Amazon Kindle E-Book Reader gets official

[Born2bwire]

I would never want a backlight with E-ink, it would miss the entire point. What I would want is a background medium that had higher reflectivity that would provide more contrast. When I used the original Kindle, I didn't like that the contrast between the background and the ink was not as high as ifI was reading a novel under strong indoor lighting. So it felt like I was reading it in not enough light sometimes.

I think I'll buy this. I can't be buying more books out here but the libraries here have rather small and incomplete English sections and the bookstores are rather pitiful. At least this way I can get the entire Discworld series although I really hate not having a hardcopy. When I get back to the States I'll probably repurchase the books in softcover but until then I will probably have to mail order most of my books anyway. Just wish they had a larger catalog, I would like the Aubrey-Maturin series, I can't find a complete set in either the bookstores or the library.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I would be all on this if I could use the credit of a book purchased for a free digital purchase. My gf has over 200 books but there's no way she would pay the price all over again just for them to be digitized. If she were able to get the same books she bought digitized for free, I think she would buy this instantly. Hell if I could use it for my text books during college I would be all over it too.

 

[lupi]

unless they get the ebooks to sell at a major discount compared to the physocal copies, i'll continue enjoy reading mine that way.

 

[foghorn67]

Gosh I would love to own one of these, but at over 350, geesh. I thought it would be considerably cheaper by now.

 

[Born2bwire]

Dammit, not available to international customers. Was the original Kindle ever available outside the US? I could still use my US credit card since I still have a bank account back in the US but then I'd have to get the thing shipped by my folks and all that crap.

 

[Argo]

Preordered mine.

 

[Duddy]

Wow, the replies now are the exact opposite that they were in 2007!

In 2007: It will never take off, it's lame, it's gay, I'll never own one.

2009: Can't get it shipped internationally! Preordered mine! I wish I owned one! I would love to have one!

 

[lokiju]

I want a E-ink reader so damn bad but I just can get past the following issues.

1: price. Way to expensive still.
2: No native support of very common file types. PDF's, Doc's, .lit, .mobi, etc... all need to be supported.
3: I don't need a keyboard, it's a nice feature I'm sure for specific task but I want a E-Ink reader to replace my books and that's it. Even a slide out keyboard or touch screen pop-up keyboard would be fine, but I'd much rather use up the devices real estate for a larger screen.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: Duddy
Wow, the replies now are the exact opposite that they were in 2007!

In 2007: It will never take off, it's lame, it's gay, I'll never own one.

2009: Can't get it shipped internationally! Preordered mine! I wish I owned one! I would love to have one!

Meh, I can't say about my opinion back then, but given my current situation it is very attractive. I do not have the space to keep purchasing books since I will either have to ship them back in a few years or sell them off. The price of English books out here is very expensive, I'm already looking at a few dollars US of markup on paperbacks, most I have bought ran close to $10 USD anyway. The selection of English books that I have out here is a bit limited in both the public libraries and bookstores. So if I am looking to read an entire series, which I would like to do, I'm going to have to mailorder books anyway. The ability to quickly get English books and English newspapers would be really nice for me. I got to use a Kindle for a few days when I was traveling with a friend of mine in Germany. My main complaints was the lag in turning the pages, the location of the page turn buttons, and the medium contrast between the text and background. But given my circumstances, I would be willing to purchase the Kindle 2.0. I may have to wait until I go back to the States to get it though.

have to agree though, I do kinda find it ironic that Kaido was defending the lack of backlight in the first page and now he's bitching about it's absence.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: pontifex
i don't understand these things. why wouldn't you rather have a laptop or one of those netbooks evem, especially for $360

The point is that e-ink is significantly easier on the eyes than an LCD screen, so the Kindle is better for long, sustained reading.

but at that price tag and lugging around yet another device? sorry, but its fucking retarded.

"lugging around"?

Have you compared the size of the Kindle vs the size of a book? Its thinner than an iPhone! It considerably LESSENS what you have to "lug around".

The price tag is that it is because of the EVDO plan. You aren't going to get lifetime unlimited data access for free, it just ain't gonna happen. Maybe they should release a Kindle-lite that uses wifi instead for a lower price tag - but considering what the Kindle offers, the price tag is justified.

If they did this at a $200 price point I'd get one.

