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Friday, December 07, 2007

Kindle Lust

I’ve never been interested in e-reading devices. Just give me good old-fashioned paper, I always said. Then I saw Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose, talking about the new Kindle. It was the same day that the device was released, and I’ve been in a state of deep gadget lust ever since.

Maybe I was hooked by Bezos’ enthusiasm for the Kindle, which he said wouldn’t have been possible five years ago. “What is more meaningful than trying to improve the book?” said Bezos, and at that moment if I could have spent $400 in good conscience, my credit card and I would have been on Amazon’s web site.

Perhaps it’s a good thing that I have budgetary constraints, because otherwise I’m afraid that the bookstores and the office supply would see a whole lot more of me. I stopped looking at the Levenger catalog because of the sheer number of irresistible and even useful bookish/writerly knick-knacks – tempting but non-essential goodies.

But how to resist a portable library that connects and downloads thousands of books, magazines, and newspapers? Amazon’s goal is to have every book on earth available for download. Kindle is getting great reviews – it’s the new iPod of books – and the thing is selling like those proverbial hot cakes.

Guess I’d better start saving my pennies.

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