Kindle Update

I have now had a significant amount of time to get to know my Kindle and I have to say it outperformed my expectations.  As an owner of a previous generation Sony (PRS-500), it is an improvement.

There are consistently reports on the Internet of certain devices being a “Kindle Killer” and I have to say that, as an ebook reader, the Kindle is hard to top.  I own an iPhone and an iPod Touch.  The fact that people deride the Kindle as not being a “do-all” device leaves me scratching my head a little because there is NO WAY I would be interested in reading a book on my iPhone.  And the reports of the larger screen iPhone/iPod Touch media device, I would say that I would not read a book on those either, at least not for an extended period.  The back-lit screen is just not the same as paper.  If you read a lot of books and want to do so electronically, an e-ink device is a must.

So then a comparison to the new Sony devices would be in order.  Sony released a new reader with wireless broadband similar to the Kindle.  I have to admit this was a major selling point for me and a big reason why I continue to like it more than my Sony.  There are some issues with the new Sony in the wireless area that would prevent me from recommending it over the Kindle.  They have marketed that the Sony agreement with Google Books opens up the doors to millions of free books for the user.  That is true.  However, how much public domain content do you typically read?  I mean, if you mostly read books published before 1928, great; it’s a seamless plethora of content.  But, the popular public domain works are out there in mobi or azw for the Kindle already as well.  And if you are even remotely saavy, converting epub to mobi or azw is a snap.  So for now I’ll stick with the Kindle.

And they’ve dropped the price AGAIN! This is probably a marketing effort to combat the Sony and others (Irex, etc) from gaining any ground.  That’s fine by me because I think the consumer benefits from a price war.