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Amazon’s Kindle: Do we really need a book reader?

Amazon's new Kindle 2

There is a lot of buzz around Amazon’s new Kindle 2 and, may be because being a member of a nation that don’t read much, I’m getting hard time understanding why everybody is thrilling for a yet-another e-book reader.

Since almost every technophile in the world, who can afford a netbook or a smart/pda phone, has already have a gadget that gives him (or her) pleasure of reading books in a digital environment, what is the catch for a new pricey ($359!) e-book reader that its sole ability is to serve you digital editions of books? Oh, I know, Kindle has a web browser and plays mp3s, too. But even netbooks’ performance on browsing web is questionable, I don’t think one can use the Amazon’s gizmo for a satisfactory browsing experience, and your cell phone is probably a much more capable player when it comes to music.

Comfort of having a specifically designed device, which resembles a book and has an optimized screen for reading books, can make you feel good if you are a frequent reader. But for me, it is just an addition of another brick in my bag.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 3:39 pm and is filed under Gadgets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • ... even if it can read books back to you.

    There has been some changes on that actually. Because Authors Guild of America pressed so hard, text-to-speech is now optional and won't be available for every book you buy.
  • Eric
    As much as I would like to like the Kindle. I have to agree with everything you wrote. I'm sure text looks great on it and you have an always on 3G connection to the Interweb (free for now), but I just can't see what this device really offers for $359. I guess it always comes down to money. If this thing were say $120, I would've bought it yesterday, but $359 is too much for a grayscale screen that isn't even backlit even if it can read books back to you.
  • I would like to quote a portion of the NYT article I cited;

    "The point everyone is missing is that in Technoland, nothing ever replaces anything. E-book readers won’t replace books. The iPhone won’t replace e-book readers. Everything just splinters. They will all thrive, serving their respective audiences."


    I think I'm conservative about books. As a researcher, although I use sources like Google Book Search and ebrary time to time and Adobe Reader almost every day, I like reading my books from hard copies. I have never read a whole book neither on Google nor on ebrary, and I use Adobe Reader almost for scientific papers only. They all are great for reading on the screen; easy to eye, useful with navigational bookmarks, TOCs, CTRL+F functionality etc. But they are not going to replace my hard copies anytime soon :)

    Also, I don't think e-book readers like Kindle is for suitable for every reader. It should be really hard to read a technical book on Kindle and I don't think "16 shades of gray" would be sufficient for an illustration showing an anatomical dissecting.

    Yes, Amazon paying the bill for the connectivity is a great feature, I totally agree. Actually it could be the only reason for me to buy one of these, if a hacker can find a way to use it as a 3G modem for my netbook someday :)
  • Half
    I think that you are overlooking one important aspect of this device; you have an always on, free, internet. Netbooks generally are not connected via cell networks and the Kindle screen is superior to phone sized screens for reading webpages. The cost of a cell internet plan would pay for this entire device in about four months.

    I agree that other devices are probably better at browsing than this one, but when looking at any of these devices you must consider the whole package. For a book reader, this device is superior. For reading on the internet, including checking email, it is fine--and cheap--compared to the alternatives.

    Of course, if you are already paying for a cell internet plan and have purchased a netbook, then you may not need this device. If, however, you have a regular cell phone on a cheap plan and have not yet discovered what you need a netbook for, this device is an excellent option.
  • Well, considering the price tag, they should be :) There is a Kindle drop test video on Amazon.com if you are interested in.
  • I've dropped my Kindle a few times already (not on purpose of course) and it seems to be working without a hitch; so they're durable at least
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