Trying to Like the Amazon Kindle

If you are looking for an electronic book reader, the Amazon Kindle is head and shoulders above the competition. But the question really is, do you want an electronic book reader.

The Amazon Kindle resting on its antecedent

I really wanted to like the Kindle, with its E Ink high resolution display that gives an almost print-like appearance, free wireless connectivity (limited to the U.S. because it uses Sprint’s EVDO network, and post modern interpretation of, well, a book.

But I found the experience of reading a book or newspaper on the Kindle strangely unsatisfying.

At 10.3 ounces (without the cover), the Kindle felt heavier than a trade paperback book although it is similarly sized. The E Ink technology takes a second to refresh when you change pages (it fades to black and blinks), which interrupts the flow of reading and is quite jarring. (On the plus side, you can read the Kindle in direct sunlight so there are pluses and minuses to the display technology).

While reading a book on the Kindle was somewhat akin to reading a book on paper, reading a newspaper was unsettling if you like to scan stories as opposed to having one average less than a full paragraph visible at one time.

Navigating through the Amazon.com store was relatively easy and a big plus of electronic book reader technology is that you can quickly download sample chapters of books you might want to read before making a purchase.

You can bookmark interesting or key passages and edit and export notes. You can also e-mail documents to the Kindle including PDF files. The Kindle always saves your place so you can pick up where you left off. Newspapers, which are normally free on the Web, require a paid subscription on the Kindle (the New York Times costs $13.99 a month) so you are paying for convenience but many books (more than 130,000 available) are $9.99, a bargain. Finally, if you lose your Kindle as opposed to a throwaway paper or paperback book, well…

You can purchases the Kindle at Amazon.com

–Jonathan B. Spira is the Editor of Executive Road Warrior and Chief Analyst at Basex, a knowledge economy research firm.