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Quick Thoughts on Kindle 2.0

Posted February 5th, 2009 @ 12:09pm by Erik J. Barzeski

In November, 2007 I asked if anyone thought the Kindle was a good idea.

Recently, after seeing how truly small the Kindle is, I started to wonder if perhaps it wasn't a good idea - or to be more precise, if perhaps the next version rumored to be introduced on February 9, wasn't going to be a good idea.

The price is still a bit high: $359 ((Unlikely version 2 would be cheaper, right?)) isn't chump change. I don't care for the data fee either - I'd just load the darn thing up from my home WiFi. And I still like physical books, for loaning out and other things, so I think I'd only be interested if you could purchase, for a little bit more, both a physical and electronic copy of things from amazon.com.

So that's my wishlist, I suppose, for version 2: $299 or less, ditching of the extraneous data fees, and inexpensive "electronic + physical" books. If the Kindle 2 has those things, I'll consider it. Otherwise, there's still little wrong with paperback…

Prompted to post this by this Ars article, which I've yet to read (but plan to).

3 Comments »

3 Responses to "Quick Thoughts on Kindle 2.0"

  1. | Reply Brandon Newendorp
    Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 12:54pm #

    I'm quite happy with my first gen Kindle. So far, I haven't had to pay Amazon to get content for it. I've read a lot of public domain books on it, which you can download from sources like Project Gutenberg. There's a couple free ways to get content onto the Kindle as well. You can email them to Amazon and they'll email them back to you for free, or you can use the desktop version of Lexcycle's Stanza, which can convert a LOT of formats to something Kindle friendly.

    I think a lot of people's concerns about the cost of using a Kindle come from a lack of knowledge - something Amazon needs to remedy.

  2. | Reply Don
    Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 9:04am #

    There's this, too:

    http://books.google.com/m

  3. | Reply Erik J. Barzeski
    Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 10:37am #

    And now it's out: $359, slightly re-designed, and just as un-interesting as ever. Unless someone gives me a $359 Amazon gift card that expires in ten minutes, I'll pass.