Megan says, “everyone I know thinks the Kindle is not very good, but is nonetheless the wave of the future…” False! Megan knows me. I actually have a Kindle, thanks to Kerry's warm yuletide generosity, and I love it!
Here are my complaints:
(1) Not enough books yet available for the Kindle.
(2) It seems a bit fragile, and I've had to hard-reset a couple times after mild jostling.
I am inundated in books. I have way too many. I have no place to put them. I often can't find them when I want them. I often don't know what I want to read on a trip, so I carry six heavy books with me, which sucks. I now have something like 20 books in this one little package, and I love it. The e-ink display may be slightly grayer than I'd prefer, but it's very comfortable too read. I suffer from computer screen-related eyestrain, and I find reading off the Kindle no worse for my eyes than reading a book, and sometimes better, since I can increase the type size. It formats pdfs better than advertised, and I've got now got a few free pdf-ed books aboard. You can carry about all of Project Gutenberg, if you like. I can imagine lots of marginal improvements, but I'm extremely impressed with my Kindle so far and my main complaint is that because everything is not available for the Kindle, I have to keep buying physical books, most of which I don't really want qua objects. I get lots of publisher's review copies and I don't want most of these either. I would be more likely to actually browse these books if the publishers sent the Kindle version. I have actually become emotionally attached to my Kindle. You should probably buy one.
The Wave of the Future : Not Not Very Good!
Will Wilkinson 