MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - So, briefly, what do you think about the Kindle now?

Zoot · 11-26-2007, 08:55 PM

I love mine. It replaced the Sony 500. It's much faster than the Sony so I'm a bit perplexed by the people who complain about the page-turning speed as it seems pretty zippy to me. The case could be better but it only mostly sucks. The wireless delivery is awesome and will almost certainly result in my buying more books than I would have with the Sony, and probably significantly more than I would buy in paper form too (buying an ebook seems like less of a commitment than a pbook in a family where we tend to keep books forever). The DRM issues seem identical to the Sony to me.

There are many gadgets out there (the iPhone is probably not a bad example) that have lots of flash and sex-appeal and do lots of cool things, but they're things that you probably don't need to do for more than a few minutes at a time so they may only change your life so much, and after a while the newness wears off and it's just last-year's model at that point.

The Kindle (and really all the other e-ink book readers) do one thing really well, which is delivering the written word in a form that's virtually identical to ink on paper in terms of the reading experience. So ultimately it's not about the device and its bells and whistles, but about the content delivered by the device. An e-ink based reader really does get out of the way and become invisible, leaving you with just the book you're reading.

I think the Kindle has a number of nice advantages over similar devices (the main one probably being the Amazon name and what that implies) but it's quite similar to the competition in terms of its ability to deliver that basic e-ink reading experience. The wireless delivery, shopping, and reference are really cool, but they aren't things one must have in order to get the full ebook experience.

I'd highly recommend a Kindle to someone who doesn't already have something like the Sony, but someone with a Sony Reader or equivalent should not feel like they're missing some grand revolution if they decide not to "upgrade".

Z.

11-26-2007, 08:55 PM	#29
Zoot Connoisseur Posts: 89 Karma: 34 Join Date: Nov 2006 Device: Amazon Kindle	I love mine. It replaced the Sony 500. It's much faster than the Sony so I'm a bit perplexed by the people who complain about the page-turning speed as it seems pretty zippy to me. The case could be better but it only mostly sucks. The wireless delivery is awesome and will almost certainly result in my buying more books than I would have with the Sony, and probably significantly more than I would buy in paper form too (buying an ebook seems like less of a commitment than a pbook in a family where we tend to keep books forever). The DRM issues seem identical to the Sony to me. There are many gadgets out there (the iPhone is probably not a bad example) that have lots of flash and sex-appeal and do lots of cool things, but they're things that you probably don't need to do for more than a few minutes at a time so they may only change your life so much, and after a while the newness wears off and it's just last-year's model at that point. The Kindle (and really all the other e-ink book readers) do one thing really well, which is delivering the written word in a form that's virtually identical to ink on paper in terms of the reading experience. So ultimately it's not about the device and its bells and whistles, but about the content delivered by the device. An e-ink based reader really does get out of the way and become invisible, leaving you with just the book you're reading. I think the Kindle has a number of nice advantages over similar devices (the main one probably being the Amazon name and what that implies) but it's quite similar to the competition in terms of its ability to deliver that basic e-ink reading experience. The wireless delivery, shopping, and reference are really cool, but they aren't things one must have in order to get the full ebook experience. I'd highly recommend a Kindle to someone who doesn't already have something like the Sony, but someone with a Sony Reader or equivalent should not feel like they're missing some grand revolution if they decide not to "upgrade". Z.