Kindle: Is it worth it???

[SASM]

I watched the Oprah "Kindle" episode yesterday. Her enthusiasm obviously has me thinking... If you have one, do you love it? Do you think it is worth the purchase? Her website has a code right now to get $50 off, which is nice, especially nice is the free shipping still applies. Personally, I am a library girl, but it would be nice to have the books that I DO purchase (mainly reference and cookbooks) on a Kindle to keep clutter and paper usage to a minimum. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

TIA!!

[JoyNChrist]

I'm curious too. I'm having trouble coming up with a Christmas list for myself this year, so I thought about just asking DH and my mom to go together and buy me a Kindle and be done with it. But then I wonder how much I would actually like reading on the screen instead of a book...seems like it would take a lot of getting used to.

[lovin2shop]

I don't really know either, but my DH is very hard to shop for, so I took the plunge and ordered one for him. He travels a lot, so I thought it would be very convenient for planes, etc. The code was a nice bonus and I did get free shipping. I ordered it yesterday and just got notification that it shipped out this morning.

[elektra]

I have one. DH got it for me for my birthday earlier this year. We have so many books and are always buying more and it's a great way to stop that cycle. It's really easy to buy the books too. You can actually do it right from the Kindle (no internet connection needed). And I have been able to find any book I have searched for so far.
I did have some issues with it though if you wanted a critique.
1) Price. I had mentioned that I wanted the Kindle and that DH's family could all pitch in for it (they have a large family and it's often the way the birthday gifts are done, everyone pitches in $20 or so to get one big gift), however DH just went out and bought it right away on his own. I guess it just felt more like I was buying it for myself that way or something which made the price seem more of an issue.
2) holding it is weird
It's hard for me to hold the thing comfortably. I eventually figured it out but it was weird in the beginning
3) the pages sometimes turn when you don't want them to
The way the Kindle is designed, the whole length of the right hand side is a button to turn the page. I can't tell you how many times I have accidentally hit that thing. And then the pages take a few seconds to turn each time. I have had a feeling that a new redesign was in the works but I thought they would have unveiled it by now, in time for Christmas.
4) best for novels and not for reference books
I have mostly used it for novels but I did download the "No Cry Sleep Solution Book" onto the Kindle, which was a mistake. Any book that has specific formatting, won't always render on the Kindle as it does in the real book. It's hard to explain other than the format turns out all funky.
Also, if you want to do alot of flipping back and forth and re-reading a section (like you would in a baby sleep book) it's really hard to find your place. You can bookmark pages, but it's just not the same to flipping to that section in a real book that you know was about 1/4 a way through on the bottom of the page right after a quote, for example.

I am going to also check out the new Sony version that I saw at Target, since my Dad mentioned he wants one for Christmas

[hillview]

We have one -- christmas -- 2007. Not used.
/hillary

[tarabenet]

I received mine for Christmas. It is the single coolest gadget I have ever owned. I love it. l don't go anywhere without it, and if I end up stuck somewhere, I have any number of books available, without having to tote all those volumes.

I was already a big reader, but now I read a lot more and a lot faster than I did before. And with the free sampling feature and free downloads from all over the place, I have branched out into authors and genres I hadn't spent much time with before.

[Twin Mom]

I saw it on Oprah too and thought it looked cool but when I looked on her site and saw the price I knew it wasn't for me. The unit is expensive and then you have to buy books too. I get my books for free at the library and will continue to do so. I do think the Kindle would be nice to have on a vacation so you don't have to bring a bunch of books but now that I have kids I really don't read as much as I used to vacation so it's not that big of a problem!