So my Amazon Kindle book reader arrived on Chirstmas Eve. I have had 48 hours to mess with it and wanted to share my first impressions.
I like it. The screen is simply superb. You can actually loose yourself in the words while reading in bed. Wonderful. The thing is silent, no beeps or chirps to remind you you are using an electronic toy. Just a gentle click of the ‘next page’ button.
This morning I passed it around the room. I set it to the title page for today’s New York Times. My sister, her husband and daughter as well as our mother all figured it out on their own. Its basic operation is quite intuitive.
This is a first-generation device. I presume that by the summer better, cheaper devices will be available. It might be best to wait. Still this is a way cool thingee.
One important warning. Only about 100,000 title are available at the moment. Go to Amazon and look up the books on your wish list or you reccomendations. See if they have what you want yet. Again I suspect the selection will improve by summertime, but if you want to buy now, look before you leap.
The completely irrational and broke side of me wants one of those quite badly. I currently use a Nokia 770 as an ebook reader and I’ve been tickled to death with it. Therefore, I can’t really say I need the Kindle.
However, the part of me that has been bitching and whining for years about the lack of decent ebook readers wants to buy one just to show the idea is viable.
In my world, I adore books. I also adore owning books. I don’t want to pay full hardcover price for an electronic and have nothing other than the bits and bytes. I think book publishers need to get their shit together and include a CD/Disk/Gerbil in every hardback book with the electronic version in it. Encourage the usage of ebook readers. Promote digital copies. Make it so a reader doesn’t have to make a choice, do I just want to read this, or do I want to own this? Having to rebuy every book you own to be able to read it on an ebook reader is silly, especially at the prices they are going for.
I think Amazon gets some severe props for this. It appears to be a good device overall. They are offering books for it at reasonable prices and they have the market share to make a difference.