I don't care about being able to download books on the go. I just want something that replaces physical books, is easy on the eyes and affordable.

 

[episodic]

I've thought about a netbook as an ebook reader. Then it wouldn't be a single function device. . . what drawbacks are there?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: episodic
I've thought about a netbook as an ebook reader. Then it wouldn't be a single function device. . . what drawbacks are there?

You'd probably want to get one that can convert into a tablet and have buttons in tablet mode that facilitate easy page turning. These are hard to find in the netbook category. And of course you'll run into the issue of whether or not the backlight strains your eyes.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I'd say that this still has a long way to go. While I am extremely, extremely impressed by the look of e-ink, looking EXACTLY like newsprint with that awesome, natural, non-digital look, I can't get over some points:

1. No backlight. Like Kaido said, some kind of soft glowing white backlight would be nice for reading in the dark. You guys remember Indiglo? The light that illuminates monochromatic screens like watches and small DSLR screens and has been around for over a decade? Such a soft glow would not strain the eyes. Hell, they could even try a red backlight to preserve night vision. Something. Anything.

2. Not a big fan of the EVDO plan and its extra charge. I'd be fine just downloading the files from my regular computer and transferring them to the Kindle via USB or something. Probably easier than surfing the web for a book on the Kindle's screen.

3. e-book prices suck. It's just asking for shit to be pirated, and then everyone loses except the pirates.

4. Proprietary e-book format and retailer. Enough said.

5. It'd be nice if the screen background was white.

6. Of course, color. Some things such as graphs would be impossible to read without color, unless you're particularly good at differentiating shades of gray.

Considering that this new Kindle is second gen and 2 years in coming, I was expecting more.

 

[frostedflakes]

Meh, the Kindle is still a ripoff IMO.

I'll be waiting until the readers are sub-$100 and the ebooks are substantially cheaper than physical copies.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Born2bwire
I do kinda find it ironic that Kaido was defending the lack of backlight in the first page and now he's b*tching about it's absence.

I think I misinterpreted AnyMal's post on the first page - backlighting in regards to displays typically refer to cathodes or LEDs, which was what I was referring to - E-ink is designed to be projected like paper, not like a glowing monitor. Either way, after having owned and used a Kindle 1.0, I definitely think it needs some kind of integrated lighting solution for reading in dark situations. It doesn't necessarily have to be backlighting, even just some kind of external lighting would be great. There's already a lighting solution from M-Edge, a casemaker for e-readers:

http://www.buymedge.com/p_products.html

Nice compact e-book reader, spiffy leather case...and a big ugly alien arm with a light on it. Ridiculous. There should definitely be some kind of integrated light for reading in the dark or low-light conditions.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Duddy
Wow, the replies now are the exact opposite that they were in 2007!

In 2007: It will never take off, it's lame, it's gay, I'll never own one.

2009: Can't get it shipped internationally! Preordered mine! I wish I owned one! I would love to have one!

I bet the "ugly" factor of the Kindle 1.0 played a part in that The new one isn't what I'd call "beautiful", but at least it doesn't look like a prototype anymore...

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: lokiju
If they did this at a $200 price point I'd get one.

I don't care about being able to download books on the go. I just want something that replaces physical books, is easy on the eyes and affordable.

The thing that confuses me is just how much Amazon is locking you into their ecosystem. I can handle buying books exclusively from them, but there's no real price break on the books themselves. Okay, not a big deal...so you have to pay for convenience. But there's also no way to "recycle" your old books into digital format. I'd have to buy every single book I own again - at nearly full price - just to have the convenience of having it digital. I doubt anyone is willing to do that with their entire library.

What I'd like to see is an Amazon recycling/donation system...send them your old books, they give you a free e-version, and then they donate your old books to libraries or developing countries or something. Or at least give you a discount on the e-book version. iTunes recently went DRM-free and offered a service to convert all of your DRM music to DRM-free for a fee. It's not the best solution for the consumer, but it's better than nothing...and I for one would like to see Amazon offer something like that. I bet a system like that would really help the Kindle and the idea of e-books take off.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: episodic
I've thought about a netbook as an ebook reader. Then it wouldn't be a single function device. . . what drawbacks are there?

