Image from Amazon.com
On February 24, Amazon will start shipping the Kindle 2 
I have to say that this has been on my wish list for quite a while. My SO, Cory may be getting it for me as a belated Valentine/Birthday gift, so if I do I will write a review of the device. At $359, Amazon is proud of their Kindle 2 and I hope it’s worth it.
But it begs the question
Does having a Kindle 2 mean that I will give up buying books?
The answer for me is an emphatic, NO! You see, I love books. I love the tangible aspect, the smell, the look of a full book shelf.
I substitute teach at the School District in Palmer/Wasilla. Last week I subbed for the Librarian at an elementary school. I had a great time! I am an excellent out loud reader (if I do say so myself) and the kids were entranced. But the best part of the day was when I had to shelve books. I loved it. Brought me back to my old school days it did.
So if I love books so much, why on earth would I be jazzed about the Kindle 2? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, I’m kind of a techie. If my budget supported it, I’d be video posting, podcasting and doing my Twitter updates on my iPhone whilst sipping Mochas at the local Starbucks. (Yes, even in Palmer Alaska, we have Starbucks!) Another reason is that I think there are quite a few things that I would like to read, but am not enthused about shelling out $29.95 of my hard earned dineros. Now, I know this makes no sense but I may pay the $9.95 for a Kindle 2 title and purchase the hard copy later. I also like the portability factor and I like to travel simply.
I want to know
Are you using a Kindle or Sony reader? If so, how about leaving a comment letting us know your thoughts. How does having a Kindle change your reading experience? Is it what you thought it would be? What would you change?
I want one, too but can’t justify the price right now. If I got one, I think it would be awesome to get my paper/magazine subscriptions sent to it. As a mom, I often have these 5-10 minute pockets of time while I’m out and about that would be perfect for reading an article or a short chapter in an informative type book and having a lightweight way to carry around my reading material would be awesome.
I’m also pretty jazzed about not using up natural resources to read material that I’d eventually toss (magazines, papers). I do recycle but how much more efficient would it be to just not have to print it out in the first place?
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Hi Tracy,
Yeah, the environmental aspect is an important one as well. Newspaper and magazines are available for download, too so that should work just fine!
Cheers
George
Yeah, I like owning books and magazines, but lately my goal is to try and limit myself to actually owning the ones that I’ll go to again and again. We only have so much room in the house and like I said a couple of weeks ago, I don’t want to be that old person arguing with the Friends of the Library people over whether or not they would take my copies of “Twitter for Dummies” and “How to use WordPress 1.0″.
Could you see me “But somebody could use this! I paid $14 for it in 2009! It’s VALUABLE INFORMATION!”
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Tracy – hehe. yeah, you know, I could! LOL
George
The Kindle 2 is definitely on my wish list as well. I already spend a TON of time reading on a Palm handheld, and I think that there are a lot of advantages to reading electronically. The chief one being that I can carry multiple books in my back pocket read them anywhere (including in bed without needing a reading lamp!). The Kindle’s purchase price doesn’t scare me too much (especially with my tax refund burning a hole in my pocket). I’m more concerned that I would end up spending way more on the actual reading material, since it would be so much easier to purchase it without really having to think about it.
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Hi Evan,
Hehe, the tax refund will be funding mine as well. I too am just a teensy bit concerned about stuff to read overload, but that’s ok with me.
Cheers!
George
Hi, George. Kindle intrigues me (I’m a techie too!), but my next tech purchase is an ipod Touch, which I am getting as a reward to myself when my dissertation proposal is approved. I actually want to comment on your sub librarian observation. I was an elementary media center teacher for 5 years. I LOVED reading aloud to children, something I did nearly every day as a 3rd grade teacher as well. The other thing I loved was shelving the books. It took me 1 whole summer to automate the collection because I kept reading the books! Your guest teaching gigs should provided plenty of fodder for your writing. Tip: create a “calling card” for teachers with your contact information (including your id number if the district has an automated system). If teachers are happy with your work, they will do 2 things–request you again, and tell their colleagues. (And they’ll tell 2 friends. And so on, and so on…)
Linda,
Ha! It took me *forever* because I kept running into books I had when I was a kid! TOO funny! What a weird deja-vu feeling to see those books.
I’ve only been doing the sub teaching for a couple of months and so far almost everything has been because of referrals due to the first I assignment I took at a elem school. I did develop cards with a tag line that reads, “I follow directions”. Dontcha know THAT gets a hoot now and then.
Nice to see you here, come back soon!
George
“I follow directions.” Excellent mantra for a guest teacher. when I had to leave sub plans, I specified if something *had* to get done, but the rest was whatever could get done. Amazing how many folks couldn’t do that. Also, as a teacher, if I returned to class and everything was in order, and the kids were OK, it was a good day.
Sounds like you’ve got a great attitude toward this experience. You bring a lot to the table, er desk.
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This cost has been keeping me away from purchasing one. Even if I got one, it wont keep me from buying books though I am more mindful with my purchases.
Starring at a screen for 12+ hours a day for work and business is enough. My eyes hurt! I dont want to do it for leisure also. I dont think a screen will totally replace books for me.
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Hi Carla,
I absolutely understand. I’m told the screen is very much paper-like, but that may not clear up all of the issues with staring at an electronic device all day.
Thanks for coming by and contributing.
George
Like George, I’m a techie and would love to get my hands on a Kindle, but possibly only to play with for an hour or two. I could see this being useful to me if I were a bus or train commuter, but since I get everywhere by bike I don’t find myself in many situations out of the house were I have to kill some time. At home, a book wins hands down. Even so, it’s a sexy piece of technology.
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Monica,
There is something about curling up with a book in the fav easy chair. A certain ambiance, let’s say. Once I get my hands on the little devil I’ll do a review and opine.
Cheers!
George
I love to read books which can be touched. I won’t give up reading “real” books. But: I am a very fast reader. No problem when reading at home – there’s always a way to the library. But it is a problem when traveling – I leave home and come back with 5 books or more to carry with me. So I am thinking about how it would be with a kindle – no additional packages to carry around. I’d love to hold one in my hand and to try it out before spending a lot of money on it. But in Germany I won’t get it anyway – at least not in the near future.
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Hi Ulla,
Thanks for coming by. I think you describe the perfect reason to own a Kindle. I sure wouldn’t use it to replace my books, but it could make my life easier when I travel.
Cheers!
George
George:
Is reading a book on a kindle the same as reading a pdf? Hey, we are barely getting the iPhone, don’t laugh, still haven’t even seen that in real life!
Dee,
My understanding is that it is exactly like reading a book, except you turn pages with a button. Not .pdf style.
George
Kindle’s appearance is certainly reminiscent of Apple products
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Hi Coffee,
So nice to have you drop by.
You know I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m so entranced and I think now I know why. I would not have put the two together but I think you are right on the money.
By the way, I went over and had a look at your site. I love it. Wish I had a smell-o-vision app on my computer.
Cheers!
George