The thing is you couldn't read the PDF that Stephenson sent you, without going through a lot of rigmarole to convert it to kindles proprietary format. Plus, the books aren't really enough less expensive to make spending over $300 worth while. (Yes the Kindle version of a hardcover is less expensive than a hardcover, but it's still more expensive than a paperback, and if thee book is out in paperback, it's only a couple of dollars less, which is totally bogus.)

Agreed, the proprietary format and lack of other format support makes me refute the coolness of this tool.

I've read about sixteen books in the past 12 months, all on either a cellphone or Dell Axim PDA, and in TXT, RTF, HTML, and PDB formats. Here's where the Kindle fails you: there are literally thousands of public-domain books out there for you to directly download onto any device *except* a Kindle.

No thank you.

-C

I had been warned about the ominous "Rigamarole" surrounding getting a pdf into the Kindle, and I was concerned since I have a fairly good sized library of books in PDF form (legal ones, thank you). Still, I got the Kindle 2 anyway and have been converting material right and left.

Conversion's been rough for heavily formatted material, but anything laid out like an actual book (as I imagine Anathem is) it's been trivial.

Settign aside discussion the matter of formats and openness, on a pure user level, ease of use has been great, vastly smoother than the dire warnings had lead me to believe.

(And as an aside, I grabbed the Iphone software for my Ipod touch, and it worked like a charm. As software, it's really no better than Stanza or Ereader, but the sync with my kindle bookshelf went very smoothly. I'm quite pleased so far.)

-Rob D.

I'm a neuroscientist, and read a lot of scholarly articles. All of them are available in PDF, and I read most of them on the train. I'd love an e-book reader, but the Kindle's inability to handle standard PDFs nicely makes it a non-starter.

Moreover the pricing of Kindle books, the inability to loan them to friends, the DRM and the massive corporate lock-in -- this isn't the ethos of a Cool Tool, it's just another overpriced, disposable gadget.

I have held off on this device. I agree with Keith. I cannot understand why the books on Kindle are priced so high. They are only cheaper than new release issues. Wait 6 months and the paperback price is much less than Kindle. There is no production cost on these versions. The price should reflect that and drop significantly. I will wait.

I have discovered the real reason why you want one. It is because you think of books that you want to read while you are reading other books.

That's not a feature, that's a BUG!!!

YIKES!

I'm probably going to get a Kindle soon, but I have shopaholic disease and if I can buy every book that I think of in a few seconds, the Kindle is going to be full in a matter of days. 2000 books? HAH! I can think of 2000 books in an hour.

I'm going back and forth on the Kindle. For one thing, I have one of the biggest libraries in the world just a few blocks away. Free books! Plus, having a book due means you actually have to READ it. On the other hand, books. Ugh. Heavy paper. And you have to wait a lot of times to get a book at the library, particularly the more popular books. And that doesn't necessarily just mean best sellers. Sometimes you have to wait a long time for what I would consider an obscure book, even if you put it on hold.

Help me make the decision.

It takes less than 5 minutes to email the pdf to yourname@free.kindle.com to get a freely converted pdf back from amazon back that is usable on the kindle.

I've had mine for a week now and love it.

Oh, I'm NOT going to read books on a backlit screen device or an LCD. After spending the whole day on a computer, the last thing I want is for recreational reading to be done on a computer screen or (sheesh) a PHONE. That's a non-starter.

"Oh, I'm NOT going to read books on a backlit screen device or an LCD. "

This is why amazon needs to sell these in big box stores where people can actually try them out. Reading on the kindle is nothing like looking at a computer monitor. I've read an entire book in a day and it was no more tiring then reading an actual book. There is no eye strain. e-ink is nothing like an lcd and isn't backlit.

hi, I'm looking for the COOL tools website? I think I got fools tools by mistake...

So you have to send your PDFs or whatever to Amazon before you can read them on your Kindle? So, Amazon has a record of everything I'm reading on the device?

Uh, no thank you.

Man you people are silly. David, so I take it that you never use google? Because you know, google has a record of everything you ever search for. I suppose you never use email, because you know, your ISP has a record of every email you send or receive... Online banking, etc etc...

Hell, you never bought a book at an actual bookstore? Because you know, the book store and possibly your credit card company has a record of every book you bought.

I have a number of reasons that a Kindle isn't a product I am interested in.

Firstly the issue of DRM. Until this gets settled by the courts or lawmakers it's a non-starter.

