I’ve been thinking about e-readers a lot lately. This may have something to do with Amazon greeting me with the above picture of its new Kindle every time I visit its site. And I’m not the only one influenced by Amazon–the new Kindle is the fastest-selling version of the e-reader. But doesn’t it seem as if the newest version of any product is always the one bought up the quickest?

Regardless, the $139 price tag is a big deal; just a year ago the Kindle was almost twice as expensive. I believe that this price drop has not been caused by competing e-readers, but by the iPad. Why would consumers buy a device that can only read books when they can get one of those fancy iPads that does everything (except support Flash) for only a couple of hundred dollars more? Yeah sure, consumers can be told that reading a novel on an LCD screen is not the same as browsing the internet or messing around with Excel spreadsheets at work, but many neither notice nor care although reading real books can be better for taking care of the eyes and you can learn more about this with eye care leadership services here. In response, ALL the e-reader manufacturers have had to compete with the Apple juggernaut. Who other than technophiles are going to be interested in the Kindle? And that same group of technophiles — at least the ones with money to burn — are definitely going to squeal over the iPad.

Perhaps Amazon is lowering the price of the Kindle because it’s following a razor and blades business model, selling its e-readers at a low price to generate a market for the Kindle Store. Whatever the reasons, e-readers are certainly reaching a mass-market price sooner than I expected. I’m just not sure they’ll ever reach mass consumption — until maybe flexible e-ink is widely available or some other unforeseen development, like people actually reading books more than their Facebook feed. A thin, flexible e-ink screen would be amazing. You could read the digital version of the New York Times, delivered to your flexible e-ink screen each morning; or flip over to your subscription of Wired or The Economist; or download the latest New York Post for a laugh. When you’re done, you can fold it up like a regular newspaper.

But if the technology were that advanced, wouldn’t it have a touch screen and enough processing power for the internet and streaming video and whatnot? It’d turn into an iPad-type device. Instead of reading novels or magazines above a 5th-grade level, they’d play Farmville 2024 and manage their fantasy teams. It boils down to how much people want to read, and I’m not sure that the average person wants to read at the expense of other entertainment.

I’m not above considering this trade-off, as I tried to allude to with my fantasy sports joke. I play video games, browse internet forums, IM people, and generally do a ton of shit other than read. An iPad device does appeal to me — just not at its current price point or level of functionality. At the moment, the Kindle is still much more enticing because it’s almost quarter of the price of Steve Jobs’ God tablet.

And, as I’ve said on here and on Twitter, I’m starting to hate all the crap I’m gathering. Books have been eating up my shelf space this year much quicker than Blu-rays, DVDs, and video games combined. I’ve really cut back on that latter group, but I’ve compensated with $25 or above mini shopping sprees on Amazon. An e-reader would eliminate a lot of future clutter, but I wouldn’t be able to lend my books to friends and, more importantly, I wouldn’t be able to exhibit them on a shelf in a vain attempt to make myself look intellectual, an impression unlikely to last if anyone looks down at my Judge Dredd or Family Guy DVDs.

For now, I think I can resist purchasing a Kindle. But once they’re selling for $99 and I’ve finished reading all of my physical books, I might just take the plunge. It’s the price point that got me to finally buy a PS2, and I remember feeling like an idiot for waiting so long.

NSFW: I Admit It, The iPad Is A Kindle Killer. I Just Wish It Weren’t Going To Kill Reading Too – Makes a pretty damn convincing argument for why all but the biggest bibliophiles who also happen to be technophiles will get a Kindle instead of an iPad. Because really, who reads anymore?

The magic is dead – In which an aspiring writer e-buddy laments the sad state of affairs when it comes to practical effects. Filmmakers used to create ingenious ways to pull off shots and effects, while nowadays computers do all the work. I can’t say I care too much, except when the CGI sucks e.g. the Burly Brawl in The Matrix Reloaded. Sigh. There’s a reason why Jaws (mentioned in the blog post) still holds up today.

L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad – A review of a book I’ll never read. Actually, I never would have heard of the author or the book if it weren’t for the damn internet. Apparently this “Lauren Conrad” was on “The Hills.” As much as I’m sure the book sucks — an opinion backed up by this review from another e-buddy — I’m impressed that she’s able to form complete sentences. Putting thousands of them together in a novel is just mind-blowing.

5 Ways Facebook Changed Dating (For The Worse) – Let me add 6) A girl is able to blow you off by saying “Facebook me”

How good was the Springfield Power Plant Team? – Remember that awesome Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns collects a bunch of Major League players for the softball game against Shelbyville plant and all the players except Darryl Strawberry fall victim to absurd incidents and circumstances? Well, I’m about to ruin it for most of you by linking to this article which grades the team by WAR. I think we all wondered why the hell Mike Scoscia was on the team, though, even as a kid. At least I did.

Regular Season Baseball Signals The “Return” of LOLMLB – So are these captions officially played out yet?

+/-, RZR, and New Fielding Stats – You didn’t think you’d get through this entire post without getting linked to a pure sabermetric article, did you? SO MANY FIELDING METRICS IN ONE PLACE WHAT AN EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT. RZR kinda sucks, though. It’s like that $10 gift card to some store you never shop at.