$50 off Amazon Kindle

[Evadman]

I love my sony reader so much that I got 2 so I always have one around. The kindle has too many buttons in the wrong place, and you press them by accident. The redesigned kindle looks like it will work MUCH better than the current one. Personally, I would so with the Sony Reader over the kindle, by a large margin.

 

[Skott]

I decided to go ahead and ordered today before the $50 expired. My Christmas gift to myself only early. If you get their credit card they give you an extra $30 off. I read a lot so I should get my money's worth out of the product.

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: Sesopedalian
I read an article about why the electronic book readers have never caught on, and I see most the of the reasons right in this thread. It will be interesting to see if they gain in popularity or just die off.

They'd catch on if the books were cheaper and the devices designed better. It seem to be the publishing companies want more profit for less product.

I'd actually prefer something smaller. I have an iPAQ with a 4" screen and it's great for reading pdfs. Personally I want it to be able to fit in my pocket since I prefer not to bring a bag just to carry an ebook reader around.

 

[WHipLAsh13]

My mother-in-law picked up a Kindle a few months ago. She does use it somewhat but still purchases regular books as well. In some cases the price difference from the Kindle price and the regular book isn't more than 5%. I think if they offered deeper discounts on Kindle books she would see the value more.

 

[davidtb]

It's just another "PEZ dispenser" nice to look at, but useless without the "candy"

 

[flashbacck]

If Kindle 2 supports PDFs, sign me up.

 

[frostedflakes]

IIRC the 1st gen Kindle works with PDFs, but it uses some kind of ass-backwards system where you email the PDF to your Kindle, then it converts it to Amazon's proprietary format.

 

[coolVariable]

I would love to buy something LIKE the Kindle but WITHOUT the Internet connectivity (only wifi) and $100-$150 cheaper!

I would buy that without second thought for $150-$200.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: coolVariable
I would love to buy something LIKE the Kindle but WITHOUT the Internet connectivity (only wifi) and $100-$150 cheaper!

I would buy that without second thought for $150-$200.

I think if they did a $99 Kindle without any kind of wireless (PC transfer only) with a redesigned interface, the masses would start switching. When high-quality color comes out to the consumer level, I think that will be a huge boost too.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Sesopedalian
I read an article about why the electronic book readers have never caught on, and I see most the of the reasons right in this thread. It will be interesting to see if they gain in popularity or just die off.

My only real complaint is the interface. They have the size and weight right, great connectivity options, nice screeen with adjustable font sizes, etc. It's great in every way but the physical interface. Gotta relocate those giant buttons

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Sesopedalian
I read an article about why the electronic book readers have never caught on, and I see most the of the reasons right in this thread. It will be interesting to see if they gain in popularity or just die off.

My only real complaint is the interface. They have the size and weight right, great connectivity options, nice screeen with adjustable font sizes, etc. It's great in every way but the physical interface. Gotta relocate those giant buttons

I would disagree: price, price, price!
That's the biggest problem for ebook readers.

$350 for yet ANOTHER device?
Bollocks!

$100-$150 for one with only wifi connectivity ... maybe $200-$250 with Amazon's EVDO connectivity.

 

[lokiju]

Until they can come out with a ebook eink reader that can read pdf, txt, html, doc, rtf, and mobi files that I can load via either a memory stick, usb cable or wifi then I'll pass.

I don't mind paying the $300 (though I think it's a bit steep) as long as I'm not so restricted to a proprietary format.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: coolVariable

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Sesopedalian
I read an article about why the electronic book readers have never caught on, and I see most the of the reasons right in this thread. It will be interesting to see if they gain in popularity or just die off.

My only real complaint is the interface. They have the size and weight right, great connectivity options, nice screeen with adjustable font sizes, etc. It's great in every way but the physical interface. Gotta relocate those giant buttons

I would disagree: price, price, price!
That's the biggest problem for ebook readers.

$350 for yet ANOTHER device?
Bollocks!

$100-$150 for one with only wifi connectivity ... maybe $200-$250 with Amazon's EVDO connectivity.

$349 for a lifetime cell phone connection plus the ability to store every digital book and document in digital format for easy reading with adjustable font size...considering I spend $60 to $80+ on some tech books, that price over convenience zeroes out pretty quickly. Yes, it's expensive, but if you read a lot it's totally worth it.

We'll probably never see a Kindle without EVDO because impulse buying has to be a huge part of Amazon's revenue for this little device.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: lokiju
Until they can come out with a ebook eink reader that can read pdf, txt, html, doc, rtf, and mobi files that I can load via either a memory stick, usb cable or wifi then I'll pass.

I don't mind paying the $300 (though I think it's a bit steep) as long as I'm not so restricted to a proprietary format.

You can convert your files to Kindle format and put them on a memory stick - the Kindle takes SD or MicroSD or something. You can hold like 2,000+ books on a 2 or 4 gig stick iirc.

I think the major milestones will be:

1. Redesigned interface
2. Cheaper price
3. Larger size (like 8.5x11")
4. Touchscreen
5. Color

The first issue right now is the stupid ergonomics. Hand cramps ftl. Next, $349 is too high for most people - it's an iPod that you'll use less. Then a larger screen for textbooks, newspapers, people with poor vision, etc. Then a touchscreen to make navigation super awesome, like the iPhone. And finally color, then we can really start doing magazines, textbooks with color illustrations, and so on.

 

[zerogear]

305 is still not under 250. I won't get it xD Maybe kindle 2.0 will be under 250?