Amazon buys iPhone book app Stanza

There are alot of very well written reviews out there that touch on the Kindle 2′s features and abilities. So, I will try and limit this review to those who are on the fence about shelling out the coin to purchase and the reasons that I have bought the Kindle 2.

I am always intrigued by gadgets but almost $400 (with cover) I felt I needed to justify to myself the financial worth of buying this product.

I usually read 1-2 books a week. I figure by paying $9.99 or so per book, I probably would be saving around $3 a book. Some books I buy Hardcover in the $20-30 range and some mass market paperback around $7 or $8. In the long run I considered a conservative estimate to be around $3 per book. With taxes and the occasional Amazon shipping fee or the cost of a bookclub membership, the actually savings to me is probably closer to $5-$7 a book. Anyway using both conservative amounts of $3 and only 1 book a week I come up with a yearly savings of $156 and using the high amounts of 2 books/week and $7 my annual savings would be $728. Realistically, it is would probably be around $250-$300. So, if you read many books a month, just the cost savings alone if you purchase all of your books, as oppossed to a library, would almost justify it’s purchase.

If this sounds like you and you are still on the fence, I also took into account the ease of use of the Kindle. When I travel I usually take 3-4 books with me, as I never know the kind of reading mood I will be in at the moment. Having my complete library at my fingertips and the ability to instantly download any other additional titles from anywhere in the US is worth a few bucks in my opinion. No longer will I have to haul books around where ever I go. I was in the Army and the “hurry up and wait” mentality has made me make sure that I always have a book handy wherever I am in case of downtime.

In addition, I have discovered that most of the classics are out of copyright and therefore available for free either at Amazon or more often at the various e-book websites on the internet. This has drastically increased my reading list as I would never purchase these books on my own as I prefer modern authors if I purchase a novel. However, I will gladly read these classics for free! Plus, alot of the classics are on my daughters summer reading lists for school and I can simply download and let her borrow the Kindle to do her reading as well, at no cost.

From a financial aspect, with the amount I read it seems like a good investment on a Kindle. I might not break even, but the portability and ease of 1 click purchasing as well as nifty features like a dictionary and Wikipedia make up the difference in my opinion.

I know alot of people tend to buy books and resell them or trade them in on other titles. I realized that I am not one of these people and I usually either keep the books I buy or donate them. If you are one of the former then perhaps the Kindle is not for you as obviously in electronic form you cannot recoop any of the costs from the purchase. If you are in the latter category, then like me, you probably have an overflow of books in your house that you sometimes feel bad about buying a new one to add to the clutter. The Kindle will handle this for you as being clutter free while Amazon will keep track of all your purchases in case you need/want to download them again. (My wife will be happy about this, as she says I already have to many books lying around the house!!)

As far as some of the features go, the most gripes seem to be coming from those that are upset the Kindle has neither a backlight and/or color. Simply put, using a backlight for 15 minutes causes more eyestrain than reading under light in 8 hours. Our eyes simply are not engineered to work well under low light conditions. If you feel the need for a light, I highly recommend a flex light especially made for the Kindle. Much easier on the eyes and you can also detach and look under the couch if you lose your keys. As far as color goes, if you are reading a book with color photos or maps, the Kindle’s resolution and size simply would not portray these pictures as well as the printed source anyway. Perhaps in a few years…if this is a deal breaker then either wait for the technology to catch up or purchase books with color content the old fashion way.

I encourage you to read many other reviews to learn more about the individual features the Kindle can deliver. My main concern in purchasing was the benefits of owning vs. the cost. With my reading habits and various additional benefits of using an e-reader it turned into a no-brainer for me. If you are thinking about purchasing, but the high price has you hesitating try and answer some of the questions I had before my purchase and justify if it is the right choice for you. Only you can answer those questions no matter how many reviews you read about the features and benefits of owning one.

By the way, a large stumbling block in my decision was wether or not I could give up the “old” way of reading books and be happy with this new technology. If you feel the same way and have justified your purchase, Amazon has a 30 day policy on returns. So if you find that you just cannot enjoy looking at a screen and miss the feel of a real book, you can always return it in the time allowed. Personally, after a day of using it I feel more and more comfortable with it. I liken it to driving a friends car. Feels different than your car, but the basics are the same and after a few miles you get used to it.

Overall very happy.