By now y'all know me well enough to know that I love gadget. Most especially, cool gadgets. Well, today we saw the introduction of a very cool new product, the (Amazon) Kindle 2.
In the event you live in the dark ages (hi dad!), the Kindle is an ebook reader; you can download books, including bestsellers, inside of a minute, at a much cheaper price point than retail (generally $9.99). The only reason I didn't buy Version 1 is that the aesthetics were really terrible; they didn't exactly take a page out of Apple's playbook from a design standpoint.
Anyway, it's a pretty interesting product to say the least, but I am a bit on the fence. The big issue is that I love the concept of books, and I like carrying them around. The downside: I hate carrying them around. Especially when travelling (to wit, I am still reading the biography of William Randolph Hearst; it's a bit of a schlep carrying around a 500 page book, if even a paperback version). And I do like the idea that I can carry around multiple books in one slim package. But at $350, it's not exactly an inexpensive proposition.
Anyway, knowing myself, I will probably deliberate for a day or two and then pull the trigger (I have three bad -- or good, depending on your point of view) influences in my friends Jeff and Dave and Beno.
Anyway else have an opinion or experience with the Kindle worth sharing?
(and Ps. Thank you Mr. Finkel once again for a very kind donation to my Boston fund. Greatly appreciated).
2 comments:
I'm going to pull the trigger, likely this weekend when I'm in Florida with the around-laws wishing I had packed more books and realizing that there is a better way. The resale value of these things on eBay is so good that it's silly to not at least give it a whirl. Plus, we can't have Dave be the only one who has one. I will be too jealous.
Hey Friend...Liz Sloan here! Just read up on your blog and the Kindle's product manager is one of my best friends. You let me know if you want to talk with her...
Be good friend!
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