1 – The price tag. $400 for a reader. For that much money I could buy 20-40 books depending on whether I go for hardback or trade paperback. The justification for this is the internet and wireless capability that already exists on every other device I own. And why would I pay a subscription fee for content I can get for free?

2 - $9.99 for an e-book is also too expensive. Yes it is less than a hardback but it is more than a trade paperback (which I prefer to buy). E-books should be priced around 2-5 dollars each.

3 – With an MP3 player I can easily transfer my existing CDs to the new format. I purchase all my new music on-line. I can’t do that with Kindle. If I want to have access to an old favorite I have to buy it again. That’s a no-go. Now I have purchased a lot of books through Amazon over last few years and they have all my history. If they were offer the chance to repurchase those books at a reduced cost (a way to reward those of us who’ve been loyal customers for a long time) that might lessen to burden. But it’s still a pain to have to re-purchase old stuff.

And having to turn off my book during takeoffs and landings would be seriously annoying. Its bad enough I have to turn off my music. Take away my book and I’ll have no way to distract myself from the fact that I’m on a plane. Something that clearly stays in the air due to some deal made with the devil that will eventually come do. Yes I’ve done all the math and the rational part of mean understands lift to weight ratios and thrust. But big metal objects don’t float around up in the air.

Back to the Kindle. The technology still has a long road to travel before I see it as a replacement to good old analog book.

Very good points. And as you imply, the eBook reader is not analagous to the iPod and won't work that way. First, well, the market just isn't there. People don't consume books like they consume music, and that's not going to change.

Secondly, people relate to books much differently than music. Many of us have the urge to hear a particular piece of music when we are away from home, and if we have our iPods, we get instant gratification, and if we don't, it adds a reason to buy one. But I have never had the thought when traveling "Oh, crap. I wish I could read a bit of Bleak House right now."

But it's fun to think about the possibilities --

Of course, there are tons of people who need to have tons of books accessible all the time -- students. Having your textbooks and reference books in one place and easily searchable makes doing your graduate work a lot simpler. You can get away from the stacks more! That's good.

Also, getting something like a Kindle would make dealing with all the Project Gutenberg documents much easier. Right now I can easily download them to my computer, but then what? I can't very well just print out hundreds of pages, and I hate being stuck by the computer. If I can download them onto something like the Kindle, then I have access to thousands and thousands of free texts that are suddenly portable. Makes the initial cost seem less onerous.

Now. Incorporate text-to speech software that's really good, so you can read the book, read with the audio, or just listen, and then pick up reading when you want to? That would be something useful and sexy. And that way you can 'read' in the bath and not have to worry about dropping your reader in the tub. (although I'm sure the aftermarket will provide tons of cases to protect them.)

And then make it like the Zune wireless feature, so your friend can recommend a book to you and send it to your device. And then you can read through it for a day or two and then choose to buy it or not.

All that being said, what will probably happen is that the screen technology will end up on the iPhone/Treo/Blackberries of the future, making books one more thing you can stop carrying around.

Excellent posts above.

Good point about students being the logical market. I wonder if Amazon is working with anybody in higher education to try and make that a reality? Duke University gave every entering freshman an iPod a few years back as part of some sort of "social experiment." Why not give them a Kindle and try making some classes paperless?

The review skims over the annotation function of the Kindle, which is an odd omission given that is one of the huge drawbacks readers face. People, particularly students, like to highlight areas, make notes in the margins, etc. Until somebody can really replicate that experience in an electronic device, I think many will be cold to it.

Doctors and lawyers have lots of reference material. Those would be good markets, though again the ability to import information would be extremely helpful. For those professions you can imagine a specialized unit that carried texts but also allows you to upload case files and "attach" them to the pertinent reference material. (In short, they need a computer, not just a reader. And with computer sizes and weights constantly shrinking, there increasingly isn't a need for a specialized reader device.)

Valid points, all, but -

the price will come down. it's new technology (the e-ink, anyway), and as witnessed by the iphone, maybe they want the early adopters to pay for some of the development. Keep in mind, if you read a lot of books, and often hard cover ones, the savings will be significant. However, you'll have to assign a value to the portability of a lot of books to justify the expense (I like it, as it will allow me to access traffic info on the web, which is usually text, free in my car).

I think the $9.99 price is for books currently in hard cover, which is a good savings. I thought the price for older books in paper back would be half that???

I agree on point #3, but I'm willing to bet that's because of the publishers, not Amazon. I don't think Apple wanted DRM on itunes, but had to do it at the insistence of the music industry. Old industries run by accountants have a difficult time understanding and reacting to new technology.

As for reading during takeoffs and landings, you're just going to have to put the kindle inside a magazine.

I'd love to get an ereader, but...

None of the books I read last year (recently published history and biography) are available as Kindle books yet. Tech books, computer programming books are over $30 as Kindle books, only about $5 less than the regular Amazon price. I could get them from the Amazon aftermarket for less than $10.

While it would be nice to have my stuff on a Kindle, the out-of-touch-what-were-you-thi­nking upfront price and the cost per volume are way too high. 90,000 books is a good selection to start, but there's a long way to go before I buy one.