I Don’t Know, I’ve Never Kindled
Posted on | November 21, 2007 at 5:43 am | 5 Comments
Faithful reader Janet asks, in the comments to yesterday’s post: Hey Flassherooni, to continue an earlier conversation, would you consider devoting a NaBloPoMo entry to your thoughts on Kindle?
Good question, Librarian, and thanks for the topic. (Note: See my recent thoughts on eBooks here and here.) On first perusal, it looks pretty darn enticing. I haven’t experienced electronic ink in person; it looks like something that is pretty cool and which I’d like. It should negate any eyestrain complaints that people have about eBooks. And even though I didn’t think that the wireless connection was that strong of a selling point, I now believe it’s a good thing. I especially like the way Amazon has implemented it, where you don’t even need to be connected to WiFi. You can basically download any of the eBooks (not to mention some newspapers, magazines, and blogs) at any time, anywhere. And there’s no charge for the connection. That’s pretty huge, especially if you’re traveling. It looks like the selection of books is large and is growing all the time. Price for individual books (around $10) is a little high but workable. The lack of backlighting means that you can read it as well outside in sunshine as you can inside, and that’s big for me. And hey, Neil Gaiman endorses it, so you know it’s gotta be hip.
But here’s some things I don’t like:
- Amazon uses their own proprietary eBook format. So you’re locked into getting ebooks only from Amazon. You can apparently convert some non-DRMed eBook files in other formats to Kindler’s format, but I wouldn’t be able to transfer the eBooks I’ve bought from eReader for my Palm T|X PDA (which are in PDB format, and which have DRM). I don’t want to have to buy the same books again in a different format. And what happens if the format ever goes obsolete and you may not be able to read the eBooks you’ve already bought?
- The whole unit looks a little big to me, even though it’s fairly light (10 oz). It’s not something you could slip in your pocket like my PDA. But, again, it’s probably easier to read for a longer time because eyestrain won’t be as bad on something that size.
- They’ll probably make you turn it off around takeoff and landing times on a plane, because of the wireless connection. Even if you turn off the wireless connection, they may still make you power off the whole unit. And those are times when you really want to be able to read a book. (Although, to be fair, my PDA kinda has the same problem.)
- Because of the lack of backlighting, you can’t read it in a dark room (unless you have a traditional book light). I like being able to read my PDA in the dark, especially at those times when I’m not ready to go to sleep yet and my sweetie is.
- The price is a little steep ($400). I’m sure that even though the wireless connection is free, there’s probably some other hidden fees there somewhere. And each book has to be purchased separately, of course.
Damn, that’s a cool gadget, despite the issues. If the price were lower, I may consider picking up one of these babies soon. But for now I’ll stick with my PDA for eBook reading.
Jogged Today: No, it’s snowing and the sidewalks/streets are icy.
Today’s Weight: 163.4 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Half of a huge breakfast burrito at the Lime XS on 6th Ave. I took the rest home. I was a good boy.
Pet Peeve of the Day: Too many cool gadgets, too little time and money.
Latre.
Comments
5 Responses to “I Don’t Know, I’ve Never Kindled”
November 21st, 2007 @ 1:30 pm
Sing along with me now, per Jonathan Coulton:
So I am shopping in SkyMall
That five-mile-high mall
That always has just what I need
When I get to the gate and remember too late
I should have brought something to read
I’m OK, cause I know that I’m gonna shop SkyMall
November 21st, 2007 @ 12:56 pm
Takeoff & landing: those are the times you spend reading the SkyMall catalog.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
November 21st, 2007 @ 9:39 pm
That price is way steep. For 400 bucks I can get a very nice bookcase to keep all my eight dollar paperbacks on instead of a gizmo that is bound to break and costs ten bucks a book.
November 22nd, 2007 @ 1:03 am
heh – “hidden fees” – funny.
Oh, you weren’t joking?
$10 for a book that costs them $0 to manufacture, stock, package and ship doesn’t count as a fee for the EDVO link in your mind?
Note that authors who put Amazon referrer links on their websites which link to their own books often get more money from Amazon’s kickback than they do from their publisher for those sales. So it’s not like much of that $10 is going anywhere other than Amazon’s pocket, if you work out the numbers.
November 23rd, 2007 @ 4:13 pm
Bleh heh heh — Six top reasons to buy a Kindle:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-dickerman/the-top-six-reasons-sarca_b_73910.html