Kindle Ebook Reader Review
In general, I found the Kindle Portable Ebook Reader to be by far the best electronic book reading system I’ve seen to date. Unfortunately, the store did not have a very good selection, and someday I would love to view a color, high-resolution display screen with the same weight and battery life. (I can dream, can’t I?). There were a few minor nits: I’m not thrilled with the cover and the keyboard does respond a bit too slowly. Maybe more importantly, I’m a bit troubled that Kindle uses a proprietary format for its electronic books – it does lock you in to a particular system. Even though you can email yourself word files and some PDFs (which it changes into its format), I would like it if it could at least read standard PDF files.
However none of that is all that important. The Kindle is just a very nice unit to use, and the choices and advantages of the store is sufficient so that I can imagine a lot of people eager to benefit from it. It’s particularly appealing for book lovers, and for men and women like me who travel a lot and have extended commutes: it’s quite a bit easier to carry a 10-ounce ebook reader compared to a single big hardcover book, and with a Kindle (or a Sony Reader for that matter), you are able to carry a lot of books with you. At $399 (with no fee for the wireless access), it’s not low-cost but in line with what people spend for an iPhone or the top power iPod. In fact, in many ways, the Kindle reminds me of the first-generation iPod, that was not the first portable digital music player and was less sophisticated than coming generations, but had the hardware, software, and store integration done better than any of its predecessors.
I do not anticipate Kindle ebook reader or ebooks will ever really take the place of real books – there is something just right about the physical form – but the Kindle is a surprisingly remarkable tool. It has the potential to truly jump-start the electronic book war.