The price is also far too high.

I question the devices durability as well. If I drop a book it will continue to function as a book. Drop a Kindle? Not so much.

If it doesn't read all current formats it has a reduced utility.

It requires electricity to run. I can read books without power at least half of the time.

I've never had a book stolen from me, not even when left out unguarded in public. I don't think I would try that with a Kindle.

Until a Kindle-like device is DRM-free, cheap (like under a $100), as tough as a printed book, can handle all common current formats and is solar powered as well as battery powered I will pass. Maybe in ten or twenty years.

Great concept, broken implementation.

I have dozens of books in PDF's right now. Unless I can instantly load them on an eBook reader and view them (without any screwy e-mailing them somewhere to convert them crap), I'm not interested. Period.

Amazon may be the dominant eBook provider now, but eBooks are in their infancy. As they gain popularity, I'm going to want eBooks from other places than Amazon. Amazon's absurdly proprietary single-vendor lock-in is just not good enough. And considering Amazon's push towards DRM-free mp3's for music (as opposed to the overly restricted crap that Apple pulls with iTunes/iPods), I would have expected better.

Let me know if the Kindle 3 actually handles PDFs (natively). If so, and the price drops by $100, then I'd buy one in a second. As it is, there's no way I'm paying $350 for an intentionally crippled device.

The "DRM-ness" of the kindle is only on the stuff you buy from amazon. If you've got all your DRM-free stuff lying around that you're reading on your phone, you can pretty much just drop it on the kindle as is. .txt, .doc files, .prcs, etc etc. The kindle isn't a device that only works with a certain proprietary amazon format, as people seem to imply.

The inability to handle PDFs I think mainly is a function of the size of the screen- the resolution just isn't there to display a full page of graphics. (The processor might not quite be up to the task, either.) I don't think it's a desire to make the box as useless as possible.

The .mobipocket creator software does a pretty decent job of reflowing .pdfs (including technical stuff; cisco press stuff is my reference point) with readable text and accurate graphics, in most cases. Amazon's done a decent job of reflowing the few times I"ve tried their email-services.

I think the kindle is awesome. The issues regarding DRM of books for purchase and for library lending need to be addressed somehow- but this is a bigger discussion that encompasses the entire creative market as consumers become more entrenched in the digital world. The old-world thinking of value applied to physical objects is disappearing, and translating that to bits and bytes is causing headaches. Information wants to be free, certainly- but the people that make their living by creating that information might like to benefit from it for a little while.

I must be in the minority because I like clandestine reading. My Palm allows me to read during useless meetings, boring church sermons and other "inappropriate" times. The form factor of the Kindle lets others know you're ignoring them (maybe that's occasionally a good thing).

Backlighting is also easy on my eyes, especially if I select black text on a yellow background, and allows me to read in bed without risking divorce.

I can see the usefulness of a Kindle at home or those rare occasions when I fly, but as another electronic device to lug around, no thanks.

For those of us who want a reader that supports multiple open formats (txt, pdf, html, rtf etc.), as well as DRM'd (mobipocket), check out the Hanlin ebook reader from jinke. It's rebadged and sold as Astak in the USA or bebook/papyre/ibook (UK/Europe)
Same specs as the Sony PRS-505, but open.

the Sony and the Hanlin both support replacement firmware (Open Inkpot) which greatly expands the capability of the devices.

For those in the know, there are other (not so legal) sources of fiction ebooks. The Hanlin excels at this. I've have an elibrary of 3000+ novels all readable on my hanlin/bebok.

"Oh, I'm NOT going to read books on a backlit screen device or an LCD. After spending the whole day on a computer, the last thing I want is for recreational reading to be done on a computer screen"

Sounds like you are the perfect audience for a Kindle. That is the main benefit. The screen on this device, like the Sony PRS505, is amazing. I wouldn't be able to read on a laptop or PDA screen for much more than a few hours, but I can easily go for 8-10 hours at a stretch on one of these types of devices. Plus, those other devices have pitiful battery life. My Sony ebook reader, much like the Kindle, easily gets about a month on a charge. And thats with reading for a good 20 hours per week. And carrying 1 ebook reader, vs 2 books and some printouts on a few flights is so incredibly good on my shoulders.

This is much cooler than most of the lame things I have seen on this site recently. At 350 USD, its incredibly cheap for the value. 450 is still a pretty good deal. The only complaints I have about the Kindle is the fact that most reviews talk about the wireless connectivity which is only usable in a fairly small area. It is pretty much limited to just one country: the US. All other features work everywhere else around the world.

