Vox

Curling Up With A Good Book

Actually, it is more like curling up with hundreds of them, right at your fingertips.

Partly because I am spoiled, and partly because she wanted to bribe me into some extra work, she got me a Kindle 2 this past week. It is no secret that I have been craving one and I think they heard my squeal of delight across town. Words can clearly not express how very cool it was to find such a treasure on my desk.

I have since been sampling books (they give you a chapter free), purchasing a couple, and being amazed & delighted at the volume of volumes available for free in the Kindle store. Dickens, Austen, Churchill, Lincoln.... thousands of great books are yours for the asking, and delivered to your Kindle wirelessly in less than 60 seconds. Genius. Joyousness.

The ease of use is even better than I anticipated, and the real book 'feel' blew me away. The pages look like pages and are much easier on the eyes than a computer screen. I assumed I would need a Kindle cover/holder to give me something to hold onto while reading but the device itself truly sits so comfortably in the hands you could do without. I will get one still, but more to protect my treasure and less to make it book-like.

The text-to-speech is handy, though I doubt I will use it much (and it is no substitute for audio books). The very basic (and experimental) web browser is intriguing, though at this point it is certainly no match for my G-1. Being able to bookmark & highlight the text, as well as include notes as I read, is such a help. The onboard dictionary (place the cursor next to a word for a definition, click to jump to the dictionary page) will be handy at some point, and would be fantastic for students working through a reading list.

All this happiness doesn't come cheap and as much as I was craving one, I was unlikely to fork out that kind of dough on a 'gadget' that I hadn't even seen in person. I am so lucky to be so spoiled, and so grateful to my sister for being less practical about these things than I.

My Kindle review = WOW.

My one complaint so far is the inability to add Kindle versions of books I want to my wish list. This would seem like a no brainer for Amazon to incorporate, and how great to turn on my Kindle to find someone gifted me with a book - instant gratification for us both. I sent an inquiry last night, and this morning received this reply.

Although digital items such as Kindle books cannot be added to the Wish List directly from their product page at this time, you can add these digital items to your Wish List by using the Universal Wish List Button.

Although this feature is meant to be used to add things you want from other web sites to your Wish List, you can also use it to include digital items from our own store to your Wish List so that you can keep track of the digital media that you may want to order later.

To add the Universal Wish List Button to your browser, visit the web link below to get the button:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/wishlist/get-button

Once the "Add to Wish List" button is installed, just click the button in your tool bar to add an item on any website to your Amazon.com Wish List.

Just know that if your friends & family browse your Wish List, they will not be able to order the listed digital items for you. Clicking the "Shop this store" button will only allow someone to order a digital media item from Amazon for themselves.

The purchase and download of digital content from Amazon.com is associated with the Amazon.com account used to make the original purchase. Because digital content cannot be transferred to a different Amazon.com account after purchase, digital products cannot be given as gifts.

My guess is that they just haven't worked out the process, yet. Obviously you can gift digital products, that is all an Amazon gift certificate is, really, and if they chose to, allowing someone to purchase a book I've selected to be delivered to me would be easy technology to develop. As it stands, I guess someone could send you a gift certificate with a note, "Wanted you to have Sowell's new book on your Kindle, enjoy" (Are there Kindle editions of Sowell's books? I'll have to go look)

Anyway, just a little quibble - still gets a SOLID squeal of absolute delight.

UPDATE: New version coming soon; larger screen...but at a larger price.

UPDATE: I have heard some rumblings of a problem with the Kindle if used with a cover. As I understand it, if you fold your cover (which has been attached via the Kindle specific connections) back all the way and hold it that way to read, the connecting tabs put too much pressure on the screen, causing it to malfunction or stop working entirely - a problem that Amazon doesn't recognize under the warranty. So...play it safe, don't fold your cover back all the way.

Posted by Vox at April 4, 2009 10:49 AM | technology