RSSMy first day with Kindle 2: I'm finally ready to drop the paperback
By Nate Mook | Published February 25, 2009, 2:00 PM
I've always been a fan of technology that makes it easier for me to consume media. I bought the Diamond Rio PMP-300 the day it came out in 1998, was an early customer of TiVo, and can't imagine renting movies from a physical store after being a Netflix subscriber for over 8 years.
That's why I pre-ordered the first Kindle the moment it was announced in 2007. I had previously tried out electronic book readers from companies such as Sony, but they all lacked the complete ecosystem that makes it actually worthwhile to switch to digital books. The Kindle seemed to have it all: a fairly slim form factor, great screen, and a huge library of books easily downloadable with a single click.
Or so I thought. My expectations were high, and I found myself disappointed with Kindle 1.0, leading me to continue shopping at Barnes & Noble on occasion. The first-generation offering from Amazon had a confusing user interface, awkward plastic casing, sluggish screen and a battery that couldn't seem to hold a charge even when turned off.
Minor gripes, perhaps, but when a device isn't fun to use and sometimes even frustrating, it's easy to revert back to real paper. Thankfully, Amazon seems to have taken customer feedback to heart and revamped the Kindle for version 2, which was announced earlier this month and began shipping this week. UPS dropped off my Kindle 2 yesterday morning, and after just a day, I think I'm ready to help save the forests.
But before I delve into my experience using the Kindle 2 for 24 hours, I feel I should explain why I would spend $359 on a device that still requires you to buy the digital books. After all, even if you save $5 per book, that would require reading 70 books before breaking even. As with most things, however, convenience is what you're paying for -- just like with an iPod or monthly TiVo subscription. Despite what Steve Jobs says, some people do still read books. I usually have 2 or 3 titles I'm reading simultaneously. With the Kindle, I can have my library in the palm of my hands, deciding what I want to read each time I pick it up. Heavy hardcovers no longer weigh down my carry-on bag when traveling, and if I get bored, I can quickly browse and buy new books in seconds.
Moreover, the Kindle can automatically deliver newspaper and magazine subscriptions to you, which is incredibly useful, especially when on the go. Although I haven't used the Kindle for reading RSS feeds or surfing the Web (my iPhone does that job well), I have found myself making use of the built-in dictionary to look up words on occasion. And yes, digital books are cheaper to buy than the real thing, and Amazon frequently offers promotions like it does in its MP3 store.
To be honest, I was a bit disappointed when my Kindle 2 first arrived. It's packaged in a drab cardboard box that looks like it's missing a giant sticker in the middle; Amazon could definitely learn a thing or two from Apple in the attractive packaging department. Thankfully, the Kindle 2 itself is incredibly svelte, the metal backing giving in a solid feel that was missing from its predecessor. Unlike the first Kindle, which was thicker on the left side, the Kindle 2 is as thin as pencil all the way around.
How does it compare in terms of usability? The screen really does feel much faster (Amazon claims 20 percent), and the Kindle 2's software interface is vastly easier to navigate. A MicroUSB port now serves as the power and sync connector, and a single button at the top either puts the Kindle to sleep or turns it off. Because the e-ink screen can hold an image without wasting power, it's rare that the Kindle will need to be shut down entirely. Activating the 3G wireless connection has been moved into the top-level software menu, which is quick and easy to access.
Kindle 2 gets rid of the scroll wheel for a 4-way joystick, which I wasn't excited about, but found it easy to use and more flexible for selecting content on the screen. The Next Page and Previous Page buttons have also been made smaller to lessen accidental clicks, which Kindle 1.0 users will attest can be a frequent problem. The Home button has been moved from the keyboard to a larger button on the side, another welcome change.
Since digital books don't have "pages" like traditional books, it was sometimes frustrating not to know exactly how far along you were. Amazon has remedied this in the Kindle 2 with a percent meter at the bottom of the open book. A new text-to-speech feature is a neat idea, but pretty useless in actuality, as the computer voice is nearly impossible to understand and quite grating.
Amazon now has 240,000 digital books available for purchase from the Kindle Store, with best sellers priced at $10. Older books run between $3 and $6. Like before, Word, PDF, JPEG and text documents can be converted to the Kindle's format for 10 cents each.
Perhaps most importantly, though, Amazon says the battery life of Kindle 2 has been improved by 25% (that's 2 weeks of reading with wireless off, as I usually keep it), which seems about right based on my rudimentary testing. That and the improved form factor were reasons enough for me to justify the upgrade.
Still, the Kindle 2 isn't without its drawbacks. The big one, of course, is sharing books. When you're done with a paperback, it's easy to loan it to a friend or donate it to someone less fortunate. When you're done with a book on the Kindle, it simple exists in your Archived Items folder, where you can't even delete it.
Hopefully, Amazon will figure out a way to enable customers to delete the book from their Kindle account and send it to a friend's. One can dream.
