rainfever

Also i think that amazon automatically assumes that people are gonna buy this purrely because its white. And yes some are gonna mistake this for being something more than it is.

baandoptager

Human eyes are not that forgiving, so despite the kindle's ability to easily download and store text, its screen limitations will turn off most readers.

Until screen technologies are more advanced, it is hard to imagine most readers choosing a kindle over a book made from printed pages, clay tablets, or papyrus scrolls.

frigg

Mudassir

Also, I'm not sure why all these ebook readers feel the need to try to replicate the "action" of reading a book, more specifically, turning the pages. The big Next Page/Previous Page buttons on both sides seem really distracting, and unnecessary. There is no need for being nostalgic about "Oh, this reminds me of turning the paper pages of a real book!" There is a simpler user interface that better applies to the digital format, such as simple forward/back buttons.

LastVigilante

PCJustin

Does the name "Kindle" suggest Fahrenheit 451 to anyone but me...?

Global Village Elder

If you have to supply power to the screen constantly in order for the touch screen to work, they might as well use a LCD.

Does a touchscreen take that much power? I would have thought it was about the same amount of power used by a laptop touchpad, just scaled up. Regardless, there is too much wasted space on this thing. It has to feel like a book, and books don't have a bunch of buttons.

superbad

I'm still tempted based on my obsessive need to buy new technology, but the price exceeds its usefulness.

CColdsmoke

plus i h8 reading

You don't say? I never would have guessed.

superbad

Also, people need to stop with the color, touch screen and page flips a la Apple. To say such nonsense shows that you know nothing about e-ink technology. E-ink is only capable of displaying 8 shades of gray. You'll have to wait another 5 years before you'll see color beyond what you would consider acceptable. In terms of page flipping, the screen refresh is way too slow to make it look acceptable. Also, having a touch screen defeats the purpose of e-ink. The entire idea is for the device to draw little to no power except when flipping pages. That's why you can get thousands of page turns. If you have to supply power to the screen constantly in order for the touch screen to work, they might as well use a LCD. Then, the battery life would only be about 1 hour with a screen that large.

Noobs-R-Us

1. I travel about 90% of the time. The idea of having today's paper along with several books with me at all times is huge. I can't lug around 10 books at a time, and reading a newspaper on a plane is a PITA.

2. You can transfer your own documents to the device for free. I can now eliminate a lot of the paper in my briefcase that I use for reference. This is huge for me.

3. I read a lot of books that I don't want to keep or read again. $9.99 per book is much cheaper than the paper versions, and will encourage me to read more.

With an infrastructure like Amazon behind it I think there's a lot more to this story. Even at v1 it offers a lot of innovation that can't be ignored. It may take a while, but I think it's going to catch on.

PCJustin

niel718

chueychihuahua

natvanhat

My main concern was title availability, but it appears that Amazon will be working to eventually have all books in this format.

Also, pricing was an issue. I could not accept paying the same price for a digital book as I did for a real one. I think the Amazon pricing structure is fair.

As for the hardware, I thought it was really ugly when I first saw it. Now, though, I understand that they wanted it to feel more like a book in the hand. Still, not sure I want to spend $400 just to get in the door of this service. Hopefully the hardware costs will come down quickly to a mass-market friendly point.

Atrahasis

Also, are they going to have these in retail outlets for people to check out before they buy? Because without that, it's never going to do very well. How many iPods would they have sold if you couldn't touch one first? So many people didn't understand it until they could hold one in their hands.

superbad

leicaman

niel718

Seriously it might seem like a dumb question but everywhere I look to try and find out it just says "You don't need to." But CAN you?
What if I don't want to spend $1 every time I want to put a document on it?

And what about PDF? No word on if that works or if it's convertible to work. Even over their whispernet thing.

Whispernet does seem really cool, I'm not denying that. But it's not a 100% replacement. Come on, will somebody just confirm that you can use that usb port for more than charging?

skeeveAGAIN

bandit

I set my pda's screen to reverse (white letters on black) and turn the screen brightness down when I'm reading at night. This product would never work for me.

