Product Review: Amazon’s Kindel II VS. Ny Public Library card

by charliegaeta

 

  Amazon.com just came out with a new digital reading device that is supposed to revolutionize the way you and I read books. This product is the “must-have” for anyone who likes to read and can’t seem to find a place for that extra $400 they have. What’s that? You have a library card? Let me review some of this new instrument’s technological features and tell you how your library card stacks up.

 

Weight- The Kindel II is slim and weighs only 10.2 ounces (lighter than your typical paperback) this is certainly a huge advantage. I can’t tell you how many times I have been discouraged from reading because of the sheer size and weight of the texts I read. My arms just can’t take what my mind can ingest in one day. The library card is light, but real books are heavy. Imagine carrying 500 pages of Melville or Dickens around with you. Just last week I needed a chiropractic adjustment after I tried to take “Moby Dick” and “A Tale of Two Cities” onto the subway. With the Kindler II I could have all of the classics and about a thousand other titles with me on something that is so small and light I just might forget that I’m carrying it at all. That is perfect for someone who routinely loses his cell phone and tosses his bag around.

 

Wireless- The Kindel II works wirelessly and delivers any book to me in 60 seconds. My library card makes me go to the public library and actually interact with other humans. And they are not the kind of humans we see at our country club. These people can’t afford the dues at our country club, but the library is free, so everyone smells.

 

Reads like real paper- The Kindel II reads like the real paper parents used to write on in the 50’s. But the Kindler II lets you read on an expensive screen what you could on a free library book but without all those dangerous paper cuts.

 

Longer battery life- The Kindel II lets you read for days without re-charging. You can’t re-charge your library card, but it will charge you; 10 cents per day that the book is overdue. In this economy who can afford to be nickeled and dimed to death like that?

 

More Storage- Take your library with you. The Kindel II stores over 1200 books. Perfect for all those times when you need 1200 books right at your fingertips. I don’t know how you read, but I read like I watch TV. Is Faulkner getting boring and carried away with one of his Jesus metaphors? Let’s see what Flannery O’Conner has to say. Try doing that with the Dewey Decimal system.

 

Faster page turns- Paper doesn’t move like it used to. Ever try flipping through 200 pages of Hemingway. You’ll need a wrist brace by the time the old man gets back from the sea.

 

Read to me- The Kindler II has a feature that reads the book to you in a Stephen Hawking computer-like voice. Nothing beats a non-inflective, un-emotional “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

 

As you can see the Kindel II is the perfect item for any techno gadget-crazed millionaire. Apparently, this country is full of them. Just take note of how many people have i-phones in the unemployment line.

Spend you money wisely in this recession. Don’t flip pages when you could get a computer to do it for you. I hear it will also play Tetris if you plug in the right code. You get all this for a mere $400. What a bargain! Thank God we didn’t put this technology into healthcare or hybrid cars. Snark!