Comments on: Introducing Amazon Kindle 2

By: Cat Faber

Cat Faber — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:58:57 +0000

If I understand right, it lost its ability to store and read books on SD cards, the battery is no longer user-replaceable, it now takes twice as long to charge, and it *still* can’t do folders or tags.

All in all, I’m a bit disappointed. I grant you text-to-speech is nice for the disabled, and I’m happy it’s included, but still….

By: Bill Janssen

Bill Janssen — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:35:12 +0000

I have a hard time believing that 500,000 people had $350 spare change that they then wanted to spend on an electronic book reader. I suppose it’s possible (aging and relatively wealthy baby boomers grew up reading, after all), but when does that market segment saturate? Meanwhile, Apple and Stanza and Google go after the younger demographic.

By: Brad

Brad — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:17:16 +0000

While the new bells and whistles on the Kindle 2 sound good, I’m having a hard time getting past the hefty $359 price. Given the hard economic times we live in, I wonder how that will affect sales of the Kindle 2.

That said, I’m perfectly happy reading my ebooks on my iPhone for the time being. Maybe if the Kindle price came down, I might consider one. But not anytime soon, I imagine.

By: Roger Sperberg

Roger Sperberg — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:11:21 +0000

Side by side, the 20 percent brighter K2 screen doesn’t look any brighter than the K1. But turning pages is way faster, and the thinner design makes it feel more than a tenth of an ounce lighter.

By: Tamas Simon

Tamas Simon — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:14:53 +0000

So much about the importance of ePub.

By: Alan Wallcraft

Alan Wallcraft — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:34:19 +0000

Robert: The Kindle will read any DRM-free MOBI or TXT (or HTML renamed .txt) ebook transferred via USB. It is generally possible to read DRMed MOBI lending library ebooks too.

Sites that sell or provide DRM-free MOBI usually include instructions for Kindle downloads, but the USB from PC route always works.

Since the K2 is new, your best bet may be to buy one are return it within 30 days for a refund if you don’t like it.

By: Alan Wallcraft

Alan Wallcraft — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:24:26 +0000

Michael: The K1 had full library search too. What happens is that the ebook is pre-indexed as soon as it is loaded on the device. So search is fast but the device can slow down for a while if you load many ebooks at one time.

I have not seen any reports of search slowdown on large libraries, but this would depend on how the indexing is done.

Folder support is the most common request of K1 owners, but it isn’t quite as bad as you suggest because you can skip to a page based on the 1st letter of the title or author.

By: Robert Nagle

Robert Nagle — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:06:17 +0000

Can you add books via usb from your PC? How easy would it be to download and install an ebook from a third party website? Why the heck did Amazon decide not to support epub? I’m in Houston; how can I touch and feel the Kindle before I buy?

By: alex

alex — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:56:40 +0000

There is no way that this think is better then K1!! Its like the Ford Edsel of ereaders.

By: Stephen Leary

Stephen Leary — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:48:59 +0000

I’ll wait before ordering until the price comes down or I can get $100 off with a credit card deal.

By: Michael Harris

Michael Harris — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:40:59 +0000

Still no support for storing books in folders. They give us storage for 1,500 books (note, no removable storage) and then they require us to page through them one screen at a time to find the one we are looking for.

According to the user manual (online at Amazon under the Kindle2) they do support search across your entire library, but I have a feeling that the search speed across hundreds of books will be a bit slow.

Optionally, how about the reading lists that Amazon’s mobipocket has supported for quite a while now. At least then I could organize book series together in order by date.

Michael