Amazon.com’s Book Reader: Will It ‘Kindle’ a Desire for E-reading?

Reader alert!

Amazon.com today released its three-years-in-the-making electronic reader, “Kindle,” which it calls a “wireless reading device.”

The word “book” has served well for centuries, but since “Kindle” can reportedly hold 200 books in its memory, tech-speak may be necessary.

I just learned about it and know little more than its price — $399 — and that according to Amazon.com it “is temporarily sold out.” Even so, I want to dive into its stories, photos and spec sheets.

I confess to being an early adopter (computers are my sports, I’ve decided, so my enthusiasm for most things electronic often the rivals the devotion of Cub fans).

What excites me most about Amazon’s entry into a field littered with wanna-be electronic readers is that it allows you to highlight messages (if it doesn’t let you store and e-mail them, I’ll be less happy).

The ability to bump up the font is certain to turn on baby boomers like myself who struggle with presbyopia and the cost of reading glasses that I inevitably sit on. (Six pairs in the last month.)

So l invite you to join me on this quest for information about “Kindle” and to let me know what you think about it.

A homepage rollout letter from Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos describing Kindle’s access to 90,000 books (The New York Times bestsellers will cost $9.99), newspapers, magazines and blog. The product page features a video and 352 comments with more streaming.

I’ll reserve judgment, and leave the business side impact to financial experts, until I know more.

Until then, what’s your take on Kindle?