It’s not. The only advantage I can see to buying blog subscriptions is that they’re downloaded to your Kindle, so you can read them even when you can’t get a signal. And it’s certainly easier than sitting down, turning on your laptop, opening your web browser, and going to that URL. Not to mention that you don’t need a Wifi hotspot.

The Kindle can access gutenberg.org or any other free e-book site via the web browser, and you can transfer free e-books from your computer via the USB port.

As for converting PDFs, I just downloaded the free PDF of John’s issue of Subterranean Magazine, and it converted very well to the Kindle format. The formatting is a little wonky, one or two hard returns in the middle of a line per page. But it’s readable.

How much work would it be to convert 500 pdf’s? Does the Kindle file format take more or less space than the original pdf? I would still prefer to be able to just look at .pdf’s but it might be workable.

If there is no charge for web browsing anywhere, then that’s fantastic, even if it doesn’t do flash and .pdf’s. I could imagine using it 90% of the time just for that.

If what you’re saying is true then it seems that the Kindle has not been marketed very well.

I’m not about to drop $400 right now in my current situation but it sounds enticing. I was under the assumption that the web access was limited to Amazon and that you couldn’t access Project Gutenberg or other sources of free ebooks. For me, the large part of the appeal of an ebook reader is to be able to read old classics or otherwise free books.

Karl

Amazon folks have said the limiting factor on the initial run of Kindle books available for sale was the amount of time they had before launch to convert books to the new format. They probably looked at which of your books was selling best or most likely to sell to the Kindle demographic or something like that — maybe it was just alphabetical order, Ghost before Old?

That said, as a vocal member of the tiny pro-Kindle minority in the blogosphere, I thought I’d throw in a few clarifications and corrections. Although PDF isn’t listed as a supported format, the Amazon email service converts them just fine. Don’t want to email them? Download the free Mobipocket Creator software and do it yourself. I have converted a bunch of files, including PDFs with illustrations and charts, with no problems.

I think the crowd has also missed the significance of the free included mobile Internet service (based on Sprint’s speedy EVDO network). Kindle is not simply like other ebook readers or the first five gens of the iPod in letting you carry around a library of your stuff. It’s also an always-on, go-anywhere book store. And with the free Internet access, you can travel even further. I have read blogs, newspaper and magazine web sites, downloaded free ebooks, looked up stock prices and used my gmail account, all for free. You can totally route around the fees for blogs and papers. The browser is black & white and limited by the screen size. But for finding information, reading it, storing it and cataloging it — the Kindle’s a wonder. So much kvetching about the monthly access fees on the iPhone and now no one credits the Kindle for free Internet access…

Finally, there’s the debate about the pricing of ebooks but it seems somewhat overdone. Okay, okay, we’d all like to get everything for free. But a lot of the ebooks on Kindle are considerably cheaper than the paper, real-world editions. All the best-sellers are $9.99 versus $15 or $20 for hardcovers. Older paperbacks, like Gibson’s Neuromancer or the Foundation series, are way cheaper. The tricky zone seems to be Kindle ebooks that are officially versions of pricier trade paperbacks when cheaper mass-market paperback editions are also available. Maybe that explains why the ebook of Ghost Brigades is $7.99. And, of course, there’s the head-in-the-sand publishing industry. Who knows what it’s trying to dictate on pricing.

Overall, two days in, I find my Kindle to be a fun way to read, especially heavy hardbacks. The screen is crisp and clear — far less taxing on the eyes than my laptop screen. The software is easy to use once you spend 10 or 20 minutes to get the hang of it. And the web browsing and built in note-taking app constantly come in handy. I wish the price tag was lower — and it probably will be soon enough — but it’s been a worthwhile purchase for me so far.

-Aaron

ps have a great Thanksgiving!

Some of them have surprisingly natural sounding voices now. Not perfect, certainly. I’d rather listen to an audiobook read by a real person. But most SF doesn’t get turned into an audiobook.

Nor, for that matter, can I afford to buy audiobooks—while I can download more free stories in a week than I can read in month.

(I’m a bit worried about hidden fees, though: Which document downloads precisely will Amazon earn money on?)