that's been rubbing himself over how GREAT the kindle was for months?!?

Yes, you were. Now you find out that you were a tool, and don't like it. I understand that. Books are great, they are yours, and you can pass them down to your kids or your friends as often as you want without anyone being the wiser. No one knows what you are reading (assuming you pay cash when you buy them), so they can't come after you if you are reading something that's later decided to be "bad' for you. If you get nominated to the Supreme Court the list of what you read can't find its way to the internet (the way Bork's movie rentals did).

Everything you read on a kindle is recorded, that's how they know who to come after to delete things. Heck, perhaps even WHEN you read and how long you read and how many pages per hour is recorded. If not in this version, possibly in the next. Did you skip something? Look up something? Someone might want to know. You should be more paranoid about computer technology, everything is saved forever, even these profound thoughts.

Books aren't like that. They are your friends.

Really, I've been praising the Kindle? Here's a piece I wrote in February.

<link>

Headline: Fear the Kindle

Thesis: "But everyone else with a stake in a vibrant book industry --authors, publishers, libraries, chain bookstores, indie bookstores, and, not least, readers -- stands to lose out."

Here's a piece from last month.

<link>

Headline: The Newspaper Isn't Dead Yet. Why newsprint still beats the Kindle.

Thesis: "After using it for a week, I can say the new Kindle is a good first attempt at melding what's great about papers with what's great about digital devices. The trouble is, it's not nearly good enough."

Here's my piece from 2007.

<link>

Headline: Amazon's Kindle won't spark your e-book fire

Would you care to explain what you're talking about? Thanks.

pwned!

He confusing you with another article written extolling the virtues of the Kindle. Weisberg, I think.

Farhad Manjoo:

Really, I've been praising the Kindle? Here's a piece I wrote in February. <link> Headline: Fear the Kindle Thesis: "But everyone else with a stake in a vibrant book industry --authors, publishers, libraries, chain bookstores, indie bookstores, and, not least, readers -- stands to lose out." Here's a piece from last month. <link> Headline: The Newspaper Isn't Dead Yet. Why newsprint still beats the Kindle. Thesis: "After using it for a week, I can say the new Kindle is a good first attempt at melding what's great about papers with what's great about digital devices. The trouble is, it's not nearly good enough." Here's my piece from 2007. <link> Headline: Amazon's Kindle won't spark your e-book fire Would you care to explain what you're talking about? Thanks.

I was referring to what you actually wrote IN your articles: <link>

It’s hard not to love Amazon’s (AMZN) new e-book reader. For starters, it’s gorgeous. Unlike its bulky predecessor, the redesigned $359 Kindle, which came out this week, is light, thin, and disappears in your hands. If you think there’s no way you could ever get used to curling up with an electronic reader, you haven’t given the Kindle a chance. Load up a good book and you’ll soon forget you’re reading plastic rather than paper. You’ll also wonder how you ever did without it. The Kindle makes buying, storing, and organizing your favorite books and magazines effortless. You can take your entire library with you wherever you go and switch from reading the latest New Yorker to the latest bestseller without rolling out of bed. In my few days using it, I was won over: The Kindle is the future of publishing.

That was your article "fear the kindle" where you seem awfully enthralled with it for being afraid. Why are you afraid? Apparently because it's so great no one will use anything else resulting in bad things!

In the next article you post about <link> you DO show the faults of the kindle as a newsreader, BUT at the end of the day you STILL discontinued your newspapaer subscription and get your news on the Kindle! How is that being against it?

I can't access the 2007 article you've posted, the site I'm at today has that blocked off.

The point being you might claim that you don't like it, but every time you've chosen between conventional media and the Kindle, you chose the Kindle. Now you find out that big brother is watching and it unnerves you, why not take a step and write an article on how you *stopped using* your Kindle? THAT would be impressive.