The Kindle is almost one, but Amazon just announced they are releasing Version Two on February 24th.

If you bought a Kindle 1, Amazon is putting you first in line for Kindle 2, but it doesn’t look like you will be getting  a discount. But that is the price of progress!

The main improvements seem to be:

• Longer battery life
• Larger storage space ( holds over 1,500 books–whatever that means)
• Text-to-Speech ability when your eyes are tired
• Improved screen with 16 shades of gray

One thing I like about the Kindle is Amazon allows you to re-download:

A copy of every book you purchased is backed up online at Amazon.com in case you ever need to download it again. You can wirelessly re-download books for free anytime.

(I bought a few movies and TV shows from Apple via iTunes before I found out I couldn’t re-download the episodes (not without contacting Apple at least).  I have no intention of doing anything illegal, but I would like the ability to re-download if necessary.)

I was holding out until the next generation Kindle came out.  I may wait until the first price drop, but I’m getting close to being sold on it.  Check out the Kindle 2 information page.