My name is Jonathan and I am a gadget junkie. There, I said it, and wow, do I feel better! My wife says that the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one.

Actually I don’t think I do. It just makes more sense to agree with her, even though I know I’m smarter, or at least a better at rationalizing things.

I just received my latest new toy – the Amazon Kindle 2.

Although I am not a huge book reader for relaxation, a few a year at best, I do read. Not just the manuals to all the gadgets; I read four or five non fiction books a year, magazines and I’m an avid reader of the Wall Street Journal.

My wife thinks I’m nuts, because I always keep a three foot pile of the Journal in the garage. It’s become my personal library.

I have a fear of running out of reading material, and I often go back to my pile and pull out old papers and read the great articles I missed earlier.

Now enter the Kindle 2. My pile is gone. The Kindle has an enormous memory, and I don’t have to delete anything. Trees are saved, my garage is cleaner, and I don’t have to hear about the “Pile” anymore.

That should be enough, but there’s so much more to recommend the Kindle 2.

Although my wife is an environmentalist and appreciates the trees I am saving, she also worries about money. $359.00 for the Kindle was hard for her to swallow….so here come the numbers.

“My journal subscription is up, and they want $299.00 for the year to renew” I told her.

“That’s $25.00 per month. I can get a subscription from Amazon’s Kindle store for $9.99 a month, saving almost $15.00 per month” You’ve got to admit I’m good at this.

“But” she says, “What about the $359.00 for the Kindle” I pulled out a sheet of paper and drew out this scenario.

The $15.00 a month is $180.00 per year. So in two years the Kindle is paid for.

This doesn’t count the money I save on the books, and magazines I will buy during this two year expression.

She relented. Of course, the Spa gift certificate didn’t hurt either.

Money isn’t everything. There is value in so many of the features.

I think that for Non Fiction books, the Kindle is perfect. You can select text and save it as a note, that is filed away and can be recalled at any time. It’s better than writing notes on a legal pad that can get lost.

Articles that I may want to read but lack the time can be “Clipped” and saved for later. Building a library of them that is both neater, and easier to find than the “Pile” method.

A feature I like and use a lot is the PDF reader. I can email or upload a PDF file to the Kindle and it adds it as a new book.

I load office documents, pdf. e-Books, and other documents that I can read at my leisure and not have to boot up my laptop.

I would think that this would be a great feature for Lawyers, who could send numerous contracts and legal papers to read, without the added weight.

I love the screen, in fact I find it incredible to read in bright light. It’s the opposite of a laptop, or other back lit device.

downloading Samples of a book is nice, and the $9.99 for NY Times best sellers (most, not all) is even better.

I can go on and on, but I think I rationalized this as a winner, oh and she loved the Spa treatment.

Happy gadgeting.