New Uses for Kindle

I have been skeptical about the Kindle and other such electronic-book-reading-gizmos, but this article does bring up an interesting new usage: searchable text. In the posting, "A Kindle Trick Changes the Reading Experience," the author uses the search to locate an overused phrase in the book he was reading.

I wonder how/if this will affect the publishing world... if all text is searchable, then you have to be even more careful of what you say. Is this a positive advancement or a step in the wrong direction (to a continually commercialized literary experience)? That I don't know.

As one commenter suggests, it is like a Biblical Concordance but for every book. What would this mean for literature classes?

Honestly, as one may suppose, I have been a long-term supporter of the tactile sensation of a book and the entire reading experience; however, I am intrigued about the potential meaning of the Kindle. This would be a handy function for textbooks, among other things.