"owners will have to shell out between $30 and $120 for a third-party sleeve."

A $120 sleeve????? That sounds like something internetworld7 would buy for his f**got iPhone.

At least it doesn't look like an Apple Newton like the old one.

So did anyone notice that amazon uses it's own private network piggybacked off of Sprints CMDA to link up to your "books"? You can't use it on a plane. HAHH!! From what I have read you can't disable it either.

*laughing*

Ahhh...that's funny. I needed that, Angela. Perhaps my faith in humanity isn't completely unwarranted, after all.

First of all, a few comments from our sponsors:
1) SJC?- Take some time away from the computer and get some new material. Suck retorts as "retard", "Tool", "libertopian" or ""Corporate wh*** " are getting stale. so take some time away and use an e-book that has a thesaurus and find new material.
2) I agree with Pc that there is something ethereal about the experience of a "book". The smell and feel of the paper etc... I also agree that books on tape have a place. When I go on a long trip putting in a book on tape is a lot better than listening to Sirius which is like Cable TV; a whole bunch of stations and a whole bunch of crap.
We now return to our regular programming:
On a more serious and scientific note (GASP!) science on a tech site..say it ain't so. Since I would prefer not to see another one of the wind-up doll Gore docs in which he only can talk about things on a cue card (i.e. any mention of Global Dimming???), I do think we need to begin to s*** our fundamental paradigm in regards to how we build houses and provide information so, in the long run, I do favor eBooks as long as they can at least come close to the experience of paper books. Why? Again not on the cue cards good old Al read from in his documentary, Nature has built a wonderful process into life here (excepts sjc's mind). We breadth in Oxygen and breath out CO2. The plants, trees and ocean take in CO2 and release oxygen as a waste product. Works fine until we came along and [fill in the blank] it up. the more we reduce or plants, trees and pollute the ocean, the less able Nature's "recycling program" works and the more CO2 goes into the atmosphere. So I do favor a move towards a new paradigm but one that doesn't totally ignore the aesthetics of the book.

Everyone have a nice day:)

Recycling?

Paper and pulp are renewable and degradable, plastic and silicone are recyclable, but virtually non-degradable.

...unless I completely misunderstood where you were going with that...

Good catch:) Since the word "recycling" has certain connotations and denotations in our world, it wasn't the best choice. Also, you make a good point about bio-degradable but that wasn't where I was headed so the word was not the right one to use.

At the end of the day, it's simple- Because of overpopulation (sorry Brad and Angie but you really need to quit popping babies like they were candy) and the industrial process that has left the planet a mess and since we don't have the means to go somewhere else, we have to start paying attention to all aspects of the environmental problem. Not just Global Warming (cue the wind-up doll) but also Global dimming and the deforestation of the planet.
To make a short story long..err reverse that... Kindle doesn't work simple because of cost and because it in no way mimics, to some any degree, the experience of a 'book". But there does need to be a change in the way we present information either fiction or non-fiction and the way we build houses. So I give Kindle am "A" for effort but a "F" for design and pricing.
One final point- This could be a generational thing. MY generation grew up with books so my generation may find it more difficult to change the paradigm of thinking on the issue. The younger generation was born with an IPod in its ear so may feel comfortable with new technology that may not satisfy me or someone else.

Everyone have a nice day:)
And SJC? use that Thesaurus.. I look forward with amusement to some new material so get with it.:)

I'll get one of these when they are $100 or less. Until then, let the early adopters pay for my R&D.

I'm not terribly fond of the price (I would think $99 USD would be a much nicer price, for example), but I do indeed like the re-design.

I'd very much like to be able to walk into a Brick and Mortar store and give it a look and perhaps get hands-on with a display model, just so I can see what all of the buzz is about.

I'm glad that the product is an apparent success. Perhaps producing it in quantity will help lower the price for consumers in a few months.

Are you kidding me? Knock a hundred off it and buzz me. And I just LOVE the color.

Well...I love paper books as much as the next person. But if you travel a lot this is a really great option. Its fast, dedicated and easier to read. The glow of a laptop is exhausting to the eyes. E-Paper is designed with that in mind. Also, this gets "days" vs. hours on a netbook.

