Are all the books tied to Amazon DRM? That makes me wary of getting a Kindle as what happens if Amazon goes under (unlikely as that may be)...
Does Amazon provide any guarantee books for Kindle1 and Kindle2 will continue to work on all future versions of Kindle? I don't want to get stranded having to upgrade book media in 10 or 15 years.
It doesn't seem there's a way to "borrow" books from friends (or a local library) on the Kindle... is that right?
I guess I'm trying to answer "What problem does the Kindle solve that merit using it over books?"
I picked up a Kindle, and have pre-ordered the K2. I've read about 30 books, most of them $25+ versions for $10, so I consider my initial investment almost recouped.
Amazon does DRM the right way - instead of taking away value with their DRM, they _add_ value. Unlike Apple, which lets me download my content _once_, (and if my hard drive on one of the half dozen devices that I've downloaded content and have still to sync back up to my NAS crashed, results in me losing it forever), Amazon has this concept of content that I _own_ - and may or may not be on the device in my hand. A situation which can be rectified in a few minutes with whispernet (their EVDO solution) by copying (as many times as I want) from Amazon onto my current device (presumably now my K2 as well as my K1).
You cannot borrow books from a friend - the content is tied to you, which is why can save close to $15/book.
I love the fact that I walk around with my entire library. I like to travel light, both when moving at home and when on vacation, and not having to deal with a bookshelf of light fiction, and taking books to the library when done, (or going through hassle of selling them on Amazon for 1/3 price) has been a HUGE win for me. (That's one problem that kindle solves). Not having to worry about losing my content, and having Amazon track it for me is another problem. And the book is amazingly easy on the eyes, _particularly_ in very bright light, I find it much easier than paper. (Third problem solved - no glare from paper).
I find it funny when people suggest that the iPhone might be used for reading books - it's as unlikely an idea as people buying a Kindle to listen to music. Wrong Form Factor. Battery life alone would kill you. Not to mention screen size.
With all that said - The kindle sucks as a replacement for technical books. I purchased a couple and was frustrated to no end. Page turning is too slow. The Kindle doesn't have a good metaphor for flipping between random pages. Resolution was poor for technical diagrams. Screen was too small. Rumor has it that Amazon is going to come out with a larger version for textbooks - we'll see. Until then, I continue to buy my technical books on paper. But for fiction which basically is linear page flipping of text - it's great.
To your last question, convenience. Being able to carry around in a single 10 oz device an entire library is quite handy for those of us who don't know what we want to read. Or anticipate wanting to read several books on a trip. I don't have one, and looking at the selection on the Kindle Store, I'm not sure I'm going to get one yet, but I expect I will get one eventually.
I gotta agree. This is going to be convenient right now. The alternative to losing a book is rebuying it anyway, so if anything, it seems to carry things on just as they were.
To be perfectly honest, after using my sister's, I almost considered buying one solely based on the fact that I wouldn't have to fight with the binding of a book.
Aside from that, being able to browse and purchase books from anywhere is definitely convenient, as well as having any book you want at your disposable without having to plan/store/carry copies of said books ahead of time.
"Kindle makes it easy to search within a book, across your library, in the Kindle Store, or even the Web. To use the Search feature, simply type in a word or phrase you're looking for, and Kindle finds every instance in your book or across your Kindle library. Looking for the first reference of a character in your book? Simply type in the name and search. You can extend your search to the Kindle Store to find related titles you may be interested in. Explore even further by searching Wikipedia and the Web."
You can load Mobipocket formatted books onto your Kindle very easily -- just drag & drop. Kindle mounts on your desktop as a USB mass storage device.
There's a huge selection of pre-formatted books available out there too. I'm partial to Feedbooks http://www.feedbooks.com/ as they have a very cool catalog you can load on your Kindle. The catalog contains hyperlinks that let use download books directly to your Kindle via its EVDO connection (for free!).
I don't think their drm has been hacked in the sense that it can be removed. Basically, people discovered how they could load mobipocket protected books onto the kindle. People still haven't figured out, however, to copy drm'd books from one Kindle to another.
Does Amazon provide any guarantee books for Kindle1 and Kindle2 will continue to work on all future versions of Kindle? I don't want to get stranded having to upgrade book media in 10 or 15 years.
It doesn't seem there's a way to "borrow" books from friends (or a local library) on the Kindle... is that right?
I guess I'm trying to answer "What problem does the Kindle solve that merit using it over books?"