| The Amazon Kindle e-book reader family has made a | | | | distribution charges associated with the electronic |
| huge impact on the book scene in a relatively short | | | | version of any given book, it can be offered at a |
| space of time. The original Kindle was released in | | | | lower price than the hardback equivalent. |
| November 2007. The Kindle 2 was launched in | | | | Not only that, it's also possible to get free kindle |
| February of 2009 and the large format Kindle DX, | | | | books directly from the Amazon Kindlestore. All you |
| aimed at readers of magazines, newspapers and | | | | need to do is visit the Amazon website, bring up |
| academic textbooks followed soon after in June of | | | | their Kindlestore and perform a search for Kindle |
| 2009. | | | | books. If you then choose the option "order by price |
| Despite the fact that the Kindle 2 and the DX were | | | | - lowest to highest" you'll be presented with a list of |
| released during a fairly gloomy economic downturn, | | | | books starting at $0. |
| they still sold extremely well. There has certainly | | | | There is an excellent selection of classics available - |
| been some criticism of the fairly high ticket price for | | | | 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Sherlock Holmes, |
| both the Kindle 2 and the DX, but it seems as if | | | | Treasure Island etc. - but a good number of more |
| Amazon's target market are content to pay $359 | | | | modern books are also available. Many of these are |
| and $489 for the Kindle 2 and the DX respectively. | | | | offered by publishers wanting to showcase authors |
| One of the big selling points of the Kindle series is the | | | | and the list is revised quite often - so it's well worth |
| fact that no monthly fee is required for the ability to | | | | checking back every now and again. |
| download e-books. Amazon use a 3G connection - | | | | In addition to completely free books, there is a good |
| called "Whispernet" and operated by Sprint - which | | | | selection of volumes which are available for purely |
| means that Kindle owners can download electronic | | | | nominal fees - $0.01 for example. |
| books from the Amazon store in under a minute - | | | | If you enjoy classics - or any book which has now |
| without any requirement for either a notebook or a | | | | entered the public domain due to its published date - |
| WiFi connection. | | | | you could very quickly recoup the price of your |
| A further perceived benefit is the availability of | | | | Kindle. |
| cheaper books. As there are no printing, paper or | | | | |