Does it burn up to Fahrenheit 451?

As an Amazon-dependent bookworm, I have to throw some words about Amazon Kindle, though I cannot get a touch on it here in Tokyo.

I had used 1st generation Sony Reader for a month or so before, and from that experience, I find several points remarkable:

• Distibution model - Distribution is done through EVDO wireless network without no 'visible' fee. Of course the cost is included in the price - you can think of it as 'printing' through wireless network to the Kindle device instead of printing on paper. You don't pay for paper and ink, but pay for network.
• User interface - The vertical LCD in the right and the scroll wheel seems to work as a workaround to the slow redraw problem of E-ink. It is a huge improvement from existing E-ink based devices. UI of Sony Reader was, well, just not adequate. It presented all visual feedbacks on sluggish E-ink display, which made the user interface uncomfortable.
• Faster screen redraw - From the video on the product page, you can see the screen is redrawn in a flash, as the one of latest Sony Reader 505 is heralded. I don't think former generation is not usable at all, but the faster the better.
• Annotations - You can add annotations using the keyboard. That's another advantage over Sony Reader.
  

One of the problems for me is, as others pointed out, it does not support PDF natively. Amazon says it can convert user made PDFs to Kindle format, but from bitter experience of PDF on Sony Reader, I don't expect much. Probably I opt for iRex iLiad just for that.

As for its 'bookness' (Jeff Bezos touted it has all features that dead tree books have), it achieved quite well. Though some complain just because it is not made of paper and ink ("It does not smell ink!"), I have no attachment to dead tree books. Of course it cannot be used without electricity, but dead tree books have their own weakness.

Anyway I will wait and see how it goes, until it is available in Japan.