It's not a bad idea... just doesn't look very appealing... I wonder if it'll catch on. I kinda doubt it.
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Amazon Enters Gadget Market with Kindle, an eBook Device
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Best and most sensible post yet. Thanks David... you have added more to this thread than the posters that think the Kindle is some great device that everyone has asked for.
Because everyone was screaming, "Please give me 8 year old technology at a $400 price tag and make it charge me for basic features that I currently have in my laptop/cell phone/iPod/PDA... OH and make sure it's ugly!"
Does it play Doom?
For $400 I dunno. But I like the idea of eInk coming to the masses. Save some trees and carry my favorite books on vacation would be cool for around half of the price they are asking. Hopefully when eInk is more widespread I can afford one.
It'll take a lot to get me to switch
Hmm, looks like it'll be made only for right-handed users age 40 and under.
It'll take a lot more to convert me to an electronic book than I think publishers realize.
All of my books are just as easy to use for left-handers like me as they are for right-handers like my Mom.
I can read by firelight, candlelight, or daylight.
I can read in the tub. If I drop my book in the tub, I damage [but do not necessarily lose the use of] a single book.
I can read for free. Kindle costs for every second I'm reading [i.e., it costs energy, which is not free].
I can write a note anywhere in my book, even make a drawing, with my choice of pen, pencil, charcoal, knife, whatever...
I can fold the corner of a page in a book, and that page is marked regardless of whether I have electricity, enough battery charge in my Kindle, or even a Kindle.
I can tear off the corner of that page and that page is bookmarked forever. The only way I could lose that bookmark is if I lose that book.
If I lose that book, I lost a book. Lose my Kindle, and I've lost who knows how many texts.
I can hold two [or more] books at the same time, or near each other, and compare them... again, for free. No power, and no Kindle, required. I only need some light to see what I'm reading.
I can read any part of a real book, even the "dirty" parts, without anyone, not even someone with access to my Kindle, knowing what I was reading.
I can hide a book.
I can smuggle a book.
I can give a book as a gift, inscribed by me.
I can get a book signed by its author.
Hmm, looks like it'll be made only for right-handed users age 40 and under.
It'll take a lot more to convert me to an electronic book than I think publishers realize.
All of my books are just as easy to use for left-handers like me as they are for right-handers like my Mom.
I can read by firelight, candlelight, or daylight.
I can read in the tub. If I drop my book in the tub, I damage [but do not necessarily lose the use of] a single book.
I can read for free. Kindle costs for every second I'm reading [i.e., it costs energy, which is not free].
I can write a note anywhere in my book, even make a drawing, with my choice of pen, pencil, charcoal, knife, whatever...
I can fold the corner of a page in a book, and that page is marked regardless of whether I have electricity, enough battery charge in my Kindle, or even a Kindle.
I can tear off the corner of that page and that page is bookmarked forever. The only way I could lose that bookmark is if I lose that book.
If I lose that book, I lost a book. Lose my Kindle, and I've lost who knows how many texts.
I can hold two [or more] books at the same time, or near each other, and compare them... again, for free. No power, and no Kindle, required. I only need some light to see what I'm reading.
I can read any part of a real book, even the "dirty" parts, without anyone, not even someone with access to my Kindle, knowing what I was reading.
I can hide a book.
I can smuggle a book.
I can give a book as a gift, inscribed by me.
I can get a book signed by its author.
It uses EVDO, but it's not like you can go and surf the web as you please. It looks like you can visit the Kindle store and wikipedia.
This wouldn't have been useful for me when I was in university. I like to highlight and make notes in the margins of my textbooks. I also like to stick bookmarks in and flip back and forth or look at two pages at once. So not for me, but I could understand how some students would like this.
But... for reading novels or journal articles, I think something like this may be useful - if they redesign the ugly out. It looks like something that would have been designed 5-10 years ago. It looks like a really thin photocopier. There should be wifi, but it looks like they want to control what you read on it. Only books from Amazon. No more reading free online newspapers- you have to buy monthly subscriptions.
And, wow, $399! That's a pretty high price-point. Maybe if it was $149-199, but $399? No way.
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Device/dp/B000FI73MA
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I swear to go the complete and total ignorance being displayed on this thread is staggering. First off its using e-ink tech. With this display tech battery life would last roughly 1000% longer then a color display. Its a fracking book. Only those who can't read give a crap about wanting color.
Then there is the person making the comment about the storage size. Ummm do you know how much a traditional e-book takes up? About a couple hundred K at most.
Seriously. People need to stop posting this junk...makes you look foolish and outright incompetent.
Yah because when I whip out a book I expect it to play MP3's and movies....you want MP3's and movies get a fracking media player. If you want something that gets around a MONTH of battery life, maybe more, get this. Thankfully the market doesn't give a rip about what YOU want. What they are waiting on is an easy to use e-book reader that has massive battery life, and a portal to not bits and pieces of content but tons. Til now no one has done this...and probably won't untile-ink matures a bit more.
