But that was then; this is now. With the introduction of more and more Kindle clones on the market, is the Kindle worth the premium price?

Sometimes, the original really is better than those that follow. It’s tough to argue that any portable music device that has followed the iPod can match the original in feature and function. But sometimes, the clones are every bit as good as the first entrant into the market, or at least offer a better value. A $400 DVD player is better than the $30 variety at Wal-Mart, but is it THAT much better?

Kindle is faced with competition on a number of fronts. The Augen Book Reader, for example, offers all the functionality of the Kindle and then some. Augen has bundled together a book reader and an MP3 player with a 7″ screen and a SD card reader.

Then there is the $29.99 Nintendo DS 100 Classic Books cartridge. Assuming you’ve already dropped the $150 or so for a Nintendo DS, there’s no better bargain than this on the market. Your thirty bucks gives you the software to turn the DS into a book reader as well as 100 all-time classic books like Great Expectations and Little Women. Such classic characters as Sherlock Holmes and Frankenstein’s Monster are included.

In addition to the 100 books included on the cartridge, there are ten more books available for download. Although Nintendo has not unveiled any expansion plans, the small number of downloads relative to the number of books pre-installed leads me to believe that there will be many more on the way.

The technology behind the Kindle is excellent in the fact that you can hold your entire library, 100+ titles, in a little over 10 ounce of handheld reader with the option of SD memory cards to expand your library even more. It’s smaller than a paper back and more convenient with none of that page turning hassle.

Another feature that sets Kindle a part from other ebook readers is that it boasts a paper-like screen. It provides a crisp black and white screen that imitates the readability of printed paper. It’s not backlit like a computer monitor so it’s easier on the eyes. It’s also handier than a paperback because you can bump up the font size to make readability easier.

One of the things I love best about the idea of going digital for books is the price for two reasons: 1.) they are much cheaper than hardback books at around $6.95 a novel and 2.) ebooks are an up and coming medium in which authors will be published. I will confess that I’m a die-hard book reader, and even if the Kindle becomes the next big thing, I will still buy my favorite titles in their hardbound original versions, although in most cases I’ll be paying three times more for them.