Practical Personal Development: Kindle Edition
This is a scam.
That’s the first thing that came to mind when I first heard of Amazon charging $0.99 cents to let people read free blogs on a kindle. A scam for the readers who could be reading the same blogs for free online, or on their mobile device and a scam for the bloggers, who only see 30% of the profit from content that they took 100% in creating.
That was my initial reaction, before I gave it some thought. I don’t actually own a kindle. I have taken too much pride in having a large library in my house… and how could I let it dwindle away in the coming years? Would I have to pay twice to enjoy the same book?
After discussing the situation with Muhammad Saleem, he asked me a very simple question. “Have you ever tried to read a blog on a mobile phone? I have, and I’d prefer not to go blind.” That’s a great point, reading a blog from my iphone is a bit of a pain, because the letters are too small to do any extensive reading.
Doing a little research on the kindle, I found myself bombarded by an onslaught of benefits that this little device boasts. The screen is way larger than a mobile phone, and they claim it reads like a book, making it much easier on the eyes. It’s great that by getting all your books as a Kindle edition, you get to save trees from being turned into paper, and the savings passes onto us because Kindle edition digital books are like half the price of printed books. If you’re not too particular about having the big library in your house, and not big on lending your books out to people anyway (which I don’t really like doing – because they don’t return them!), then you can carry your entire library with you wherever you go. Yes, it does back up, in case you lose your kindle.
I’m not quite ready to spend a lot of money on a kindle yet, not when I have a backlog of books that authors send me for free that I’ve yet to read. However, I definitely see myself making the leap in the future, there are just too many pros! If I did have a kindle right now, I would subscribe to this blog. It’s convenient, easy on the eyes, and a whopping 30% of the money goes to support your favorite blogger 
P.S. If you have a moment, please give this blog an honest review over at Amazon (whether you’re subscribing or enjoying it for free on the web), I would very much appreciate it!
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Posted by Alex Shalman in Uncategorized | July 31, 2009 | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumble | Print | 5 comments
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How clever marketing lol
:D
@Zoltan more of a joke than clever marketing… =)
I was over a friend’s house for dinner last night, and he had a Kindle laying around on his coffee table. I got to play with it and thoroughly enjoyed the way it feels in my hands. I was BLOWN AWAY by the reading option. It can read any book to you, and it doesn’t sound as robotic as I thought it might.
I heard that its display feels like real paper.. is there an option to turn the backlight on? I mean, real paper doesn’t shine in the dark.. =) Does the Kindle?
I have spent the past few days debating whether or not I should purchase a Kindle and at the moment I think I’ll hold off.
As with you Alex, I have plenty of real books to read but can see myself buying a Kindle within the next year or two.
Alex, you say “bloggers, who only see 30% of the profit from content that they took 100% in creating.” Just wondering if you have the same take on downloaded music. Thanks!