Kindle-ing

Recently, I got my hands on one of Amazon's new Kindles, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to review it here.

First let me address the primary complaint I see whenever I see it reviewed, on Amazon or elsewhere:

It's expensive.

Yeah, it is. No two ways about it. At $400, no one is ever going to make their money back saving by buying eBooks rather than printed ones. But it's right in line with the rest of the higher end eBook readers out there, so that's a non-starter as a complaint. (There's a well-maintained Mobile Reader Wiki on Wikipedia if you want to see what's out there, what it does, and what it costs.)

The only other eBook reader I've ever considered is Bookeen's Cybook. Why? Because I need a reader that uses "eInk" technology since I can't read with backlighting, and I want a reader I can hook up to my Mac. And the Cybook, while it won't autosync, can at least be used as a drive so I can download eBooks to my Mac and drag them over. The Cybook comes in at $350. Not a whole lot of price difference.

I've not used a Cybook reader yet, so I can't compare them. (I hope to try one out in person on 12/2--I'll post here if I do.) What I can do is tell you that I'd make up the $50 difference quickly if I read new release hardcovers. Because the Cybook uses MobiPocket as reading software, and a brief comparison shows that MobiPocket (a technology Amazon actually owns) eBooks run about $17-$18 for a new release hardcover, while the Kindle versions of the same books are $9.99.

In fact, Mobipocket books cost as much as their paper equivalents, which makes no sense whatsoever. And if you buy your books discounted, using coupons or whatever the way I always do, Mobipocket books cost more, because you're not getting those discounts.

But I said before that people who buy eBook readers aren't doing so to save money, and if I stick to that assertion, I can ignore the ridiculous pricing of Mobipocket books. (Why would someone want an eBook rather than a printed book? That's a whole post unto itself. For myself, the appeal is primarily in the idea of not having to take a whole separate carry-on bag on vacation with me just for my books since I read one a day on vacation, plus at least one, if not more, on each plane.)

The other major complaint about the Kindle is that it's ugly. But you knew that, right? You looked at the picture before you bought the product, so why whine now?

I am always going to have less sexy technology because I prefer hardware buttons to software ones. I don't want an iPhone, sexy and gorgeous as it is, because I want to push actual buttons on my phone rather than using a virtual keyboard. The same is true of the Kindle. It has a keyboard--an actual keyboard--for making notes and searching the Kindle store. And so far the keys work great. The little scroll wheel on the right allows you to click into whatever you're reading to make notes or bookmark. It's a solid feeling wheel, with a satisfying "click."

Would I have preferred it in black? Yeah, I would. Call me shallow. Would that stop me from using it, though? Nope.

The pages turn quickly, which is one complaint I have heard from people about other readers. It's easy to change the text size, which is one of the big advantages of eBooks. Tired? Increase the text size. Skimming? Decrease it.

The Kindle is set up to access Amazon's store using Sprint's cell network, which means it can only download remotely inside the US. You can download to your computer over the web and transfer to your Kindle if necessary, but for most people--me included, the US-only limitation isn't too much of a problem.

But the Kindle, functional as it is, is going back to Amazon next week.

It's not just that it's not a book. I knew it wouldn't be. I expected to have to make some adjustments.

What I didn't expect, the thing that's driven me crazy every time I put the thing down and pick it back up, is that the buttons for flipping pages are too freaking hard to avoid. So far, I've not once been able to turn the machine off or on or pick it up or put it down without accidentally changing pages. The Kindle comes with a cover, but you can't power it on or off with the cover on, and if the Kindle is on and you close the cover, and then pick it up, squeezing the cover, you click the flywheel.

Alas, the Kindle's design was not well thought out. (How hard would it have been to put the on/off switch on the front, where you could access it while it was still in the cover? Or put in a lock switch that would allow readers to prevent the pages from turning when they don't want them to?)

But I don't take vacation until March. Maybe by then someone will have come out with something I can take with me instead of a whole carry-on full of books.