Amazon Kindle

Over the summer Oprah Winfrey received a gift that 'changed her life.' The device is an electronic reader, specifically Amazon's Kindle. Before Oprah's big discovery, I had heard of Amazon's Kindle, I had a good idea what it could do, and I have even seen one in the hands of a faculty member in my building. But I wanted to explore it more.

Amazon boasts that it offers more than 190,000 magazine, book, newspaper and blog titles. To learn about the pros of owning a Kindle, go to Amazon's website. Some of the pros (from Gadgetsnoop.com) include:

• Amazon and books are peas in a pod, the user experience seems carefully crafter to lead to smooth downloading and reading workflow



• The form factor is interesting, the screen similar in size to a book and the e-ink technology looks like it offers a grayscale rendering, and it’s light



• The eBooks are less expensive is some cases, than buying and shipping the paper counterpart - there’s a definite “Green” notion to this.



• The battery is user-replaceable (cough - Apple, get a clue)



• No subscriptions or additional fees, beyond the cost of the device, for wireless access, 1yr warranty



• Promised >1 min. downloads



• USB 2.0 connectivity for PC and Mac, but does not require a computer



• Email documents and images to the device, read blogs and newspapers

David Fowler, a blogger, touches on the downside of a Kindle:

• Poor visual appeal: Black text on a dingy grey background instead of white; brief screen blackout for each page turn; device looks like old technology.



• Clunky scroll wheel for navigating; Kindle would benefit from touch-screen technology such as used by Apple.



• Lack of real page numbers limits use for students needing to provide footnotes for quotes.



• Frequent page turns are tiring; difficult to “pre-read” a chapter or know how many pages to go in a chapter; not a great device for reading long books.