This is an amazing device!

I used the original Kindle but switched recently to a Sony PRS-700. One thing I strongly disliked about the Kindle which apparently has not changed with the 2nd iteration is there is almost no document organizing capabilities. So, I had 500 books on my Kindle. And the Kindle helpfully let me order them in one big list by author or one big list by title, which I then had to page through.

That is an awful interface once you get beyond a small # of books. Almost every other ebook reader/software lets you organize books in some more logical ways (the Sony Reader calls these "Collections" so I can keep my Sci-Fi books separated from my work reports separated from the Civil War histories I'm reading).

I was also disappointed to see they removed the SD slot on the Kindle 2 limiting the # of books you can store on it (which is still going to be a large #, but I tend to want to carry around *A LOT* of books).

The SOny PRS-700 has a backlight, but frankly it sucks. I can't imagine Sony actually thought the backlight would be useful for anyone. However, it does have a touch screen which helps me a lot because I constantly underline and annotate books when I'm reading and it is significantly easier to do in the Sony device than the Kindle.

And the problem with both of these, of course, is if you are buying books from Sony or Amazon you're buying DRMed crap that you won't be able to transfer if you ever decide to switch (if I'd ever bought books for my Kindle, I'd have had to rebuy them if I wanted to read them on my Sony and vice versa).

I own both a Kindle 1 and and iPhone, and began using the Kindle software on my iPhone yesterday.

I bought a Kindle for testing last year after examining my book purchasing from Amazon -- nearly 150 books in the first 7 months of the year. Assuming 1/2 of those books were available on Kindle, the Kindle pays for itself in a year assuming $3 mean savings per book. My wife found the Kindle wonderful because it was so much lighter than her copy of Nixonland so it was easy to carry.

Because we live in Canada, the immediate download is not a hazard -- we must download into the computer and then transfer over a wire. I don't generally consider the PDF support as issue for two reasons: 1) I read PDFs on the computer, not the Kindle; and 2) I have a lot of experience with PDF and figure that I can modify one to produce adequate output if necessary.

I don't find the relatively limited capacity of the Kindle 1 an issue because it holds far more books than I want to scroll through in the ToC. I think that the Kindle 2 would require some sort of hierarchical ToC in order for 2000 books to be manageable.

The Kindle iPhone software is, at first examination, wonderful. The iPhone is more portable than the Kindle and has a better quality screen even if it is smaller (color, backlit, smaller dot pitch, better contrast). The horizontal pagin takes a little getting used to, and the apparent lack of highlighting is a small disappointment. The instant download of already purchased material (via 3G) in Canada is a very nice plus.

Amazon appears to have remembered that they are no a hardware company, but a company that sells IP. The iPhone version of Kindle reading software brings them back to that essential. Now there just needs to be a version for the computer.

The Kindle is fundamentally suitable for a limited subset of the market: heavy readers (like me); people troubled by the weight of books (like my wife); travelers; technophiles; and probably others I haven't thought of. But it's not a "everybody needs this" product, especially because of the pricing. Some will object to the DRM (which is determined not by Amazon but by the publisher), some by the grayscale screen; some by the lack of backlight; some by the impurity of the background, but I think it's the pricing that hits them the hardest. By giving away Kindle reading software, they eliminate that barrier.

> . On the Kindle you have the unique ability to buy the book right then and there, while you are thinking about it, and it appears on the device moments later..

Actually, that is a reason for me (and I bet others) to not get it. I have a pile of books I intend to get to on my nightstand and next to my desk. This would mean I'd possibly have a bigger digital "pile" of books.

I have a Sony Reader sitting on a shelf collecting dust. As to any electronic reader being "cool" or not very much depends on your needs and style of reading. Sony and Kindle boast long battery life, but just try leaving a reader unplugged for a couple of weeks and then see what you have to work with. The Sony Reader self-discharges rather quickly when it's not doing anything. You can slow that down a little by putting it into a special power-down state, but that means a very long startup time. So you can't put a Sony Reader on the shelf while you read printed material and expect to be able to use it without recharging it. I don't know what the Kindle's baseline power use is, but since it includes a phone I'm betting that in its normal mode it consumes even more power when turned "off".

