I've just changed the poll on the panel to the right. The new question is whether you would buy a Kindle, the "wireless reading device" (pictured) just launched by Amazon. The Kindle can hold up to 200 e-books and has a screen that "looks and reads like real paper".The reason I'm blogging about the Kindle is because I'm in disagreement with our web editor as to whether the device will be a commercial success. I don't want to influence your opinion, so all I can say now is that one of us believes it will, the other believes it won't.
If you want to find out more about the Kindle before making up your mind, check out Amazon's Kindle product overview or the Wikipedia Kindle page. There's also information on Wikipedia about other E-book devices.
Anyway, I'd love to hear your opinion.
9 comments:
'If you want out more'??...well somebody was going to say it, might as well be me! ;)
Oops, Blogger sometimes mysteriously inserts errors into my posts! I shall have to write and complain.
(thanks)
The Kindle versus the book.
One is small, lightweight, easily portable, hard to damage, can be passed onto friends, is cheap, readily available at shops everywhere, doesn't require plugging into the wall periodically to get it to work, doesn't cost money to run, won't cost you a fortune if you lose it, and is available in a variety of attractive designs and sizes.
The other one is the Kindle.
Incidentally, has there ever been a more stupid name for a literary device than the Kindle? I wouldn't have thought that associating the idea of books with the idea of burning was a particularly clever one.
If you are interested in the Kindle, it's also worth checking out the Gizmodo.com review.
I would not buy one, now I know what one is.
If there is a lengthy document online, I print it off. Too many people prefer the printed page. The people who buy this will be people who "must have" the latest gimmick. There will also be women, whose husbands buy last minute Xmas pressies in possesion of them.
Just for the record, the Engine Room poll on 'Would you buy a Kindle?' recorded:
Yes 0
No 19
Maybe 2
Have done already 0
What's a Kindle? 8
So don't keep us in suspense. You started by saying that you and your Web editor had different opinions: so which of you thought the Kindle was a good idea, and which of you was less keen? And have either of you revised your opinion as a result of the comments on this article or, indeed, other reviews?
OK, OK. I was the one who was less keen on the Kindle, for many of the reasons you (Gareth) gave earlier on in this comment thread...
The web editor and I still broadly hold our original positions - but I do think the fact that 0 of the 29 respondents to the poll would on current evidence buy a Kindle supports my argument! Admittedly, one of those 29 was me...
Time will tell, however.
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