Get a Kindle 2 for $299. Or, better yet...
The Kindle is a bit more affordable at $299, but there are still cheaper alternatives.
(Credit: Amazon)As you may have heard, Amazon just dropped the price of the Kindle 2 to $299.
As a fan of A) e-books, B) gadgets, and C) deals, I'm pleased--but I still think there are better, cheaper alternatives. Hear me out.
For starters, the 8GB iPod Touch does waaaay more than the Kindle (you don't really need me to list everything, do you? Music, videos, games, Internet, apps of all kinds...), but costs just $229. Heck, get a refurb for $179--I just did.
Obviously the Touch has a smaller screen than the Kindle, but it's also a backlit touch screen. Just yesterday I spent the better part of a five-hour flight reading an e-book on my iPhone (via the Kindle app, ironically). No eyestrain, no headaches, no problem. Try it before you pooh-pooh it. (I also routinely read in bed with it. Can't do that with the Kindle unless there's a light on.)
Here's an even more radical idea: buy a Netbook. As regular Cheapskate readers know, it's not uncommon to find models selling for as low as $200, sometimes even less.
And with a couple minor tweaks, it's a simple matter to turn your Netbook into a Kindle. Yes, I know, it's heavier and bulkier--but it's also a full-blown computer!
My goal here is not to trash the Kindle, which I think is a terrific device. (Anything that encourages reading is aces in my book.) In fact, it's even more terrific now that you can (cheap plug alert!) read the Cheapskate blog on it.
But $299 is still too high, at least for me. (Amazon needs to lower its e-book prices, too, but that's a gripe for another day.) What about you? How much would you pay for a Kindle?
Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog. 
At the time, Sony offered 100 free classic books (from a list exceeding 300 titles), a $50 discount if you shipped them old textbooks, $25 credit against eBooks on their store and a further $25 credit to cover the cost of shipping the textbooks. $250 Canadian is a decent deal. I feel I received value for my money and more importantly: I'm reading again.
I also purchased "Classics", an iPhone app loaded with 20 classic books. Before I started reading on my Reader, I thought it was amazing. Now, I can't bother to even turn the application on. It's like using an abacus after you tried a calculator.
Display, battery power, external memory, video conferencing, skype, video codec support, free apps, solid wireless reception... you name it, almost everything is better on the n810. I prefer fbReader on the n810 to any ebook reader I've seen for iphone. You can even take the backlight almost completely down for nighttime reading when you don't want to bug the spouse.
How much would you pay for a Netbook with unlimited wireless? Right now, the cheapest is $721, for Sprint's 99c netbook with $60/month wireless for two years on contract, which means a full $1,442 plus taxes and fees.
Verizon and AT&T charge $200 for the Netbook plus $60/mo. for the less-restricted web access for a minimum of a 2-year wireless contract. That's $1,642 then.
The annotation, search, and inline-dictionary features are worth something as they work very well.
The wireless is not just for the bookstore. Amazon pre-sets web bookmarks for the usual places, CNN, BBC, Yelp, ESPN, E!, Fandago, and more persistently throughout the display of books, access to Google and Wikipedia for searching words beyond your current book and the Kindle itself...
We then add URLS of interest to us.
- Andrys
kindleworld.blogspot.com
So I agree with you Rick, my iPhone meets my needs for now, and it is far from perfect, but it is practical and multi-functional for what I want to do.
One more thing - I have never understood the argument that something is "too expensive." It may be too expensive for your particular budget, but that doesn't mean that it's too expensive for the market place. Supply and demand will determine whether something is "too expensive." A Lamborghini is too expensive for me, but it's still a great car.
And the only reader I need? My hands.
And, for reasons stated elsewhere, I vastly prefer reading on the kindle to paperbacks, and I've read hundreds of paperbacks over my lifetime. To each their own, but I would encourage everyone to at least try the kindle (or another e-reader) if someone you know has one.
Have you seen how much these publishers are charging for eBooks? They cost more than hardcopy! I suspect this old-fashioned industry is terrified of this new technology and is quietly trying to choke it out by charging unfathomable prices. They argue that most of a book's cost is in promotion - that physical production is a negligible expense. But a negligible expense is not a negative number that drives the cost up when it's removed. How can an ebook on ebooks.com cost 65% more than the hardcopy on Amazon if the same promotional costs went into both?
I'm interested to see how publishers will (or won't) survive over the next decade. Their product is more at risk to copying - and the audience for written content - legal or illegal - is shrinking.
In my opinion, hardcore readers still prefer a physical book vs. the ebook.
As someone who has gone from buying $1000s of books a year to now buying in the low 100s SOLELY due to having no more space for books, Kindle looks like a killer app for me, but it is still too much. After all, I'm going to continually spend to use it.
I concur too with the thoughts of many above--make Kindles cheaper, sell more books. The more devices, the greater return. iPods are the proper model--prior to getting an iPod, I bought maybe 5 CDs a year. Now my wife and I buy music all the time, spending 20-30x more a year than we did previously.
I think it should be around 49$, as we have to pay for the books.
Or let them charge 299 and let them give plenty of books.
The Kindle: It's MONOCHROME, it's not pocketable, and it's nearly a one trick pony. I've no problem with the reading on the small touch screen-text is ultra sharp.
For me, the Kindle is a no-go. I don't care if they cut the price in 1/2--I don't want a no-lit, monochrome, oversized unit (what's with all the wasted space, anyway??)
Strike "the" from "I've no problem with "the" reading on the..."
"no-lit" should have been "non-lit" in the last sentence
This will work on any computer with Windows XP, not just netbooks.
- by jskrenes July 9, 2009 7:46 PM PDT
- How about books? I hear they're an excellent data storage/retrieval device.
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