You'd probably want to get one that can convert into a tablet and have buttons in tablet mode that facilitate easy page turning. These are hard to find in the netbook category. And of course you'll run into the issue of whether or not the backlight strains your eyes.

It depends on how much you read and what you read, too. If I'm surfing nerdy websites like Engadget, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, etc., I can read for hours without eyestrain because I'm constantly flipping pages and colors, images, and fonts. When you read a book, you're staring at the same page for sometimes minutes at a time. I don't enjoy reading manuals or books on my computer because of that. An E-Ink screen is much better for that type of reading thanks to the lack of a backlit screen.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
Meh, the Kindle is still a ripoff IMO.

I'll be waiting until the readers are sub-$100 and the ebooks are substantially cheaper than physical copies.

Even more than that, I think people would pay the $400 or whatever if all e-books were 1/2 price or less. If I can buy the new Harry Potter for $2.99, that puts it in iTunes territory, you know?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
I'd say that this still has a long way to go. While I am extremely, extremely impressed by the look of e-ink, looking EXACTLY like newsprint with that awesome, natural, non-digital look, I can't get over some points:

1. No backlight. Like Kaido said, some kind of soft glowing white backlight would be nice for reading in the dark. You guys remember Indiglo? The light that illuminates monochromatic screens like watches and small DSLR screens and has been around for over a decade? Such a soft glow would not strain the eyes. Hell, they could even try a red backlight to preserve night vision. Something. Anything.

Yes, Indiglo was exactly what I was thinking of! That or some kind of external lighting system around the borders that added light but not glare.

2. Not a big fan of the EVDO plan and its extra charge. I'd be fine just downloading the files from my regular computer and transferring them to the Kindle via USB or something. Probably easier than surfing the web for a book on the Kindle's screen.

They're really pushing the convenience factor with the EVDO plan. For the average non-technical consumer, it's an extra hassle to have to go to your computer, find the book, buy it, sync it with the e-book reader, and then read it. This is exactly why the Sony reader never took off - it's not convenient, and people don't feel that it's important enough, like say music, to put a little effort into learning and doing. The interest for books simply isn't the same for MP3s. Hence iTunes being huge and Sony's E-Reader being something no one has ever heard of.

3. e-book prices suck. It's just asking to be pirated, and then everyone loses except the pirates.

4. Proprietary e-book format and retailer. Enough said.

These two go hand-in-hand. I'd be happier locked into Amazon if their books were WAY cheaper. Also, if they had a non-dumb conversion tool for PDFs, DOCs, etc.

5. It'd be nice if the screen background was white.

Having used the Kindle 1.0 for awhile, I can honestly say I prefer the light gray. I know it sounds weird, but after you stare at black ink on a white page, versus the Kindle's dark gray ink on a light gray page, you'll realize how nice the lesser contrast level is on the Kindle. It's much more comfortable to read on, plus you can adjust font sizes at will.

6. Of course, color. Some things such as graphs would be impossible to read without color, unless you're particularly good at differentiating shades of gray.

I'm curious as to how the future of E-Readers will look. They're already demoing an E-Ink newspaper in Japan, but it's like the size of an entire newspaper page. And completely stiff. When you're reading the newspaper in the morning, it's nice to have a flexible sheet. The Kindle is fine being a hard design because it's small, but they need like flexible plastic e-ink paper or something for larger applications. I'm not really sure what the best way to solve this would be, for large-format print designs like magazines and newspapers. A flexible plastic reader would be weird and a hard plastic reader would also be weird.

I'm very interested in the price complaint as well. People are saying $359 is too much for a device that can store every book you own with lifetime Internet service, and yet they're more than happy to pay $400 for an iPod that simply plays music. CNET already has a story on the price issue:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10159722-93.html

I think that was the first complain of just about everyone I talked to about the Kindle...over $300? Too expensive. People don't feel reading is as much of a priority nowadays, so if Amazon really wants to get the ball rolling, they either need to lower the price of books (not gonna happen, because it's a huge cashcow for publishing houses - zero overhead + nearly the same price as print books) or subsidize it (this makes more sense).

Considering that this new Kindle is second gen and 2 years in coming, I was expecting more.

