Comments on: On Kindle and Reading

By: Paolo Kuslan

Paolo Kuslan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:40:02 +0000

Technology is not so important.
What counts more is the reading experience.
The closer to a book or a magazine the better it is.

By: dallas

dallas — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:28:59 +0000

Yeah, the DRM part is not ideal. It doesn’t really worry me at all, though, because I don’t think I’ve ever read a book twice anyway. It’s not like music where I expect to continue to consume it repeatedly over time. The books for Kindle cost less than the dead tree versions (often much less) and take up less space in my crowded physical reality. That’s worth the potential trade-off of not having the book forever to me. There’s nothing about a Kindle that prevents you from also buying dead tree books, too.

As for the keyboard.. it’s actually pretty handy when searching through the Kindle booktore. My theory about it is Amazon needed that space to put electronics and they figured they might as well put a keyboard there… it’s a lot faster than picking out letters one by one using the little 5-way navigation stick would be. And I think I prefer the keyboard to just blank space.

The screen size is pretty adequate, though I wouldn’t mind it bigger as long as the device didn’t get any bigger. It’s about as big as I’d want a book reader to be. A dedicated magazine reader I could see being larger and thinner, though.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:13:32 +0000

I have some quibbles with the Kindle (I’d prefer it if it were all screen – no keyboard), but I have to tell you, having gone from airport to airport and hotel to hotel over the last few weeks with several thick volumes in my bag, the benefit of electronic books are fresh on my mind.

My main beef beyond the form factor thing – which I could get over – is potentially losing my book ‘collection’ should Amazon’s DRM stop working. That’s the main thing I hate about DRM: Its potential lack of permanence (Microsoft’s PlaysForSure is a good example of what can happen, there) and lock-in.

A better model for me, I think, is the ability to buy an actual book and chip in another buck or two for a voucher good for a portable version. I’d do that in a heartbeat.

- Jeff

By: dallas

dallas — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:19:55 +0000

If you love books themselves it may not be for you. I’ve actually always found books kinda hard to deal with… and they get in the way of reading. I don’t like having to hold it open all the time or having to change positions when I change pages and all that. On a kindle you can read one-handed really easily.

By: kenric

kenric — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:47:55 +0000

I’ve been thinkin about getting a Kindle as well.. The new one certainly is an improvement on the original… I love love books though… I may come by your spot to see how it performs, as you can’t buy one in a store.