Herculodge Review of the Kindle 2

 

A romantic part of me that has a sentimental attachment to books, their worn-out tactile sensation, their curdling smells, their capacity to be a repository of memories, including margin scribbles and food stains, made me loath to turn my reading into a “digital experience.” 

But sentimentality had to be thrown out the window when it was clear to me that my nearsightedness had made reading, even with prescription glasses, a more tiresome experience than ever. Secondly, my office is crammed with books and I fear that one more book will sink my house through its foundation and several hundred feet under landfill. 

These considerations compelled me to get the Kindle 2, an electronic book reader that is mostly successful in its objective to be a pleasurable, convenient electronic alternative to people who, for various reasons, are getting away from paper-and-glue manuscripts. 

Grade for Kindle 2’s Success at Achieving My Objectives: A 

I find it far easer to read the Kindle than read books. I can with one touch increase the size of the script to make reading less straining on my eyes. 

Also, the Kindle can store thousands of books so my goal to keep books out of my house should be doable. 

Grade for Kindle 2’s Ease of Use: A 

It took me five minutes to learn four buttons: Home, Menu, Page Turning, and the 5-Way Controller for basic functions: accessing content, buying content, book-marking content, increasing font size, turning pages. 

The Kindle beats printed paper manuscripts for both reading ease and page-turning. Even holding the Kindle is easier on the hands. 

Note taking, highlighting select passages, audio settings have a longer learning curve, about a half hour of reading the Kindle’s User Guide. 

The battery life is great so you can confidently read the Kindle all day during travel without worrying about plugging it into the included recharger. 

I can download a book in five seconds from the Whisper Net anywhere in the United States. This is amazing. Proprietary publishing licensing, which differs from country to country, prevents Amazon from making the Kindle international. 

One weakness is spacing. Sometimes there will be large hunks of space between two words, so there appears to be the occasional formatting glitch. 

On the bottom left of the screen, the Kindle tells you what percentage of the manuscript you’ve read, so if you’re OCD you may find yourself peeking at “how far you’ve gone” more often than you want to. 

Grade for Device Look and Layout: A 

The device looked smaller than I expected, especially its thinness.  It’s a handsome device, not too cluttered. Its aesthetic is spare, intelligent, and clean. 

Grade as a Newspaper Substitute: C Plus or B Minus 

I subscribed on a trial basis to the Los Angeles Times and cancelled soon. The Kindle cannot match the Internet version of the newspaper. Navigating through the different sections is easy enough, but without images, the experience is too austere. I think I might by a single newspaper if I was traveling but for a daily basis the newspaper experience is not compelling enough. 

Price: B Minus 

I’d like to see the Kindle 2 half of its current cost, but I have to remind myself: Amazon does not charge you monthly fees for using its Whisper Net, so you’re paying more upfront. 

Conclusion 

It’s apparent that Amazon wants the Kindle to be for books what the iPod is for music. The Kindle is a significant technological breakthrough that will indeed revolutionize the way we read.

On a personal note, the Kindle has helped me because I'm reading more now than I was when I was struggling with paper manuscripts. Amazon and I are both winners. 

 

Comments

[Jesse Menn]

Is there any DRM,and if so, what are the constraints of it and the Terms of Service? It might be convenient to pick up a crap book I don't intend to keep and just store it in the Kindle as opposed to making the trip to a used book store. I imagine that any significant note-taking will continue to be done in traditional, analog books. Hell, my copy of Terry Eagleton's "Literary Theory, an Introduction" has more dog ears and notes than text by now.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

I heard there are restraints, which I assume refers to DRM. But the good news: If you lose your Kindle, Amazon will replace all your content for free--at least this is what I understand. I hope I'm right.

[Jesse Menn]

DRM is what's killing digital media right now. For example, say you load up a book, Kindle phones home to see if you have the license to read the book, you do, proceed. But what happens if you're out in the middle of say... the I-5, or for me, the middle of Humboldt county, where cell and wireless receptions are iffy at best, and it can't phone home. Am I effectively locked out of content I paid for?

Something that happened to me with some music I bought: the service went under. All that music I bought was killed immediately -- I wasn't able to listen to it because it couldn't check my license.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

That sounds crazy. I hope you're wrong, but if you're not . . .

I thought of your WRX today as I walked my neighbor's dog. During the final leg of our walk, I passed a parked dark gray 2009 WRX hatch. I peeked inside. It was a five-speed manual. I was completely in love with it. The premium package makes that car about 27K. Yikes.

[Jesse Menn]

I got mine w/ 16k miles on it for 17k I think. Between 16 & 19k, I'm sure. It's a bummer they've started adding these "premium package" things to their cars -- it used to be "Here's a car, it's got everything." Word on the street is the '09 WRX (especially the hatch) has way too much body roll and doesn't handle as well as the previous years, but that the '09 WRX STi is still super awesome. Girlfriend's car is dead... she's buying another Kia though. Ugh.

[jeffrey McMahon]

Joel McCale drives the new STI according to Adam Corolla in a Subara ad.

I'm sorry your girlfriend has to buy a Kia, but we've got to do what we've got to do. Tough times.

[Angelo]

Remember the "Saabaru" 9-2, which was based on the Subaru? That was a really nice car and Saab's premium version ("Aero?") mimmicked the WRX but with Saab styling cues and interior. Speaking of which, due to GM's problems and by extension, Saab's survival questions---there are huge sales on Saab right now. Some are over $10,000 off sticker. We have a 9-5 Wagon. They cram a lot of horsepower into a 4 cylinder turbo.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

I don't remember the 9-2 . . . unless you show me one.

I got robbed paying for repairs on a 99 Volvo S70. I hear Saab cars are even worse.

[Paul]

Free ebooks:

http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/

[Jeffrey McMahon]

Paul, I bookmarked that site. It could be useful, for sure. Thanks. Jeff

[Paul]

A great book (freely available for download):

http://www.thepublicdomain.org/download/

and interesting comments on the Kindle edition of the book by the author:

http://www.thepublicdomain.org/2009/02/26/mixed-feelings-about-kindle-edition/

[Paul]

Amazon uses DMCA to restrict where you can buy e-books

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41929

Basically Amazon invoked the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to force removal of a software script and instructions from the mobileread web site. The script is used to identify the Kindle's internal ID number, which can be used to enable non-Amazon purchased books to work on the Kindle.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

I should post that. Thanks.