Why would I put the Reader on the shelf after paying so much for it? The display has the contrast of cheap newsprint. The device is delicate, very much unlike a book. I had the fantasy of using the Sony Reader as a way to carry a number of nature field guides on backcountry trips. That vision was dashed by Sony's nearly non-existent titles in that category and the poor handling of pdfs limits its utility further. Kindle has a much more extensive list of titles, and they have a couple of the geology guides I'd like to carry, but a bird or mineral guide in black and white isn't a good substitute for a printed guide book. Meanwhile, I've found that my iPhone has bird and star guides that are better than a printed book. The iBird app is easily searchable, had excellent color illustrations and photos of birds, has range maps, well-written facts, and (best of all) audio clips of bird calls that are a tremendous help in bird identification. The iPhone app Distant Suns puts a star chart in your pocket that's able to identify your location and view of the sky via GPS data. It helps you find or identify a robust catalog of objects, it's self-illuminating with a night vision mode. It was even updated to show the comet Lulin, you won't find that object in any conventionally published book - ebook or not. If I have to carry a backup battery in the field anyway, the touch screen LCD phone has a lot of advantages over a non-illuminated black and white reading device. I'll probably try the Amazon app for the iPhone and see how well it works with that Utah geology book I found on the site.

I saw the entry about the Kindle and wanted to let you know that I did get the Kindle app for the iPhone. Due to circumstances, I was able to get the app while I had the 3G iPhone, but unfortunately, had to regress back to the original. I'm still waiting on the new 3G to arrive, but since then I've been using the original to read books using the Kindle reader.

I've found that I AM reading more now that I've got it because I've got books with me all the time. I do miss the paper books, but when I have my entire library with me, well, it's a plus. I've been putting reference materials on it for work (tech manuals, etc) and I love the fact that it's completely configurable.

It's not the same experience as having a full size kindle and there are some drawbacks to having an electronic book instead of the paper style, but overall, I like it. It's prompting me even MORE now to buy a kindle, even if it's a refurb or used 1st edition Kindle off of Craigslit or E-Bay.

The app itself is free and the price of the books are GREAT. Amazon, as you know, also has a feature to suggest to the authors/publishers to provide a book in e-format if they don't already have one.

I'll be doing a thorough review of it on my blog probably this weekend if you'd be interested in checking it out. If you are, just hit up my blog (http://www.normanomicon.com).

Who cares about the Kindle, I want to hear more about this laser cutter.

I installed the Kindle iPhone app the day it was released, and was very excited to do so. I've been a fan of ebooks for many years, reading many classics on my various Palm devices. The problem with the Palm is that there are not too many recently published books available. And of course another problem with the Palm is that I now have an iPhone. I was pleased to come across Stanza ebook reader for the iPhone, and while it works well it has the same basic limitation as the Palm, mainly that you're mostly limited to public domain works.

The Kindle for iPhone program is different, however. You can purchase a book on Amazon's web site and then 10 seconds later start reading it on your iPhone. It feels almost miraculous in a way. It simply works.

I do have a couple of quibbles, none of which would make me stop using the program. First, you have to swipe your finger across the screen to turn a page. I'd much prefer Stanza's way of doing this. Stanza lets you tap either edge of the screen to turn a page. While it may not sound like a lot of extra work to swipe, A) you're doing it thousands of times and B) a tap is easier than a swipe if you're using your other hand to hold on to something in the subway, for example. Another quibble is that I like the smallest type choice as to me it looks the most like a printed page, but if I stop reading for a moment for some reason, I won't make it to the bottom of the page before the screen starts to dim.

My last quibble is perhaps the biggest one, although I hope it's only temporary. For now, you can only read books on the iPhone. If you try to get a subscription to magazine, for example, Amazon's web site will just tell you that you don't have a Kindle. It wasn't obvious to me what the problem was until I did a little research and found that you're simply not allowed to get subscriptions. I hope this is just a temporary thing and that Amazon allows this in the future.

All in all, I'd say the Kindle for iPhone app is a decent win. I like Stanza just the tiniest bit more, but on the other hand I can't buy a current book in Stanza either. If Amazon opens up Kindle for iPhone to subscriptions, I'd upgrade my opinion to say it would be a total win.

I guess great minds think a like. This is my kindle cover made from a makers notebook.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17267190@N02/3320288719/in/set-72157614614300001/

The free iPhone Kindle app is really well done. It loads quickly and makes your personal archive available on the iPhone. Through the WhisperSync technology you can pick up on the same page that you bookmarked on the Kindle. This makes me a little uneasy from a privacy perspective but it is a useful tool. The presentation on the iphone is great. The font is easily readable and can be changed easily. The navigation is intuitive. At the moment, it is impossible to read newspapers and other subscriptions.

