I want an Amazon Kindle so badly that I could spit. Well, maybe not actually spit but pretty close to that badly. Let's just say that I really want this little gadget, moreso than I've ever wanted any piece of current technology. I am unimpressed with fancy cell phones, the Wii, iPods and iPhones yet this electronic reader that fits in your purse has me obsessed. Obsessed I tell you.
Every time I scan Amazon I see books that I want to read right now and the Kindle price is always less than a real book. I have read multiple reviews of the Kindle that assure me that it is pleasurable to read on and is extremely handy to boot - has reference guides and newspapers and dictionaries as well as being able to hold 2,000+ books. Did you just read that last sentence? 2,000 books! An entire library that will fit in your purse. Mecca, heaven, bliss, to me at least.
Alas, I am not buying a Kindle. They are expensive and I am trying to scale back and I have stacks of real books that I own and from the library all over my house just waiting to be picked up and read. I just want to stop obsessing about the Kindle. Please, if you own a Kindle tell me all the awful things about it, OK?
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7 comments:
I've long lusted after the Kindle as well and accept the fact I'll NEVER EVER have one. The dang things are just TOO pricey.
I read that the Kindle can burst into flames while you are reading; hence, the name.
Mom
Well now I want the stinkin Kindle, thanks! While you can't knock the convenience of it, do take a second to remember ALL of the things we like about books.
It's not just the stories in them, it's the picture on the cover, the smell of the pages, the creases in the binding, the underlining of a passage that the person before you found especially noteworthy. It's crinkly pages from when you drop it in the bathtub and the rainbow of bindings on an overstuffed shelf.
None of those delicious things can be had by a little machine!
I've never used a Kindle. I watched the promo videos at the page you linked to in your blog post and these thoughts occurred to me:
1. It is a monochrome device, so books with colour diagrams or where colour plays an important part won't convert over very well or will lose something.
2. How resistant is the screen to scratches? Are screen protectors available?
3. Is the battery user replaceable? (An increasing trend nowadays is for them not to be.) If not, what is its expected lifetime? How much does it cost to replace it when it dies, and how do you do that?
4. It sounds like it is not easy to get your own content onto it. For example, it mentioned in one of the videos you could put your own MS-Word documents onto it by e-mailing it to yourself via the Kindle service for a small fee. Lissie's mobile phone is a pain because all the neat features are locked down unless you pay to use them through proprietary portals. Hopefully the Kindle is not the same.
5. The videos did not really show what navigation features the Kindle provides. I've always found that the biggest obstacle to adoption for e-readers. For example, fast-flicking through pages to locate content quickly is something physical books do very well yet e-books don't quite manage to capture. This is an aspect of the Kindle that would mandate, for me, a hands-on test ride before I bought one.
Finally, in your blog post you said the capacity of the Kindle is over 2000 books. In the Amazon videos they put it at 200. I guess you must be planning on using a big SD card! :-)
I have a Kindle. It was a gift to myself for my retirement. I read more and more and hardly have time to do other things in my life. A huge reason to not have one. The cover that comes with it is bad and the Kindle slips out. You have to have a big purse not a small one. When I eat out, the staff drive me nuts wanting to see it and how it works. Seriously, the last two book I have wanted to read are not on Kindle yet. My suggestion is to use your money to do something fun with your children.
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