Love this, with reservations
Loves:
1. EVDO is a great and easy move
2. 9.99 is really cheap compared to other options
3. E-ink is really easy on the eyes.
4. I don't mind the price actually.
5. Great for traveling, especially airplanes, commuting to work, etc.
Concerns:
1. Screen could be 2inches larger. Would make a big difference. With a good font size, you don't get many words per line or lines per page.
2. Would like to be able to import my .doc, .txt. and .pdf for free from computer for free (they were hazy on this).
3. Curious how notes - if you take a lot - get exported to computer
4. Interface seems simple, but a touch inelegant
LASTLY:
5. I know this sounds greedy and it is not a laptop, but rudimentary e-mail, notes and syncing of some kind would be nice. Similarly, curious on how you can block text to help take notes and export them.
Loves:
1. EVDO is a great and easy move
2. 9.99 is really cheap compared to other options
3. E-ink is really easy on the eyes.
4. I don't mind the price actually.
5. Great for traveling, especially airplanes, commuting to work, etc.
Concerns:
1. Screen could be 2inches larger. Would make a big difference. With a good font size, you don't get many words per line or lines per page.
2. Would like to be able to import my .doc, .txt. and .pdf for free from computer for free (they were hazy on this).
3. Curious how notes - if you take a lot - get exported to computer
4. Interface seems simple, but a touch inelegant
LASTLY:
5. I know this sounds greedy and it is not a laptop, but rudimentary e-mail, notes and syncing of some kind would be nice. Similarly, curious on how you can block text to help take notes and export them.
People comparing this to an iPod are barking up the wrong tree; you can't equate music to books. Music listening can be a background or foreground activity, reading is only a foreground activity. Many many many people listen to music who would never read a book at all---hell some people can't even read! Plus it doesn't really improve on the experience the way an iPod can; you can't listen to a CD you always need some kind of device anyway, unlike a book.
It's a niche product at best.
It's a niche product at best.
Digital ebooks will surpass paper based books. At one time people thought that digital content would never replace newspaper - but they are now.
The Amazon ebook reader looks like a back end of a bus but others will follow with cheaper and more attractive products. Apple are in a good position to take advantage with the iPod Touch - it has a large enough screen - all Apple need to do is implement the necessary DRM that the publishers require. Unfortunately DRM is a necessity for some content.. for others not.
iPod classic doesn't have a large enough screen for comfortable viewing.
EVDO isn't widely available either so this device won't have broad appeal. Its an innovator - not necessarily a market leader. On the positive, the price of Ebooks is great.
For the asking price, Amazon device is very limited. The Touch ( or indeed the iPhone - if you can afford the contract rates ) would be a great.
The Amazon ebook reader looks like a back end of a bus but others will follow with cheaper and more attractive products. Apple are in a good position to take advantage with the iPod Touch - it has a large enough screen - all Apple need to do is implement the necessary DRM that the publishers require. Unfortunately DRM is a necessity for some content.. for others not.
iPod classic doesn't have a large enough screen for comfortable viewing.
EVDO isn't widely available either so this device won't have broad appeal. Its an innovator - not necessarily a market leader. On the positive, the price of Ebooks is great.
For the asking price, Amazon device is very limited. The Touch ( or indeed the iPhone - if you can afford the contract rates ) would be a great.
The big thing you are missing that is that the market didn't ask for it, and the market won't pay $400 for this, or any other device that is as limited and single minded. If you would have thought this through you would have known that your logic negates the iPhone, because you could have said the same thing about a phone and music player combo.
Come on man, why did you give up on the obvious? When I whip out a book I want to read it, when I whip out a $400 electronic device I want to read something, and go beyond that because i paid $400 for it. I didn't even pay $400 for my 160GB iPod, and i can listen to music, watch movies, play games... get the point?
Stop getting so hostile and realize that you are either going to like this Kindle thing and other eReaders, or you're not, but no matter how you slice it paying $400 for this thing is outrageous giving the limited features it has. And the future of books will be digital downloads but I can guarantee that it won't be distributed on limited and expensive devices like this Kindle thing. Maybe when it's $50 or $100 for it and it does more than display monochrome text. And when it eventually becomes more than an eReader that costs $400 it will be a tablet PC and it won't even be an eReader anymore.... but i am sure the supports will find excuses to call it an eReader and call it something new.
This is what a lot of people don't understand. It's okay to be niche, but to claim that it's new and that it's the wave of the future and so forth makes no sense. eReaders will be used by some, but it won't be something that takes over books, laptops, cell phones, and regular run of the mill computers.
My guess, add color, great design, touch technology, wi-fi, oh and Leopard ... maybe to be seen at Mac World January 2008?
