More About the Kindle 2

We continue to admire the Kindle, as we emphatically state it is too expensive a toy for us to consider seriously. For those of you wishing to see shots of the Kindle and drool, Engadget has some great closeups.

More interesting is Crunchgear’s 10 Reasons To and Not to Buy a Kindle. Here’s our version of it:

Reasons to Buy a Kindle

1. It’s great for travel.
2. You can email DOC, TXT, and PDF files to your Kindle email address for conversion…but it costs 10 cents.
3. It looks and feels great. It is only grayscale…with 16 shades on the new Kindle 2, but it offers a clear reading surface. We’ve heard color is in the future. Amazon designed a solid piece of hardware overall.
4. Almost any book is available at any time. As more and more publishers offer their content in Ebook form, the amount of books you can’t get is limited to the rare. Even an out-of-print book can be resurrected and offered.
5. It can work in a variety of situations that paperbook books would be cumbersome in.
6. The bookmarking and highlighting systems have been improved for the Kindle 2, but overall they add the ability to mark up your E-book and return to sections the way you might in a real book.
7. The dictionary is now integrated. Also…having a dictionary at all built in to look up terms you don’t know.
8. It is the future. Reading is going in this direction. We doubt paper books will die. But E-books are going to be a major part of the market.

Why NOT to buy a Kindle

1. The Kindle is not conducive to research or reference. Page changing and book style searching are not at the speed/rate you could browse through a book. You can’t flip through and find what you are looking for.
2. It isn’t ready for students…a market that could really use a Kindle. Not only are there price issues, and textbook availability issues and the one mentioned above.
3. The Kindle is thin, and not exactly rugged. Of course, that is what a good case is for.
4. The net connection isn’t available internationally.
5. No expansion slot. The Kindle 2 has no SD slot, or any provision for add-on memory.
6. It is battery operated and most be charged periodically. Books never run out of batteries. The battery also makes it bottom heavy.
7. There is still a value to the printed book.

What are your thoughts? Coming up…more of where to get and use e-books less a Kindle.

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