I am very ADD and NOT an audio learner so I usually hate listening to books. Audio books on an iPod would drive me mad.

We move a lot, and every time we move I end up leaving behind books. Now I don’t need to do that.

I think these devices are still in their infancy, but the Kindle looks good. I hope they import it to Italy, I’d like to try it. I used an iLiad and it’s not bad at all…

I bought your book in kindle format so it would not add to my clutter.

I read ebooks on my old Zire71 PDA; the backlit screen does cause some eye fatigue (of course, with very elderly parents you know I am somewhat elderly myself). I listen to books on my iPod, especially those requiring the narrator to have a foreign accent. When I get an ereader, it will be one that is compatible with my current library of ebooks (consequently, no Kindle for me).

I understand that the majority of Kindle purchasers are old fogeys like me and my folks (of course, we also bought up all the Honda Elements when they first came out. Damn boomers can’t stay out of other target markets…)

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.