So the Kindle has officially launched. I have been pumped about E-Readers for a while now and I like what Amazon is doing. I don't really need another tool to surf the net and the Kindle seems to recognize this. The no docking station, or need for a computer at all, in order to by and upload books is perfect. The thing is kinda ugly in some pics and in others it doesn't look that bad.
I would tell you how seemlessly it works but Amazon didn't send me one to blog about. It likely would have gotten rave reviews from me.
The good news is that the books are ranging from $1.50 to about $10 (unless otherwise marked) and there are a lot of books available. The E-Ink is easy on the eyes and battery life seems great. I have already mentioned that you can shop for books from the product itself without connecting it to an existing computer.
The bad. At $400, I am afraid to even put it on a wishlist. It is too much. This is a first gen product. There will be bugs or prettier colors. I don't feel like paying a lot of money to be a guinea pig. Knock it down to $200 and I will think about it. for $150, you have my interest. For $100 you have a sale. For $50, you have changed the way that people will read.
I want one but not at that price. I mean what is the point of having the capacity for 200 books if I can't even by one book after paying for the hardware.
6 comments:
I have a Rocket eBook reader (the old, old style) and love the fact that I can load .txt files and .html files on it, along with the proprietary format. Any e-book reader, for me, has to have this basic capability or I won't come near it with a 10-foot pole.I like what Sony is doing with their e-reader and it sounds like Amazon is improving on the concept. I agree with you, though - until this hits the $100 price point, they're just not going to have the market they need to make this a popular gift item or personal purchase.
There's always Sony's Reader, which is less expensive and far sexier. Actually, it's better in just about every feature - unless you really want a QWERTY keyboard. The main issue I have with both the Kindle and Reader is that the screen resolution is poor, so a full screen PDF will be nearly illegible.
PDFs aren't really that important to me. It is an established format and all, but they don't really impact me that much.
Well, most eBooks that can be found for free online through services such as Wowio or through less scrupulous means are in PDF format.
Ebooks to me are the slippery slope to hell..but hey...I managed a bookstore so I am kind of biased.
If they are successful they will have an impact on the Brick and Mortars. at $400, I don't think you have to worry though. If it was $50, I don't think I would buy books any other way.
I have heard rumors about a solar charging cover, so the carbon footprint of this is much smaller than that of a regular book. Who knows, maybe the brick and mortars will adapt so that you can buy ebooks in store.
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