Kindle - What I Want for Mother’s Day
Have you heard about the new “Kindle” from Amazon? This is a great little product, and I just love it! It’s a little device, about the size of a paperback novel, that let’s you download and read books, newspapers and magazines, as well as audio books, word files and more from your PC, etc. It features a built-in dictionary and lets you bookmark where you are, so you’ll never lose your place again. You can search for words and phrases, and add notes. You can download most new release books for about $9.99 each (a great savings over hard-copy new releases!) It uses cell phone technology instead of wi-fi, which is good because you don’t have to search around for a wi-fi hotspot, but bad, because you need to be in an area that can hook up to their network (and sorry, that’s not overseas, although you can still read the books there).
This all reminds me of the Inspector Gadget show and Penny’s computer book. I used to love that idea as a kid and couldn’t wait for computer books to become part of the real world. Well, now they are. I have travelled quite a bit, and one thing I always take with me is a book or two. Or 5. Or 20! That’s a lot of extra weight and space in my suitcase. How awesome would it be to carry a small device (Kindle) with up to 200 books on it!
Amazon also backs up your purchases through Kindle, so if your device is lost or damaged, you can still recover what you paid for (try that with books through your bookstore!).
Kindle is also green! Think of how many trees are cut down to make the paper for books. And how much electricity is used to process them, etc. I am convinced that Kindle, or something like it, is how we will read books and other “printed material” in the future.
I love the idea of Kindle. However, I think if I had nothing but Kindle I would miss some things. The feel and smell of the book in my hands as I’m reading and turning pages. The aesthetics of seeing beautiful books on the shelf. Running my hands over a hardcover edition brand new from the store, or a worn, much-loved paperback. The hushed bounty of a library full of more books than I will ever be able to read (so much different that looking through a list of 100,000 books).
At any rate, I’m telling everyone I want this for Mother’s Day. Maybe I’ll get one. 
Read all about Kindle, on Amazon’s website:
Filed under: Nothing Like a Good Book, Wow!