I own an e-book reader!

I said I wouldn't buy a Kindle.

Actually, I bought a Kindle 2.

The Kindle DX was too expensive; this was the sole reason for not
pre-ordering it, although now I read a few of the reviews I'm wondering if
I didn't make the right choice anyway.

What I wanted was an e book reader that would replace my library of
paperbacks, because I keep being parted from my nests of books by my habit
of relocating. The idea is that if I get a reader with enough space I can
have as many books as possible and take them all with me. The Kindle 2
holds 1500, which seems like a suitably vast amount. Even with my
compulsive need to fill all available storage space with stuff (which is
why my PC's hdd and the external HDD and my various flash drives are all
crowded) it's going to take me a while to fill 1.4gig with e-books.

And indeed it will. I went through a total frenzy of finding, downloading
and in some cases converting free ebooks into Kindle readable format. I
have well over 100 ebooks now, and I have noticed a couple of things
already.

Firstly, the Kindle 2 itself:

- it's light, easy to handle, I'm not bothered about page turning. It's
as simple and as satisfying to click a button as it is to turn a page. It
has the advantage that, when I'm reading in bed and drop the book, I don't
lose my page. The disadvantage is that I can't turn quickly to a section,
but I haven't investigated the possibility of marking spots I want to
return to yet. The Kindle2 has a variety of functions that I haven't
played with yet, and these are fast becoming things I am saving for wet
Sunday afternoons (not that we get many in Phoenix). I also want to
question the wisdom of having the manual in the reader, even though it's
well set out and seems to contain all of the examples you need to figure
out the operations it describes.

I have, of course, played with the wireless settings. Books really do
arrive in a minute or less, which takes the waiting out of ordering stuff
online. That delay to gratification was always an issue with a
biblioaddict like me, and now I can get most of the things I want
immediately.

The web browser is primitive and the screen not well suited to reading
anything but the simplest human readable text. Which, honestly, is for the
best. I have managed to navigate some picture heavy sites by kicking the
browser into Advanced mode - and the e-ink screen is not well suited to
reproducing colour pictures, nor websites with dark backgrounds. It's
worth using the links to places like Wiki, and it will be worth my while to
pop back to one site in particular to change my preferences to make it
kindle readable. Why?
Well...to have an electronic book through which I can access The
Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is, essentially, geek heaven. So I want
to. I think the Kindle will be able to read the site properly if I use
Brunel instead of Classic Goo.

But think about it - I can access the Guide via an electronic book. How
Douglas Adams is that?

I haven't tried the text to speech feature, although if I can find a copy of
"A Brief History of Time" I might have the Kindle read that to me.
I also haven't tried using the Kindle 2 as an MP3 player, because I already
have one of those. It's nice to know I can listen to Audiobooks, but, as I
said, I have an MP3 player which packs a couple of gig more than the
Kindle2, so I shall save the space on the K2 for actual books.

In short, it's easy and pleasant to use. I'm not getting into the politics
of the Kindle2, the DRM nonsense et al - please see the collected works of
people like John Scalzi and Cory Doctorow for the full SP - they know far
more than me.

The other thing the Kindle2 has opened up is the real utility of the
Creative Commons Licence, and it's also had an effect on me.
I admit, free is my favourite price. And I also admit that I'm unhappy
about having a copy of something I haven't paid for, and therefore it is
lovely to see folks like Charles Stross, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi
making stories and, indeed, whole novels available under Creative Commons.
The side effect is that I now want to buy their books.

I do! I want the physical object as much as ever and the Kindle is a nice
way to have a portable version. But when I'm settled again, and have
bookshelves, a priority will be given to buying the works of authors I have
read and enjoyed thanks to Creative Commons.