Why did the Kindle lose its memory card slot?

[whitearrow]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I went from a K1 to a K2, and I don't miss the SD card slot at all. I have a hundred megs or so of non-Amazon material, altogether over 300 books, and plenty of space still left. Plus I can always move personal stuff to and from my computer, if I ever really need to, or clear off Amazon stuff that I've read and re-download it later. Space just hasn't been an issue. It's actually easier to find things now when the Kindle is plugged in, since I don't have to remember whether I put something on the device or on the memory card.

(I would like the ability to permanently delete or at least hide items from the archive, but IMO that's a separate issue.)

[Kali Yuga]

I only have a K2, and I don't miss the SD slot at all. It would just be yet another thing to keep track of/lose; and let's face it, I don't read 500 books at once, my brain maxes out at 300. Seems like SD was a necessity on the K1, as it had so little memory.

I agree that in general "more space is better," but that said I don't think it's a big deal.

Originally Posted by Daithi

I heard somewhere that they removed the replaceable battery and the SD card because those items would make the K2 thicker and they wanted it as thin as possible. The only problem with this arguement is that my cellphone is a Nokia XpressMusic and it is just as thin as the K2, a lot smaller, and it contains a replaceable battery and SD card.

So the reason you think you heard somewhere doesn't make sense? Got it.

FWIW my guess is that they just figured 2gb is sufficient, and SD etc increases the complexity of the device. Since the Kindle doesn't use any sort of intermediary software, you also don't need to use an SD to make a fast end-run around that software; just dump your files into the "documents" folder and you're set.

Originally Posted by Daithi

I can also answer why you would want that much storage. I have a lot of PDFs that eat up a lot of storage, so unless you want to spend the time converting all your PDFs into .prc files then you really need the extra space.

I can see how that would be a problem, but unless you're making the PDFs yourself, I expect that the K2's smaller screen will be a more significant problem for reading lots of PDF's. Unless, of course, you like miniscule type and scaled-down graphics.

[Daithi]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

I can see how that would be a problem, but unless you're making the PDFs yourself, I expect that the K2's smaller screen will be a more significant problem for reading lots of PDF's. Unless, of course, you like miniscule type and scaled-down graphics.

Yeah, I've got a Kindle DX, so it displays the PDFs just fine, but it has the same problem as the K2 in not having an SD card.

I really like the illustrated classics like Dicken's work originally published as serials within magazines and containing around 40 illustrations per book, or Dumas' The Three Musketeers with all 250 illustrations by Maurice Leloir, or Peter Pan illustratated by Arther Rackham, or the hand written and hand drawn illustrations from Carroll's original manuscript of Alice's Adventures Underground (Alice in Wonderland), etc. (I wish I had English versions of all of Jules Verne's works -- his works have literally thousands of illustrations). In any event, these files eat up space quick.

[pboss]

I used to like those illustrations too. But for some reason, nowadays, I don't have the time, patience or commitment to enjoy them in other than their printed forms.