Amazon Kindle 2

I have relied entirely on the accounts of other users, and published information on the Kindle 2, and don't have personal hands on experience. That said, in my web reading I've compiled the key sources for multiple first person accounts as well as the official Amazon sales pitch.

There are a number of great customer reviews directly on Amazon. Here you can get into the nuances of the device that will give insight into features you may have missed in sales focused Kindle sites (*cough*), new owners rarely shy away from pointing out areas for improvement ;).

A brief but useful hands on review of the product can be found on Engadget.com written by Joshua Topolsky. Apparently the Kindle 2 is unable to find a definition for the word "it".

The sales pitch from the big A was pretty swank:
"With a sleek and thin design that makes Kindle 2 as thin as a typical magazine and lighter than a paperpack, the new Kindle has seven times more storage and now holds over 1,500 books. It has a longer battery life and faster page turns. An advanced display provides even crisper images and clearer text for an improved book-like reading experience. And Kindle 2 even reads to you, with "Read to Me", our new Text to Speech feature.

With Kindle 2 we kept everything readers love about the original Kindle-the convenience of reading what you want, when you want it, the immediacy of getting a book wirelessly delivered in less than 60 seconds, and Kindle's ability to "disappear" in your hands so you can get lost in the author's words. We're also excited to announce that the Kindle Store has over 230,000 ebooks available. "

Already have a Kindle 2 or just looking for more information? The Kindle Forums are a there so that you can connect to other people interested in the device. You can't beat near time feedback from a passionate Kindle crowd.

I discovered on wikipedia's Kindle page that although Kindle charges for certain Blogs you can simply navigate to them with a web browser free of charge.

Here's the quote:
"The Kindle charges monthly for RSS subscription to select blogs, even though users may use the experimental web browser to navigate to and read blogs or any other web pages free of charge."

• Slim and Lightweight:Just over 1/3 inch and 10.2 ounces. That's smaller than most hardcovers and much much lighter.


• Books in under 60 seconds:Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required. I'd like to see you get to the bookstore, go inside, pick your book, and out that fast.


• Improved Display:Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for crisp images and text; even reads well in bright sunlight. Reduced eye strain is the key result of this tech.


• Longer Battery Life:25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging. Due to the design and display the long battery life will allow many enjoyable hours reading outdoors or on the go.


• More Storage:Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books. Not many of us read 1500 books at once, but research projects, article research, education, book reviews can require reviewing multiple texts, and you can even take notes!


• Faster Page Turns:20% faster page turns. Smaller delay are better of course.


• Read-to-Me:Text-to-Speech feature means Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud. And the voice is so seductive, ok it's pretty automated but it's understandable and allows you to keep moving through content when you're busy driving, juggling kids, or tight rope walking


• No Wireless Bills:No monthly wireless bills, data plans, or commitments. Amazon pays for Kindle's wireless connectivity so you won't see a monthly wireless bill. I wish my internet was like this.


• Large Selection:Over 230,000 books, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines and blogs available. There's more than that, check out free eBook sites and find a format that Kindle supports


• Low Book Prices:New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise. They're not free but book prices are going the right direction.

Without further delay, here's a direct link to Amazon's Kindle 2 page.

If you aren't absolutely sure, you'll appreciate Tom Evslin's view (from Seeking Alpha) that "Kindle 2: A Winner, Because Content Is King"

For iPhone/iPod touch users Nicholas Carlson wrote this short article discussing that if somethings important enough of an activity to you (reading), you'll probably want a dedicated device to best enjoy it!

Kindle Books

Interested in other eLibrary sources? There's plenty of free eBooks out there just navigate to my eBookLibrary site.

(thanks to Polifemus for posting the creative commons bookstore pic)

Dead set on another brand, well there are some pretty powerful alternatives out there (with different capabilities for ebook reading, aka different DRM rules) if Kindle isn't what you're looking for.
Some of the strong competing ereaders are the Sony PRS-700BC, the jetbook by Ectaco, and the iRex iLiad 2nd Edtion, or iPod touch

If you'd like to read more about alternative eReaders consider the eReader Review.

Worldwide the figure is at nearly 4billion trees per year from Ecology.com

A large fraction of that amount are harvested for the US paper needs.

From Ask Pablo
"In 2001 the US timber industry harvested 46.6 billion board-feet (one board foot is 12" x 12" x 1", or 144" cubic inches), which is equivalent to 110 million m^3. At a density of 520 kg/m^3 (for douglas fir) this amounts to an annual harvest of 57.2 million metric tons. Globally 42% of industrial wood harvest devoted to paper production. If this statistic holds true for the US timber industry (does it really matter in a global market?) we are harvesting 24 million metric tons of trees for paper production each year. According to one estimate, the average tree weighs 680 kg, or 0.68 tons. So this means that an estimated 16.32 million trees are harvested for paper production in the US each year.

One of my favorite sources for lifecycle factors are the data sheets that accompany the Wuppertal Institute's MIPS manual. According to this resource about 2.56 tons of biotic material (trees) are required to make a ton of virgin paper. This is because some parts of the tree are unuseable for paper making, like the branches and bark. If all of my assumptions are correct the US would produce
9.375 million tons of paper each year."

Independently, the following average statistic comes from Conservatree
1 tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333.3 sheets
1 ton of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 24 trees
1 ton of 100% virgin (non-recycled) newsprint uses 12 trees