Amazon Kindle: Ur doin it rong

I'm not, in general, a fan of toys, gadgets, the latest electronic gizmo, and, most of all, "upgrading" my existing electronics. I hate change, yo.

But now and then some toy comes along and I want one so bad it's like a burning ache in my soul. That's how I felt about my beloved iPod. And recently I felt the arrow of desire hit me again when Amazon invented the Kindle.

I'd half-intended to buy one this year, but those plans changed when the economy turned into a messy ooey slippery sliding river of mud pouring down a clear-cut mountain into a churning, obstructed river, threatening every small town and village along its course with flooding, topsoil erosion, and the death of fish, amphibians, and other small creeping, crawling things.

But today when I went to the Amazon homepage to check something for an article I'm writing, I was shocked to see that Kindle is sold out, and there will be no more available for almost three months. Did Scrooge buy Amazon.com? Is the Grinch in charge of production for these guys? Surely they'd have sold a few of these things as gifts, considering how close I came to buying one, and I'm very far from their target customer. It's very unsettling, in a strange, actually quite irrelevant sort of way.

I suppose one day I'll have one, or something very like it. For now, I'm just hoping I manage to make enough money to pay my gas and electric bill this winter. And I'm better off than many people I know... although, to tell you the truth, I'm worse off than many people I know, too. For what it's worth.

So I'm not buying a Kindle. I am buying a lottery ticket. Wish me luck.

Comments

[Inanna]

I don't know if it'll make you feel any better, but I played around with my mom's Kindle (I suspect Oprah hyping the Kindle had everything to do with its selling out), and the design is just so frustrating and disappointing if you're used to the elegance of Apple products. It's clunky and unintuitive. It just made me feel sad.

I do hope you win the lottery.

[Cheryl]

Be glad you waited - the word is out that there will be a newer better version out in the 1st quarter of 2009 that addresses most if not all of the issues with the current version. I googled when I first heard the news and found this:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/25/amazon-kindle-2-slated-for-early-q1/

[tomlinton]

Sorry if I sound critical
For character development
You'd be better off
with a rekindled Kindle
which are still available

[Karen]

All the rumors of a new version are just that: rumors. And they are officially denied by Amazon, where the original is, as you say, selling like hotcakes and back ordered for months.

There is an alternative that may get you a Kindle for Christmas (without resorting to sky-high ebay prices) -- the refurbished Kindles keep coming back in stock at Amazon. There were several available on the web site yesterday, appearing at times from very early morning until midnight. From the comments and emails I've received from those who grabbed one, there must have been at least dozen in stock in the morning and several more in stock in the afternoon and evening, so it pays to keep checking the link:

http://www.tinyurl.com/RefurbKindle

Note that if the refurbished units are sold out, that page will also display "used" Kindles being sold by third parties, not Amazon. Generally these are new or only slightly used units, sold at a premium due to the shortage. I know that many dozens of the refurbished Kindles have been sold and shipped since Dec 1, but they go in an out of stock quickly. They don't last on the site very long, so if you want one, you must order it immediately if you find one in stock. If you they are out of stock when you check, be sure to read my blog for tips on getting one:

http://beesontheknob.blogspot.com/

[Carrie K]

Darn those Oprah masses. She could warn a company so that they'd know, couldn't she? You'd think.

[Libby Cone]

I do think it's expensive, but the Kindle is a boon to indie writers. We can publish with it and compete with the big players. The demographic right now seems to defy the picture of an early adopter; most Kindle owners use it to read free or low-cost mainstream books. I'd love to see more people buying a Kindle, knitting and felting their own one-of-a-kind tote for it http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/1177AD.html

(use any non-Superwash worsted wool yarn and skip the side piece if you want a snug fit), and filling it with the work of up-and-coming indie authors .
Libby Cone
Author, War on the Margins: A Novel
http://tinyurl.com/5bcta4
http://tinyurl.com/6y973d
#1 in Gay and Lesbian in the Kindle store on Dec. 24, 2008!

[Cheryl]

New kindle is not a rumor. The info below about their earnings conference call fits the info in the tech article I provided a link to earlier. Amazon may take a page from Apple. They changed the Mini even though sales were through the roof.

Amazon CFO: New Kindle will wait until 2009
By Angela Gunn, BetaNews
October 23, 2008, 12:18 AM
2:56 pm PDT October 22, 2008 - Amazon's third-quarter earnings call had plenty of positive things to say about their success with the Kindle e-book reader. Good thing the company's happy with it, because it'll be the one and only Kindle for the remainder of the year.
CFO Tom Szkutak confirmed during this afternoon's call that there will be no newer model of the Kindle reader until 2009.