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Come on baby, Kindle my fire…

November 22, 2007 | Filed Under Buzz, Sales 

Ok, so I keep hearing about Amazon’s amazing new electronic book reader, the Kindle. Today it’s in the New York Times, even.

But what’s a dyed-in-the-wool book lover to do? Sure the white, sleek holder looks like something I could keep in my purse and happily pull out for a quick few page break. But it’s plastic, and I don’t know about you but for me the thought of replacing my paperback with a plasticback is disgraceful.

And, the free wireless broadband access alone makes it nifty for checking web based email and (of course) downloading MORE books. Free wireless broadband. That’s a heck of an offering, even if the price tag of the Kindle is $400, that will pay for itself pretty quickly if you use the Internet.

Every report I’ve heard says almost the same thing about the technology involved for actually reading books:

The screen uses the same astonishing E Ink technology that Sony’s Reader uses. It looks like black ink on light gray paper: no backlight, no glare, no eyestrain — and no need to turn it off, ever….The “ink” is so close to the surface of the screen, it looks like it’s been printed there, so reading is satisfying, immersive and natural. At page turns, only a distracting black-white flash reminds you that you’re not viewing paper anymore. (excerpt from article by David Pogue)

I know, you’re thinking…don’t turn it off?? I thought the same thing, but of course there is a simple answer, it only uses power when you turn a page. Kind of like a human expending energy to turn a page. Interesting and vaguely disturbing.

That’s because E Ink draws power only when you turn a page. At that point, millions of particles are drawn into a pattern of letters (or four-shade gray-scale images) by a brief electronic charge — and there they can stay forever, even if you take the battery out. You don’t turn this thing off; you just set it down, like a book. (excerpt from article by David Pogue)

So free internet forever, books cost half of what hardcovers do, can be downloaded in 60 seconds…and you never have to turn it off.

Books are the one area of my life where I am old fashioned. I like the way books smell, the way they feel, they way they look. The pages of a paperback are a very distinctive color that only looks good for the pages of aforementioned paperback. Anywhere else in nature the color of those pages would be downright ugly, but when you’re reading, that color just reinforces the comforting experience of reading.

Yet, I feel a slight shift in my defiant denial of even entertaining the thought of procuring a Kindle. Now I find myself saying, “No way, but I’d like to see one in person before making a final judgment…” - that first crack in the armor.

That’s what buzz does for a product.

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