I agree. I'm glad they did what they did, but...no colors. Still plain-jane white. They took off the rubber backing, which I think was dumb (was nice to have a grippy surface there). No touchscreen, and from what I've read the tracknub is still kind of lame. It's certainly an improvement, but they could have done better. I thinkt the big problem is that Amazon sells books and doesn't make products, so they don't really have the expertise or infrastructure to make a neat design. They should have hired Ive from Apple

 

[Phokus]

Meh, i already have an iphone so i can just get audiobooks... until they make the kindle more affordable, there's no reason to buy one

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Kaido

2. Not a big fan of the EVDO plan and its extra charge. I'd be fine just downloading the files from my regular computer and transferring them to the Kindle via USB or something. Probably easier than surfing the web for a book on the Kindle's screen.

They're really pushing the convenience factor with the EVDO plan. For the average non-technical consumer, it's an extra hassle to have to go to your computer, find the book, buy it, sync it with the e-book reader, and then read it. This is exactly why the Sony reader never took off - it's not convenient, and people don't feel that it's important enough, like say music, to put a little effort into learning and doing. The interest for books simply isn't the same for MP3s. Hence iTunes being huge and Sony's E-Reader being something no one has ever heard of.

I think that it should be an option. If you don't want EVDO you can get it for like $250. But if later you want the unlimited lifetime plan you can get it for an extra $200. OR just buy it all now for $400. Or add other kinds of data plans. Does the lifetime EVDO mean the lifetime of the user or the lifetime of the Kindle? If you buy Kindle 3.0 will you have to rebuy the EVDO plan?

5. It'd be nice if the screen background was white.

Having used the Kindle 1.0 for awhile, I can honestly say I prefer the light gray. I know it sounds weird, but after you stare at black ink on a white page, versus the Kindle's dark gray ink on a light gray page, you'll realize how nice the lesser contrast level is on the Kindle. It's much more comfortable to read on, plus you can adjust font sizes at will.

6. Of course, color. Some things such as graphs would be impossible to read without color, unless you're particularly good at differentiating shades of gray.

I can see this. I was very impressed at how easy the light gray was on the eyes, but at the same time it'd be nice to have technology that gives you a choice. I can see some books being better with white backgrounds. Again, this is probably something that will change when color e-ink becomes mainstream, and I sure as hell don't know when that'll be.

I'm curious as to how the future of E-Readers will look. They're already demoing an E-Ink newspaper in Japan, but it's like the size of an entire newspaper page. And completely stiff. When you're reading the newspaper in the morning, it's nice to have a flexible sheet. The Kindle is fine being a hard design because it's small, but they need like flexible plastic e-ink paper or something for larger applications. I'm not really sure what the best way to solve this would be, for large-format print designs like magazines and newspapers. A flexible plastic reader would be weird and a hard plastic reader would also be weird.

A newspaper has lots of articles all on one large page. This is not conducive to current screen technology that is neither thin, foldable, or lightweight. I think they should stick with the current web page style - homepage / table of contents that lets you jump to each article - back to homepage. And newspapers are a pain in the ass anyways. Who wants to "continue this article on page 8?" It's old design that was designed in that way due to the limitations of the paper medium. It shouldn't be forced to apply to e-ink media.

I'm very interested in the price complaint as well. People are saying $359 is too much for a device that can store every book you own with lifetime Internet service, and yet they're more than happy to pay $400 for an iPod that simply plays music. CNET already has a story on the price issue:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10159722-93.html

I think that was the first complain of just about everyone I talked to about the Kindle...over $300? Too expensive. People don't feel reading is as much of a priority nowadays, so if Amazon really wants to get the ball rolling, they either need to lower the price of books (not gonna happen, because it's a huge cashcow for publishing houses - zero overhead + nearly the same price as print books) or subsidize it (this makes more sense).

They're not the same. With an iPod you're paying $400 for a device that is slick, is a status symbol, is an "in" thing to get, has beautiful design, has multiple flavors, and can play (biggie!) free, pirated music that is available everywhere. And even if you buy your MP3s they are cheaper than buying them on physical media like CDs, which makes sense. The Kindle forces you to pay for a data plan that you may or may not need, the books are just as expensive as physical books, there is no developed avenue for recent, free, pirated books, and its design is goofy and has only one flavor. This is not the age of the Model T where everyone's OK with black and the concept of consumer choice isn't even an issue. Amazon's missing the design philosophy on this one.

