Review of the Kindle 3 from the Observer in the Guardian UK

[SensualPoet]

Since getting a Kindle 2 in Nov 2009 and a Kobo in May 2010, I have been using the public library to borrow fiction books probably for the first time since I was a teenager -- and that was well before Thatcher and Reagan! Of course, Kindles are blocked from libraries and Kobos are not ... but surely Amazon has a plan for that?

I think libraries enhance book sales, rather than detract from them and, for no other reason than that, Amazon ought to sort out a solution.

The Guardian review is pretty helpful -- although it's tiresome always to devote so muck e-ink to iPad comparisons. But the main point: Amazon's vision which includes always on connectivity as part of the device DNA is certainly the key to its success since it enables the seamless ability to purchase (and not noted in the review, sample) content.

[graycyn]

Interesting. For both my husband and I, library support was critical mass in the e-reader buying decision. We don't buy most of our books, we borrow them from the library, even though we have lived in small towns and library stacks are limited. We are both avid readers and rarely to be found without a book. But we aren't rich.

On the occasion I bought a paperback, I usually read it and re-sold it quickly via either eBay or the Amazon.com marketplace. Those hardbacks I have purchased over the years were mostly bought used on eBay. Some exceptions have been gifts and/or from library book sales.

Without the library, I'd be sunk. I read a LOT. There is no way I could financially support the habit. I'm in and out of our library weekly and though being able to borrow ebooks online may curtail that somewhat, it certainly won't stop me from going. I picked up an interesting cookbook recently, one by a guy whose blog I read.

I did not use the library online services that much in the past, because I liked going in and browsing the stacks myself. Now, I probably will be checking the online services more, in order to figure out my options for reading a specific book. I checked out a hard copy recently, because it's not available as ebook. The only copy of the second series is audiobook, which I don't like. So I'm pursuing a "borrow" request on a different forum since it is a BN.com LendMe book and I may be able to obtain the read that way. The third book, my library has in hard copy.

I enjoyed that first hard copy... but though curious about the other books in the series, don't feel that they are books I need to own and re-read. My criteria for buying is that I'll want to read the book or the series again in the future. If I only want to read once, then I'm far less likely to buy, especially with an ebook, which cannot be resold.

Not at all done with visiting my library! Getting involved in the e-reader thing has only gotten me more interested in reading outside my usual niche. But outside my niche is where I'm least likely to want to buy a book.

[Fbone]

I figure we pay for libraries from our property and local taxes (in the U.S.) so I might as well use it to get return on my money.

[JeremyR]

Where I live, I don't have a library, so I have to pay $50 for access to one. I visit it every week.

The trouble is, I mostly end up reading what they have, not what I want to read, because they don't carry it. At least mine, if you aren't interested in a bestseller, well, forget it. And the same applies to their virtual library. If I want a Sookie Stackhouse novel or Stieg Larrson, sure, just get on the waiting list. But if you want something else, you're out of luck.