I recently read a review of the Amazon Kindle on BlogNButter.com. The Kindle is a nice idea… but Amazon charges a conversion fee for every DOC, TXT file or PDF you want to put on your device. Since the Sprint connection charges are built-in to the purchase fee, these seems really petty. RSS and newspaper subscriptions are also on a pay-as-you-go basis, which is a shame. I’d use Kindle if unlimited RSS reading was bundled into the purchase price.
US$399 is a steep price tag, especially when the Kindle was on backorder for several weeks after its initial release. Amazon has the Kindle back in stock, and I won’t be ordering one any time soon.
If Amazon really wanted customers like me to use the device, they’d give me a free Kindle. I buy enough books from Amazon every year, after all. We can’t get Amazon Prime here in Hawaii, but we still get free shipping on most orders over US$25. I’d rather get the content through a device.
If the Kindle does survive, expect the price to drop through the floor within 2 years. As I mentioned on 24 March 2008, Kindle would be a great tool for students if the content was free. Perhaps universities could build the textbook charges into the usual fees that get tacked onto tuition bills.
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