I did it. I broke down and bought a Kindle
- It’s light – it really does weigh about the same as a paperback.
- I can carry several books in a very small space. I always read at least one fiction and one non-fiction book at the same time and this way I can carry them both around.
- I can really easily take notes by highlighting sections of text or typing in a note. I really like that. (I’d like it if I could use the Kindle a bit more like a journal – that’d be great.)
- The screen works really well. It looks good.
- I can really quickly look up any book on Amazon, see the ratings, read the reviews, download a sample. So no more writing down a title to look up later.
- The wireless works really well. It works in my parents’ town in South Dakota where my cell phone won’t work!
- It comes with a browser – I can check my gmail account (rather awkwardly.)
- I can get any book I want (that’s available for the Kindle) instantly.
- The battery lasts a long time.
- I’ve been reading the newspaper again. The New York Times shows up every morning. (But I’m also on vacation which means I have more time to read the paper.)
- The screen saver. They show covers of old books, pictures of authors, tips, … and for some reason I like them.
Things I’d improve on:
- The keyboard is too small to work as a real keyboard, too big to use your thumbs.
- The browser is really awkward.
- I’d like to highlight a title in a book and search Amazon for the book. (One of the books I’m reading now constantly refers to other books.)
- It takes a second to turn the page. (The Kindle 2 is much better.)
- It takes a couple of seconds to unfreeze the screen. (Again, the Kindle 2 is better.)
- The buttons for previous page and next page are too easy to hit accidentally. (Luckily you can freeze the screen.) The Kindle 2 solved this by changing the buttons. If you’ve used a Kindle 1, it takes a bit to get used to but it works better.
- A journal function. Right now I just take a note in whatever book I happen to be reading but it shows up as a note in that book.
- I want an easy way to view “My Clippings” (my highlights and notes) on my computer. Right now I have to sync my Kindle and manually copy the file over.
- International wireless. I’m going to miss the daily paper when I travel internationally. (Which is now available! But it looks like they might charge an extra fee to download it when traveling internationally.)
Overall, I’m very happy with my Kindle
You can also see my list of accessories you might want and my review of covers for the Kindle 2.
Stormy,
Jenny bought me a Kindle for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. I too really liked it too. The screen is very readable. It is easy to acquire new books, and newspapers and magazines (I take the WSJ and Analog).
Another feature I like is the ability to send materials to amazon that they will convert it to Kindle format and send it back to you or directly to your Kindle (for .10). I have a lot of articles and materials in PDF format. This will make it very easy to read and use.
My biggest complaint is the ergonomics of the thing. It is difficult to hold without hitting some button. I can’t think of a logical reason to make the entire right hand side of the Kindle the “next page” button. It could have been half the size and left room to hold it.
My next biggest critique is the lack of folders to place the reading materials in. It just one long list of books, newspapers, and other articles.
And finally, mine broke down within two days. The service people have been nice, but everything seem to take longer than it needs to. I still do not have my replacement because they have a backlog of those requests.
I would love the Kindle if they only remove the DRM off it. I don’t mind paying for the book, but I am not going to pay for again if my device crashes or I decide to move to different reader.
If the device crashes, the book and all your notes and bookmarks are backed up on the Amazon server. I agree that I would like the right to move to another reader but I think the first step is showing publishers that digital books are safe and viable.
If copyright law is broken (and sure it is), DRM won’t fix it.
If the market is broken, making the items you sell unreadable for the general public won’t probably increase your sales.
People love to share content (“sharing is caringâ€). Digital content can be shared in a much more easy way. And if some content cannot be shared, people will move on to other content.
DRM won’t magically increase sales, because those products are not accidentally “defective by designâ€. (Besides from the contradiction of granting exclusive rights for publishing, as copyright does, a secret [DRM is actually encrypted content].)