Considering that this new Kindle is second gen and 2 years in coming, I was expecting more.

I agree. I'm glad they did what they did, but...no colors. Still plain-jane white. They took off the rubber backing, which I think was dumb (was nice to have a grippy surface there). No touchscreen, and from what I've read the tracknub is still kind of lame. It's certainly an improvement, but they could have done better. I thinkt the big problem is that Amazon sells books and doesn't make products, so they don't really have the expertise or infrastructure to make a neat design. They should have hired Ive from Apple

[/quote]

I often wonder what is so hard about designing something that looks good, has a sensible feature set, and is ergonomically easy to use? A lot of it seems like common sense to me and/or listening to customer feedback... but it continues to be out of the reach of Amazon... I just don't get it. I can imagine Amazon, being only a book seller, not having the contacts to do the physical manufacturing, but the design should be kinda straightforward, shouldn't it? They could just work with a Taiwanese ODM like Foxconn to hammer out something good.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
I think that it should be an option. If you don't want EVDO you can get it for like $250. But if later you want the unlimited lifetime plan you can get it for an extra $200. OR just buy it all now for $400. Or add other kinds of data plans. Does the lifetime EVDO mean the lifetime of the user or the lifetime of the Kindle? If you buy Kindle 3.0 will you have to rebuy the EVDO plan?

Oooh, that's an excellent point. I guess though, they see it like cars - you have to put gas in a new car you buy, so you have to pay for EVDO in your new Kindle. Poor analogy, but I can see their point of view from a business standpoint.

I can see this. I was very impressed at how easy the light gray was on the eyes, but at the same time it'd be nice to have technology that gives you a choice. I can see some books being better with white backgrounds. Again, this is probably something that will change when color e-ink becomes mainstream, and I sure as hell don't know when that'll be.

Yeah, Color E-Ink is still in it's infancy. What I am curious about is whether or not it will replace traditional displays. For example, if you work with Photoshop...wouldn't it be nice to have a monitor that looked like the printed page, instead of a glowing, back-lit screen?

A newspaper has lots of articles all on one large page. This is not conducive to current screen technology that is neither thin, foldable, or lightweight. I think they should stick with the current web page style - homepage / table of contents that lets you jump to each article - back to homepage. And newspapers are a pain in the ass anyways. Who wants to "continue this article on page 8?" It's old design that was designed in that way due to the limitations of the paper medium. It shouldn't be forced to apply to e-ink media.

Exactly...don't bring the legacy structures into the new age of design. Check out this E-Newspaper design being tested in Japan:

http://www.fastcompany.com/blo...er-screen-bigger-color

Yeah it looks neat - magazine-sized, color...but really, how do you read it while you're eating breakfast? It's a large device, which means it's a 2-handed device. It's not flexible and it'd be kind of annoying to have a kickstand on the back or a dock, considering you'd want it to be adjustable for your height and eye level.

Meh.

They're not the same. With an iPod you're paying $400 for a device that is slick, is a status symbol, is an "in" thing to get, has beautiful design, has multiple flavors, and can play (biggie!) free, pirated music that is available everywhere. And even if you buy your MP3s they are cheaper than buying them on physical media like CDs, which makes sense. The Kindle forces you to pay for a data plan that you may or may not need, the books are just as expensive as physical books, there is no developed avenue for recent, free, pirated books, and its design is goofy and has only one flavor. This is not the age of the Model T where everyone's OK with black and the concept of consumer choice isn't even an issue. Amazon's missing the design philosophy on this one.

Yup...the iPod is "cool". Amazon should take a design cue from this...reading is never going to be "trendy", but they can certainly make it more appealing. Here's a picture of the pink Kindle 2.0 from Stephen King's e-book:

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.eng...02/kindle-live-011.jpg

Tell me what grade-school girl wouldn't get that in a heartbeat to hold their textbooks on?

