Great post. Voracious reader here, but can’t stand audio books! LOL! But I can see why the Kindle doesn’t make sense to you there. For me it is the opposite. I can’t use an iPod for that role.

To: Peter,

I agree. A good book is an intellectual and tactile experience. A typeset work of art. I have books in my bedroom, hidden under the couch (the technical titles mostly), my home office walls are covered in bookshelves. I love the way it feels to slide a book out, flip pages, and decide it is time to read it again. And every once in a while I take them ALL down, dust them, clean and oil the shelves, and reorganize them. Problem. I have twins on the way. Space just became a HUGE issue.

To Merle: I agree. Overall Cost of Reading (OCR? LOL!) may go up, but you get more book for your buck. Reading more is always better!

I can and do buy books from Amazon’s bestseller list, however, there are plenty of compilations, collected works and individual works that are no longer copyrighted priced at much less than the 9.99 for the first runs. Recently, I purchased the complete Dickens, Life with Jeeves, complete works of Jane Austen for .99 each!

There are drawbacks: I cannot share my books as I would have in the past, there is no passing them along. Overall, I may spend more in total on books since they are so very easy to download; it is the ultimate instant gratification. I find the location search cumbersome.

There are certainly many books that I will want to have in my hands, to love and highlight, to refer to again and again and again, until the cover falls off, but for the everyday bus book read and classic rereads, the sample read and the occasional freebies handed out by Amazon, it is well worth the buy. I love it!

Great observations about the Kindle, but there’s one aspect of it that I think may win you over: it’s the first electronic reader to offer electronic magazines, which could one day mean the end of magazine clutter.

Right now the selection of magazines for the Kindle is pretty small. But as it expands, and if they offer a full color electronic version that I can read from my computer, I would cancel several of my printed magazine subscriptions in favor of electronic ones.

But as it is, I’d rather have the physical books. They’re a lot cheaper, since you don’t need to spend $400 initially…then you can usually get books for like $5-10 at borders…

Thus this is just a huge waste of money, IMO.

I guess if it’s some kind of ephemera, the value of which would SOLELY be in the non-verbal content — numbers on a chart; headlines about breaking news — then having it read to you doesn’t degrade its value.

Otherwise, I could NOT imagine being relegated to reading a “real” work of literature by means of having someone else read it to me. So much for it being literature …

Haven’t ever seen a Kindle. Some day this stuff will standardize enough that I’ll be comfortable diving into the fray. Until then, I like hard paper. Can you take notes on a Kindle, or underline a passage to go back to later, or mark the margin with a big smiley-face?

I grabbed a WSJ once, for the novelty of doing it, and enjoyed reading it. I like that you can spot purchase newspapers and magazines without having to subscribe.

I sent myself my resume in MS Word format. Converted absolutely beautifully, and I’m somewhat depressed I can’t use my Kindle for job applications. *grin*

Sample of books are huge and wonderful. These alone will prompt me to buy more.

I have been a pretty regular reader all my life. Not a night goes by where I’m not reading in bed. It just makes me absolutely giddy knowing that I have a device in my hand that allows me to purchase a book and be reading it within moments.

The screen and readability is awesome. I forget I’m reading an electronic output.

I do, however, wish the buttons were either smaller or capable of being enabled/disabled. But FWIW – I haven’t found it annoying to have to click back a page after accidentally clicking forward.

Lastly, a comment that is apropos for Unclutterer. All my life, I opted to buy books in hardback form – for the “one day” that I can stock the multi-story library I will have in my house. This has saddled me with boxes and boxes of books I have to move when buying a new house, etc. Will I ever have this library? Probably not. Sentimentality and a love of books drove my purchase habits. The Kindle has broken me of this. I was afraid I would be sad about this, but I’m not. Now I can save my money and back by not buying the actual book. If I happen upon a book that I would want in paper form, I’ll buy it. Otherwise, it’ll be on the Kindle.

Off to read in bed!

