The simple answer is no. It looks like a piece of medical equipment. I don’t want to be sitting on the bus with everyone thinking I’m some kind of techy hypochondriac constantly monitoring my vital signs.
Apart from its general ugliness, I’m a little at odds with this type of technology. I can see the logic of an electronic reader for news (but why would you not want to use your mobile phone to get info on the hoof?) but for books? Why?
Books are simple technology that work perfectly. I doubt I’d want to take this speak and spell lookalike to the beach and I certainly wouldn’t use it to get my commuting news. An iPod moment for news, it is not.
Against all of which I’m completely staggered that this thing is selling like hot cakes. Fortunately for my schadenfreude gene the reviews aren’t too good. Next device please.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBCzIDbRJvs]
You are worried what people will think? Geez, are you grown up yet?
Portable Library, search function, excellent screen. This thing is made for READERS. Not for a casual read of the latest sports scores…
I’m tired of people that are not readers reviewing this device. If you don’t understand it (and that’s clear), then do yourself a favor and don’t show your ignorance. You’ll avoid the embarrassment that is sure to follow. There is a reason why real readers love the Kindle…do a little research and figure it out. I suspect many people will be surprised at how well the Kindle sells, and they’re the same people that are confused as to why people read in the first place.
Have you any idea how much serious non-fiction books cost? This type of device is of enormous value to scholars. [Unfortunalte the Amazon thing just doesn’t cut it – it seems to be a device to sell just Amazon products and Newspapers.]
I like to download from project Gutenberg and therefore need a device with PDF, DOC etc etc. The Amazon thing is not good enough and way too expensive.
There are far superior devices at the same price on the market.
Goodness, those were quick responses Stephen and Michael – do you have Kindle alerts set up on Google? Do you two know each other?
Your link to reviews (“Fortunately for my schadenfreude gene the reviews aren’t too good”) is kind of misleading.
You linked to Amazon’s own user reviews page, but if you read the reviews there you’ll find that that the majority of the negative reviews were written by people who don’t actually OWN a Kindle. In fact, hundreds of those reviews showed up at Amazon within hours of the Kindle’s release: none of those reviewers had ever seen a Kindle in person, except for a couple of beta-testers. And most of those reviews were highly negative.
Do you own a Kindle yourself? Have you seen one in person? Then why review it?
the reviews from the majority of the people who bought one is 5 stars, mos of the 1 star reviews are people who don’t plan to buy one, which is ironic.
Brandy
How can it be ironic? If you think it’s crap, why would you buy it?