In my customary opine first, bother to get the facts later style - I did do due diligence on the Kindle last night after I predicted that it will win the browser wars. After much research I stand by that conclusion with all the certainty of a United States government that will actually do something for not to the American people.
No really - I still believe it and here's why. I found a quote from Jeff Bezos who was answering critics who say you can read books on your iPhone, etc. He said essentially that no one who spends a great deal of time doing an activity will mind buying a device designed for the job. I.E. the form factor and screen are a better read than your phone. I have to go with him on this. First, I don't want to miss a call from a client because I read "The Fountainhead". My cell battery is a precious commodity. Second, my eyes can't take it. I bought two physical paper books (yes 2) earlier this week so I could have them with me and read at leisure. If I had had the Kindle, I could have probably saved a significant amount off the price of the paper, saved a few trees, had a smaller carbon footprint (YES I believe electronic delivery in total uses less power than creating and delivering a paper copy), and had a lighter more convenient way to read the book.
Okay before you start to think Amazon is paying me, let me give you a few of the downside points.
The screen is 600x800 and the format of the book is a limited HTML coding. You can't control how much is on a page because the user can change the font size. Their is a learning curve to making a Kindle book. The system memory is not expandable and the battery is straight out of Jobs school of no user replaceable battery (which after using an iPhone for a year with zero problems I'm not so freaked about). I say always do this with gadget. Calculate your daily costs for 1 year. If $0.98 a day seems high to own one. Don't buy it.
Making your own content for the Kindle is really easy. Really. You do have to reformat your existing work probably.
I foresee a day when the Kindle 6 is the modern equivalent of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and we all have one that we use to figure out how to set the clock on our HD DVRs.
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