I agree. I find these days I use my iPod to listen to more books (as in novels) than I read. I can connect an iPod to my Jeep's Sound system when driving to listen, lie on the beach without reading glasses and listen and wander around the house etc. Maybe it's just me but reading for me these days is for news and articles and that is all via the web other than my Mac magazines (which are two months out of date before I get them!). I wonder is it just me or is this a technology that is going backwards?
Tested this when I got home and works with both Preview and Acrobat. Sure it's not lightweight, but full page on a 14" vert display is pretty nice! Great for magazine PDFs.
What's this for anyway?
Folks, I think I have been too hard on this device about how the features are all wrong and it's very ugly; I just realized what this product is all about.
The E-Ink paper it's made on has taken years to develop, and lots of money. This product is not about revolutionizing the industry, and it's not about making a product lots of people would want. It's completely about finally getting some kind of revenue for a technology that's not yet being used to its full potential. Rich folks will pop $400 into these guy's R&D fund and help pay off their loans.
Everything about this product simply reeks of a product put on the market cheaply, probably by interns and folks who just got hired. It breaks no barriers and doesn't innovate anything, except that E-Ink paper.... that's not even being used as paper, like it's supposed to...
Edit: Never mind, turns out there's already a product on the market that used E-Ink.
Kindle just sucks.
Folks, I think I have been too hard on this device about how the features are all wrong and it's very ugly; I just realized what this product is all about.
The E-Ink paper it's made on has taken years to develop, and lots of money. This product is not about revolutionizing the industry, and it's not about making a product lots of people would want. It's completely about finally getting some kind of revenue for a technology that's not yet being used to its full potential. Rich folks will pop $400 into these guy's R&D fund and help pay off their loans.
Everything about this product simply reeks of a product put on the market cheaply, probably by interns and folks who just got hired. It breaks no barriers and doesn't innovate anything, except that E-Ink paper.... that's not even being used as paper, like it's supposed to...
Edit: Never mind, turns out there's already a product on the market that used E-Ink.
Kindle just sucks.
I hear what you're saying. I would never buy it, it's way too expensive and it looks like a piece of ****, but I just realized how helpful something like it could be for someone carrying books around. Especially should it be made by Apple. Hopefully the much anticipated tablet makes an appearance at MacWorld.
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I was at Borders yesterday playing around with the Sony eBook reader. I thought it was interesting. I wish the contrast had been a little better, text looked pretty good though. I thought it was a lot more attractive than the Amazon device, because it didn't have a keyboard. The keyboard just makes this thing look like a retarded tablet PC. The Sony had a row of small keys along the edge for selecting options from the interface, other than the magnification and page up and down keys, that was all. I like that.
I guess the Amazon device needs a full keyboard to do email, but to me email in an eBook reader just seems like the start of feature bloat. Don't people curl up with a book to get away from email and the rest? You know that once enterprise users start using the email functionality they're going to be asking for the ability to read Word/Excel files, then they'll want to be able to edit them, ect.
I guess the Amazon device needs a full keyboard to do email, but to me email in an eBook reader just seems like the start of feature bloat. Don't people curl up with a book to get away from email and the rest? You know that once enterprise users start using the email functionality they're going to be asking for the ability to read Word/Excel files, then they'll want to be able to edit them, ect.
I totally agree. This is step in the wrong direction for amazon. Its absolutely hideous and it could never replace books. There is nothing like having a complete library of tangible, REAL books.
No offense to anyone who likes this device but I don't think the Kindle will work. It sounds interesting in concept but I just wonder if there is a market for such a device that is large enough to justify it and the cost of the device. People still enjoy the tactile engagement that they get from reading a book and paying for all the content just doesn't work for me. Also, does anyone remember the huge ebook reader explosion several years ago? Yeah, no one does.
To compare this, my Newton 2000 from 1997 has a 6 inch diagonal screen, awesome battery life and can read free ebooks to me using a "retrofit" headphone jack (I say retrofit because I bypassed it from the interconnect port). Yes it doesn't update wirelessly with rss feeds and the like but that feature wasn't even feasible in 1997 (The Palm VII came in 1999 though). Still, in my opinion, Amazon is 10 years late to the party with this one.
To compare this, my Newton 2000 from 1997 has a 6 inch diagonal screen, awesome battery life and can read free ebooks to me using a "retrofit" headphone jack (I say retrofit because I bypassed it from the interconnect port
). Yes it doesn't update wirelessly with rss feeds and the like but that feature wasn't even feasible in 1997 (The Palm VII came in 1999 though). Still, in my opinion, Amazon is 10 years late to the party with this one. 
I would love an e book reader but for $400 forget about it, heck I'll only pay up to $100 and that's if they throw in a book of my choosing.
