I’ve had my iPod for almost four years now. I credit that purchase, along the creation of some great digital music stores (iTunes, emusic, and the Amazon MP3 Store), with greatly expanding my taste in music and increasing the amount of music that I listen to. I’m starting to think that a Kindle would do the same thing for my reading.

I love books. I have many of them, lining shelves and filling boxes. I love to re-read them and see my old dog-eared pages. I love the smell, new or old.

The problem with MY books, is that they’re a crutch. My desire to read is usually sudden and the need must be quickly fulfilled. Invariably I wander to my bookshelf and pull something down that I’ve already read. The public library is great, but it does little to satisfy a late night reading craving.

I like to read new authors and new books, but that’s hard to do within the confines of your personal library. It’s hard to pull down a book that your friend recommended when you don’t own it!

The Kindle takes care of a lot of these problems. Someone recommends a books for you? You can download it wherever you are, so it’s ready for the next urge. You can carry hundreds of titles at once without the load. It can even load up newspapers every morning.

What I hadn’t realized until I watched the video demonstration on the Kindle product page is how small it is! It’s much more portable than I realized. (By the way, go watch that video, it answers a lot of questions, albeit with some wooden acting)

Now, I’m not buying one anytime soon–the cost is too high. Currently, the Kindle retails at $359–it needs to come down at least another $100. I’ve heard rumors of new models coming out… perhaps they’ll debut with a lower price!

I wonder how they smell?