Amazon e-reader Kindle 2 is a nifty, if costly, second act

Hate to spoil the ending, but here's what you need to know about Kindle 2.

In this file photo, the new Kindle 2 electronic reader is shown at an Amazon.com news conference in New York.

(Mark Lennihan/AP Photo)

The second edition of Amazon's amzn best-selling electronic reader looks better, reads better and addresses the first Kindle's (metaphorically speaking) torn pages. Still, most of the improvements are marginal enough that owners of the original Kindle ought not feel compelled to upgrade, especially at a pricey $359.

In a turbulent economy, first-time buyers may balk, too. Still, Kindle 2 represents the finest e-book reader you can buy, even if at times it leaves you wanting more. Color is years away. But why, in this day and age, no touch-screen?

Amazon began shipping the new Kindle on Monday, a day before it said it would. I've been curling up with one for a couple of weeks.

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You can schlep a library of 1,500 books (plus newspapers, magazines and blogs) in a contraption that weighs less than a paperback. The built-in wireless store that lets you sample, purchase and download content in less than a minute is what distances the Kindle from e-book rivals such as Sony. The technology, which Amazon calls Whispernet, is built on top of Sprint's fast EV-DO network.

More than 240,000 books are for sale in the Kindle Store, including most best sellers, typically for under $10. Newspapers fetch $5.99 to $14.99 monthly; magazines, $1.25 to $3.49 per month.

The new model boasts easier, if still imperfect, navigation, and it has a slimmer and more attractive design, though it only comes in white. The first Kindle included a flimsy cover. This one doesn't, though for $30, you can get a leather cover that has a hinge to ensure it won't slide off. Let's dive in:

•Design. At slightly more than a third of an inch thick, Kindle 2 is a lot thinner and a tad taller than the original. One annoying drawback to the first Kindle was the way I kept inadvertently hitting the "next page" buttons on either edge of the display.

That's no longer a problem. Buttons on the new Kindle are smaller and less obtrusive.