Light my e-book fire?

I know I'm a couple of weeks late to the party, but I can't resist the opportunity to write a bit about Kindle, Amazon's new e-book reader. I've intentionally avoided looking at other reviews of Kindle (well, except for one; the Wall Street Journal's personal tech columnist did a write-up on November 29 that I quite liked) to try to formulate my own thoughts on this gadget. No, I don't have one, and I don't think that I'm going to get one anytime soon, but I've suddenly been struck by the need to be an armchair reviewer.

From what I can tell, Kindle does have promise. If you want to switch back and forth between multiple books of a certain genre or two, you'll probably like this. Similarly, if you are reading for pleasure (or just soaking in information without the need to take notes), Kindle is probably going to be your friend. I, however, can't see myself working too well with Kindle. How am I supposed to underline or highlight passages? Or write notes in the margins? And am I going to be able to access the libraries of academic publishers? These seem to make me a bad match with this device. Also, one feature that Amazon touts, the ability to access Wikipedia, seems problematic to me. Sure, I would benefit from having Wikipedia entries while I read, but a logical extension of that would be the ability to surf the 'net for the inevitable links from Wikipedia to the articles' online sources. And I have to pay to subscribe to blogs? I realize I'd be buying convenience, but it's clear that Kindle would not replace my laptop, as one Amazon commenter had hoped. I know, I know, that's not the scope of Kindle, but it remains a sore spot for me.

As for the hardware itself, there are ups and downs. It's light (10.3 ounces, according to the website), which is a definite plus. The screen won't strain your eyes in the way that staring at a laptop all day certainly does. I'm not so keen on the downsides, though. For example, can a Kindle stand up to the treatment that I usually put books through? I returned my last library book to Bostock with water stains on one corner and more than a few bent pages (they must love me). I'd hate to think what would happen to a $400 e-book reader that got in a tangle with my Nalgene or ended up underneath the 20 pounds of stuff that I carry around most of the time. And another common problem mentioned by my WSJ buddy and Amazon.com reviewers alike are the page-turning buttons on each side of the screen. They are touted as making page-turning easy and intuitive, but it sounds as though it may be a little too easy: constantly hitting the buttons by accident and turning pages when you don't want to sounds frustrating.

So Kindle will not be the end of the book. That said, I still want to try one. If only they were available at the Apple store when I go to poke iPhones. :)