This has been talked about a little around the office the past few days: The new Amazon e-book reader, Kindle. Here is what the New York Times has to say about it:

Sure, the idea has appeal: an e-reader lets you carry hundreds of books, search or jump to any spot in the text and bump up the type size when your eyes get tired.

But the counterarguments are equally persuasive. Printed books are dirt cheap, never run out of power and survive drops, spills and being run over. And their file format will still be readable 200 years from now.

So e-book readers keep on coming and keep on flopping: the Rocket eBook Reader. Gemstar. Everybook. SoftBook. Librius Millennium Reader. The Sony Reader is in stores even now, priced at $350 and making literally dozens of sales.

Then on Monday, Amazon introduced its own e-book reader, called the Kindle. It arrives at $400 — reading material sold separately.

Are they completely nuts?

They go on to review the product. But why bother? It’s another e-book reader. BFD. Call me old-fashioned, but it’s gonna take a miracle to replace the printed book. You can’t curl up with a computer. I don’t care how small and convenient it is. It just doesn’t have the same appeal as a book. Good luck with this one, Amazon.

Note from the future (9/15/2011): HAHAHAHAHAHA!