, but not as sharp as the Fire). In the end, it was price and SOUND that made my decision. I use my Kindle Fires mostly for music, web and video (aside from reading, of course). The screen on the 8.9 is absolutely gorgeous! Yes, the retina dispay on ipad is also fantastic, but the difference was not worth nearly twice the price, IMHO. But where Kindle blew everyone away was the sound. The stereo speakers on both sizes cannot be beat. I literally had to put the speaker of the Toshiba up to my ear to hear it on the loudest setting in the quite noisy store I was in. A few short steps away, in the same noisy crowd, the Kindle speakers were loud and crystal-clear, and not even all the way up. I can really crank it up and rarely get any distortion. Don't worry about the youtube app,etc. There are plenty of instructions to be found on the net for loading apps like that onto your Kindle Fire. Took me only a couple of minutes, and the app works just fine. The silk web browser is fast, and I have no complaints about it. A word about the ads vs ad-free argument: Unless you reeeeaaallly want to look at a picture of your kids or whatever for the few seconds your lock screen will be seen, I wouldn't bother cancelling the ads. Even the "suggestions" at the bottom of the carousel are unobtrusive, and don't even show in landscape mode. It's only $15 to opt out if it really bothers you, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. I used that $15 to buy a magazine subscription to enjoy on my awesome new toy! I picked up the case made by Amazon, which to me is a must, and will be adding an anti-glare screen protector. The Fire already has less glare than anything else I looked at, but I still like the protectors. Some things to take into consideration about my review: I do have alot of Amazon content. Now, I know full well I could still have taken full advantage of my Amazon content from another tablet, but it may make a difference to some of you reading this. I am not a gamer, and I don't have 500 time-wasting apps on my phone or Kindle, nor do I want them. And last, I am not and have never been a die-hard Apple fan. They make great products, but so do other companies. If you are someone who will not be happy with anything but an ipad, please do yourself a favor and buy one. Please don't buy this great Kindle Fire HD 8.9 and then return it and post a negative review because it's not an ipad. I hope my review helps someone! Thanks for reading.