I bought a Kindle 2 a couple of months ago. I love it. I love being able to download a newspaper or book as I'm walking to lunch. I love being able to download a book within one minute of deciding I'd like to read it. I love being able to flip it on when I'm standing in line to board a plane. I love being able to find a book I've bought rather than having to rummage through drawers or bookshelves. And I think it's easier on the eyes; it has a light-gray background that provides a softer contrast than the plain white of most books.
I have three complaints. First, there are lots of books that aren't available in Kindle format, including books I'd like to keep handy -- The Death and Life of Great American Cities is not available, for example.
Second, it does not handle charts or diagrams or equations well. The screen is too small for some images, which get garbled during compression.
I would gladly have paid more than the $359 I did pay for a device that did not have these problems. And so it is quite irritating to see that Amazon has now released Kindle DX, which supposedly fixes the second and third problems. Since I'm not about to spring for a $489 upgrade, I'll just have to content myself with my nice but now second-rate device.
I'd write this off as the peril of being an early-adopter, but Amazon released the Kindle 2 just a few months ago. If I'd waited later to buy it, I'd be more than irritated right now.
