Amazon lowers Kindle e-book reader price to $299

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A woman holds the new Amazon Kindle 2 at an unveiling event at the Morgan Library & Museum in February 2009 in New York City.

(AP) -- Amazon.com Inc. has lowered the price of its Kindle electronic book reader by $60. It's now selling for $299, in an effort to attract more bookworms to the device.

On Wednesday the online retailer's Web site was listing the Kindle for $299 instead of the $359 tag the device has had since its debut in 2007. It's not clear whether this is a short-term promotion or a permanent change. Amazon did not announce the price cut or have an immediate comment.

Amazon has not disclosed Kindle sales figures, and the publishing industry has said e-books account for less than 1 percent of book sales. But it is a fast-growing, competitive segment.

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• jcrow - Jul 08, 2009
  • Rank: 2 / 5 (2)
  Why would anybody buy one of these.
  Just buy a netbook and you can do far more. Its way too expensive for what it does.
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• Sommnium - Jul 09, 2009
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
  @jcrow
  it depends on what are your needs. I have another e-ink based product (iRex Iliad) for more than two years and it resolved all probles with eyestrains and almost daily headaches caused by contunuous reading of a large number of scientific articles. So for me it's priceless improvement
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• out7x - Jul 09, 2009
  • Rank: 1.3 / 5 (3)
  This will save the rain forests.
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• Falcon - Jul 13, 2009
  • Rank: not rated yet
  This is just like the first kindle except it is thinner and has no usb connection. Which is a problem...
  They need to fix the button placement so that it can be held without accidentally turning the pages.Honestly if they can make it thinner than the first kindle why not take the time to adjust the button placement...It also needs a USB connection so books can be backed up on computers like it was able to do on the first kindle. I have heard stories (on amazon's own site) that after a person bought a book it either disappeared from the online store or was edited and replaced without the buyer's knowledge or consent.
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