I love Apple products too, but I refuse to pay AT&T’s outage rates just to say I own an iPhone. That’s just not happening.

I think Amazon made a very, very smart move here, by offering an extremely user-friendly device with free wireless access to the online store and no computer required. Even my mom (who doesn’t and won’t use a computer), is thinking of purchasing the DX because she knows she can shop and read without the worry of subscription rate bills or being tethered to a computer.

That said, I’m a gadget person a heary, but I don’t understand why people insist on adding all the unnecessary “features” to an already great product. It’s a book reader, and a damn good one. Let well enough alone. I’m all about enhancing the core functionality, but I could care less about surfing the net, taking pictures, “tweeting” and “twittering”, touch-screens, etc. For me, this device does not (and should not) replace my iPod or Mac. Once you clutter up something to that degree, you end up with a device that does many things just OK, instead of what it was intended to do extremely well.

I hope if amazon does implement a subscription-based model, they choose to do so for those who have to “have it all”, and for the rest of us, continue to provide free base access for what we really care about… books! Because I, for one, will end the relationship as quickly as it began if the free access is no longer available. After all, that was the major selling point for me.

$20 a month for free internet on the kindle and one book. I would do that.

Subcription models have been strangly unpopular with the public. I have always thought it was be much better to pay $15 a month for unlimited music, then to buy albums and songs individually. The marketplace has so far opted for the buy and own model.