Should you Buy the Amazon Kindle 2 or even the Kindle DX? That question tortured me for almost three months before Christmas and you may find yourself in the same boat as me... will the Amazon Kindle make me happier, saving me time and money or will it end up being another useless high tech gadget that goes unused like my treadmill (but that's another story). Or will it frustrate me to the point I want to throw it out. PCWorld said the Kindle was the most gifted item ever for Amazon this year but I never was a crowd follower, I just want my purchases to make sense and make me say hey, I LOVE this product and would never give it up even for chocolate cake.
Why I Resisted Buying an Amazon Kindle for so long
According to some statistic I read, somewhere in my travels across the internet doing research about ebook readers, we are going to be the last generation of "Real" books readers and that makes me sad. More sad than when vinyl records bit the dust..... Even textbooks will go the wayside and in five or so years college students will be saving their backs as Kindles and the likes replace those oh so heavy book laden backpacks and high school and middle school students will soon follow after that.
More importantly, I love the way books feel in my hand and the way they look...the colors and design of the cover...the way they look on my shelf... the way I can stack them on my nightstand to make me look like a voracious reader. Books are pretty and fun and I love to buy them when the budget allows. The Kindle is white and while I do love technology in all its glory...white is not even a good bra color unless your shirt is see through.
A Kindle does not make you look smart like a personal library does. I guess I have a romanticized view of the Library, think back to all the old movies with an actual Library in the house, maybe someone smoking a pipe as the wisdom of the ages poured through them....will Professor Plum ever be able to commit murder in the Library again. And what will happen to the real Library's, ( there currently is no sharing on Kindle books) will they pack up their dusty wares in the next twenty years?
Why I Took the Amazon Kindle Plunge
I won't bore you with all the amazing technical highlights of the Kindle, those specs can be found everywhere...but
1) My ultra environmental friend enlightened me with this point ( I do recycle religiously), the Kindle is Eco-Friendly, seriously never gave that a thought... where do all those unused books go especially the paperbacks. I feel good about not killing any trees or filling any landfills because of my Love for reading.
2) I am a Big Change My Mind girl....in fact going anywhere where I might read, I used to take at least 3 or four books especially on vacation. Because even if I think I know what I want to read out of my library at the time, when it comes down to the actual reading it's not what I want to read after all, not the mood I'm in. Crazy I know, but now instead of dragging along all those books I have my entire library with me at all times. I'll always be able to find something that hits my fancy.
3) My favorite thing about the Kindle is its Bookmarking and Notes feature! I was never the type to write in the margins of my books but always wished that I could find the things and quotes that struck me at a later date and that never happened. Now I can easily and this in itself has made the Kindle worth its weight in Gold to me. I can even export my notes for a nice little summary and can even import all those PDF's I collect across the internet and read them whenever and wherever I want.
4) The books especially the Bestsellers are cheaper and I never have to wait for the paperback, I never have to wait period because it takes less than 60 seconds to get a book and a lot of books are Free, my budget really likes that!
What was I waiting for???
I will never stop buying books that I can touch and feel until they no longer sell them but right now, you couldn't tear my Kindle from me, even if you offered me TWO pieces of chocolate cake.
Still not sure if the Amazon Kindle is right for you?
Check out BuyAmazonKindle.org for reviews and get a List of FREE Kindle EBooks!
Get FREE Shipping on Your New Kindle to sweeten the Deal.
