Confessions of a Kindle Newbie

I've wanted an E-book reader for a while, now, and when Amazon's Kindle dropped to $189, I began to give the device some serious consideration. The display at Target sealed the deal: I fell in love with the Kindle's screen and the look of the text. So easy on the eyes! So lightweight! So perfect to read a book on! Sold!

I couldn't be happier with Kindle, and I'm not even peeved that Amazon announced an upcoming improved version--with a cheaper non-3G model as an option) a week after I bought it. The current model fits perfectly in my hands, and the screen gives me exactly the right level of contrast for my tired ol' eyes. The free books and free internet access make it worth the purchase, but--of course--I bought a few reasonably-priced newer novels to get me started. Like others before me have said: the reading experience is so smooth that you forget you're holding a device and pressing buttons to turn pages. You're reading a book, and it feels exactly right.

Wonder of wonders, Amazon just started offering two great games for Kindle and--as of this writing--they cost exactly zero! SHUFFLED ROW and EVERY WORD provide some very well-designed scrambled letter fun. I highly recommend both, but Shuffled Row is my favorite of the two: It's crazily addictive and the best electronic word game I've played since Bookworm.

New to the Kindle community, I've already found two favorite sources of information. A Kindle World Blog is the best site for up-to-date Kindle news, commentary and tutorials on the web, and Free Kindle Books is an inexpensive Amazon blog subscription that points you to new free titles and promotional offers as they become available on Amazon.

So...for any readers wondering if the Kindle is worth a purchase: Yeah. Definitely. The iPad's a great device for doing a lot of tasks, but Amazon's little beauty is perfectly designed to provide the smoothest, most comfortable electronic reading experience possible. Be warned, though: It's also designed to make impulse book-buying frighteningly quick n' easy! :)