Kindle

[cjsmith]

I finally figured out what the Kindle would be good for.

See, I read paperbacks. I wouldn't want to carry a Kindle around because it is larger than a paperback. If I know I'm going to be waiting a bunch, I'll just carry a book. Duh. I also wouldn't prefer to buy a Kindle-book because it's more expensive than a paperback. PLUS the thing can run out of batteries, or break if you drop it. AND it's got a $399 start-up cost. What's to like?

I figured it out.

Airplanes.

Every December I fly from California to Boston, from Boston to Louisville, and from Louisville to California again (or the other way 'round). Every leg of this trip has two flights. Every flight includes a bunch of waiting time in the terminal. I can easily wipe out two paperback books on one leg, often three if it's a long one or a plane is delayed (and when, in December, are they not?).

A Kindle is a lot smaller and lighter than NINE paperback books.

It's still not worth $399 to me, not by a long shot. But now I can see that it's worth more than zero.

Comments

[shoutingboy.livejournal.com]

That's what I've used my Sony EBook reader for, and I've been happy with it. OTOH, I haven't used it enough to justify the cost. OTTH, if you're on the fence, the Sony may be a plausible option--it has the nice electronic-ink screen, like Kindle (which is so much better than LCD you can't compare them), just without the wireless downloading.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'd skip the wireless downloading for a price difference. How big is the Sony physically?

It's hard to justify a lot of money for a device I'd use once a year, but if/when this sort of thing comes down in price, I could imagine owning one.

[shoutingboy.livejournal.com]

It's about the same width and height as a trade paperback, but about half as thick. I have last year's model--I'll bring it next time we're at the same social engagement--and I think the new one is similar. (The website says it's 7" x 5" x 0.5".) I tink the MSRP is $300, $100 less than the Kindle--but I expect they'll be dropping the price further, since it's Last Year's Thing.

[shoutingboy.livejournal.com]

Oh, and it does read plain-text files, as well as PDFs and RTF--though I haven't yet found the ideal way to format files for display, if I'm rolling my own instead of buying a downloadable. But regardless, this means free-text like Gutenberg is available. (If I can find an HTML version of the book, I open it in MS Word, bump up the text to 14-point, and save it as RTF--that works pretty well for display.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

WAY better, then. Cool. I ain't buyin' no Kindle.

[redgrrl.livejournal.com]

Would you really skip the wireless downloading for the price? If you wanted a book for your Sony device, you'd have to pull out your computer to transfer the content. I guess that would be fine if you planned ahead, but being able to get content wirelessly would be awesome.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh, you've absolutely got a good point. For me the main application is long long airplane rides, so I'd need to plan ahead either way. I agree that the wireless downloading is a great feature that I'd want if it were free. I just don't know how much I'd be willing to pay for it.