The Kindle is a digital reader available from Amazon. When I say available here I mean in a wait-list kind of way because like the Wii or the iPhone it sold out pretty quickly after it was introduced. It's quite pricey at $359.00 but it has some really neat features. It's a wireless reader so whenever you want or wherever you are you can download magazines, newspapers or books. That's very appealing to me since I'm the kind of person who takes a book with me almost every where 'just in case'. You never know when you're going to be stuck somewhere with nothing to do. Book downloads are only $9.99 so there's a cost savings plus also. One of my co-workers has one that I've seen in person and it seems to be a nice size, the type on the screen mimics that of type in a book so it's very readable. Downside, I can see is that right now it's a black and white screen which would make the magazines a little boring but not affect the books or newspapers in any way and there's a limit to how much you can keep on the device which is not a plus for someone who re-reads books constantly. I don't like the idea of buying something and throwing it away but maybe it's possible to back the books up to a cd, I'm not sure yet. I read a really positive review of the Kindle at Amazon by a guy who's an admitted techno-geek. He basically buys all the new technology that comes out and he already owned several digital readers. He says the Kindle is the best by far.So I want a Kindle but being cheap and sensible, I don't think it's quite right for me yet. It's a big investment for someone who currently doesn't have any kind of a digital reader. I think I'm going to be patience and wait for the next generation. I'm sure they are already working on improvements. My wish list would be a color screen and the ability to watch movies or play computer games also. Possibly I'm trying to combine too many devices into one but it's my wish list, I don't have to be reasonable!
I feel exactly as you do on this subject. But the other thing I don't know if I can give up is the smell. The smell of a new book right before you crack it open to see what engaging line the author has thought for months upon in order to hook you from the first sentence. The smell of an old, beloved book you've read a thousand times and the pages turn themselves. The smell of old books, period. Afternoons spent in tiny, hole-in-the-wall old book stores just devouring one chapter after the other, then when the owner, as he always does, asks if you're going to actually buy anything, you buy a package of m$m's and happily continue to sit on the floor cross-legged and read, all the while breathing in the scent of knowledge and suspense and romance and history and crime and mystery. The idea that every page you touch has been lovingly turned before by someone whose life has been enriched by that particular copy of that particular book. They say print is dead. If it is, I guess I'm on my way out, too...
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