I have the Kindle app on an iPod touch. It is certainly good enough and the selection is pretty good for now.

The Kindle.app falls down in the fact it doesn't reorient if you turn the iPod touch.I like Stanza a little better in that it can do that and has a tap interface rather then a swipe making it a little better for one-handed reading.

Really the best part about an ebook is being able to change font sizes and contrast for nighttime reading.

What I would love out of an ebook reader is the ability to read practically anything, anywhere. I want not just text for books but also photos for IDing plants and minerals and start and birds. I would also like to access comic books as well, hey its brain candy.

I also want an iTunes for ebooks to organize it all, because they all fall down on organizational skills. I have 6000+ real books right now. I don't want to scroll through a big list looking for the one I want especially if I am just browsing for something fun. And I want it on my computer as well.

Just for ponies, let's think of it as an iPhone with an 8 inch screen and solar panel on the back to keep it slightly charged.

I hadn't considered the Kindle at all up to this point - one more device and I couldn't really justify it to myself. (Plus, being a design geek, the device itself just didn't appeal.) On the other hand, I can't rave enough about my iPhone -- (aesthetically, it can't be beat. But that's another post.) Heard about the iPhone Kindle app via a tweet, and immediately downloaded it (free) and gave it a whirl with a light piece of fiction I'd been wanting to read, but hadn't had the time to get at my local bookstore or library... downloading of the iPhone app was dead easy and seamless (no surprise - I expect that now), but other than a slight annoyance at having to leave the app to purchase the book via Safari/Amazon, I was amazed at how easy the process was to get an 'eBook' in my hands. One minute I'm lying in bed checking out the titles available, and in less than one more minute, I was on page 3 ... no bulky shipping boxes to recycle, no gas used to drive to the s!
tore, no waiting.

As a life-long avid reader, I was particularly interested in how it would 'feel' to read from my iPhone (I often read blogs and internet articles on my phone, but wondered how it would be different for a 'real' book.) What I really like is how simple the interface is -- white screen and letters, that's it. A flick of the finger to 'turn the page,' and the 'bookmark' visual is what it should be: an old-fashioned 'dog ear' up in the corner.

I have tried every book-light device out there and have ultimately settled on a headlamp (attractive bed gear, in a spelunker-y sort of way...) -- the iPhone beats that to pieces though. The light is obviously 'in' the book, and makes not disturbing your neighbor much simpler.

The downsides? Battery life might be a problem if you were on a long flight or were on the road a lot -- I dock my phone while I work during the day, however, so am plenty juiced up when I am elsewhere. There is no lovely 'book smell', and no great cover art to turn to on reflection -- it's harder to gauge where you are in a book, which is a little weird (half-way through? no visual to help there, other than going back to the table of contents to see which chapter you are on, or looking at section numbers, but I don't operate that way..) The size of the iPhone screen might be a problem for long periods, but it really didn't bother me much...

I felt quite Jane Jetson-y about the whole thing, but also a little bit Benedict Arnold. I don't want my lovely paper books to die out forever, after all -- they take pride of place around my home and are a great comfort to me, always. That said, I love that I can grab a book instantly, anytime, anywhere... When I was first emerging as a reader, my father gave me great advice when he told me that if I always had a book with me I'd never be bored. He's right, and I've told my son the same thing. That's now far more convenient and possible than it ever was with the Kindle iPhone app.

OK, everybody. I am aware that the Kindle is e-paper. My comments were to the people who were saying "Buy an Axilim or a cellphone or use a computer to read book"

Ha! We need a way to quote other people so we can tell who we are talking to.

"greg

Who cares about the Kindle, I want to hear more about this laser cutter.
"

Haha! Hear, hear!! I looked it up and there a "MAKE" article on how to make a laser cutter for less than $50 (although the parts list seems to cost $100 or more, so I don't know how that works).

It does sound like it would be a "Cool Tool" prospect.

I'd be happy to send $10 in for a doc seuss laser cut kindle book. Love it.