Tank

Also, the more I look at it, the less fugly it looks. It's not winning any beauty contests anytime soon, but I get some of their design choices now.

abes2

I do not see this being successful. People who read like books. Many like being seen carrying a book. They like to collect books to put them on shelves, etc. They like to flip pages.

This may appeal to the most tech-oriented of people but even there, I feel like most of those people do not like single-function devices. Who wants to carry one more device around with them? Especially a device that costs $400. Is e-ink really that costly? This simple single-function device whose sole purpose is to allow you to buy downloadable content from Amazon is more expensive than a PS3, Xbox360, iphone or an HD Tivo unit. Are they kidding?

That said, I may consider a purchase when the price drops to $50.

TSIGOS

I gotta say though - I graduated college with a degree in English and there is just something about holding a physical book in your hands that can't be replaced. While my college friends would sell their books back after the semester was over, I kept all of mine. I like having an extended library that I can refer back to. The books all have notes in the margins, pages folded down for particularly insightful reading, etc.

Jeff B. - prove me wrong! The name is nice, Kindle (like kindling), but I think that touches on another issue. Paper is somehow 'warm' while a cold looking piece of tech is definitely not. I hope you accounting for this in the tactile feel.

The most practical application I think the Kindle has right now is for newspaper reading, or anything where content would change frequently. As a huge comic book fan, I'd love nothing more than a color reader (yes yes OLEDREVOLUTION, insert "Big" reference here). If DC Comics offered their library online (like Marvel did recently), I would be buying this thing for sure.

agrajag42

benkessler

Not having to handle magazines & newspapers would be a nice convenience but is it worth the cost? If I was a clean/neat freak, maybe, aside from that, not much else to be had for my money in this unit. Anything else it does is bested by my current compliment of gadgetry (Phone, DAP, etc.)

Tehrab

That's because it's a really cool idea, filled with potential. Even the haters have to admit that.

senorbelly

fusedinertia

abes2

But your point is taken. Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong - not even today! We'll see how the unwashed illiterate masses take to it.

Atrocious

benkessler

Noobs-R-Us

No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.

ConstyXIV

Canadian Impostor

Noobs-R-Us

So, if I don't need hundreds of books on me at all times and the device doesn't somehow transform and simplify the process of reading books, what exactly is there to buy? A gadget for gadget's sake?

Tehrab

Global Village Elder

skeeveAGAIN

baandoptager

Sorry... but E-books suck. Their pointless.

baandoptager

Deal breakers. $10 books? New paperbacks don't cost that, let alone used. A charge to sideload your own files? And a proprietary file format with no support for existing PDFs of LIT files? Who does Amazon think it is, Apple?

junyo

What I want to know is CAN you sync with a computer?
NOBODY has confirmed this from what I can see.

skeeveAGAIN

OLEDRevolution

Elvisisdead

The only way this would revolutionize publishing is if they manage to make e-ink in color and connect it to the comic book and magazine industry. I know I'd get one just so I could stop feeling guilty about throwing away issues of National Geographic.

CColdsmoke

of course the counter argument is the Sony Reader is a hundred bucks less and offers a lot less perceived value (books are more expensive, needs to be tethered to computer, no annotations, etc...) but the problem is, if I can go buy a used book on Amazon for 5 to 10 bucks, its not worth it to me to pay 400 bucks.

Now of course I took advantage of Sony's deal to sign up for their credit card and got the PRS-500 for fifty bucks and I can see the advantage of throwing 10 books onto a reader for a vacation and not have to haul 10 paperbacks along. If amazon had a subscription model to bring the price down, that might entice people more.

I hope this is the first step and the 2nd or 3rd gen version lives to see the light of day and be a lot less expensive, and a lot more advanced.

phi

The content service may (and I stress may) be interesting. But the hardware - even with aesthtics aside - seems a little poorly executed. Perhaps the Kindle II.

Atrocious

Seriously doubt it. I like the Whispernet use, but the actual device is ugly - and the screen doesn't look all that great, too. Until they start using flexible OLED in a book-like form this isn't going to do much, IMO.

bitfactory

wandaa

OLEDRevolution

OLEDRevolution