Update for Kindle 2 and DX is on the Way!

It’s no secret that I love technology. I’m dying for a Kindle… or a nook… or an iPad. Of course, all of those cost more money than I am willing or able to spend at the moment.

I simply follow the news and wish wistfully that someone would buy me one. *sigh* Oh, sorry, back to the news at hand.

In many of my audiobook blog entries, I have discussed the Kindle and its competitors. When the nook arrived, it seemed to out-Kindle the Kindle.

Now that Amazon is revealing its latest upgrades, will it push the eReader to the next level?

Collections: A New Addition

The biggest addition to the Kindle seems to be the collections. Users will be able to create personalized folders or collections to sort books. Whether by genre, topic, read or unread, users will be able to group and regroup books. This is a big deal for those with tons of books. Collections may be saved, deleted, and renamed as needed.

Social networking has come to Kindle. Users will be able to connect Facebook and Twitter accounts to their Kindles. Highlighted passages can then be shared on either or both sites. When posted, a user’s comment is accompanied by a link to Amazon’s website which displays the book cover and passage. While this seems pretty cool, I would rather the actual highlighted passage be displayed in the social media feed. I get that they want to link to the book, but c’mon. Its extra steps for our friends to see it.

New Feature:Password Protection

Another new feature is password protection. This feature allows users to unlock the device when it is turned on. This prevents someone from randomly looking through your collection of romance novels or basically content that you don’t want them to see. It is also a barrier to theft, as the thief would have to acquire your pass-code.

PDF zoom!

Also included in the new firmware upgrade are the ability to zoom PDF files for easier viewing, increased font sizes for all eBooks, and some new fonts. Nothing new as far as audiobooks on the device… I wish they would make it more flexible than only playing mp3′s.

Users should note that this update is for Kindle 2 and DX, but not first generation Kindles. None of this is mind-blowing, but all-in-all the upgrades are pretty useful. If they want to really win new buyers, they are going to have to step it up a notch or two.

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Tagged as: Audio Book News, eReader, Kindle 2, Kindle DX