The Kindle

While I’m on the subject of reading…  I came across a cool looking device on amazon.com the other day – the Kindle.  Have you heard of it?  I hadn’t, but it sounds pretty cool.  Basically you can upload books, magazines, and even blogs to this portable device so you can read them anywhere.  It appealed to me because I like to read in bed, and it seemed like a good way to get newspapers as well as stuff off the internet into a format that’s easy for me to lie down and read.  But the more I looked into it, the more I realized it’s not really for me.  The first clue was its $350 price tag.  No thanks.  Maybe for $50 or so, I’d be interested…  The other thing about the Kindle is the fact that you have to buy books to put on it.  I can’t tell you the last time I bought a full price book from a book store.  I get my books from my existing collection, friends, or most frequently, the library – all free sources.  I could not picture a scenario where I’d be buying a book, even if it was to be put on this device.  I guess the thing that appealed to me most about it was putting my town’s daily newspaper on it so I could read it in bed.  My paperboy delivers at 5pm – just in time for the chaos in the house to peak as kids are coming home and I’m starting dinner and all that stuff – so it’s tough for me to keep up with reading the daily paper.  But I’m sure the daily paper from my small town wouldn’t even be available on the Kindle anyway…

But I thought it was a cool invention and I could see there being a market for something like this for people who travel a lot and love to read.  I find it strange that I hadn’t heard about it sooner, but they really need to lower the price on it if they want it to catch on!

Lisa