There are not many things that Oprah and I agree on, but when I heard her endorsement of the Kindle, I felt like we were nerds united. “I’m telling you, it is absolutely my new favorite thing in the world,” Oprah said. Sing it, sister!
I’ve always worn my friend-imposed “Early Adopter” moniker with pride. But as I get older, or perhaps just busier, my desire to experiment with half-baked gadgets has decreased at a rapid rate. These days my gadgets have to improve the workflow of my life.
At this year’s SXSW event in March, I had the chance to talk to Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos at length about the Amazon Kindle; the device, the business model, and the future. Bezos’ clear enthusiasm for the device and the platform amped up my own interest purchasing a Kindle, but I’d heard some pretty hefty and repeated usability concerns about the device. For six months, I swallowed my gadget lust and remained steady in goal of holding off until their new, and certainly improved version 2 was launched.
But in September, two things happened that let loose that gadget lust and jump into the e-Book fold:
1. Amazon offered a $100 credit towards a Kindle purchase.
Update from Lionel: I just saw this tweet from @elseash. If you enter code OPRAHWINFREY during the Amazon checkout process, you can get another $50 off. Thanks Stephanie!
2. I once again found myself having to decide between which book to take on a trip, the one I was about to finish or a new one that would last the full trip.
After nearly two months of incredibly heavy usage, I’m hooked. Here’s a few reasons why I’m supporting the hype.
Reading Speed Increases
I’ve always been a slow reader. My eyes are…let’s say… not the best. Books used to take me forever to finish. I’m finishing books on the Kindle at a far more rapid pace than anytime in my life. And on top of that, I don’t get sleepy when I read on the Kindle like I do in print. If you need to read a lot of materials for work, speed is a significant issue.
Portable Library
It’s surprising how powerful it is to have a collection of reading materials along with you as you sit on a plane or in an airport waiting area. I read mostly non-fiction, but after a 4 hour weather delay, plus airport terminal food, plus grumpy staff, I might not want to read non-fiction. Perhaps a spy novel, a blog, or a magazine is more my speed at that moment. All those PDF whitepapers you’ve been collecting but never gotten around to reading? Now you can catch up by emailing them to your special Kindle email address and reading them in transit.
Weight Reduction
As you know, I’m obsessed with weight reduction when I travel. Have your Kindle enables you to bring along 15 books, 6 blogs, and 3 magazines without adding additional weight or bulk to your bag. Whether you’re heading to an airport terminal or a working session at Starbucks, your Kindle comes with you without concern for size or weight.
Content Sampling
One of the coolest things about the Kindle is how easy it is to try a free sample of every book in the Amazon Kindle Store. Not sure you want to buy the book? Request a sample be sent to your device and start reading it. When you reach the end of the sample, purchase the full version through the device itself. (One nit: Amazon could make this “upgrade” process drastically easier)
Cheaper, Searchable, Bookmarkable Books
When you buy as many books as I do, cutting costs is always a good thing. Most Kindle books are significantly cheaper than their physical counterparts. And the best part about Kindle books is that they’re searchable and bookmarkable. If you do a lot of work related reading, it’s great to be able to dogear pages to review later in a way that’s far easier to organize and recall.
Now don’t get me wrong, the Kindle is absolutely a version 1.0 device. The physical layout of the buttons make it very, very easy to mistakenly skip pages just by handling it, the keyboard response time on screen is atrocious, the software usability is still a bit questionable, and the back panel pops off accidentally way too easily.
But those things really don’t matter. The experience with the device is so overwhelmingly positive that I find myself putting up with those concerns without complaint.
There’s been a lot of debate about whether readers will “curl up with an e-reader” like they do with a book, but this is a fairly pointless discussion. Reading isn’t about what’s being held in your hands, as much as we’ve come to believe that. Reading is about the ideas and stories you’re absorbing. Within a few dozen pages of Kindle reading, I didn’t once think “this isn’t paper, but that book is”.
Despite Dan Farber’s belief that Amazon isn’t sharing unit sales numbers because they aren’t selling many devices, the days of the e-reader are lighting up. After years of false starts, half-baked devices, and minimal content libraries, the Kindle platform (the device and the store and the marketing campaign) is already bringing e-reading to the mainstream.
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Nomad Contributors
by Linda M Au / October 27, 2008
Totally agree with you. New Kindle owner here, having seen on firsthand back in July. On a recent trip to London, I took 4-5 paperbacks and 3-4 magazines for the 8-hr flight. But early in the trip I realized I suddenly didn’t want to read ANY of them and wished I’d brought other ones along.
Now, with the Kindle, next month when I go on a cruise I can bring 200+ books with me (at almost no weight) and not have to worry about not having anything to read.
Also, I never buy first-generation technology. Nev-verr. But I’ve been doing my homework for months now and saw no reason to wait any longer. And I’m glad I didn’t wait. This is one of the few gadgets I’ve bought that actually *exceeds* my expectations.
Amazing, Amazon.
by Pascal Venier / October 28, 2008
Do you mean “Oprah and I”?
by Jim Storer / October 31, 2008
You might have just sold another one. I’ve been on the fence for a while, despite hearing mostly positive reviews from friends and colleagues. Thanks for the great post Jake!
Jim | @jstorerj
by Jake McKee / October 31, 2008
@Jim Good! I say just do it. You’ll love it.
@Pascal - Yeah, probably so. But it sounds more fun like it is