I have a Kindle and love it. I have already purged a dozen or so books from my life. The way I see it is:

1) less clutter
2) no shipping required for books
3) no trees harmed in the making
4) I can travel with unlimited books, go on vacation and not run out of things to do.

They have some work to do to improve the experience, but for a v1 product it’s fantastic.

And the fact that it’s sold out from now till jan or later should be an indication that it’s probably more successful than anticipated.

I started buying audiobooks to avoid more clutter in my home, and I want an e-book reader for the same reason. Another advantage to an e-book reader is that I can read in bed without worrying about being strangled by the earbud cord if I fall asleep while plugged in. I’d definitely check out the Kindle – if it were offered to non-US residents.

While I don’t see the kindle as a substitute for a nice, solid, hardbound book, I do see it as a paperback replacement. I also like being able to carry around lots of books without making my backpack overflow. While it has some version 1 quirks, I’m glad I bought it.

Some thoughts:
1) Scobleizer’s review is worth watching just to see him nearly blow a gasket. I think he’s giving it a bum rap.

2) I’m glad it’s not a touch screen. I routinely threaten people with injury for touching my monitors. I’m constantly polishing the grime off of my iPhone. The last thing I want on my kindle is fingerprints!

3) The *huge* next page button on the right side needs shortened. Holding/picking-up a kindle without turning the page takes some practice.

4) Paying for a blog subscription? Riiiiiight. Don’t see that happening.

5) The cover doesn’t stay on well by itself. Two strips of velcro took care of that problem.

6) The Amazon converter service works well enough. You can also convert your own books using the Mobipocket eBook Creator. PDF conversion is dodgy though.

7) Battery life is excellent. (and the battery is replaceable!)

The Sprint “Whispernet” service on the kindle makes a decent emergency web browser.

9) Lots of people complain about the DRM. I think a lot of them are opposed to DRM in principle and that’s fine. Given that the mainstream content providers are not going to willingly allow non-DRM’d electronic versions of their work to be created, Amazon has done an excellent job, in my opinion, of making the DRM as transparent as possible. The only place I see it is when I want to let someone else read my book. It would be nice to be able to transfer the license to them. Hopefully that will come out in a future release.

All in all, it’s very good for a 1.0 device.

I find my PDA a great uncluttering device. I donated several large trash bags full of books to the library once I realized that I could get the same books in e form. Ebooks don’t require shelfspace or dusting, and they weigh nothing.

I like reading older books (Victorian triple-decker novels, anyone?) but when I want something newer, I can pay for it at Powell’s or Fictionwise, or get it as a library book. Yes, the Hawai’i library system has ebooks you can check out for two weeks. Download them online and they work for two weeks.

There are still some books that I love as books, and will never let go, even if I have e copies. But … if all books were digitized, the books I love in paper would probably fit on one bookshelf.

Enroll in elementary school and get your bright green (ala OLPC) Kindle that automagically downloads your text books to it. No more heavy backpacks messing up children’s backs.

When you get to junior high or high school, you can trade up to a more “cool” version with fingerprint-magnet metal back and sleek touch interface like the iPhone.

When you to college, just bring your ebook reader with you or send it back to be refurbed into the latest kindergarten model.

It’d sure be nice if the kindle platform becomes open…so you can buy books from anywhere (not just Amazon). If they keep the prices that low, I won’t mind, but in a closed system without competition, they’ll inevitably up the prices or keep them artificially high.

Anyway, I’m out for v1. v2 maybe, v3 most likely, v4 definitely.

Read the User Agreement before buying.

I think that I could get used to ready from it — but my main issue is that I want 1 device for everything. I want a phone, PDA, Kindle, iPod, storage device (think USB key), wallet (ie. the ability to electronically swipe and buy – then move on, health care cards, IDs, and more), etc. all in one. I’m not ready to carry one more item… Besides, I can go to the library now and rent things for free.

Read Andy Inhatko’s review (Chicago Sun Times); he nails it. I think it’s great, but not something I particularly need.