Amazon's Kindle..worth the buy?

Lately I've been really looking at the Amazon Kindle. I'm always on the move, and get tired of taking a few books..always unsure of which one I'll feel like reading if I'm bored, etc. I just noticed that they have Cisco books in Kindle format, so that's a huge plus for me, being able to study wherever I'm at. I'm also attracted by the lack of monthly fees and charges. The $399 price is a little much, and I would like PDF support..but I'm not looking for a laptop replacement...

What do you all think? I'm leaning towards purchasing it, but that pricetag is a bit tough to get over it. If you haven't looked at it, here is a link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/ref=sv_kinc_0/104-2414987-8923903

So far the reviews I have read show that battery lasts on average about 4 days, takes about 20 minutes to charge up, and is very comfortable to read with. The downsides I've heard are lack of PDF support, no backlight, and the price.

Just curious to see if anyone else has thought of buying one.

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Comments

BeaverC32

I thought of buying one, but I am always careful not to purchase new items like this until after they have been out for a year or so. I'll most likely wait for a "Kindle 2.0" until I spend that kind of money, because it is likely that the few complaints/issues on the product will be addressed.

It does look like a very useful item, and I love the idea that you can download books from just about anywhere.

cisco_trooper

You might try a safari subscription.....

safari.informit.com

royal

Been looking at Safari, but they don't have Sybex or Syngress. Plus, they don't seem to get new books fast enough.

Darthn3ss

So, if you were to buy a book with the kindle... say whatever book for $55, would they send you the hard cover or just digital delivery?

royal

Darthn3ss wrote:

So, if you were to buy a book with the kindle... say whatever book for $55, would they send you the hard cover or just digital delivery?

It's digital only and it's cheaper than the physical copy of the book, not to mention better for the environment (if you care).

Darthn3ss

well.. its not really that much cheaper. I guess it all depends on coverage and if theres any sort of guarantee on the service. that would suck to buy one of those and then in a year amazon ends its deal with sprint for access to the network or something.

JDMurray

Leo Laporte sure loves his Amazon Kindle. He reads all his digital books and newspaper subscriptions on it. If it played audio books from Audigy.com he'd probably never leave his house. Here are some of his PodCasts where he's raved about it:

MacBreak Weekly 67: Kindle-ing The Flame

MacBreak Weekly 68: The Waffle-Making Robot

Daily Giz Wiz 472: Amazon Kindle

Also check out Hacking the Kindle and Kindle disassembly and internals blog pages.

Mrock4

I have a free Books 24x7 subscription, which is pretty cool, but consists mostly of technical books (and not any newer cisco press stuff), but the portability of the kindle is great. I checked coverage for my current location, and where I'm heading to in May, and the coverage looks outstanding in both locations.

Anyone heard of when an updated version may be released? I suspect with the original just coming out, it'll probably be at least a few months till we hear word.

I'm going to have to check out some of those links posted about the Kindle.

hypnotoad

I find that for e-books, a cheapo XP laptop with acrobat reader is all you need.

networker050184

I think I will check this out after it has been out for a while. Like BeaverC32 stated I'll wait for the next edition so they can work out all the kinks with the system and the service.