Is this the end of the printed book?

[mjs1973]

I dought it. Amazon anounced it's new electronic reading device called the Kindle yesterday. My first reaction when I saw it yesterday was, what a waste, they are going to loose their a$$ big time on this piece of crap. Today I watched a couple videos on it, and now I'm not so sure. It's a lot slimmer than I had originally thought. I still think the device is going to flop, but I'm sure some people will have to have one. I know I am not one of those people, especially at $400.

Is the Kindle going to change the way you purchase and read books, magazines, newspapers and blogs?

[another view]

10 years from now we'll laugh about it, and 20 years from now technology collectors will want one. I'm thinking the same thing as you - noticed it yesterday and saw the 2-1/2 star overall review rating. I don't think that's totally fair because (without checking it out) these can't be people who really own it and have used it - seeing as it was on the day it came out.

I still like printed books but downloading them on a Palm is a great way to carry a book on a camping trip for a rainy day (especially seeing as my Palm is pretty out dated and worth less than the price of a paperback).

[mjs1973]

The 2-1/2 star rating struck me as odd too. I did read a couple of them that said they were in a test group and had been using one for a few weeks. I'm guessing most of the 300+ reviews are from people who have never seen one.

[SmartWombat]

books need no batteries.
until you have an electronic device that works with no external power source.
Books will be superior for just that one reason.

http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/57946/detail/

[mwfanelli2]

You know, the real problem with ebooks is DRM. There are so many formats, so many DRM schemes, that you can easily lose whatever investment you have when something goes wrong.

I was one of those who purchased the original Rocket E-Book so many years ago. I loved it. But when they went out of business, all the books I had purchased were instantly rendered useless and unreadable. Later on, I decided Microsoft's Reader was a good choice. Look at where that has gone (hint: flush!).

No matter how good the electronic reader, paper books don't have DRM, you don't need a device locked into one or a very few vendors, you don't need batteries, and paper books can be read, literally, a 1000 years into the future (just as ancient scrolls are read today.).

Paper books are a hard act to follow, Kindle, although clever and glossy, is just one of a long line of pretenders.