Kindle vs. Plastic Logic e-reader Photo from Google Image
The Amazon Kindle is a platform for reading e-books. Although it has been around since 2007, it has only become popular within the last year. In February, Amazon released the Kindle 2, which has reduced thickness from the original, improved battery life, faster page reloading and a text-to-speech option. While the price point is pretty high at $359, sales have been decent.
According to an article in the New York Observer, a new product is being made, which the company is hoping will be a Kindle killer, a digital reader (like the Kindle) that is made solely for magazines and newspapers. The company, Plastic Logic, is developing the e-reader to be 8.5 inches wide and 10.7 inches long, which is about the size of a magazine and has twice the screen size of a Kindle. The product is set to launch in 2010.
The company is hoping that the new e-reader will be the “iPod of magazine publishing” and re-ignite a slowly fading industry.
I won’t lie, when I first saw the Kindle my immediate reaction was, “I want this. I’m buying it.” I may or may not be a compulsive expensive electronics buyer. But then I thought about what exactly the Kindle was. It is an e-reader that you buy books for. Why am I buying books? There are libraries where I can read books for free! I’m a college student. I’m poor.
However, an e-reader for magazines and newspapers intrigues me. I think I would only use this product if print was completely gone (which I don’t entirely believe will happen). I’m all about having a hard copy of something. I like magazines. I like the glossy pages, the ads, the perfume samples that are so over-powering it makes you nauseous. There is something about magazines that I love. I would be interested in testing out the new e-reader though to see if after getting used to it, it could provide the same comfort feeling a magazine provides.
