Love My Kindle!

Oh yes I do!  I really wasn't expecting to buy a Kindle, or any other e-reader, but you try lugging around a 900-page brick (The Company, by Robert Littel, highly recommended).  That and the woman with the 2nd generation Kindle at the coffee shop got me thinking about it.   I spoke to her a couple of times about it, and she was a big fan. 


Amazon.com really did a good job with this product.  It's battery power lasts a long time, it holds a lot of books on it, and you can read it outside in daylight.  It really shouldn't be compared to products like the iPad, because the Kindle isn't trying to be as versatile as a tablet PC.  It's a product that is dedicated to one particular task, and it does that task exceedingly well.  Buying and downloading e-books can be down wirelessly, and Amazon made all the right moves there, too.  The Kindle's wireless service is free at any AT&T wifi hotspot, which just about every Starbucks cafe has.  How hard is it to find a Starbucks?  I don't even have to go inside; I can get a perfectly good wifi signal standing outside on the sidewalk.  The downloads are ridiculously fast, too.  The other day I downloaded The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro, and it took less than 30 seconds.  It happened so fast, I actually thought something had malfunctioned. 

It can hold thousands of books, and this becomes a real convenience when you travel.  Instead of trying to force 3 or 4 books into an already tight suitcase, just bring them along in the Kindle.

Oh, did I mention that the Kindle is only $139?  Yes, it's only $139.  Try to get an iPad for that kind of money.  

One of the problems with the Kindle is that media formatted for other e-readers, such as the Nook from Borders, are incompatible.  That's inconvenient for me, but fiendishly clever on the part of Amazon.com.  It essentially ties me to Amazon when purchasing anything for my Kindle.  That's a smart strategic move by Amazon, because it really isn't that inconvenient for me.  Not enough to deter me from buying the Kindle.  I can still buy old-fashioned paper books anytime I want, from any retailer I want. 

A related problem is that it really isn't easy to share or give away a book bought for the Kindle, and if you can do so, you really can only share with other Kindle owners.  I like sharing books with people, and I like giving away books when I'm done with them.  I just lugged a big grocery bag of books to the laundromat, and half of them are already gone, adopted by lucky readers. 

I find the Kindle a little difficult on its own, from an ergonomic perspective.  It's quite thin, and just doesn't feel right in my hands.  I solved that problem by purchasing a nice leather cover for it.  The cover opens like a book, giving it the kind of hand-feel (that's a word now, because I say so) that I expect from a book.

I've heard almost as much good about the Nook, and it is priced competitively with the Kindle.  Whichever you prefer, you'll probably be quite happy.  And if not, it's only $139, right?