Kindle 2.0!

[tzikeh]

For those of you who (like me) were waiting to see what Amazon's next version of the Kindle would be like, before buying the first generation, here it is!

Here's the New York Times' report from this morning's launch event.

Comments

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

Wow. That looks awfully shiny.

I still don't have the spare $400 (and can't imagine when that circumstance will change), but it's nice to know that this technology is getting so pretty. By the time I can afford one, maybe they'll be cheap & ubiquitous! *g*

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

It looks good! I don't see any place where it says if the Kindle still has a place to insert an SD card, which is one of the big pluses of Kindle 1 for me -- I put ALL my fanfic on that, so if I want to show someone the Kindle, but not necssarily what I keep on it, I just pull out the SD card and voila.

I don't think I'll buy a new one; I'm still pretty happy with the old version, but I like how thin it is, and the extra storage/battery life/sharper image is all good. Plus, it's actually less expensive than when I got mine -- Xmas 2007 -- when it was $399.

[carbonel]

Oh, that's funny.

I read Joe Haldeman's LJ, and he said something about regretting that he hadn't ordered a Kindle for his wife for Valentine's Day. I was pretty sure it wasn't too late to do so, and I went to the Kindle page on Amazon to check, and found all the stuff about the Kindle 2, and dropped him a note saying that by not buying in advance, he could get the new shiny instead.

What I hadn't realized until your post was that the product launch for the new Kindle was today.

Timing.

[melina123.livejournal.com]

It looks like the new one doesn't have an SD card, but with 1.4 gigs of free space, it's pretty hard to argue that you'd really need one, given the ability to re-download anything from Amazon plus easily transferring to/from a PC or Mac. The average story I've converted so far is less than 100kb, so that's an awful lot of fanfic before you start running out of space.

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

The Kindle 1 only has 200 MB of space, right? No wonder.

It wouldn't be a deal breaker or anything, but I do like the ability to withdraw my fanfic in one fell swoop from my Kindle.

It's pretty, that's for sure!

[melina123.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- it's a huge increase in the onboard memory.

A way to easily mark off your fanfic for quick moving back and forth would be some kind of naming scheme for the file names (not the display name, just the file), like putting a character you're not likely to see elsewhere in front of all the fanfic files -- e.g. ~ or #. So instead of naming your files authorname-ficname.mobi, they're all ~authorname-ficname.mobi. Then if you wanted to move them all quickly to your desktop, it would be easy.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Yah, but if you put MP3s on there to listen while you read, it adds up.

*clings to Kindle v1* :D

[melina123.livejournal.com]

I guess it's a trade-off. If you wanted to use it mostly for music or audiobooks or whatever, then it will hold fewer books at a time. But you could use 1 gig for music (not a trivial amount) and still fit ~400 books, so, for me, it's not a deal-killer.

Anyway, I'm not trading in my iPod anytime soon. :)

[chalcedony.livejournal.com]

Pretty, and with some improvements, but I don't see anything in the descriptions that make me wish I had waited. Someday, mine will die, and I'll get a new one, generation whatever, and it'll all be good. It really is wonderful. :)

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like that idea! Thank you!

I see that the new one does have a USB cable, so I assume you can still ferry files back and forth?

We've ended up ordering a new one, that will be Mr. Bone's, so he quits taking mine with him when he travels! My dad is giving it to him for his birthday, but we went ahead and ordered it to take advantage of the K1 priority status. :)

[melina123.livejournal.com]

Yup, and with all the files in one place (instead of some on the Kindle, some on the SD) it should actually be simpler to move stuff around.

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

Very cool. :)