While the user interface is improved on the Kindle 2, it's not perfect. There's no option to delete a book (move it into Archived Items) from the menu. Instead, you press the joystick to the left, which isn't immediately obvious. And despite the vastly better form factor, the keyboard on the Kindle 2 takes up an extraordinary amount of real estate. For how often I use it, I'd rather have a smaller device with an on-screen keyboard.
I also still worry about the e-ink screen. It's not protected by anything, and Amazon now requires that you purchase a cover for the Kindle 2 separately (one came with the first model). Although I haven't had any disasters with my first Kindle, I do have to take extra care, which would not be required if I were simply tossing a book in my bag.
Overall, these are small quibbles and Amazon has really created an impressive device that will change the way millions of people read books. It's not for everyone yet, but I've already found myself recommending the Kindle 2 as the device to buy to friends and family. If you read more than a few books a year, travel, or even just don't see a need for devastating the rain forests to make more paper, the Kindle is for you.
Plus, it's just plain fun to use now.
I have kindle 2!! How i read my pdf files in it?
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|I have kindle 2!! but how i read my pdf files in it?
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|well, if i'm not mistaken there is another gadget called jetbook e-book.
until either of these can provide color pictures and even sound, they can never be better than paperbacks, magazines or audio books.
perhaps, the itty bitty round buttons on the kindle should be replaced by a functioning qwerty keyboard and the display should tilt at an angle and become an electronic typewriter.
but electronic typewriters also became a waste of time, money and history.
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|How about a review about...wait for it...actually reading with it. Can you read until 4 in the morning and have it feel like the experience of reading a fantastic book? Does anything distract you while reading (blinking leds, noises, popups, etc.)
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|I would think many of the failing newspapers (and there are many more that are going to fail this year) could possibly offer some sort of bundled discount deal for a subscription plus a Kindle. It would cut their operating cost enormously while [possibly] shoring up circulation numbers, and therefore ad revenues. If they could subsidize the Kindle price with some of the savings from reduced printing and shipping costs, maybe they could offer a Kindle at less than $300, which might make it more attractive to consumers. I agree that $360 is a little on the high end for many.
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|I agree with Straspey regarding privacy.
I would try the Kindle if --and only if-- there was NO Amazon behind the scenes. It is not a healthy situation where all your reading is subject to data mining: When did you begin to read a book? What time? How long did it take to read? What was the sequence of books read? How long between books?... And all that assumes no other back-channel information isn't being passed back to Amazon from Kindle.
It's all very trendy... And I'm sure the Digital Ink is neat and a pleasure to read. But this is a very slippery slope. Is the protocol between Kindle and Amazon published? Encrypted? How does one know what traverses back to Amazon... and when.
Here's another point to ponder: How does one know if the Kindle version is exactly the same as the book or ... any other Kindle version?
Hmmm: an edited version for "you", because you are from TX and some words are too provocative ... delete this paragraph... who'll know? Too many anti-government books being read too quickly...
No. Not for me.
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|Geez. Put on a tin foil hat. So what. They can mine all my reading all friggin day. Who cares that it took me five days to read Harry Potter? Does it harm me? Does it cause the planets to fall out of orbit?
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|Ummm...I'm sure I'll get flamed for bringing this up, but am I the only one concerned about privacy issues here ?
The books you download onto the device are "archived" - ergo, Amazon has a database of your personal reading preferences which they can use, at the very least, as a marketing tool and which could provide may other "interested" parties with information about you.
So, I'm going to pay $359.00 for the privilege of providing my personal reading tastes to a company, which will then use my interest in medieval history to target me with advertising for related products and services.
Also, I can't wait until the ebooks start showing up on the torrent sites and the publishers begin screaming and threatening lawsuits ala the RIAA and we all have arguments here about the difference between lending your copy of the new best seller to your friend vis getting it "for free" online.
Is anybody else as bored with all this as I am ?
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|Someone I knew very well once went into a bookstore to purchase the infamous "Anarchist's Cookbook" and the cashier wrote down his name from the credit card and reported him to the FBI. They actually made a visit to his apartment to ask him some questions. That was 1981, well before the DHS/post-911 hysteria we've become accustomed to.
But regardless, what books does Amazon sell that might get you "reported" anyway? Do they sell books on making bombs? No. Making deadly viruses and germ warfare tips? No. The worst thing you have to worry about is having them know you bought a book on Kama Sutra with small farm animals.
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|is anyone really ready to drop the inexpensive paperback and replace it with an expensive machine that needs to be lugged around with great care, batteries and or powersupply?
i think not.
frankly, if someone has a netbook or notebook, there "should not be" a need for the kindle.
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|"If you read more than a few books a year, travel, or even just don't see a need for devastating the rain forests to make more paper, the Kindle is for you."
I take issue with this.
Books can easily be made of recyclable paper, and many are starting to be so. Trees can be replenished.
The kindle is made of plastic which is made from oil. We cannot replace oil.
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|Paul, please stop thinking logically and making sense. You know it's not allowed these days.
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|Granted, plastic isn't the perfect approach. But growing a tree is a century-long process. Plus, deforestation contributes to upwards of 25% of all carbon pollution.
