Kindle-ing A New Flame?

Anyone who has been on Amazon.com lately has probably heard about the all-new Kindle 2 e-book, the latest technology to emerge in the evolution of reading. Of course, if you're overseas, you'll have to wait a little longer; it looks like the Kindle 2 will make it to the UK by Christmas.

(Source: Amazon.com)

I've never been a big fan of e-books. The idea, I admit, is intriguing. Carrying a mini-library that weighs less than a pound would be pretty awesome. However, despite this new blogging project I've undertaken, reading just doesn't feel right on a computer screen. Fortunately, the new Kindle has the same type of e-Ink screen as the original, which apparently looks amazingly like ink on paper. As the New York Times review points out, "Unlike a laptop or an iPhoone, the screen is not illuminated, so there’s no glare, no eyestrain — and no battery consumption. You use power only when you actually turn the page, causing millions of black particles to realign. The rest of the time, the ink pattern remains on the screen without power. You can set it on your bedside table without worrying about turning it off."

Also, thanks to a deal with Sprint to encourage more people to download Kindle books, you can access the internet and download a new book to your Kindle from anywhere. Amazon pays for the service, hoping that it will pay off as people download more e-books. Also, the Kindle has a browser that works well when searching Wikipedia or browsing your favorite blogs.

Perhaps my favorite feature is the availability of the most popular newspapers for only $10-$14 per month. An ad-, comic-, and crossword-free version will be wirelessly beamed to you every morning before you wake up. Now you can have the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Financial Times, or The Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Le Monde, The Times of London, or The Independent instantly. You probably won't want all of them (especially Le Monde, if you don't speak French), but the choice is yours.

One of the more interesting features is the Kindle's audio-reading capabilities. Although suffering from "peculiar inflections and pronunciations" which may result in a voice that sounds oddly Scandinavian, it is a pretty sweet feature.

Of course, aside from the $359 price tag, the Kindle does have some drawbacks. "As traditionalists always point out, an e-book reader is a delicate piece of electronics. It can be lost, DROPPED (emphasis added, see here), or fried in the tub. You’d have to buy an awful lot of $10 best sellers to recoup the purchase price. If Amazon goes under or abandons the Kindle, you lose your entire library. And you can’t pass on or sell an e-book after you’ve read it."

If nothing else, the Kindle 2 is a great new gadget. If knowledge is power, just imagine how powerful (and nerdy) you'll be with a Kindle of your own.