Ok, so I’m thinking about this now. They’re selling a lot of new books at $9.99, which is cheaper than Sony sells theirs for.
But with Sony, I download to my computer. This means that I can download lots more than I actually can fit onto my reader. Then, just like with an iPod, I manage the books, putting the ones I want to read on the reader, and saving the rest for later.
But the Kindle downloads directly to the device. What happens when your memory is full? Can you store the files elsewhere? I know you can add a memory card, so I guess you could store books on memory cards as you go.
But is that really the supposed model? Or do they figure that people will pay for the book, download it, then discard it when they’ve finished with it? I like the idea of keeping them, and not having to use SD cards to do it.
Hmmm.
If they were smart, they’d let you store them on your personal Amazon Library space ($2/month for 500 books), and let you download them again whenever you want ($0.10 per download bandwidth charge).
If they were REALLY smart, they’d let me have one for free so that I’d review it on my blog.
I thought you prefer the big, leather bound books?
I do like books that feel good, and that look good, and that will last a long time. (Btw, I don’t mind leatherbound books, but they’re not my first choice, usually.)
But there’s also a time and place for something extremely convenient. These Readers let me take a boatload of books on a plane without having to heft them. Or they let me read what would be a huge volume, but I can hold it in one hand.
I also think that the $9.99 price is an introductory thing to get people to buy a Kindle. Amazon is probably subsidizing that price.