A few things to add beyond previous musings. I’m still quite happy with my device, with the usual caveats.
Screen Savers
First, I went ahead and hacked my Kindle to support my own set of screen savers. So far it hasn’t burst into flames, and I’m happy with the new selection. I wish Amazon would allow that to be done “naturally” — or, alternately, automatically support the cover of the book being read …
… but clearly Amazon has other ideas in mind, in particular ad-supported Kindles. Which, honestly, I have no interest in, even if it were not at a trivial a price reduction. Unfortunately, that’s what Amazon has in mind for its screen saver space, clearly. Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the above kind of hacks disabled or made much more difficult in the future.
WiFi vs 3G
I intentionally bought a WiFi Kindle 3, rather than the 3G version, because I didn’t think I would need the extra connectivity.
In general, that’s been true. There have been a few times when it would have been nice to have (you need connectivity not just to hit the store and download book, it’s also needed to access the Book Description info, which is a bit annoying), but by and large I’m surviving okay without. I have WiFi at home, and at enough other places I wander by, that I can get what I need.
What to Kindle and What Not to
One interesting phenomenon: I’m now eyeing my Amazon wish list books based on whether I want something in the virtual medium or not (and making notes about that with each item). And the basic question there becomes, “Do I want to loan this to someone or give it away in the future?”
For the normal paperback fiction I consume, Kindle is fine. Mostly. If I get it on Kindle, I can’t let Margie borrow it to read it (unless she gets a Kindle, in which case she can borrow it, once, for 2 weeks, if the publisher allows). Which means for Big, Important Series We Both Follow (Dresden Files, Vlad Taltos, New Frontiers), I’m still buying “real” books.
For non-fiction — stuff I’ll want to loan to others, or possibly give away after I’ve read it once — if I’m not doing it as an audiobook, I’m getting something with paper.
I’m also buying paper in cases where the Kindle edition price is substantially higher than the paperback, or (and this happens) the hardcover.
And, of course, graphic novels are still on paper (and will likely remain so for a long time).
Note that the above would indicate that the combination of prices and loanability/disposability are key factors to consider in having a Kindle, or in what books one chooses for it. I think Amazon and/or the publishers involved are making some serious errors in their business model, in the long run. Or, rather, their business model decisions are making book-buying more complicated and potentially less useful for consumers.
If a Kindle owner already owns a hardcopy of a book, and, if pressed, would just re-read that hardcopy (vs. buying, often for even higher prices than that hardcopy, an eBook version), is one doing any ethical harm by instead finding some unauthorized bitstreamed eBook copy of said book for one’s Kindle?
