Seems like a great device. My only question is why can't they make one that just connects to a computer wirelessly or even with a wire. Some of us will only use it for just the one purpose of reading a book. I have no problem just hooking to a computer to get my fix. Then they could get rid of the keyboard. I bet they could lower the price then. Everyone is spending to much time trying to pack every bell and whistle they can think of into every new gadget.

I'm thinking I'll stick with the free app and my ipod touch. It cost less than the kindle and does a lot more...

That picture at the top of the review makes it look terribly uncomfortable to hold.

Nice review. Great pictures, too, I might add. Unfortunately Amazon caved in on the text-to-speech feature, though certainly understandable... In any case, Amazon appears to be quite serious about ebooks this time. We will probably see faster advancements in this area in the near future as competition heats up.

While I am very interested in Kindle, I am still waiting for these books to be DRM free. It's just so much easier and "thought-free" when I don't have to worry about DRM and how I use something. The higher the resolution, the better it is too. We are nowhere near true 300-dpi but that's a technical limitation at this point.

Speaking of DRM-free, Amazon does have an awesome MP3 store that is DRM-free with a large selection and often good prices. It would be nice if they had the same thing with books.

On the note about Amazon, I recently came across an interesting table that details the discounts on Amazon.

It is at http://www.uberi.com

Maybe someone will find it useful too.

Certainly is nifty, and the technology's coming right along, though I'm still not certain that the high price still doesn't make the public library the better option. In any case, it probably won't be all that long before the price comes down enough to make these more universally accessible and useful. At the same time, though, libraries are still there when the network goes down and the power goes out.

I would truly love to be able to carry around so many books in one device, but the price is still too much for me.

I look forward to when it is affordable to the average person and also when you can upload your own pdf versions of books collected over the years.

Obviously that is not a priority with Amazon, but I can see the benefit.

This looks amazing and by the time I can afford one, there may be even more perks available.

Re: "We only wish there were a page-turn button directly under the screen"

No, I don't like that idea at all. That is where my thumb rests when I'm reading in bed... thumb in that spot and index finger up the side of it. When the K2 is above your head, that point helps keep it in the air.

I've been researching a lot of books that I want to read that are already Kindle ready and they cost way more than the actual paperback.

Take for example the Xanth books are $5.59 (it was $7 something but I see they lowered the price) but the paperback for A Spell for Chameleon is $3.95, The Source of Magic is $4.95. I don't see the value there. If the Kindle version were less than the paperback then it would be worth it to me.

For me I still cannot justify spending $360 so I will still have to wait a bit. I'm currently saving $30 a month so when the Kindle 3 comes out I can buy it, hopefully it will be down in price by then.

I think the Kindle 2 is an absolutely brilliant idea and feat of technology, and I would love to get one (if I had the money), merely to test it out, but there is just something so... **visceral** about holding a book in one's hands... Part of the experience of reading, at least for me, is not just the content of the page, but the feel and texture of the book; the smell of the glue and the paper; the yellowish glow of the pages; the small tears near the binding at the top of the last few pages... It's not just what's on the page that makes the book, but also its **personality**. There truly is nothing like the feel, sight, or smell of an old friend or a new companion...

Now that isn't to say the Kindle is bad, nor that I dislike it; I most certainly do like it. But I don't think it would ever truly supplant the standing paperbacks and hardcovers have in my life.

While I see this is emerging technology, I prefer my own free version: Microsoft eReader for my smartphone with Windows Mobile. I can set bookmarks, change font sizes, make notes/annotations, turn pages either way with just one button push, and since it's on my phone, it's always with me, though it IS a much smaller screen. It's backlit according to my own preferences, and I can create my own ebooks using ReaderWorks (free for basic functions), including reference documents that might be easier to read as a book than in Word. I can upload them to my phone from my computer either with a synch cord or wi-fi, and since my smartphone is an AT&T Tilt, I have a QWERTY keyboard. It'll be a long time before I'd consider spending that kind of money for a Kindle. But your mileage may vary.

There is always one question that i keep thinking about whenever i read about Kindle 2.

Can i transfer any personal files into the device using a USB connection? Do i need to necessarily go through the 10 cent fee using the kindle email? how many files can i anyways transfer using the "name"@free.kindle.com thing?

or am i mixing 2-3 things here?

Make it colour e-ink, loose drm and keyboard and I'll buy one.

If there is no prodution overhead to worry about why do ebooks cost so much more than a paperback. A standard price of $5 or less for each ebook seems more reasonable than some of the prices I've seen. I remember when I first looked into getting ebooks some of them cost almost as much as a hardback. Maybe I'm missing something someone could explain to me.

Thats too bad about the text to speech, as the tech has come a long way. Check out AT&T TTS demo and hear how natural synthetic voices can be: http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php

Everyone complains about the $359 price tag every time the Kindle 2 is mentioned anywhere. If all you were getting for that price was the reader, as with Sony, then yes it would be a bit high. For $359, though, you get the reader AND you get FREE 3G service, so you can shop for and download your books directly to the device without having to be tied to a computer. As we all know, a monthly data plan can get pretty expensive over time, so to have it included free is well worth the $359. You'd easily pay much more than that if you had to sign up for a data plan separately, so the device will pay for itself much sooner than having to buy 50 books. It should pay for itself in just a matter of a few months.

