Amazon Kindle

Posted Thursday, January 17, 9:01AM
Kindle

I got an Amazon Kindle for Christmas and I a really enjoying it. If you have one and are coming to the conference I would like to meet with you to see how you are using it and share impressions.

-Greg


Hey, I talked myself out of getting one after reading the Amazon reviews! I seriously still lust for one, though. I love the squared look!!

-- Liz

 

Maybe we could have a gawk session too ... I've never seen one. The limiting factors for me are the same as on Safari: (1) the books I want might not be available yet, and (2) I'm primarily interested in professional books, which are usually not discounted significantly.

 

Cool,

Its a pretty tame gawk experience but I still like it. Maybe over one of the lunches?

-gp

 

My Kindle should arrive this Tuesday. I haven't run into anyone else who has one. Should be fun.

 

There is alot of chatter about DRM and some people suggesting a boycott of Kindle because of how Amazon is managing the content on the device. I naivly just bought the thing. But I am really liking the experience of how it works and ordering books.

I was listening to NPR on my drive home and listening to a conversation with Michael Pollen about his new book and "In Defense of Food" and stoped at a long stop light. I pulled out my kindle, ordered the book, ironically it was on page one of kindle store as a featured item. 1- click ordered and I had the book before I was home.

Great for that instant gratification moment!

 

DRM... Let's hope this story ends in the way of the mp3 (DRMed music died because of extreme backlash and non DRMed options like FairPlay).

For me, the issue is one of principle. Am I for "fair use?" Of course! Am I sympathetic to Amazon and book authors. Very much. Electronic copyright enforcing is a freakin' nightmare!

Usually, I'd act in a rebellious, principled way. But, the kindle does so much that I need. And DRM will have very little effect on me personally. I will say, however, I am embarrassed at times to have the Kindle. One- It is a public declaration of dorkdome. Two- the ergonomics are supposedly horrendous (not a good social/identity artifact for a designer who designs social/identity artifacts). Three- I'm showing that I'm not rebelling against "the man" and am advocating DRM.

Well, I'll leave some ranting for the Kindle Pow-wow!

Greg- have you bought any blogs?

 

I was thinking of ordering one, but it looks like Amazon's currently out of the Kindle.

Stephen King wrote a straight-talk summary of his recent experience with his Kindle for EW:


Will Kindles replace books? No. And not just because books furnish a room, either. There's a permanence to books that underlines the importance of the ideas and the stories we find inside them; books solidify an otherwise fragile medium.

But can a Kindle enrich any reader's life? My own experience — so far limited to 1.5 books, I'll admit — suggests that it can. For a while I was very aware that I was looking at a screen and bopping a button instead of turning pages. Then the story simply swallowed me, as the good ones always do. I wasn't thinking about my Kindle anymore; I was rooting for someone to stop the evil Lady Powerstock. It became about the message instead of the medium, and that's the way it's supposed to be.


Here's the article

 

Ok. Now I know Kindle's sweet spot. Business Travel. Its smaller then most books and the battery lasts longer then your flight.

 

I'm with Bruce -- I'd love a gawking session. We Canadians can't really join in the Kindle fun (not very easily anyway, since we can't download things or subscribe to feeds) so it'd be great just to see one in person. I'm dying to see exactly how this paper-like screen works!

Lusting from afar in Toronto,
Meredith

 

Sweet spot number 2... you read 6 books at a time, and don't want to carry 6 books everywhere.

 

How about a Kindle Gok Fest at lunch on Saturday?

greg