One Book Lover's Opinion on Kindle

On the surface, I appear to be the perfect potential Kindle customer: book lover, gadget lover, possessing low willpower, and very good at rationalizing impulse purchases. When I first saw the Kindle of course I wanted one. But once I thought about it even a little bit, I realized first that I don't need one (well, duh), but most importantly I decided that I don't even really want one. Here's why:

It only does one thing. I don't know about you, but the last thing I want in my purse is another thing to carry around. I already consolidated my planner, address book, email, miscellaneous docs, phone, web/blogs, and ebooks with my Treo and I sure don't want to go back to carrying multiple devices like I used to when I had a non-phone PDA.

The screen is grayscale. I thought maybe I'd like the Kindle just for newspapers and magazines (because, hey, I work at a university press. Of course I have $400 to spend on a device just for newspapers and magazines!) but not if I can't have color pics.

If I had to travel a lot for work I might be more tempted, though. It would be especially handy for newspaper subscriptions.

I haven't actually used a Kindle, so I won't attempt to critique the functions or usability of the thing. All I can tell you is that my Kindle-lust is gone. Here are some opinions from people who have actually used a Kindle:

• Businessweek called Amazon's Kindle "the ipod of books."
• For a more pro-Kindle perspective, see Guy Kawasaki.
• Also, here's a Scobleizer post that links to a great video of Robert Scoble comparing the Kindle to real books.
• More Scoble on Kindle: Kindle unboxing, first use, and Scoble and the founder of TechCrunch disagreeing.
• First impressions and Q&A with Bezos from TechCrunch.

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posted by Jana of UNP

Comments

[Chris W]

Interesting post.

Do you carry books with you already? If you do, wouldn't this replace something you are already carrying? My understanding is that the ultimate purpose of the device is to replace books, which seems to make sense.

Cheers!

[Jana]

Hi Chris W--
I currently carry ebooks on my Treo. Generally, I like to have the option choosing to read either nonfiction or fiction at any given time, so having ebooks on my Treo means that I just carry my cell phone (which I'd have anyway). I rarely carry real books around any more. If I got a Kindle I'd still have my cell phone so for me it would be an extra *thing* to carry.

[Chris W]

Two final questions, it seems that you don't mind reading books for long stretches of time on a small, backlit LCD screen. Some complain of eye strain, and others yet would rather see more of a page, much like they do with a real book. Neither of these are compelling either? Or just not $399 compelling?

Where do you get most of your eBooks?

No, I don't work for Amazon. I'm actually much like yourself and seriously debating getting an ebook reader. I hadn't actually considered buying them for a smart phone.

[Jana]

Neither the backlit screen nor the tiny page bother me at all. I used to carry both a PDA and a cell phone and I read books on the PDA. I really really like carrying just the smartphone. Enough not to want an additional device--unless it's super cool. :)

Currently I buy my ebooks from ereader.com.

Note: I still buy a lot of real books--I just don't carry them around with me.