Sorry, I still don't think the Kindle makes sense
In a report that surprises me a bit, Time Magazine is reporting that the Amazon Kindle has been a relative success so far and represents a fairly sizable portion of all book sales.
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I can think of a real good
I can think of a real good reason to have an entire library in one device: reference. I'm a programmer. I have tons of very unwieldy manuals that would be much more useful in one device with electronic search capabilities. I honestly don't know how many, if any, programming texts are available for the Kindle. But programming isn't the only field that requires tons of manuals. I easily have over 10000 pages of such material. Kindle's potential to be the ultimate reference library makes it worth the cost to me if a large quantity of the books I use all the time become available for it. If O'reilly media converts all of its books to kindle format I'd pay twice what it costs now to get one. Add the ability to download code corrections for each book and current issues of programming magazines and I'd be in heaven.King Gillette would be
King Gillette would be astounded. $359 for the razor and $10 each for the blades. Kindle holds 200 titles? That's $359 plus 2 Grand! Best deal since 10,000 songs on an iPod @ $.99.Kudos to Bezos & co. if this becomes a great success.
I bought a Rocket eBook reader almost 10 years ago, thinking to support Field Sales Managers with sales and tech data. NYT bestsellers and lots of Public Domain were available - not so easy getting updated company info into it.
I still have it though (somewhere), love the idea but not the results. Kindle is a better, smaller, smarter, more able successor, but I think I'll be a late adopter, this time.
Can you extend the same
Can you extend the same theory to Blu-Ray? Sell the Players for cheap/free and sell the disks really pricey? What BS!Do Gillette have 100,000 free public domain blades? So much for your book/blade comparison?
And finally, do Gillette allow you to convert your knives/blades at home or provide a 10 cent (or free) conversion service?
LCD screen (Rocket eBook) and eInk (Kindle) are different technologies and you can appreciate the latter only after you use them.
No, you obviously don't get
No, you obviously don't get it. I have owned my Kindle for about 2 weeks. I love it because it's technology. I love it because it's easy. I love it expressly because I don't have to make trips to the library. I don't care about $360.My Kindle currently has 3 new books loaded on it. Edward Sawtelle, In Defense of Food and David Sedaris' latest work. I've got Malcom Gladwell's two books in audio format, which I listen to during my daily commute. I have the Tree Hugger blog, which I review at least twice daily and I uploaded my daily scripture text & weekly Bible reading. It also has hundreds of pages of requirements documents I need to review for work, my annotations and links to my Email and other web sites of importance to me. It as my dictionary, my clock and my companion when I'm bored.
If you don't own one, you have no right to critique it. If you owned one, you wouldn't have been so harsh. Look, if you're a cheapskate and don't want to spend the money, then fine. But don't bitch about a product you neither own nor want. In my opinion, you're not qualified.
I agree with this comment
I agree with this comment totally. I've pretty much read all blogs on the Kindle, which I received last Dec. 4th, and absolutely every one of the negative comments came from people who do not own one, probably have never touched or even seen one in person, and who certainly will never buy one. But many of these do eventually get their hands on one -- buying or borrowing one, after which they quickly become dedicated supporters of the Kindle. And then they refresh their earlier comments, making a full turn into the supporters column. They usually say that the just didn't understand the value of it earlier, but they do now.I don't know where people get off bad mouthing things about which they really know nothing. Do they just want to hear themselves in print? Frankly, that's really dumb. But I think in most cases it is just their ego speaking -- trying to convince everybody how smart they are. Well, they are NOT.
I have an 9 GB memory card in my Kindle, which I calculate will enable it to hold 15,000 books -- way too many for me. But I do have about 740 already, including many many out of copyright and of course out of print books which I read as an English Lit major in college long ago, and never had hopes of ever owning as they are otherwise unavailable. And these were free! Makes my Kindle very very cheap, and I paid $400.00 for it.
And my Kindle goes where I go -- I am never without it in the hopes of finding a few free minutes out of my busy life to do what I love to do most -- read. I've been doing it ever since I can remember after my sister taught me to read before I was school age. And I'm now 82 years old.
I can think of a great
I can think of a great reason to have a kindle. I can read a Harry potter book in about 8 hours. If I'm on a trip and spending time on trains, subways, or any kind of public transit, a kindle weighs a fraction of even a paperback book. So not only can I carry enough books to last me more than a weeks vacation but now, with the airlines charging you for extra carry-ons and luggage, I can pack a kindle full of books and still only carry a purse. Plus, save the trees, man. Not that I don't like books in paper format, but it's certainly eco-friendly.I don't have a Kindle, but
I don't have a Kindle, but after my 13 hour flight to and from Asia and three weeks of lugging around the same two (heavy)books...I would definitely invest in a Kindle. And I'm sure if more textbooks were published through Kindle, college students would be all over it. Textbooks and manuals can get pretty heavy.Don, perhaps you can only
Don, perhaps you can only read one book at a time but I'm usually reading 3 - 4 at any given time the genre depending on the mood I'm in. For me, when I travel the Kindle makes perfect sense.Have you heard about
Have you heard about gasoline prices? A trip to the local bookstore would cost me about $12.00 just to get there and back - more than the cost of one Kindle best seller.....and, not all Kindle books cost $10.00. Take a look at their catalog. The library - again, there's that pesky cost of transportation plus the fact that if it's a best seller I want, I have to reserve it and wait my turn. What about the growing portion of the population who are too old to drive? Many of them are able to do little BUT read.A person may not need to carry around hundreds of books in their Kindle, but then they no longer need shelf space to store them....and this can be a big consideration for the serious reader.
