Kindle: Amazon's new wireless reading device

[NickNick]

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wow this thing looks awesome. it would be nice if you could rent books. there are a lot of books i'd like to skim through but i wouldn't do so more than once.

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....Or you could try your local library?! [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

It looks pretty good, but will def be waiting for the price to drop considerably.

[steggy]

I think if it were shaped more like a book, I'd be much more into it. It just doesn't look that comfortable to hold. Very cool idea though. Hopefully someone makes one that's a better design.

[astroglide]

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I bet not. If so, this thing would be MUCH better. I have a a lot of pdfs, too.

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project gutenberg focuses on the plain text format, and kindle supports that.

"...Wherever possible, the releases are available in plain text..."

"...But some formats that are not easily editable, such as PDF, are generally not considered to fit in with the goals of Project Gutenberg...

a search at the official site yields 249 results for pdf. plain text finds "More than 1000". furthermore, just because a book is available in pdf it doesn't mean that it's not also available in another more transparent format. i'd be somewhat surprised if that was the case with any of them.

[Nicholasp27]

it would be something if amazon let u browse to project gutenberg from the kindle and d/l those books...they could even charge you $1 per download for the internet service...but they wouldn't do that because the goal with kindle is to get people to buy their books exclusively from amazon.com

[astroglide]

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I have a pretty solid collection of reading material in Word and .pdf format. Would I be able to read these? Also, why is the amount of memory so small? 200 books is nothing.

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You can e-mail Microsoft Word, TXT, HTML, or image files like JPEGs and GIFs to your dedicated Kindle e-mail address (found on the Manage Your Kindle page on Amazon.com). We will convert the document into Kindle format and wirelessly deliver it directly to your Kindle for a small fee or back to your computer for free.

pdf: not currently supported
supported types by wireless: pay
supported types by computer sync: free

[astroglide]

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Also, why is the amount of memory so small? 200 books is nothing.

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more memory makes the device cost more, and i'm sure they want to maximize profits while still providing what they consider a generally sufficient amount of storage. you can re-transfer books, so it's not necessary to keep your entire collection on the device. it's expandable via sd memory cards, and 2GB currently costs $12.25 at newegg.com.

[Steven_Q_Erkel]

Looks way too expensive, clunky, and awkward to have around. Useful idea but I'd rather hold off until apple comes out with some sort of ireader.

[revots33]

In all honesty this seems like one of those instances where new technology doesn't necessarily improve on the old. Printed books have been around forever but guess what - they still get the job done.

Unlike music, most people just read one book at a time. A $6 paperback is just as portable as the Kindle thingy. Or get a paperback free from your local library, even better.

I guess I could see a market for this among college students, if all the textbook manufacturers made their books available. But casual readers can just toss a book in their bag - no batteries required and hundreds of bucks cheaper.

And I agree, it looks very clunky like a Commodore 64 era computer.

[XXXNoahXXX]

Things people don't seem to get about this device

1)Obviously its expensive now, the price will come down.

2)Someone made this point already, but not long ago people were saying "who wants digital music! i love records and the smell and feel and coverart"

3)Bestsellers cost $9.99 on this while the list price is like $25+ for some of the ones not yet on paperback

4)It can store MP3s as well, which is pretty cool

5)Printed books get the job done....but replacing a paper library with a digital one is much better for the environment.

6)I can imagine shortly that there will be versions where you can download all your textbooks to it. Add a PDA style pointer and you could highlight your text book digitally and tranfer to your computer to study from. NO more lugging around 30 lbs. of books to class, just bring your laptop or this thing. Same goes for trips to library, etc.

[revots33]

True I agree there may be markets for this type of device as technology improves, and additional uses will be found for it that aren't yet available.

But for casual readers of novels I doubt it will be a big must-have. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong as the price goes down, the design gets better and smaller, and more people adopt it.

They've been trying to get e-book readers like this off the ground for some time with pretty much zero success. My feeling is that it's because printed books are just fine as they are. Then again I'm an old (and old-fashioned) book lover so the younger generation may feel differently.