You may not have heard about the Kindle when it first hit the market. Compared to some technologies such as the iPhone and new versions of Windows, the Kindle was a fairly quiet release. If you are an avid reader, you were probably more than a little intrigued. But intrigue grew into popularity with the release of the much-improved Kindle 2. And now with the Kindle DX, the most advanced reader on the market, Amazon has become the single most popular maker of ebook readers.

But is all this popularity justifiable or is it just hype brought on by a new piece of technology? To be fair, it is a bit of both. The Kindle is far from a perfect device and it won't be replacing the paper book just yet, but it does offer the best possible way to take your books, and lots of them, wherever you want to go. That portability is something you just cannot find with normal books. And even though the Kindle DX is big, roughly the dimensions of a sheet of paper but considerably thicker, it can bring over 3,000 books with it. You would need quite a backpack to carry a library that big with you.

While the Kindle 2 has been the standard that other companies are trying to compete with, the just-released Amazon Kindle DX is in a class all its own. It features a large 9.7-inch screen with auto-rotating feature which makes it easier to view PDF files, and has the capacity to hold more books than other handheld ebook reader. Simply put, the Kindle DX is the device to beat. Unfortunately, all these features come at a steep price.

The price may be the reason so many people don't have a Kindle yet. The Kindle 2 is expensive at 350 dollars, but the Kindle DX is really hard to swallow at 489 dollars. For that kind of money, you would have high expectations. But the new DX doesn't come with a cover, free books and it is very limited in what kinds of files it can view thanks to strict copy protection. The Kindle 2 still offers an array of options, but doesn't cost nearly so much.

Despite its popularity though, the Kindle remains to be a product of the more advanced technology that still has to hit mainstream. It is a great device for those who are into books but for now, that's simply what it is – something to read books on. It's not even offered outside the country yet and still lacks the versatility that other modern gadgets offer. But then again, that's what the iPod was before too and look how far it has penetrated the market now. What is clear however, is that the Kindle is an innovative gadget that has started a fast-growing industry. Give it a few more years and more people will realize that buying the gadget and the content that goes with it is more cost-efficient and handy that keeping a whole library of books. And until the time comes, the Kindle will continue to rule the market as the ebook reader that has set the bar high.