Amazon Kindle--what's the deal?

[Felon]

OK, I watched Amazon's little demo of the Kindle. Looks neat enough, but at $400 why is it selling like hotcakes? Despite their promise, ebooks have been an abysmal failure in the past. Did they finally realize that selling digital books at hard-copy prices is a non-starter?

 

[drothgery]

Since Kindle books seem to be slightly more expensive than paperbacks (but noticeably cheaper than hardcovers), I'm guessing that's not it.

Guesses (since I'd probably buy one for $200, but not $400)

- "digital paper"-style eBooks (like the Kindle and Sony's eBook reader) are a pretty serious improvement over standard LCDs for books
- the ability to download books right away, from almost anywhere is pretty cool, and you don't have to subscribe to anything to use it

 

[Ruined]

It's probably a good thing for me that the Kindles have been out of stock for the past month. I've really been interested in picking one up.