[Web4lib] Amazon's Kindle e-book reader

[Leo Robert Klein]

Pons, Lisa (ponslm) wrote:
> I don't get it: who's talking about dumping iphones, blackberry's etc...
> for this? It's an ebook reader, not a tricorder!
> 
> For my part, I think this is cool. WAY too pricey for me, so I will wait
> and see if it goes the way of the iPhone and the price goes down.
> 
> One thing I know- as much as I LOVE my 30GB iPod, I do not want to read
> books on it, nor my phone, or palm. Screens are just too small. So, I
> might give this a try,and if the display is good-yeah! If not, well, I
> can return it, or put it in my "Museum of Now Useless Though at One Time
> Cool Things", like my first 3 palms, my first two mp3 players (256mb!!),
> my first laptop (1 GB Harddrive!!),and assorted modems, scanners, and
> monitors. 
> 
> For me, the jury is out.Knowing this is the first generation- I see the
> good as someone who reads non-stop, I love the idea of 9.99 for books-(
> though I wonder if I can put a restriction on myself to or my credit
> card: nomore than 20.00 month?) As someone who gets their news online
> (due to lack of good paper here), I would love to read the NYT,
> Washington Post, and blogs and more on a smaller device, where I want
> to, instead of the computer. (Yes, I have wireless, but still hard to
> read sitting on my deck in the sunlight).  
> 

Smartphones and laptops are the obvious competitors to this contraption. 
   People use those devices for very similar activities.  Unless Amazon 
is aiming for a niche market, some thought about alternatives should be 
made.

Many people, just to take one example, already do read the NYT and WaPo 
on their Smartphones -- and contrary the the Kindle, the pictures are in 
color!

What's so 'cool' about a device that has all the form fact of an Apple 
Newton, can't do color for the life of it, doesn't do networking -- but 
only to, um, certain destinations and for certain kinds of transactions?

The jury may still be out but Steve Levy's article proclaimed this 
device as the dawn of a new age.  It's not by accident that he dedicated 
a significant portion of his lengthly article to the demise of the book.

It's only natural then to want to measure these claims with the competition.

LEO

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