Is the Kindle Really Worth it?

[AdhesiveTape]

The Kindle is a sweet looking wireless reading-device, that much is true, but I fail to see where the real appeal lies.

For one, it is rather expensive, with the latest model, Kindle DX, pricing in at $489. In addition to that cost, the charge for each book downloaded is around $10... More than most actual paperbacks!

You also can't re-sell your books, or really share them with friends. It is easier to carry around than a bunch of novels, but at 6", it's not small enough to be all that convenient.

Is this gadget a rip-off?

 

[TaborMallory]

Until this new commercially accessible technology becomes cheaper to manufacture, it'll stay at the rich man's hobby store.

 

[Radeonx]

Well, I have to say, with the recent invention of the book, and how cheap it is, I don't think you should give up on it so quickly.

 

[Shadowfaze]

not a rip off, more of a novelty for the wealthy... if i was wealthy, id give it a try.

 

[RebelRising]

I do like the feel of books; I'm just old-fashioned that way.

But after lugging around enough binders and textbooks ("Newest" editions) today that my back is still sore and bent over 3 hours later, I'm willing to at least welcome the idea.

 

[Wadders]

Seeing as there was a thread on this not so long ago, imma be lazy and paste my post from that thread, as it (the Kindle) is something I have a bit of an issue over.

"I am opposed to this device. I like going into bookshops and browsing around, I like the smell of new books, and books are a good use of trees.

This machine has no - for want of a better word- soul. You cant turn the page down at an interesting point, you cant scribble on it and make notes, you cant pick up a well used Kindle, with grubby pages and bent corners, and know that it has been read, used and loved by it's owner, because it has no pages.

Also you cant put them on shelves, they don't have interesting covers, and you look like a dunce holding a massive gray slab on a bus/ train/ plane.

Just my tuppence worth "

In short, not I do not consider it to be a worthwhile device.

 

[Last of the Chinchillas]

I am extremely old-fashioned, so I have obvious disdain for your new fangled e-book-a-ma-jiggers. More importantly though, you saw the whole debacle about the copy of Orwell's 1984 some people had removed from their Kindles a while back, right?

Essentially, you're not paying for the book, you're paying for the rights to read in on the Kindle. This means that you don't actually own the book, and thus it can pretty much be revoked from you at any point. Stick with paper. It's much more secure.

[sub]If more flammable...[/sub]

 

[AdhesiveTape]

I do like the feel of books; I'm just old-fashioned that way.

But after lugging around enough binders and textbooks ("Newest" editions) today that my back is still sore and bent over 3 hours later, I'm willing to at least welcome the idea.

I'd also welcome a more portable version of my textbooks (I'm nursing a sore back as well), but I'm not sure that they're available on Kindle... I think it would be easier just to have the books on CD-ROMs than on a Kindle.

 

[superbleeder12]

I have a tablet laptop, I have a bunch of e-books on it. Not as easy as reading an actual book, but it does save a lot of room and if something is interesting to me, I can google it on the same device.

I really love my tablet... too bad linux has kinda crappy support for tablets.

 

[CIA]

hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

 

[elricik]

I can't really see why the Kindel is all the expensive. The PSP is 250 dollars, and that plays games and movies. I can read downloaded comic books on my Zune screen fine without straining my eyes (and I read a lot of comic books). So I really can't see why you would pay so much money for something that you can just read books on.