For people who are just reading a book at home, however, print will do just fine. For linear reading, Kindle offers no advantages and, for nonlinear content, has many disadvantages — so why pay $359 more?
I disagree here. Reading is only one aspect of the experience, the other aspect is the convenience of purchasing books. I am really bad about buying books. I don't quite understand why -- there are lots that I want to read. But when it comes down to paying $30 and waiting a week for shipping (or paying more for 2 day shipping), I put orders off indefinitely. This is bad, because time I should spend reading books ends up as time spent watching TV or playing video games.
I thought buying a Kindle might break this cycle, and it in fact did. I've had a Kindle for under a week, and I've already finished two books. I don't think I've even cared about TV all week. Making reading very convenient (and pleasurable) was well worth the $350.
(I also travel a lot, and end up bringing two books on every trip so I don't run out of reading material. That is a lot of unnecessary weight to carry around, and I often finish both books fairly quickly anyway. The Kindle is very light, and I can easily buy another book wherever I am. I have not been on a trip with my Kindle yet, but I think I can say goodbye to boredom during unexpected delays.)
Finally, the Kindle delivers an experience I have always wanted -- doing something useful from the couch. I like my couch, but I could never get comfortable with my computer there. I always end up wanting my nice keyboard or 24" monitor, rather than my tiny eeepc (or larger Thinkpad). So I never compute (or read) from the couch. The Kindle changes this; I can email it a PDF (or buy a book from Amazon), and then read it from my couch. This has multiple benefits; I can't get distracted by anything, since I'm physically away from my computer and desk, and it's also really comfortable. (The Kindle is lighter than the books I usually read, so there is less fatigue. Yeah, maybe I am just really out of shape.)
There are only two drawbacks -- it is very hard to skim things, and the PDF conversion doesn't handle diagrams or math formulae very well. This isn't a deal-breaker, but there's no reason why it shouldn't work.
I disagree here. Reading is only one aspect of the experience, the other aspect is the convenience of purchasing books. I am really bad about buying books. I don't quite understand why -- there are lots that I want to read. But when it comes down to paying $30 and waiting a week for shipping (or paying more for 2 day shipping), I put orders off indefinitely. This is bad, because time I should spend reading books ends up as time spent watching TV or playing video games.
I thought buying a Kindle might break this cycle, and it in fact did. I've had a Kindle for under a week, and I've already finished two books. I don't think I've even cared about TV all week. Making reading very convenient (and pleasurable) was well worth the $350.
(I also travel a lot, and end up bringing two books on every trip so I don't run out of reading material. That is a lot of unnecessary weight to carry around, and I often finish both books fairly quickly anyway. The Kindle is very light, and I can easily buy another book wherever I am. I have not been on a trip with my Kindle yet, but I think I can say goodbye to boredom during unexpected delays.)
Finally, the Kindle delivers an experience I have always wanted -- doing something useful from the couch. I like my couch, but I could never get comfortable with my computer there. I always end up wanting my nice keyboard or 24" monitor, rather than my tiny eeepc (or larger Thinkpad). So I never compute (or read) from the couch. The Kindle changes this; I can email it a PDF (or buy a book from Amazon), and then read it from my couch. This has multiple benefits; I can't get distracted by anything, since I'm physically away from my computer and desk, and it's also really comfortable. (The Kindle is lighter than the books I usually read, so there is less fatigue. Yeah, maybe I am just really out of shape.)
There are only two drawbacks -- it is very hard to skim things, and the PDF conversion doesn't handle diagrams or math formulae very well. This isn't a deal-breaker, but there's no reason why it shouldn't work.