I don't like the looks of it. Why have a reader as the main focus? This can be a feature of a tablet computer. Why try to produce something that isn't broke (the actually book) with something that is destined to break?
Some pretty interesting features, but it is pretty ugly...however, think back to the first iPod release...those weren't anything too pretty either. It will be interesting to see where this goes and what future revisions might look like if it catches on.
way...way...again, way to chunky.
(and fugly)
No wi-fi?
Peace
dAlen
edit: not to mention, if I want to read a whole book, then I get the paperback.
Long articles I print. (to bothering on the eyes on a screen) There is just something about being able to manually flip though the pages that the electronic version just doesnt give.
(and fugly)
No wi-fi?
Peace
dAlen
edit: not to mention, if I want to read a whole book, then I get the paperback.
Long articles I print. (to bothering on the eyes on a screen) There is just something about being able to manually flip though the pages that the electronic version just doesnt give.
Books are good.
I hope books don't go away. I mean, then you're talking about reading being dependent on batteries. . . unless the thing (eReader, iReader, whatever) is solar powered. Now we're talkin. .
Or maybe crank powered? Not exactly high-tech, I know, but books don't need much electricity after they've been printed, especially if you read they during the day.
I hope books don't go away. I mean, then you're talking about reading being dependent on batteries. . . unless the thing (eReader, iReader, whatever) is solar powered. Now we're talkin. .
Or maybe crank powered? Not exactly high-tech, I know, but books don't need much electricity after they've been printed, especially if you read they during the day.
Several thoughts
Reminds me of the movie "Big" where Josh Baskins comes up with an electronic comic book. Of course, this is way more expensive and seemingly doesn't show graphics. Or color.
I recenly bought a couple of Digital comic collections... Mad Magazine and The Amazing Spider Man: each with every single issue every published. Mad looks pretty good on a 23" Cinema Display which will shows 2 pages at a time just like you would read a magazine. Spider Man is even higher quality -- all of the color an beautiful PDF scans of every page -- it's truly mind-boggling to have a collection like this for $35 each (Amazon.com).
The problem with this reader is that it's too small. The screen is too small and the built-in storage is teeny-tiny.
I can see Apple coming out with something that will biznitchslap this thing to the stone-ages. Bigger, backlit, lots of Flash drive space and will read PDFs full screen -- and with their patend touchscreen iPhone-like goodness.
It'll also be able to do the web and show video and photos and probably have a DVD slot for loading software and playing media. Music, yep of course, that's standard. Along with being an eReader with probably a lot more flexibility. Widgets for doing all kinds of stuff would also be included.
The Mad Magazine collection I have is a mere 7GB and can be backed up on any computer I like. Plus, Leopard's new PDF viewer allows me to delete pages from any issue and create a completely new PDF with a single satire if I like. I recently did this with the GREASE satire and sent it to my friend who recently directed the musical (I was in it too as the Teen Angel [!])
I don't think too many people will pony up $400 for a simple black & white e-book reader. But they would spend twice that for something a whole lot slicker that does a whole lot more.
Publisher's page of Marvel Comics and the Mad ***** You cannot buy from this site, but Amazon has all this stuff for about $35 a collection (free shipping)
Reminds me of the movie "Big" where Josh Baskins comes up with an electronic comic book. Of course, this is way more expensive and seemingly doesn't show graphics. Or color.
I recenly bought a couple of Digital comic collections... Mad Magazine and The Amazing Spider Man: each with every single issue every published. Mad looks pretty good on a 23" Cinema Display which will shows 2 pages at a time just like you would read a magazine. Spider Man is even higher quality -- all of the color an beautiful PDF scans of every page -- it's truly mind-boggling to have a collection like this for $35 each (Amazon.com).
The problem with this reader is that it's too small. The screen is too small and the built-in storage is teeny-tiny.
I can see Apple coming out with something that will biznitchslap this thing to the stone-ages. Bigger, backlit, lots of Flash drive space and will read PDFs full screen -- and with their patend touchscreen iPhone-like goodness.
It'll also be able to do the web and show video and photos and probably have a DVD slot for loading software and playing media. Music, yep of course, that's standard. Along with being an eReader with probably a lot more flexibility. Widgets for doing all kinds of stuff would also be included.
The Mad Magazine collection I have is a mere 7GB and can be backed up on any computer I like. Plus, Leopard's new PDF viewer allows me to delete pages from any issue and create a completely new PDF with a single satire if I like. I recently did this with the GREASE satire and sent it to my friend who recently directed the musical (I was in it too as the Teen Angel [!])
I don't think too many people will pony up $400 for a simple black & white e-book reader. But they would spend twice that for something a whole lot slicker that does a whole lot more.
Publisher's page of Marvel Comics and the Mad ***** You cannot buy from this site, but Amazon has all this stuff for about $35 a collection (free shipping)