Kindle or Ipod for 8 Year Old

I would do the Ipod and have them pick out some good ole' books to carry along. This way, you have the best of both worlds. Also, the 8 yr olds can ea. have a book and read at the same time or listen to music together. That's my vote! Good luck....

I really feel like Apple Touch would be more user friendly for your kids. My daughter(4.5) has an Ipad2. It was a very generous gift from her grandparents. The touch would be basically the smaller version of an Ipad to her. Its easy to use and my daughter just loves it! Again, just my opinion. It does come down to what you want to spend too. I have the Kindle on Ipad2 w/ alot of books. Its easy to just open a book wherever you are :)

(P.S. your kids, your money you buy them whatever the hell you want! ;P)

If you are going to buy one or the other I would go with the fire. It really has everything a kid would need. Sure an adult would get more use out of the other features on an iPad but not a kid. Plus kids will most likely break it. Not because they are bad but they will forget it is sitting on the car seat or things like that.

The fire is about a third the cost of an iPad.

Will you be my mom cause I can't afford any of those things for myself - more less my kids. :-)

I second the laptop - it has a more practical purpose and won't be obsolete (at least for the kiddos) in 6 months. Plus it's sturdier and less likely to break from being dropped since it's not a small and actually has some heft behind it.

I have a different view. I would get the I-Pod Touch. It is going to be more in line with the games (lots of educational games to download), you can have the movie and also put books on there. I think the touch is going to be more in line for their ages.

hmmm that is a tough one since i have a kindle but not the kindle fire. I believe you can get a kindle app on the ipod touch which I read it on my droid all the time when im away from my kindle. The only thing I can think of is if you already have an itunes account with all your music on it then I would def go with the ipod touch since you already have all that music to share. They also have the alarm clocks and stuff that you can put the ipod onto that will become a music player. I dont think you can go wrong with either.

My hubby is a techie, if you can afford the ipod, go with the ipod.

I have an ipod touch. I would NEVER get one for a young child (under 10). They are too expensive and fragile for a child that age. I do let my DD play games on mine under strict supervision.

Now if I didn't have one, I would get the Kindle fire or another android tablet - they are the same price as the i-pod touch these days.

I am a PC girl. I really, truly dislike the Apple marketplace and I-tunes. The search functions are a crapshoot and it's really hard for me to find things that are not one any of the "lists" like top 100. i-tunes also runs REALLY crappy on our PC's, once of which we use for watching TV. So the shows I bought from I-tunes for my DD, she can only watch on my tiny i-pod - because the software sucks so bad on a Windows PC. Because of this I had buyers regret pretty much the day after I bought it. I just don't get how people put up with such crappy software...

Eventually it comes down to personal preference. If you can find a store where you can try them out and see which one you like better.

Good luck.

I have an ipod touch and 3 young kids who go to all kinds of sporting practices and games and on 15+ hour road trips 2X per year. While my kids love the touch- they would rather watch movies on a portable dvd player because the ipods screen is so small- and you can forget 2 kids watching a movie on it at the same time! The games are great and it's very easy to use, but its size is an issue for me. I know someone posted earlier that something smaller would be easier when traveling etc- but I can't tell you how many times my kids don't know where they put it- it's the size of a phone and slips down in seat cushions etc-but you can't just call it like a cell phone to find it. I would suggest the Fire- if I had the $ I'd be getting one of those for my 3.

I have looked at the Kindle Fire (online) and saw a Yahoo comparison of that to an Ipad (not "pod") and the article seemed to be claiming that they were going to steal a huge chunk of market share from the iPad. But when I read the article, it didn't sound like it would to me.

Here is what (for me) would probably be the determining factor if I were in your shoes: cost. The devices themselves cost virtually the same amount of money. BUT, the Kindle comes (so I understand anyway) with an introductory free Amazon Prime membership (for like 60 days or something?). That is how you will purchase apps and books for the kindle. The ipods can access your already existing itunes account (if you don't have one, they are free) and load everything from there. BUT, there is a HUGE number of FREE apps that your kids can download and play. You can even load a Kindle app right onto the iPod and read books from the iPod if you want. But you see, the books are not free. Sure, there are books that are, but not likely many things your kids will want to read. We're talking the old classics that are so old that they are considered public domain. Little Women. Treasure Island. Moby Dick. All great books! But probably not what your 8 year olds will have any interest in. If you want to grab "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" you'll have to pay.
Now, the kindle is going to be bigger than an ipod also, which means portability (if you are sporting 2 of these things in the car) is going to become more of a nuisance. Every time you stop to run into a fast food place for the potty, you're going to have to either take the device with you or put it out of sight in the car. Bigger isn't better in those situations. Especially times 2.

I think as long as you get one of those neoprene cases for the ipod, (they keep them from slipping and sliding around on slick surfaces, or even just if your hand gets sweaty) then they will serve you very well. They come with earbuds in the package, too. :)

ETA: Both my kids have gotten touch's in the past year (my then 9 year old at Xmas last year, my now 13 yr old "earned" one at the end of the school year in May to replace the nano he had gotten the year before). They both LOVE them. And there are TONS of games and free stuff they can do. My 10 yr old even checks the weather before she gets dressed in the morning! They also use them plugged into a docking station (to charge overnight) to fall asleep to their favorite tunes. They take pictures. They make videos. They text (free apps for that, too). There is a LOT of capability packed into those little ipods. And I love Apple products anyway. My kids are not harsh with their electronics (DSlites, ipods, laptops, digital cameras, flip, etc)... and we have never had a problem with one getting damaged.

If you get both of them, a different item... they will fight over it.
So something to think about.
Both of those items, are good.
We have those. For us and the kids.
Good product.

A kid, can read from a book too.

Apple.
iPod
iPad
Kindle.
ALL good.

BUT, if you really don't need 'electronics'... then don't. Especially if your only reason is to entertain them on the road.

OR... instead of getting those things... get them an Apple Lap Top... if you can afford that. BECAUSE, in the long run... they can use it for school and other things... and it is useful.
My daughter is 9 and she regularly uses her laptop... for school. They have online required homework, too.