I may be the only person on the planet who doesn't 'get' the I-Pod (who wants to listen to music all the time), but I sure do 'get' the Kindle. Isn't it great that we don't all think alike!
I have one, and it's
I have one, and it's revolutionized my reading habits. I have 4-5 books I'm reading on at the same time and a long line of free samples to consider for the future. I'm also reading more up to date stuff, as a new best seller costs the same as an old bargain book. Great for travel or any other time. Well worth the initial investment.I love my Kindle. My
I love my Kindle. My subscription to the Wall Street Journal is half what the paper version was -- and I'm not wasting trees or the jet fuel to get it to me.A library? You can't be serious. Any recent book will be checked out or reserved for months.
News magazines, newspapers, frequent travelers, and bestseller readers would all benefit -- cheaper, faster, and more convenient than the paper versions. If you're into: used books, materials with a lot of pictures/diagrams, selling books that you bought, and you don't travel then it probably wouldn't make sense.
I don't own a Kindle, and I
I don't own a Kindle, and I will express my negative opinion of it, in spite of the fact that the Kindle owners here seem to be infuriated that anyone would dare do such a thing.I don't have to own a Kindle in order to criticize it. Why? Because I possess a functioning brain. Why would I want to buy a Kindle and then pay for books that are crippled with DRM? These books can only be read on a Kindle. Not a computer screen, nor another ereader. This means that the consumer is locked into the Kindle indefinitely. If you ever purchase another ebook reader, your ebooks are unreadable. If Amazon ever stops manufacturing this device, your ebooks are unreadable. So, you've wasted all the money you've spent on your Kindle ebooks.
Meanwhile, bound books are DRM free. You can read them anywhere and at any time. You can sell them, loan them out, and basically do whatever you want with them.
Kindle ebook purchases are basically just rentals, due to the ridiculous DRM. This is also why I will not purchase DRM'd music downloads. I don't like throwing my money away. If Amazon ever removes the DRM from the Kindle ebooks, I will happily buy one. Until that day arrives, forget it.
The Kindle is a foolish purchase, and only a sucker would buy one.
I guess I'm one of those
I guess I'm one of those "suckers" who bought a Kindle and guess what I'm still glad i did. I use it every day to read a number of books at any one time. I used to carry three to four books around with me but now i have hundreds in one device. I can even keyword search through newspapers, blogs, magazines, and books. I can print out highlighted notes onto a few pages for quick reference.My advice, don't do a review on technology without first using it yourself. You only look uniformed and petty.
The green issue is a big
The green issue is a big factor. I'm thinking of getting a Kindle primarily for the newspaper subscriptions - the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. I and others will save many trees by using the Kindle for newspapers. Also the Kindle newspaper subscriptions are cheaper than the paper subscriptions, and will pay for the Kindle over time.I have a few comments to
I have a few comments to share. One, folks who've never seen a Kindle do have a right to bash it, but honestly I don't put too much weight to the opinions of those folks. There's the key part of free speech there; so go ahead and bash or gush if you like. The rest of us can decide for ourselves to ignore you or not.Anyway, I am thinking of buying one. Here are my reasons. One, I read a lot of books each year. Two, I buy many books from a Sci-Fi publisher who already puts their books out in DRM-Free formats. Three, I read lots of books over and over again. Wierd, yes, but that's me. Currently, I have over 50 paperbacks that are worn out from being read only 3 or 4 times. Time seems to be heavily impacting the paper and the bindings. Four, I am a programmer who loves the prospect of the O'Reilly books coming out on the Kindle for the same reasons another commenter used.
To sum up my point here, E-books do make sense for some folks; which may soon include me, and it's a shame to me that some people think that people aren't entitled to their opinions.
There are several reasons
There are several reasons why Kindle is superior to the physical book format.1. You do not have to have a massive storage area for books that you loved, want to keep, and want to re-read.
2. Reference
3. Time spent going to and from library, stores, etc.
4. Ease of access. If you are out, you can still read during those unexpected wait periods during the day. You can download with ease.
5. Ease of sharing.
6. Conservation of eco-resources.
And the last, very personal reason, you bring no allergens or diseases into your home. I am a book lover. I have read everything available for my entire life, including labels, etc. when nothing else is available. For any reader with an immune disorder, Kindle fills a much needed spot.
I think it is great idea
I think it is great idea going in the right direction. The next step would be to just make the titles availible to folks with pda's and smartphones. I love to read, but I don;t want to lug around a bunch of books everywhere I go. I am also a web developer and it would be great to have an electronic copy of the different reference books that i have on my phone (a Treo) so that I could easily refer to them and cheaply replace them (I would assume that costs would go down on a book since paper, printing, and binding costs are no longer a factor). I could also see this as a huge boon to college students. I remember my college days where I lugged around 100 lbs of books all day. Books that cost over $100, sometimes $200 and you were able to sell them back for 1\4 of that. An electronic format would be cheaper to publish, plus it could be updated with new editions at a cheaper rate to all concerned. Imagine a being a doctor and the costs of getting new PDR every year. With this, you could update the necessary parts as they change or get revised.I have seen similar devices in Borders and other books stores and have contemplated getting one. At $364, the price is a bit steep and I do agree that they should come up with a special program for college students and those who cannot afford it. I am not sure I would spend that much on a separate device at this point...but then again, a full set of ColdFusion books would cost me just about as much and I am due to get the latest version (version 8) reference set...
I think this is a great idea. I think maybe you just aren't seeing the big picture on this.
Eric