Ash @ #4:
"I'm a neuroscientist, and read a lot of scholarly articles. All of them are available in PDF, and I read most of them on the train. I'd love an e-book reader, but the Kindle's inability to handle standard PDFs nicely makes it a non-starter."
..
iRex DR1000:
http://www.irextechnologies.com/irexdr1000/specs

10.2in diagonal e-Ink display, 1024 x 1280 pixels. And it handles PDFs as is. Natively. No conversion.
The S model has a Wacom tablet built in. (There's a Wifi model planned for later this year.) You can write notes/drawings, by themselves, or onto the PDFs

The iRex products aren't, unlike the Kindle, a funnel to guide the end-user back to the Amazon store to spend more money. Its market is more the OSS crowd. The Linux system software on it is open. User-written apps are available to augment/supplement the iRex supplied apps.

I've had a iRex iLiad (8.1-in @ 768 x 1024) for about a year now. I carry it with me all the time. I've caught up on so much reading...

The iRex is about $700, though, isn't it?

I installed the free Kindle iPod app to my iPod Touch and love it! When I am browsing Amazon books and see something interesting, I simply forward the first chapter (or so) to my iPod for free. If I like to book, I have the choice of purchasing it immediately to continue reading on my iPod or requesting it from the library. I haven't purchased any titles through the Kindle app, but I predict that I'll be buying digital copies of books that I don't want to pass along -- and continue buying print books that I know other family members will enjoy. The big drawback to digital is the inability to let others read the book. I wonder if book donations to libraries will start to dwindle...?

The credibility of Cool Tools took a nosedive with this Shill for the Kindle... everyone knows this is out there... it's NOT a cool tool... What's next.... maybe someone willl give props to the iPhone, or Windows Vista, or Chevy Volt... Please DELETE the Kindle rec.... it doesn't belong here!

Hey everyone who's concerned about reading PDFs : wait a year until the Plastic Logic e-reader comes out. According to its wikipedia page, it will handle most every common document file type, and its 8.5 x 11" size dwarfs the iRex iLiad (which does PDFs well, whether or not they are OCRed and can reflow text). My money's on the future.

Moon: Yeah it's expensive (the Wacom tablet accounts for about an extra $100 of the price). But in the year that I've had it, I've plowed through a lot of reading. All for free and all legally acquired. I'm sure I've saved more than $300 so far.

The Kindle's ONE advantage - it's very easy to spend money with it - doesn't work outside of the USA. The iLiad's screen is same size as a typical book (the original Kindle screen was just a bit too small), and that Wacom tablet is very, very handy.

Here's an example: I was reading someone's preliminary version of a paper while away from my usual computer. Some of the text/data didn't sound right so I wrote a comment or two right next to the questionable text.
I then emailed the page (with the scribblings) to the author - who thanked me.

Oh! Forgot to add: The Book Edition of the iLiad is $600 - no Wifi.

It's no great loss: the battery needs to/should be recharged fairly often (it's Li-ion), so it needs to be connected anyway.

I clicked on the link to the Iliad. Text on the Iliad seems clearer than on the Sony if the picture is accurate. It says that up to a 1GB SD chip can be used but I wonder if it handles the higher capacity SDHC chips as well? I don't know if wireless is really that useful for the price.

There is also a larger model that handles 8 1/2 x 11 pages. That seems a bit too large to carry around when travelling, etc., but I would love to have that at work.

It looks like the higher price gives you at least two things: crisper text and a touch screen.

I've used the iPhone kindle app to continue reading Kindle 2 books when I don't have the Kindle with me. It's very convenient. I wouldn't read whole novels on the iPhone for obvious reasons, but when I've got 1/2 hour to kill it's really nice to pick up right where I left off. Bonus that the sync is bi-directional, so the Kindle updates my location (page) when I pick it back up.

Kindle 2 is everything I'd hoped for, and the iPhone app just makes it better. =)

I haven't personally used it, but my friend just showed it to me tonight. The IPhone turns into a mini-Kindle, you can sync the Kindle page you were on so the IPhone goes to the same page, you can download all your archived books to the IPhone. Seems like a great extra for the Kindle.

Yes, please do tell us more about your laser cutter!

I agree with the commentators above: DRM, vendor lock-in and the loss of the First Sale doctrine make the Kindle the opposite of a cool tool.

Amazon is trying to be Itunes for books but they have missed the boat on many issues.

1. Pricing - Apple maintained the pricing right form the beginning at a very reasonable level. They withstood the pressure from industry lobbyists and special interests. This has been by far the biggest factor in their success. In contrast, Amazon is selling the ebooks at equal or in some instances more than dead versions. This is insane.

