Jonathan Takiff: Amazon's Kindle e-reader is out in a 2nd edition

THE GIZMO: Amazon's Kindle 2 ($359), available Feb. 24.

PAGE 1: Fourteen months ago, the first Kindle e-reader was hailed by its Amazon developers as the salvation of the book business, maybe of magazines and newspapers, too. It's promise? All the great writing with none of the costs of publication and distribution.

Built around a monochrome "E-Ink" display screen that resembles ink on paper, and a wireless high speed network connection (backbone by Sprint) that allows users to download even a 1,000-page work in less than one minute, this light (just 10 ounces), ultra-portable electronic book brought a glow to readers' eyes.

Claiming an inventory of more than 230,000 downloadable books, selling for $9.99 or less, plus dozens of automatically updated magazines and newspapers and 1,200-plus blogs available for low-cost subscription purchase certainly hasn't hurt.

Wisely, Amazon invites Kindle users to sample chapters or subscriptions for free. And there's never a charge (at least one users can see) for online connectivity to the Amazon store.

Boosts from fans like Oprah Winfrey have helped sell about 500,000 Kindles to date, according to one industry analysis. For "competitive reasons," Amazon won't share sales figures on any product.

But CEO Jeff Bezos allows that "more than 10 percent" of the tomes the book-selling giant offers in both print and electronic versions now move as e-books.

Even if the true sales count for Kindle is only a quarter-million units, that would still make this electronic reading tablet one of the more successful high-tech product launches ever.

SO NOW, WHAT? Earlier this week, Kindle 2 was unveiled in New York with great fanfare and celebrity guest Stephen King, who's written a special, spooky, Kindle-themed novella, "Ur," available exclusively for the device.

The new model clearly improves on the original in some notable and secondary aspects.

But with the retail tag holding at $359 - actually, it's going up, since buyers now pay $25 to $50 extra for a previously bundled protective case - price-conscious consumers remain sitting on the fence.

Cosmetically, Kindle 2 looks much cooler.

The first iteration resembled a child's techy toy, its page-turning buttons in the wrong places - just where your thumbs wanted to grip the device. (The first Kindle was assembled by a Chinese toy maker.)

The sleek new model looks like it fell off the Apple tree - snowy white and pencil thin, with a smooth, rounded frame and keyboard buttons. A scroller wheel has been replaced with a five-way "joystick" that makes it easier to maneuver around screens and menus.

Kindle 2's E-Ink display screen is still monochrome (a full-color version won't be available until 2010) and still 6 inches on the diagonal (with trade-paperback-sized "pages"). It doesn't offer touch-screen control or rear lighting, features found in Sony's rival, top-of-the-line PRS-700 Reader.

But the new Kindle screen has more gray tones than its predecessor for better reproduction of illustrations. And the pages flip/refresh about 20 percent faster.

Leaving the U.S. and Amazon's wireless access network? You'll appreciate the expanded memory and battery capacity. You can store 1,500 books (versus 200) on the new device. And it will function without a charge for up to two weeks, with the wireless communicator feature shut off.

Kindle 2 can be recharged with a USB cable connection to a laptop. It no longer needs the (supplied) AC transformer/plug.

THE REALLY GOOD STUFF: Most intriguing, Kindle 2 offers text-to-speech translation of anything you've stored on the device.

A semi-robotic male or female voice (it's your choice) narrates the book or article - or even that boring work document you downloaded to the Kindle - through built-in stereo speakers or, if you're driving, a connected auto sound system.

In a hurry? Rev the voice speed up.

Better yet, Amazon has come up with cool, "Whispersync" technology that will soon let users switch reading devices - from the Kindle to a PC or a mobile phone/PDA - and pick up exactly where they last stopped reading.

And here's something I never knew existed. When you've bought an e-book from Amazon, it can be downloaded and read simultaneously on up to six devices that are registered on the same account, explained Amazon vice president Tim Freed.

So while you may never loan out your Kindle, you could share its wealth of software.

BUT WHY SO EXPENSIVE? With the Kindle and its online store, Amazon is clearly copying the Apple iPod/iTunes model for success.

The platform is essentially closed, though book publishers are encouraging competition from the likes of Sony and now Google, gearing up for digitized book distribution to mobile phones and PDAs.

Pundits believe a large chunk of that $359 you're paying for a Kindle is going into a fund to pay Sprint for wireless access. If Amazon were to shift Kindle's focus to Wi-Fi connectivity (not available in the first or second iteration), store access wouldn't always be instantaneous or exclusive, but it might be a whole lot cheaper.

And if the platform were opened up, so that an LG or Samsung, Logitech or Audiovox could make compatible e-readers, the retail price could come way down.

"At $359, in this economy, Kindle 2 is an elitist product," opines ZDNet's Jason Perlow. "If Amazon really wants to make this the everyman's electronic book, they've got to get it down to $250." *

E-mail Jonathan Takiff at takiffj@ phillynews.com.