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At one of the book swapping sites there has been discussion about the Kindle. The people that use the book swapping site have very diverse background. Here are some of their comments:

Comment #1
Allow me, please, to sing a song of praise for my Kindle. It was a gift so I might have chosen a different e-reader, but I love my Kindle. It's so much easier on my eyes and it kind of disappears in your hand so you don't even realize you're reading an e-reader. I love the adjustable font size, takes about 2 seconds to bump up the size if my eyes are tired. I love the instant gratification of being able to download a book anywhere without being tied to a computer. I love how my hands don't go numb holding it the way they do when I hold a book. I love having, at this point, about 150 books on it that I can carry in my purse or briefcase at a total weight of 9 ounces.

It has allowed me to return to the joys of reading for pleasure. With my vision problems and the arthritis in my hands, I had pretty much stopped reading anything I didn't have to for work.

BTW, Amazon is running a promo right now, if you apply for their credit card and are approved, you can order a Kindle for $100 off.

Comment #2
My husband has the KINDLE reader from Amazon.com, we both read a lot, and we also travel a lot. We never have enough room to carry all the books we need. The KINDLE sounds great for trips and things. Any comments??

Comment #3
My kids, grands, and greats just bought me one. It's supposed to arrive today by UPS. It's supposed to be pre-loaded with a bunch of my favorites. I've played with a Kindle that a friend has, and it has its advantages and disadvantages.

con: 1) It's slippery and a little hard to hold if you have clumsy, arthritic hands like mine. We're planning to attach some gripper stuff to it. 2) The little page turner buttons are very easy to hit by accident until you get used to it. 3) You'll need a light source to read it in low light. 4) It's black and white, so graphs, drawings, and photographs are going to lose something. 5) I read a lot of non-fiction, and my understanding is that you don't get the footnotes, endnotes and bibby the way you do in a book - some Kindle books have them and some do not. 6) Lots of favorites are not available as Kindles - yet. 7) Some other formats of ebooks can be converted to Kindle and some cannot. 8) Controlled by Amazon. 8) Considering that there's no paper involved, many of the books are still kind of expensive for my budget.

pro: 1) It's light, much lighter than a hardback book. 2) Because it does not have a backlighted screen, there's much less eyestrain. 3) You can increase the font size - I can't recall now whether it's 4 sizes or 6 - and this is a very big deal for me, as I'm rapidly losing my vision. 4) Instant downloads of a book via Amazon. 5) Massive storage, and even more available with one of those little SD thingies. Supposedly will hold at least 100 big books without additional storage. 5) If it breaks, gets stolen or lost or whatever, Amazon has a record of what-all you have already purchased, and you'll get it again without charge.

I was really more interested in a Sony e-reader, based on conversations here, but I'm not complaining. I'm delighted with the thoughtfulness of their gift. I have the best family in the United States. Possibly the universe.

When I actually have it in my hands and have used it, I'll get back to you. At least the price dropped 10%.

Comment #4
I have one-- I love it!

I buy a lot of bestsellers, so at roughly $10 apiece, new books are 1/2price. I also used to carry 2-3 books in a bookbag. Now, I'm 5-10 pounds lighter. I've downloaded several free books, also (Gone With the Wind, A Room With A View, Anna Karenina).

Les, there are 6 font sizes. It depends on the time of day as to which I use. My eyes fatigue by the end of the day.

I'm not crazy about the cover. I bough some Velcro tape so that the Kindle would stay in it, and now it's much easier to use. I bought a 4gig memory card, and I don't foresee that I will ever be able to fill it up.

You can also download audio books and music (MP3) files.

I live in an area that is not reached by the "Whispernet", so I have to download onto my computer, and then transfer. This means I can't get the "free samples", but other than that it is not an inconvenience.

Comment #5
Got my husband the Kindle and he loves it and so do I!

I may get one before we go on cruise this fall. Can't stand not having a book (or four..or more) to read.

I don't like the book holder am thinking about velcro..ing it in the holder. But the fonts are great had no problem reading and didn't have a problem turning the pages.

If it's really got legs I'll pony up.

I think that people posting to a book swapper message board might be a kind of gear-head group to begin with.

For example, the iPod was so awesome that people who didn't know an mp3 from an mp5 bought one. Same with Bluetooth headsets.

It is a book swapping website. The demographic is people that like to read.

They are also in the demographic of people who use the internet enough, and well enough, to post to discussions and navigate those boards. Which seems like a ubiquitous skill but I don't believe that it is.

I realize that "real" people are using the Kindle. And I don't want to down it. I don't really care about the success of the Kindle. I don't work for Amazon. I work for the library.

And I know that people are using it. What I'm looking for is the point at which the size and composition of the user group is like that of the groups using iPods and mp3 players. Which is to say large and diverse enough that the Kindle stops being blog buzz and starts being something I have to stretch my budget around.

I don't care about what lives or dies. I just care about what my patrons will be looking for.