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I got my new Kindle 3 in the mail today. And I've successfully transferred all my stuff over from the Kindle 1 to the Kindle 3, wiped the old Kindle, and boxed it up for Gazelle. It's worth $15, which I guess is fair for a three year old, two generation behind, device.
So now here's my list of gripes with the new Kindle:

• Biggest gripe: I didn't realize that old magazine issues are DRM'd to the Kindle on which you received them, and cannot be transferred to the new one. Apparently, you can re-download recent issues to your new Kindle, but you cannot just copy the files over from the old device to the new. I had a bunch of Newsweek back issues on my old Kindle that I hadn't read yet, and I was quite surprised to see that I couldn't open any of them on the new Kindle. And they're old enough that they're no longer available for re-download. I don't have any current Kindle magazine subscriptions going, and now I'm a good bit less likely to start any new ones.
• The keyboard. It's just not as easy to use as the Kindle 1's keyboard. And there are no dedicated number keys, which just seems weird. I've discovered that Alt-Q works for 1, Alt-W is 2, and so on, so there is still a way to type numbers, but it's weird.
• Collections. I was fairly excited about this feature, but it turns out that, when you put something in a collection, it stays on the main screen also. I was really hoping to use collections to get some stuff off the main screen, just to make that more manageable.
• No user-removable battery. No SD card slot.

And now for some stuff I do like:

• The screen. It's definitely an improvement on the Kindle 1, which itself was pretty good.
• The size and weight. Not that the Kindle 1 was heavy or anything, but it's nice to have something just a little smaller and lighter.

Stuff I'm not sure about:

• The case. I bought the default M-Edge case. I'm not sure if I like it or not just yet.
• The navigation pad. I'm just not digging this yet. It might grow on me though.

I probably sound like I'm not that excited about the thing, but I am really excited to, once again, have a Kindle with a working battery in it. My main problem with the Kindle 1 was that the battery was pretty much dead. I'd thought about just buying a replacement battery, but decided that it was time to just go ahead and get a new Kindle. I bought the old Kindle in Feb 2008, so it had a pretty long life, as first-gen consumer electronics devices go.

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