Overall, I think the Kindle 2 is a great improvement over the original, and the iPhone app is a great addition as well, if you own the iPhone or iPod touch. The missing SD card slot would have been nice to leave in, but I suspect they had to make some sacrifices in order to make it slimmer, add in the other upgrades, and keep the cost the same as it was before. Besides, 2GB (1.4GB free)is plenty of space to store your books, and you can remove them and add them back as needed, since Amazon stores them for you, and keeps them available to you all the time. Until someone else starts offering a reader with free 3G, a huge selection of books like Amazon offers, and free online storage of the content you purchase, the Kindle 2 is the best reader out there, and well worth the price.

IZZARDFAN: I was in the same boat as you and for a long time, read books on Microsoft eReader. I thought the Kindle looked kind of cool, but I wasn't about to drop $360 on something that does what I can already do with a laptop of WinMo device. Then the company I work for bought all of us Kindles for our holiday present (delivered long after the holidays due to waiting for the Kindle 2). Well, I got it and planned on selling on eBay or CraigsList, but thought that I'd take it for a spin just to see what the hype was about. A couple of hours later, I decided that I'm going to keep it. The reading experience was just so much better than off of a laptop or other mobile device. The E-Ink looks great and doesn't strain my eyes like a traditional display does. I've got to say, I'm sold on the thing. Of course, Xanapus is correct in that the books need to become cheaper. Like Xanapus, I've found paperbacks much cheaper in a lot of instances. One bonus is that you can read .Mobi books on the thing, and I've got quite a few in that format, so all is not lost.

This is a wonderful device. It actually is very, very comfortable to hold. Imagine if you were holding a 500 page novel. Using the Kindle would be less strain to you.

While storage of 1500 books is large, I wonder if there is the ability to plug and play to a storage device just in case I'd have more than that or if I'd want to transfer already bought e-books, not just those bought directly from amazon.

The Kindle is damn near perfect for me, especially after I rigged an LED lamp to illuminate its screen under less-than perfect conditions. I also got the leather case, and herein is the flaw that is irritating me somewhat; The previous page button is on the left side, and is awkward to reach unless you fold the case cover back, which i don't like to do when I've got an LED lamp hanging off the back. I think swapping the home and prev. page buttons would have worked ... it's not like you use the Home button that much.

As for e-books, I've found a lot of DRM-free books (as well as some that's outright FREE) over at Webscription.net. If you're a sci-fi enthusiast, head on over there. Be sure to check out the Baen Free Library (shameless plug).

Adams4000: The Sony PRS-550 uses the same technology as the Kindle but with no wireless or keyboard (and a lower price). Also, ebook pricing and availability is very uneven from publisher to publisher. Baen books has the best policies on ebooks - good prices and DRM free. Comparing ebook readers against cell phones: the big wins for devices like the Kindle or Sony are readability and battery life.

Nice Article. Adams4000 brings up my major contention... $359 and then I seem to pay more than a paperback for the books. This bothered me at first until I realized that you basically have FREE 3G wireless on this device for life. You are not limited to ONLY reading books or newpapers. Granted, websites are in B&W and is really best suited for text oriented websites, but I own web capable cell phones and those kinds of services are far from free, and really don't function well on tiny screens... Kindle makes the mobile web much more a reality. So, if you lose the keyboard... you lose the web.

Because the question has been repeated so often I feel I need to mention this:

The Kindle can and does connect as a USB mass storage device to your computer with the included cable and works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

I'll be the first to buy a Kindle when the ebook prices are lower than the price of a paperback book.

As other commentors have mentioned, it costs money to print a hardcover or paperback book and therefore the price of those items is justified, but there is no cost to produce millions of digital ebook copies. It would be fine if publishers set a fair price that allowed both the author and the publisher to make a profit on each ebook, but charging more than the cost of a paperback is just plain ridiculous.

I enjoy the tactile experience of holding and reading a book, as well as the option to loan the book to friends and family when I'm done with it, so Amazon is not going to convert me until they give me some other incentive to buy the electronic version instead of the printed version.

It seems like a really cool technology and all that, but it's so expensive and misses out on some of the most book-ish features. You can't lend a book to someone else with a kindle, you can't borrow from a kindle library, and does it cost money to read blogs? Seems to me that they're double and quadruple dipping into their customers' wallets.

There are many other brands of e-books availble (Sony, Bookeen, etc.). Most are cheaper and smaller then the Kindle, and some of file formats the books are delivere in run cheaper. Shop arround for the best one for you

I've had mine for a few weeks now, and I LOVE it. Whispernet is a cinch. Also, it supports .pdf's, and several other filetypes, so as long as it doesnt have to convert the file, you can email for free. Also, you can usb connect and use as a portable (2gB) hdd. If you order, go ahead and spring for the $30 for the leather case. After I got it, i felt a lot less paranoid of dropping my kindle2.

The prices of the ebooks are cheaper than the list prices of the hardcopy books. Bestsellers are $9.99 (hardcover). Most paperbacks I've seen are between $4-6. I've been paying around $8.99 for most of my new paperbacks at B&N.

wow, its amazing.I wish i would have it

I purchased my Kindle after Christmas and received it in early February. This is hands down one of the greatest purchases I have ever made, I use it every single day. Not only is it easier to read and carry around rather than a traditional book but I've saved MORE than the cost of the device. Books are a lot cheaper (some as cheap as $1.00) and also by Amazon.com allowing you to sample books first you don't get stuck buying something that gets boring after 3 chapters. I think this is one of the greatest products and I can't WAIT for a 24" x 36" version to use at the office for blueprints if they ever invent one!