original article here.
Today Amazon will release their Kindle, a reader that is similar to Sony’s Reader. It has everything apparently. It even connects wirelessly to the internet to download books (unlike the Sony, which has to be connected to a computer to do so). It will cost $400, $100 more than the Sony. People who’ve had their hands on it this weekend claims it as being pretty perfect.
My biggest gripe with this machine (and it’s a deal breaker) is that it only plays the proprietary format by Mobipocket, a company that it acquired in 2005. It does not play the current open standard format. For me, it really needs to play all types of formats (including PDF).
The other problem I have with it is that it doesn’t look sturdy. It doesn’t look like it can survive a 3 foot fall. I don’t mind if the product is a little bit thicker, it just needs to be a bit more rugged so I can take it to the park, to the beach to go camping. What use is a portable reader if it does not allow me to take it everywhere I need to go to escape from the computer?
After these two problems get solved, I’ll get the device that have these in a heartbeat. As for now, I’ll stick to my X60 tablet.
One thing I can say is that it would be awesome if Amazon let me have digital versions of the books I have already bought through my Amazon account.
Comment by betterretail — November 20, 2007 @ 5:56 pm
one of the largest consumers of books are people who read romance novels. When a product could be made specifically for them, then we know that product will conquer the world.
Comment by KHOI — November 20, 2007 @ 6:38 pm
[...] Amazon Kindle not so kind [...]
Pingback by A little dance for the famous girlie! « Domestic Engineer in Training — November 20, 2007 @ 8:14 pm
the Kindle’s main selling point for me is it’s text-to-specch feature — very clever
Comment by Joe — February 24, 2009 @ 4:30 am