 

[Kaido]

Here's a question for you guys:

Do you think that you will miss media "hardware" in the future? Our books, movies, photos, music, and documents are all being digitzed with electronic readers, players, and storage systems. Eventually there will be nothing left to clutter up our living rooms, haha. I fondly remember flipping through my parent's record and audiocassette tape collection, or browsing through our bookcase of VHS tapes and DVD movies, or leafing through the book collection. Our kids will have the opportunity to live in an all-digital world thanks to Media Centers, Kindles, iPods, computers, etc. My wife likes not having the clutter of audio and video discs and whatnot, but she refuses to give up books. She prefers the experience of having a bound, published work in her hands, versus an electronic e-reader. I, on the other hand, like both. Although it's a bit creepy to think of my future living room as just having a couch and perhaps a flatscreen. No books, records, tapes, DVDs, photo albums, etc. to clutter up, or to perhaps enliven, our living environment.

How do you feel about it?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
I think that it should be an option. If you don't want EVDO you can get it for like $250. But if later you want the unlimited lifetime plan you can get it for an extra $200. OR just buy it all now for $400. Or add other kinds of data plans. Does the lifetime EVDO mean the lifetime of the user or the lifetime of the Kindle? If you buy Kindle 3.0 will you have to rebuy the EVDO plan?

Oooh, that's an excellent point. I guess though, they see it like cars - you have to put gas in a new car you buy, so you have to pay for EVDO in your new Kindle. Poor analogy, but I can see their point of view from a business standpoint.

Lol, uhhhh... we the consumers put gas in the car and we can choose where we get our gas from and how much to put into the tank The Kindle is like Shell manufacturing cars that only run on Shell fuel and you have to pre-purchase all the fuel you will ever use when you first buy the car. *smacks face against brick wall repeatedly*

Could the EVDO plan be due to the DRM nature of the books? Does it require a constant connection so that it can "phone home" and authenticate the book every time you read it? If this is so, it's certainly a delicate issue. Everyone loses to some degree with DRM, high prices, and strict anti piracy design, but with lax anti-piracy design the authors lose big time, and it's hard enough to make a living as an author as it is considering a single book can take years to write... but the obvious solution would be to keep the authentication BUT decrease the prices so that people are OK with purchasing their books electronically. Such a novel idea (pun!), but it requires the business of greed and earn earn earn to concede, kind of a tough thing to do.

I can see this. I was very impressed at how easy the light gray was on the eyes, but at the same time it'd be nice to have technology that gives you a choice. I can see some books being better with white backgrounds. Again, this is probably something that will change when color e-ink becomes mainstream, and I sure as hell don't know when that'll be.

Yeah, Color E-Ink is still in it's infancy. What I am curious about is whether or not it will replace traditional displays. For example, if you work with Photoshop...wouldn't it be nice to have a monitor that looked like the printed page, instead of a glowing, back-lit screen?

Oh gosh, here we run into lots of issues. So that it looks "like paper." What's the color temperature of the paper? Reflectivity? Glossy, Matte, Semi-Glossy? Under fluorescent, incandescent, sunlight, etc lighting? There are light boxes and special lights associated with the simple action of just reviewing simple printed photos. I can see this turning into quite the clusterfuck at first.

They're not the same. With an iPod you're paying $400 for a device that is slick, is a status symbol, is an "in" thing to get, has beautiful design, has multiple flavors, and can play (biggie!) free, pirated music that is available everywhere. And even if you buy your MP3s they are cheaper than buying them on physical media like CDs, which makes sense. The Kindle forces you to pay for a data plan that you may or may not need, the books are just as expensive as physical books, there is no developed avenue for recent, free, pirated books, and its design is goofy and has only one flavor. This is not the age of the Model T where everyone's OK with black and the concept of consumer choice isn't even an issue. Amazon's missing the design philosophy on this one.

Yup...the iPod is "cool". Amazon should take a design cue from this...reading is never going to be "trendy", but they can certainly make it more appealing. Here's a picture of the pink Kindle 2.0 from Stephen King's e-book:

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.eng...02/kindle-live-011.jpg

Tell me what grade-school girl wouldn't get that in a heartbeat to hold their textbooks on?

[/quote]

I can definitely, definitely see something like the Kindle gaining trendy status. Not so much as listening to music, but for people who want to appear more "educated" and well read than the average Joe (ie. people in Metropolitan areas and places out west like Seattle, Boulder, San Francisco, etc) they would probably gobble this stuff up. And it would be a huge hit with the ladies and with people who can list just as many favorite authors as they can list musicians (many are out there). Give them something graceful, classy, sleek, easy to use, and it's all golden. All people are willing, or would like to, pay to look good. Something that is useful but can also be artful.