Amazon Kindle Pros and Cons

The Amazon Kindle is probably the most well known ebook reading device avaiable today. Amazon has even released statements announcing that the Kindle now outsells paper books on their website. If you're not yet an owner of a Kindle, and you're thinking about buying one, there are some things you should consider before purchasing one.

Before we get into the pros and cons, I want to give you a few points that are more neutral. Just about every tech spec on the Kindle isn't significantly better or worse than any other current ebook reader available. The size and weight of the device are just about the same as other e-readers like the Sony Readers, Nook, Kobo, and BeBook. All of these devices use E-Ink screens, which are easier on the eyes than reading from a back-lit LCD screen, and cuts down on glare and battery drain. The amount of memory storage is similar to just about any other e-reader that you pick up, as is the length of time that the battery lasts. Finally, most e-readers come in WiFi and non-WiFi models, and with or without a 3G capability (for more money). None of these things are unique to the Kindle, but all are great aspects of ebook readers.
Now here is a simple list of pros and cons about the Kindle:

Pros

- The Kindle is currently one of the most inexpensive ebook reading devices, with the newest WiFi model selling at only $139.

- Amazon's ebook buying and downloading process is pretty easy to use. You can purchase ebooks directly on the Kindle and download them wirelessly. This eliminates the need to download the ebooks to your computer and then transfer to the device, and you don't have to use any special software.

- The Kindle gives you easy access to many public domain ebooks for free. Some other readers will give you these in bundles, and others will allow you to read them if you find them on your own. With the Kindle you can grab them on Amazon.com just like the paid ebooks.

Cons

- Amazon is very restrictive about the content that you can put on your Kindle. It will only read Kindle ebooks purchased from Amazon.com, in the special .azw format.

- Because of this file format restriction, the Kindle can not use any books from your local library.

- Further to this restriction, the Kindle can not read any ebooks sold at any other ebook websites, unless the files are PDF or Mobipocket with no DRM, which is hard to find because most book publishers require DRM on their ebooks.


As you can see, when you take away all of the aspects that are not unique to the kindle (size, weight, screen, memory, WiFi, etc) there are only a few qualities left that make it different from the other available ebook readers. However, these qualities can significantly affect where and how you purchase your ebooks. My moral of this story is: don't purchase an electronic gadget just because it carries the most recognizable name -- Amazon's method might be perfect for you, but it might not.