Books also cannot easily be made on recycled paper. Usually they top out at around 30% post-consumer content because otherwise it doesn't print well. The plastic in the Kindle on the other hand could very well be mostly recycled.
Take issue all you want, but the less we clear the forests the better.
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|We've proven time and again that we can plant fast-growing breeds as fast as we can cut them. paper also degrades whereas plastic...does not.
We'll bury a book of mine, and your kindle...let's see which one is still sitting in the ground in almost pristine shape 100 years from now, shall we?
My main issue with devices like these is their limited functionality. We're only months away from publicly available dual-screen laptops. These will do everything your current laptops can do and as a bonus act as a tablet, a book....you name it. All without having to clutter the planet with yet another next-to-pointless device.
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|Paperbacks also can be recycled by letting other people read them. My friends and I often trade books.
My big issue with this design is the fact that it is more than just a screen. I want to have a simple touch screen interface where I hold it and read. I don't want a keyboard or buttons. It makes no sense. I also think that the lack of color is a big detraction. Color is a big part of what makes the web appealing and easier to read.
Sorry...gonna have to wait on this one.
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|btw, the original Kindle has a "progress meter" for how far along you are in a book.
It's the series of dots along the bottom of the page. It also displays in the home page and gives you relative size of the different books.
If I could inexpensively swap to a Kindle2 I would, but I'm not quite willing to give up my Kindle1 quite yet for the incremental improvements.
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|The dots are a lot less helpful than an actual percentage meter -- you don't notice they are moving except after pages. It's nice to have a specific idea of how far along you are, just like with a real book.
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|not being able to delete anything off it is a huge drawback. i don't think many people re-read books
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|The Archived Items list is basically stored in Amazon's cloud, so the books don't actually remain on the device. If you copy them out of Archived Items onto the Home screen, then the Kindle just re-downloads them.
So from a space perspective, it's not an issue. From an organizational perspective, it may annoy some people.
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|iPAQ+uBook
I think this is a better combination and more useable than a single-tasker like the Kindle.
may not be fancy ePaper, but it's color & backlit....
any format, any time, from any source...
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|"Still, the Kindle 2 isn't without its drawbacks. The big one, of course, is sharing books. When you're done with a paperback, it's easy to loan it to a friend or donate it to someone less fortunate."
...and deprive the author of his royalties??? Pirates!!!
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|Damn those libraries as well...! [rollseyes]
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|" If you read more than a few books a year, travel, or even just don't see a need for devastating the rain forests to make more paper, the Kindle is for you."
At 359.00 plus the price of the ebook, this is a long way from being practical. I just bought a netbook for 259.00. I don't know if ebooks can be put on a laptop but if they can then this device is really useless. I see the prices of these coming way down in the future...
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|By that same argument, paying $250 for a 120GB iPod isn't practical. After all, you can just buy CDs and a $30 portable CD player.
With the iPod, you're paying for the convenience of having all your music in one device that's easy to take with you. The same holds true for the Kindle. Granted, you may not read enough to need to worry about carrying multiple books with you, but if you consider newspapers and magazines you'll never have to worry about, it's a big improvement.
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|I read some books on my laptop: a MacBook Pro with a pretty darn good screen. I wouldn't dream of reading anything longer than a few pages on anything else. Yet even on my Mac, it's hard to read for a significant period of time.
You see, the Kindle's best asset is the e-ink screen, which does not emit any light at all, just like real paper... That makes it possible with someone without superhuman eyesight to read for hours.
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|I have a netbook too - an ASUS pc 901. You can put Microsoft Reader on it an duse it like a Kindle. And it also has the dictionary lookup feature. And you can buy books and share. Kindle books have a proprietary file format (like Itunes). FOr netbooks just download the non-Kindle version (PDF, DOC).
PS there's tons of free ebooks online - mostly classics.
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|@Nate:
That doesn't work at all.
Music is considerably shorter than a book.
Unless you're weird, you generally don't read more than one or maybe two books within the period you're away from where your books are stored, and that is on a holiday or away for work, which probably isn't often.
With music you're likely to be away for more than an album's worth of tracks as they're short.
Having multiple books on you at once isn't something you normally do whereas having an album's worth of music has been popular since the cassette.
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|"To be honest, I was a bit disappointed when my Kindle 2 first arrived. It's packaged in a drab cardboard box that looks like it's missing a giant sticker in the middle"
Yeah, being green is so yesterday. What else is nature for than dumping it full of consumer product packaging...
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|You can use recycled cardboard and still make the packaging look good. You can also slim down the packaging and eliminate waste as Apple has done with its recent products. The Kindle is as thick as a pencil, but the box is as thick as a hardcover book. It's a minor gripe to be sure, but when you pay $360, it's nice to have something that looks enticing to open.
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|I like the elegant understatement. Others might prefer more bling. They should have included a pouch though.
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|I have the kindle 1 I love it, can't getmyself to buy the version 2 there is just not enough changes, perhaps color would have made me change it! =) Either way if this is your first kindle you will LOVE IT!!!
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