E-Readers first came out in the late 1990’s but never made anyone sit up and take notice… that is until Amazon released the Kindle in 2007.  The Kindle currently carries a price tag of $359 (with free shipping) and I’m going to put the Kindle to the test to see if it is worth all those 35,900 pennies you’d need to spend to pick one up.

The Pro’s:

- Clear screen.  In a day and age where we want everything high def the Kindle gives us that crisp looking text that we all salivate for.  The font is very clear and it is a lot easier on the eyes then some of the books at the local library where the words can begin to look fuzzy after a while.

- Easy to use.  The Kindle is wireless and this (in my opinion) is what made it take off mainstream.  You can grab a “book” without having to find your USB or ethernet chord.  Finding, purchasing, and downloading a book can be accomplished in a three minutes for an average person.  My mom has borrowed my Kindle for two weeks on a trip and she was able to use it (and she is not a technical person by any means).

- Large selection of reading material.  Amazon boasts that there are more then 230,000 books available for the Kindle and growing.  I can’t verify this number, but I will tell you that you will never run out of new options for reading material.  There are also newspapers which have team up with the Kindle to offer you digital subscriptions delivered to your Kindle, such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and also some of the major magazines like Time and Forbes.

- Check out the Product Specifications and Details for the Kindle

- Check out the Product Specifications and Details for the Kindle 2

- The battery life of the Kindle provides up to 30 hours of uniterrupted reading.  This is awesome because you will never run out of battery if you wanted to sit down and read a book straight through.  The Kindle also does not generate a lot of heat (the way some laptops do) so you don’t have to worry about burning your lap.

- The storage space of the Kindle allows you to store up to 200 books which is more then enough to keep the most prolific readers satisfied.  You can also purchase a SD card if you need more storage space then that!

The Con’s:

- The Kindle (or any e-reader) cannot replicate the tangible feeling of “touching” a book.  You don’t get to hear the crisp pages turn or ‘flip’ to the next chapter.  This is not the Kindle’s fault, I think it is a con of e-readers in general.

- The width…  I think the Kindle could be thinner and I know in their next release of a newer model they will have a slimmer body.  A slimmer body would be easier to make it to carry in a pocket book or backpack if you’re squeezed for room already.

- The Kindle has a black and white display, which is similar to the pages of most books, but with how far electronics have come nowadays you would think they could create this product with a color display.  It may cost an extra $20 or $30 but I think this feature would be well worth it.

Overall Summary:

The Kindle is a great product, like every release the first attempt could be improved upon but I think for a first attempt this gets very high grades.  Amazon put in a lot of time and research to create a product that would fill the needs of the end user.  I have been totally satisfied with my purchase of the Kindle and whenever someone tells me that they are thinking of purchasing one but they are not sure if it is worth the price tag I always tell them IF you can afford it then you will not regret your purchase.  Good job making a high quality product to the Amazon team.