As I eye the new Kindle Touch, and even the Fire, I look at my poor gen 1 Kindle that has served me so well these last 4 years and I get reminiscent...and at the end even a little angry. This "ugly duckling" produced a revolution in publishing, on par with the iPod and music. Yet, us early adopters, and this device, have been forgotten for 3 years....
I am a early adopter. I bought my gen 1 kindle on Nov 23, 2007. (It did not arrive until just before Christmas due to it selling out in 5 hours!)
I loved my Kindle. It was the the e-book reader I always wanted. I had tried the Palm, laptops with PDFs, and even my PSP(!), but nothing was useful for more than a few minutes of reading.
Then the Kindle came.
Sure it looked like a piece of 80's retro tech, but, I could read for hours with no eye-strain on a surface area larger than a postage stamp! I could download books no matter where I was, even on a beach in Hawaii. It even had a free web browser (though hardly hardy) I could use anywhere! (remember, the iPhone had only been out a few months...the smartphone revolution had not happened yet.) It had easy access to wikipedia (anyone remember @wiki!) and it even had a quirky NowNow service where you could ask a question and get a response from a real person! (it was removed in the last firmware).
Then...it seemed, in a flash, my $399 book reader was replaced by a far superior device that cost $50 less. Well, that is technology. I understood the cost of being and early adopter. As my one Kindle screensaver always thanked me for being an early adopter! Around the same time, update 1.2 came out for the Kindle. Things were still bright....
Little did I know...1.2 would be the last update ever for the Kindle. As one who created many of his own mobi files for the kindle there were many formatting issues to clear up. But to naught. Upon the launch of the Kindle 2, it was as though the Kindle never existed.
So, for almost 3 years we have had a totally neglected device. I totally understand, things get cheaper and better as time marches on, but to *totally* abandon a device only 15 months after launch...well, to say the least I felt "Lost."
That said, my trusty Kindle is by my side now and I am about to finish "The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria," and await my new Kindle Touch...I will always have a very dear place in my heart for the Kindle.
So where are all my Kindle adopters at? Please post you comments about this trailblazing device that has totally changed the the world, yet no one remembers.
I am a early adopter. I bought my gen 1 kindle on Nov 23, 2007. (It did not arrive until just before Christmas due to it selling out in 5 hours!)
I loved my Kindle. It was the the e-book reader I always wanted. I had tried the Palm, laptops with PDFs, and even my PSP(!), but nothing was useful for more than a few minutes of reading.
Then the Kindle came.
Sure it looked like a piece of 80's retro tech, but, I could read for hours with no eye-strain on a surface area larger than a postage stamp! I could download books no matter where I was, even on a beach in Hawaii. It even had a free web browser (though hardly hardy) I could use anywhere! (remember, the iPhone had only been out a few months...the smartphone revolution had not happened yet.) It had easy access to wikipedia (anyone remember @wiki!) and it even had a quirky NowNow service where you could ask a question and get a response from a real person! (it was removed in the last firmware).
Then...it seemed, in a flash, my $399 book reader was replaced by a far superior device that cost $50 less. Well, that is technology. I understood the cost of being and early adopter. As my one Kindle screensaver always thanked me for being an early adopter! Around the same time, update 1.2 came out for the Kindle. Things were still bright....
Little did I know...1.2 would be the last update ever for the Kindle. As one who created many of his own mobi files for the kindle there were many formatting issues to clear up. But to naught. Upon the launch of the Kindle 2, it was as though the Kindle never existed.
So, for almost 3 years we have had a totally neglected device. I totally understand, things get cheaper and better as time marches on, but to *totally* abandon a device only 15 months after launch...well, to say the least I felt "Lost."
That said, my trusty Kindle is by my side now and I am about to finish "The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria," and await my new Kindle Touch...I will always have a very dear place in my heart for the Kindle.
So where are all my Kindle adopters at? Please post you comments about this trailblazing device that has totally changed the the world, yet no one remembers.
