The book is dead! (Well, maybe not...)

About a year ago, the folks at Amazon, the mega-huge online retailer, launched the first version of Kindle, an e-book reader. Pundits and hacks sniffed curiously at the device but most didn't rush to declare the death of books printed on pulped trees.

Today, Amazon announced that they were taking pre-orders for the Kindle 2, due to ship on February 24th - and while journos who sling copy for gadget zines have responded by firing off a quick opinion, the prevailing opinion is that inky paper remains quite alive and well.

A big improvement on an already excellent technology is the E-Ink display, which now can utilise 16 levels of grey as opposed to the original 4 levels. E-ink displays remain viewable at 180 degree angles, in sunlight and require very little battery power.

Onboard memory storage has vastly increased substantially to 1.4 Gb - but the option to use an SD card is not available on the Kindle 2. Although having a large selection of titles on the Kindle remains difficult as the device does not elegantly catalogue and manage a user library.

Amazon supremo Jeff Bezos is trumpeting the success of the Kindle and predicting further growth for the Kindle 2. Certainly the device is not a failure if judged by sales of 500,000 (estimated) units. However, with more micro-laptops emerging on the market with price tags not too far distant from the Kindle 2, it's difficult to justify the expense of buying a gadget specifically for reading.

Still, if you're not affected by global recession and have an extra US$ 359.00 burning a hole in your pocket - why not?

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