They do not pass on the savings in production/ distribution/ middlemen costs to the consumer.

2. Vendor lockin - Agreed that they need to capitalize on their competitive edge over others but do support the formats that are in the market. Imagine that apple had made similar decision about making it harder to get mp3 pr wavs on ipods. Amazon does not even support mobipocket drmed books that you get from the libraries. You have the get in an round about way by hacking.

3. Support for pdf - Others above have already chimed in. But why would Amazon not talk to Adobe to support their digital editions drmed ebooks. It is in both their interests. Many public libraries now lend ebooks in Adobe digital edition format. Why not support this ?

4. Booksellers and publishers managed to stay profitbale for years even when faced with readers lending books and having a secondary market for used books. Why should it be any different now. I should be able to lend or pass around an ebook to my friends or maybe even sell them. This will definitely spur adoption.

5. why restrict it to only cell wireless ? why not have WiFi. If they build in WiFI then immediately they open up markets abroad. Currently this is the only feature missing from Sony PRS 700 which is a worthy competitor for Kindle. Once Sony wakes up, then Kindle is toast.

If these are not addressed Amazon relegate Kindle to being a niche product and this will only be a early adopter product and not a mass market product

I want a Kindle but can't justify the almost $400 price tag. I was very excited to see the Kindle app for my iPod Touch. I ran right home, downloaded it and was reading in less than 15 minutes. My older eyes find the type clear and easy to read and navigation simple. I am very pleased to get into the Kindle family.

I have a Kindle v.1, and must say it's been really wonderful. I've more than gotten the money out of it. The size and weight are fine, though the organization system (and on v.1 the button layout) are really quite stupid.

That said, I read mostly the DRM and copyright free material that's available on a half-dozen or so websites. There's a real wealth of pre-1922 (or so) material available for free, including not just classic lit, but tons of fun pulp material.

Since PDFs don't flow, they're a non-starter for a system like a Kindle (where you can change type size on the fly). Eventually, there'll be an ebook reader as small as the Kindle that (perhaps) opens or unfolds to make a page as big as standard PDFs. On that day, I will instantly buy one, and raid Google Books forever. Until then, the Kindle is the greatest reader of DRM and copyright free lit I know: I've pretty well run through the whole complete works of a couple of dozen of my favorite old-timey authors. If I'd bought those books, the bill would have been in the thousands, just for shipping.

Most novels are $9.99 which is certainly less than the hard cover.
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I looked at technical books for the Kindle, and they seem to be a LOT less than hard cover - a nanotechnology book was $289 in hard cover and $116 on the Kindle. My guess is that when books are published strictly on Kindle, the prices will come down. As it is, the price of the book still has to pay for publishing it on paper.
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DRM is up to the publisher. They can put it on their books or not.

The Kindle app on the iPhone works very well, especially the ability to pickup your reading from where you left off on the Kindle when you're without the Kindle. The app will improve with the hopeful addition of the ability to order stuff directly from the app (on the iPhone one now needs to use Safari to do so).

This is a joke right? For $400 I can have an Asus EEe with WinXP, 1-Gb ram, 160-Gb drive, wireless, vid cam, etc. etc... WIH would I spend that on book reader? Get a grip... Hellooo???

"This is a joke right? For $400 I can have an Asus EEe with WinXP, 1-Gb ram, 160-Gb drive, wireless, vid cam, etc. etc... WIH would I spend that on book reader? Get a grip... Hellooo???"

Hellooo, how much is it for an internet connection on your EE? Can you read on it for more than an hour without eyestrain? Can you download books you want at any time for $10?

Look, there's a place for a laptop, but reading books on it is not one.

And can we end the smartass attitude? If you have something to say, just say, there's no need to insult everyone else's intelligence.

Moon said: "And can we end the smartass attitude? If you have something to say, just say, there's no need to insult everyone else's intelligence."

You may want to review your own post before calling someone else out about attitude.

In less than five years this whole debate will seem silly. By then people who want open access, format flexibility and the right to re-sell what they've paid for will have plenty of options. And everyone else will still have the Kindle. I don't see anything wrong with pointing out the shortcomings of any particular cool tool. In fact, I thought open discussion was the whole point of allowing comments in the first place.

Caren @ 50:

Why?
1) Vertical screen
2) E-Ink. Really. You need to see it.
3) eReaders can be used even when you're lying on the chesterfield. (Canajan, eh?)

