Kindle. Opinions?

I saw one yesterday (my boss has been playing with it for a few weeks, apparently), and it looked great. I do a lot with PDF's (particularly when involved with the robotics team i mentor - a 200 page rulebook new each year, data sheets for various circuits, etc), and this would be amazing for keeping those on. I really, really love the low power consumption and long battery life, and the screen looked amazingly readable. The whole no glare thing would be completely awesome, as the biggest problem i have with technology is that it's next to impossible to use outside in the summer - you can never see whats on the screen.

 

Daniel, do you know if you can download e-books from web sites other than Amazon? If you can, will it still be free? (Not that I can afford to buy one, but very curious just in case I win the lottery or manage to find a really good job!)

 

dont have kindle and 6" seems small, but i have a book ON MY 2" i pod...so up to u as to what you can stand i guess. i personally dont want an item as big as a laptop or even a notebook for that matter.

as long as text size and be changed and screen is not ridiculously small, the only thing i would be concerned with is readability in bright outdoor conditions. that would be a deal breaker for me.

 

Have you considered buying an iPod (or other MP3 player), books on CD and then downloading them to the iPod? That is my Dad's favorite way to 'read' a book. He's then free to do other things while still enjoying the books that he likes. I've downloaded a few of his books & listened to them while driving. My parents live 3 hours away from me & it helps to pass the time.

 

Just some counter-points:
1. According to Amazon, you do not lease the book, you buy it. You can delete it from your Kindle and download it again at any time in the future. Whether or not the "ownership" would extend beyond the death of the company, time will tell.
2. I've never seen them charge the same for any of the books (60 or so I've bought) as their regular price although it does seem to be getting closer. That's balanced by the number of classics they're giving away or selling for 99 cents, in my view.
3. My Gen I Kindle is smaller than most of my 3000 hardbacks and Gen II is smaller.
4. Yes, it was expensive, but when I think about how much I've saved on my 60 books and the bookcase I haven't had to buy to store them in, it's easier to take.
5. Maybe so, although paper doesn't last forever either.
6. The battery isn't that big of a deal. With the air service turned off, it runs a long time (I haven't really checked). And on the other hand the fact that the battery in the Gen I is replaceable and that in the II is not, is why I have no plans for a II.

And yes, I love my Kindle almost as much I love to read. I have to travel a lot. It's not as easy to carry a week's worth of books in a suitcase as it is on my Kindle.

But I love my Prius more.

 

well if you cant buy the electronic version at a discount, i would not consider the option either. but i am pretty sure that libraries provide the option to download electronic versions of books (thanks to google i believe, as i seem to remember them spearheading an electronic book archiving project with the U-M)

 

Check out O'Reilly Ebook Bundles

(One of the BIGGEST selling points for me, as these books are amazing for software engineers)

Any book that's available in mobipocket or pdf formats can be viewed on the Kindle now, regardless if it comes from Amazon or not. The nice thing about Amazon is the free, direct wireless download to the device, and it certainly gives them a competitive edge against other e-book sellers.

One thing to note, however, is that the mobipocket format hasn't handled things like tables terribly well, which was a big sticking point with O'Reilly. It's apparently getting better and Amazon is working with publishers to let them display stuff as they want, which is certainly a good sign. More details about how O'Reilly and Amazon have been working together to improve the format: Over 160 O'Reilly Books Now in Kindle Store (without DRM), More on the Way - Tools of Change for Publishing

 

Cool, Daniel. I'll be very interested to hear your review once you get it. As I said, I have a few friends with both the first-gen Kindle and the Kindle 2, but none with the DX yet. Let us know how you like it.

 

formats will always be an issue. my cellphone has the ability to transfer adobe PDF's and read them. that format i am pretty sure will be around for a while and most newer versions are backward compatible. occasionally i see issues for special formatting, but the text is always readable

 

On the contrary daniel... I think you'll still be able to read these books 20 years from now if you so desire. For example, today i can load up *any* old DOS based program (programs that are a good 15-20 years old!) inside a simple, easy to use emulator on my Mac. In fact i do occasionally, if only because some of the computer games from that era had such great gameplay that the only thing keeping them from competing today is graphics.

Simply put, if you find any old document on your hard drive that's in what once was a popular format, odds are you can still display it today - heck, i have book reports from elementry school still on disk that i can open today. The same should be true with eBooks. Especially as they get more and more popular (and i think Amazon and the Kindle have finally broken it out into a mainstream media source), you can count on at least some sort of compatibility for years and years to come. I won't say that you'll be able to read a book on the Kindle 2030 that you downloaded today, but i would be willing to bet you'd be able to open it on your computer and even save it as a version compatible with that future Kindle (especially if the ebook doesn't have any DRM on it!).

 

I am a Kindle 2 owner and absolutely love the device. I have also seen the Kindle DX in person, but prefer the Kindle 2 more because of its smaller form factor. It really depends on the type of media you commonly read. The Kindle DX is much more suited for reading periodicals, where the Kindle 2 is better for novels.

I appreciate the Kindle 2's small form factor and find that reading on the e-ink display to be a pleasure (especially being able to adjust the font size). The text to speech is decent, although it is not a feature I regularly use. I enjoy the convenience of Whispernet and being able to download content anytime. Also looking up content online (it has a text web browser) is great for searching Wikipedia or what not.

I also like how it is simple to add your own content either via USB or by sending the file as an email attachment to the Kindle (it has its own email address). It also gets fantastic battery life (turn off Whispernet when your not needing it) requiring me to only charge it every 3 or 4 weeks. It is truly wonderful having lots of content on a single device, daily newspaper delivery, magazines, owners manuals (converted from PDF), novels, etc.

They aren't cheap by any means, but part of the price I'm sure is the Whispernet (as you don't have a monthly fee and its free for the life of the device). It's a good value and I am saving money with every content purchase since. Definitely would recommend it to anyone who is an avid reader.

 

the "serial" plot line sounds intriguing.

 

Happy reading Daniel, nothing like a great book to read. I like autobiographies myself.