The real issue I have is with the price. I am stunned that you have to pay nearly 400 dollars and then buy books. To me...give the reader away at 99.00 and then make it up in the ebook price.

Not an 'ebook person, but don't most oft hem sell for around 99 cents?

LOL!

This device is like buying a dedicated DVD player when they cost $900 a few years ago!

If one wants this functionality, it should be a software product add-on to any number of already existing devices that simply enhance their convergence - be it a phone, or laptop, or netbook, etc.

Like I need ANOTHER netbook tha only displays text.

Next...

LOL!
The tweenboy tells us of yet one more thing a family member has...as if that validates anything except that his family is gullible as hell in the hands of the "libertopian" marketeers (whatever in hell that means)...

Sort reminds you of the old "Give it to Mikey. Mikey will eat anything" commercial.

That thing looks kindly ugly :) but!!! It does save trees

But waste oil in production of plastic.

Last time I looked we can plant new trees. I don't remember being able to make oil ourselves...

Obviously you are unaware of the ability to produce plastics from organic substances such as soybeans...

And paper is a renewable and recycleable resource that is MUCH lower on the technology scale than the energy required to fabricate and recycle your Kindle toys that have little reason to exist as a standalone anything, instead of as simply an additional feature on any number of ALREADY existing products - be it your phone, netbook, laptop, PDA, Gameboy, or whatever it is that you carry around. Its called convergence, and it makes MUCH more environmental sense than manufacturing yet another hightech overpriced standalone dinosaur.

This is a solution in search of a problem where the cure is as bad, if not worse, than the imagined problem.

$359.99 plus the cost of eBooks, what a bargain!

Yeah, never understood this... Still cheaper to just buy the books. I hit Half-Price Books the other day...picked up a collectors edition and 4 novels for $22.

*shrug*

Not to mention the books on tape/CD are available as well for a fraction of the price and you can listen passively (OK, we assume you actively Listen!) just about anywhere!

Half Price Books is a VERY Dangerous place!

I've had to forcefully limit myself to a once-a-month jaunt. There's just *way* too much material there and I was spending way too much time reading. I figure a few books a month is good, one a week is a bad habit, and one a day is probably not healthy.

...I was seriously skirting the "not healthy" line there for a while. ;)

@sjc001 (his comment was deleted...*laughing*)

That'd be great if I ever needed "a hundred books in one small package".

As it is, I tend to read them one at a time, sparky

Trolling aside, call me a purist. I like the feel of the parchment, the turning of the pages, the smell of a newly opened book.

This one ain't for me. Sorry that bothers you so much. Guess you'll have to deal with it. (likely by calling me a "libertopian" or a retard...as is your wont)

What part of "Foul language and personal attacks will not be tolerated." is difficult to comprehend? And why aren't the BetaNews folks doing anything about it?

Heh. That sums it up exactly.

If you want to read 1000 different books a bit at a time, then this is for you.

If you're human and you want to read one at a time because you're not a c***, buy the book.

Hi Paul -- well, I can look around my office and tell you exactly why someone has a bunch of books going at once: Research and reference. I personally read almost no fiction; everything currently open in here is nonfiction or reference. So, right now, looking around on an average sort of day, I have six books underway for a research project (non-tech-related, material not available on the Internets), one I'm reading for work, one I'm reading to learn a particular craft, and one reference book on perfumes that I'd like to have handy in stores but would never carry in its current enormous hardback form. (I'm a geek but I'm not THAT much of a geek, jeez.) There's also one on the history of waste management that I'm reading for fun... which, I suppose, just cancels out the non-geek claim right away. Oops.

I don't, by the way, carry a Kindle; I carry a library card. (And a lot of sore muscles in my back, for obvious reasons.) I have a wonderful old-school ebook reader that can handle .txt and .html files, and I use that for free Gutenberg classic texts when I get a bit of time to read that sort of thing. I love the *idea* of carrying many titles at once, but despite the convenience, the idea of a DRM'ed device holding my books hostage is just too much to countenance for me. Pretty hard to put digital access controls on a dead tree.

Books win again. ;)

Besides, who needs reference material when you have google and wikipedia? ;)