I guess I'm beating a dead horse or stating the obvious, but why in the world would I give amazon $360 for an electronic device that is simply processing text. Not a great deal of processing power for the money. If this was more appropriately priced for the level of technology it offers... then maybe.. and a BIG maybe... but to shell out 360 bucks for something as low tech as this, is just plain ridiculous. I guess there's a "cool" profit margin built in. I can't shake the feeling I would be getting ripped off if I bought one.

Let the market provide competition and maturity and the price will plummet. I'm a patient guy... I'll wait... in the meantime, I read the old fashioned way.

Caren @50

I thought about that, too. But -- Unless and until netbooks start shipping with non-lcd, non-backlit displays, using them for reading books will be a non-starter.

Even after all this time, the industry has yet to figure out how to make a lcd/backlit display that doesn't absolutely suck. From the netbook displays I've seen, they still have a ways to go.

"In less than five years this whole debate will seem silly. By then people who want open access, format flexibility and the right to re-sell what they've paid for will have plenty of options. And everyone else will still have the Kindle. I don't see anything wrong with pointing out the shortcomings of any particular cool tool. In fact, I thought open discussion was the whole point of allowing comments in the first place."

Are we talking about 5 years from now? I want to be able to carry around my library just like I carry around my music NOW. And Kindle is the best way to do it NOW.

Open discussion on the merits and faults of the Cool Tool in question. Not comments questioning the mental capabilities of someone for seeing the positives of a product.

Haha! Five years from now, we might have contact lenses with a Kindle type of thing in them! Now THAT would be a Cool Tool!

I recently purchased a Kindle 2 and love it. So far I have only downloaded free Amazon and public domain books. There are lots to choose from -- 25,000 from manybooks.net alone. While trying to decide to part with the heft cash load, it was the speech to text and whispernet functions that reeled me in. Once I got the little magic box in my hot little fist however, it was the ease of reading that has wowed me. The built in dictionary and adjustable text size are my favorites. Are there other readers out there? Don't really know but Amazon's sales pitch is pretty darn good. Zero regrets on my purchase from this recreational reader.

I have a Kindle the first and it is, next to the Logitech Squeezebox internet radio, the best digital tool for regular people ever made. Yesterday I was sitting in a hospital waiting room while my son with autism was having his 4 times a year shrink visit. I opened my home page and there was the latest issue of the New Yorker with the beautifully sad and ultimately life affirming last cycle of poems by the late John Updike.

I was immediately absorbed into a profound experience of a great artist's reflections on illness, love and dying all while waiting in a hospital waiting room during what could have been tedium freighted with a niggling anxiety over the well-being of my son. Instead I had a moving connection to wisdom that buoyed me through the rest of the day and that I will no doubt occasionally reflect on for the rest of my life.

Yes, it could have happened with a paper New Yorker - but I doubt it because my waiting room magazine behavior is to usually page through a magazine, scanning bits and possibly reading some smallish, non-absorbing thing.

The Kindle somehow causes one to focus more on the content because of the limitations of e-ink's more plodding paging. So what many may view as a weakness ends up being a strength of the device. And that's what ultimately makes this a very Cool Tool indeed. It is both intuitive and counter intuitive -- a very satisfying device

I've deleted a few recent comments that were not about the tool but were insults aimed at other commentors. Comments about the tools welcomed.

What happens to your books when Amazon discontinues the Kindle service?

I think they are in it for the long run. I believe the next step is some kind of e-ink paper that you can fold out like a newspaper.

/Then, the contact lens Kindle :)

I agree about the lack of organizing ability being a huge drawback. I'm up to 200 books and the thing holds 1500 and it's already getting ridiculous. Not having the ability to categorize and folderize is something I never ever expected.

We just uploaded our first Kindle book, a digitized version of "Sensual Massage Made Simple." The whole process took a few hours. No printing, no storage, no shipping. No further costs for the publisher. It's a purely intellectual property.

This is a photo book and while our color now appears in 16 shades of gray, it doesn't look bad--just a bit a grain, like an old French film.

The Kindle and other ebooks could transform publishing. Fingers crossed.

What can I say...I love my Kindle2 !!!!!

I recently downloaded the Kindle iphone app onto my Ipod touch and I love it. Just finished reading a book by Brenda Jackson actually. The words were not as small as I imagined they would be and for me it was pretty easy to read and navigate.

Hope this helps.

Thanks