Do you dream of reading your books electronically? If so, you may be excited by the latest news about the Kindle device on Amazon.com. The Internet retail giant announced a 10 percent price cut on the Kindle, bringing the device down from $400 to $360. Will it make a difference.
I suppose for people who have been debating buying a Kindle, the $40 price cut may just be the little push off of the fence that they need. Shipping on the Kindle is free, too. The price cut comes at a strange time. We are still so very far away from the holiday season, so it makes no clear sense.
Will the Kindle be another iPhone in terms of price cuts and new releases? Probably not. While the iPhone is at the top of the charts in terms of coolness, the Kindle is well, cool but not overwhelmingly so.
And the Kindle is a sort of “unitool.” It is what it is. While some book worms may gather around the museum of old card catalogs to ooh and ah at someone’s new acquisition of The Catcher in the Rye in electronic form, most won’t give it a blink. Why? Most “book people” are just that, I think, book people. There is something purist about an actual pages in hand book. The electronic versions just aren’t books. Books shouldn’t have buttons. And I wouldn’t want to worry about putting my book down in the sand at the beach or having it stolen by the kids for their Star Wars play. Actually at $400, I mean $360 plus files, I wouldn’t want it stolen by anyone, period.
The “gadget people” on the other hand might just purchase the Kindle for status purposes or the novelty. But will they keep Amazon supplied with an inflow of money for electronic books? Probably not. The Kindle, while different, is not gadget-y enough.
Most books for the Kindle cost just as much or more than the equivalent of their hard copy cousins. Of course, the Kindle does cater to immediate gratification. Choose a book, pay and download. No waiting. Of course, books take time. The very essence of a book is the time to slowly savor it (sorry Evelyn Wood).
What do you think? Do you love the Kindle?
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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