I have been thinking about getting a Kindle since Amazon announced the first one. I have my doubts about the idea that digital books are going to take over print books, and I explain those doubts in my book. For many books - and particularly law school text books - I just think a combination of digital and print is going to be the better choice. For example, I think it is indicative of the market for the Kindle that the picture on their website is of the Kindle leaning against a shelf of popular novels:
That sort of book is the perfect application for the Kindle. And since I don't read that much Stephen King (where's the time?) I have postponed the purchase of a Kindle. Also, last fall it was clear that Amazon was developing a second generation Kindle, so I thought I would wait. But I did read with great interest the reviews of the new one when it came out - it seemed like they had addressed many of the version 1.0 complaints about the first Kindle.
When Amazon released Kindle for iPhone last month, I downloaded it, and before my flight back from Orlando a few weeks ago, I purchased the Kindle version of Malcolm Gladwell's interesting book
Outliers. To my considerable surprise, I found the experience of reading that book on the iPhone quite pleasant and useful. I am one of those people who is nervous if they don't have something handy to read at all times, and I always have my iPhone with me. So this made an impression on me.
And then when I went to Steven Johnson's talk the other day, he spoke about having purchased the Kindle a few weeks ago and then being in Austin out to dinner by himself. He quickly and easily purchased a book he wanted to read on the Kindle, and then read the first few chapters during his dinner.
So Steven put me over the edge, and I ordered a Kindle. It arrived this afternoon, and it really is a beautiful thing, and very well thought out. Not perfect - it is still an emerging technology. But it does some things excellently. The wireless feature is one of the things that really sets it apart. And if I stop reading Outliers (or any other book I have purchased through Amazon) at a certain page on the Kindle, when I turn on my iPhone a few days later in an airport, it is on the same page where I left off on the other device. Automagically.
BTW, I am not one of those people who fetishizes the "Out of Box Experience" -
look them up on YouTube: they actually take videos of themselves opening the box of new tech purchases (again - where's the time?). But I did note that the OOBE was extraordinary for the Kindle. For example, when you pull the strip on the box containing the device the strip reads: "Once Upon a Time..." A lot of thought went into every aspect of this device. I will have more here later as I get used to it.
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