I had seen Amazon's Kindle eReader advertised on their site since the fall of 2007.
For months and months I just passed it over thinking it was just "another" reading device.
I even received a few emails from Amazon promoting the device, but I already had a PDA reader and
didn't use it much because the screen was too small, the screen saver (or backlight dim) would come on
or it irritated my eyes within just a short time of reading.
I love to go to the bookstore. Yes, I have a Barnes and Nobels' repeat offender (oops... "purchaser") card.
My most recent purchase was over $300 including (as usual) titles like "Strengths Finder 2.0", "Brian Tracy", etc. etc.
I don't travel too much, but make a few trips to Mexico and Florida and around Texas each year. Thus, I love Audio Books too.
Yes, I have an Audible frequenter subscription account too. I listen to motivational podCasts, CDs ripped to MP3, or Audio Books while driving or working out.
I am an "early adopter" of technology. I've usually dreamed about the device or software for years before it's available.
eReaders, however, have been around for a long time but I had just not developed enought interest or been able to place the
device in my life.
Then one day somewhere around the end of April 2008, I received another one of those Amazon emails with a Kindle ad in it. Having past over it numerous times
in the past, this time, I clicked. I don't know why. I think I clicked half-mockingly to go make fun of the thing
and see what humor I could find in the concept.
When the Kindle page loaded, however, I felt the joke was on me when I read there were now more than 100,000 titles available. Something about that
clicked for me and I felt this thing (the Kindle) or at least eReading had gotten a foot-hold. On one hand it was still hard
to take it seriously with an at-the-time (April 2008) price of $399, but on the other hand the large price was telling me
I was missing something... after all, how can you charge $399 for something that displays text?!?