[Web4lib] Amazon's Kindle e-book reader

Leo Robert Klein leo at leoklein.com
Mon Nov 19 23:52:56 EST 2007


Roy Tennant wrote:
> Hmmm...let me see...spend $400 on a device where the only thing I can do is
> read books, or spend the same amount on a different device where I can read
> books, visit any web site I want, make phone calls, listen to tunes, etc.
> Hmmm....
> 
> Yes, I understand that one requires a service plan and the other does not
> (although at least $9 for every book you want to read). But come on. After
> watching the video I thought the interface was actually kind of annoying,
> again especially in contrast with the iPhone. My advice to libraries: don't
> rush out and jump on this bandwagon.
> Roy
> 

I got the impression it was a slow week at Newsweek.  I mean, when the 
author brags about downloading Dickens' 'Bleak House' for a mere $1.99 
("You can also get classics for a song"), I'm afraid I lost it.

The stuff about paper vs. electronic and the joys of hypertext (the 
"always-on book") could have been written by Vannevar Bush.

It's scary what passes for popular tech writing these days.  The whole 
piece was an uncritical paean to Amazon.

LEO

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