A Device I'd Sworn to Never Own: The Ad-Supported Kindle 3
With a hundred dollar Amazon gift card laying around, I decided to purchase one of the new ad-supported Kindles for $114. With a total net cost to me of $14 which included free shipping. For the longest time I've been saying, I'll get a Kindle when it comes free with a NYTimes subscription. That hasn't happened - yet - but I see a future where it will. Surely, a one-time $100 purchase (probably even less with bulk purchases and business partnerships) of a Kindle by the NYTimes for a customer cost a lot less than physically printing and delivering a newspaper for a year.
The Ads
The ads are a lot less annoying than they sound, and never appear while reading. Currently there aren't many advertisers on the platform and I'm not a target audience for either Buick or Oil of Olay. The ads are displayed as the screen saver (though you can fully power down the Kindle to a white screen), and little banner ads at the bottom of the table of contents. Hardly detrimental to the reading experience. There are even some enticing Amazon promotions basically giving you 50% off purchases.
The Human Factor
Not since I purchased a 3rd generation iPod has a piece of technology made me so happy (I've had several iPods since, including the latest Touch, new laptops, Roku - a close third, etc.). The Kindle has really re-energized my love for reading mostly because it fits in my pocket easier than a paperback, and almost almost never needs charging. As I walk out the door, I slip the Kindle into my pocket, even on short trips...something I'd never do with a larger, paperback book. I have no problem taking the Kindle on a train ride to a Red Sox game.
Example, I was reading Game of Thrones (now an HBO Show), paper back version, before purchasing the Kindle. It's 850 pages and 1.5 inches thick, something I wouldn't causally carry around with me, mostly because I couldn't just slide it easily in my jacket and the heft always made itself known. With the Kindle, I can carry it with me and hardly notice it's there. And I'm not even comparing it to a hard-bound newly released book. Who wants to carry that weight around, or even hold it while reading? I hate to make the obvious comparison to an iPod and you music library...so I won't, but size does matter.
The Ergonomics
The ergonomics of holding a Kindle is far superior to keeping a mass-market paperback book open. You know how those pages want to constanty shut themselves and you battle to put creases in the spine? Not to mention the perks of adjusting font sizes and automatic book marking.
The e-Ink screen is a joy to look at. Don't discount this, I can stare at this thing without my eyes straining for long periods of time. I can't say the same for LCD sceens. Someday, we'll have color e-Ink, but it's not ready yet, according to Consumer Reports interview with Jeff Bezos:
Color E Ink “is not ready for prime time…the colors are very pale.” But he added that “it continues to be improved
Finally, not having to worry about charging the device is a great touch. I look forward to the days when our cell phones only need a monthly charging.
Instapaper Integration for Reading all the Important Internet Content
One of the things I never thought I'd be using the Kindle for was reading content of blogs. There is a couple types of content I read on the web: stuff you only skim (news headlines, friend's non-sense on Twitter), and then the stuff you really need to sink your mind into, like a long article at The Economist, or a 33 page guide to MongoDB. I've been using Instapaper.com to save web content that requires my full focus and have it sent for free (using WIFI), daily, to my Kindle. To setup wiresless delivery of articles that you've added to Instapaper, see this page (it wasn't obvious for me to find originally). You'll enter your Kindle-specific email address (@free.kindle.com) and how frequently you want Instapaper to update your device. One nice touch is that if you read an article on Instapaper and mark it as ready, your Kindle won't receive it at the next update.
Why This Wins vs the iPad for Reading Consumption
I don't mind being disconnected from the live web once in awhile for distraction free absorption of content. While all of this content can all be read on the iPad, but given the alternative opportunity for distracting uses of my time (Twitter, Facebook, a mindless-game, etc), I'll loose focus on what I'm reading and waste time on my couch. Though the Kindle is technology, it feels like reading a book. Sure, part of this is just personal behavior, but the Kindle sure provides a distraction free reading experience for me to absorb all sorts of great content. The smaller size of the Kindle does make me wonder if a 7" iPad would be an enticing carry-around device (I'd probably consider toting a 7" iPad-type device with me, though I might also suffer through reading for these short trips on my cell phone). If you looking for a lightweight device to faciliate only reading content, the Kindle fits the bill nicely.
Take my review with a grain of salt since I only paid $14 for my Kindle. However, I think the device is well worth the full $114 price tag, and can bring back those moments of low-tech reading enjoyment before the Internet noise infected our attention spans. I'm sure in the future these type of devices will be only $50 and even subsidized by content providers.
Let's read.
