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Do Boomers want Kindles? Ooo, I do, I do!

Yes, I agree, Amazon’s Kindle e-reader is still too expensive. (Have you seen the price? It’s “down” to $359.00) C’mon, guys, can’t you get it down under $200? We respond well to that $199 figure. Studies show.

I love the way the San Francisco Chronicle displayed their article on the Kindle. Glancing through the Saturday paper (which I bought for fifty cents out of one of those charming old creaky metal newspaper stands) I noticed the article and set it aside for later. This morning, I was looking for it. I saw the image of the Kindle there, and the headline, but where’s the article? Hah. They put it right into the image, on the Kindle screen. I thought, “Oh! That’s what it’s like to read the paper on a Kindle! Very clever.”

But no. According to the article, that’s not how newspapers appear on the Kindle. At least not for Bob Garofoli, who reported on it. There are still lots of glitches in this new e-reader. But we’re making headway, folks! People fall in love with this thing!

Authors may be happy about the progress, too, since it might mean more people will download and read books. Like fiction. Really, that’s what they’re saying. In spite of the potential conflicts with royalties and revenues.

But um, it costs ten bucks to buy an e-book for Kindle. I still trundle down the hill to the library, where I check out an armload of books for free, and trundle back up wondering why I didn’t bring the car.

Okay, so, there are lots of other things you can do with Kindle. It gives you some cool computer functions without having to lug your laptop around. You can make notes on passages in books, look up things on Wikipedia, and clip things to read later.  

But wait. I’m reading about Kindle out here on the patio this morning. I snipped the article out and put the rest of the paper in the recycle stack. I’m marking bits of it with my pen. I like all of that an awful lot.

I think I’m talking myself out of an e-reader. Note to Amazon Kindle: How about you send me one, and I can use it and fall in love with it too, and then I can write a glowing piece for Kindle? Because I don’t think the current buzz is doing much for you.

We’d all love to hear from devotees of the Kindle. Now would be good.

Suzanna
P.S. Here's a blog by Walt Shiel with more illumination on responses to Kindle-dom.