Look what Santa (i.e. Sarah) got me!
I’ve been on the fence about the eBook thing, not because I am so fiercely loyal to dead trees, or that I see it as some sort of threat to the publishing industry. My main gripe about the Kindle is that it provides such a great reading experience, plus the ability to one-click a ton of books from Amazon’s catalog, which is essentially like locking a heroin junkie in a narcotics factory. But now that one is in my hands, let the floodgates open.
First impressions: this thing is amazingly light. I think it weighs about as much as my phone. Also, the screen is shockingly clear, especially when I’m sitting in bed with a light over my shoulder. It would not work in a no-light situation, as it is not backlit, but if you can read a book, you can read this screen. It is so amazingly crisp though – it looks more like the fake display sticker they put on an LCD that you peel off to reveal the actual screen.
The first book I bought was On the Road. It took me about 60 seconds end-to-end, and I was staring at the pages in my hand. They also have a service where you can email yourself a PDF at a special address, and for 15 cents a meg, they will reformat it and zap it over the air to you. I did this with Rumored to Exist and for three nickels, had a copy on my kindle, perfectly readable.
(Hint to other Kindle owners: you can download any of my books for free and zap them over to your kindle. The complete Konrath library will cost maybe a buck and some change. Or you can email it to another address (prepend .free to the domain name) and it will do the convert, but you get it next time you sync with your PC. I have not tried this one yet.)
Anyway, I really like it. It will be perfect when I’m stuck in airports this holiday season…