Amazon Launches Kindle DX eBook Reader with 9.7" Screen

[deconstruct60]

What are you studying? I'm a history professor, and I have to say, while I love the idea of the Kindle, the implementation is atrocious in my field. ...

... But until Amazon and the publishers improve its implementation, that's not going to happen.

How likely were they to improve it when there isn't a widespread device to distribute on? There is a natural progress where they target almost purely text books first, then once have a working market with those move on to the more technically challenging books (and other printed matter).

PDF versions of the book should/would fix that if the "render to PDF" from their source works similarly to what happens when it goes to the printer. In part, this is a DRM problem. The "just as good as if laser printed" copy probably can be widely copied so the publishers are skitish about distributing that format. The DRM format isn't as high fidelity. ( somewhat curious though that Amazon's format can't handle those though. Although not too surprising handling grayscale pictures in text was probably higher on the priority list. )

 

[Randman]

I wasn't going to buy a regular Kindle at the going price and I won't pay so much more for an extra screen.

 

[deconstruct60]

Jesus, do people who buy these stupid Kindles ever do the math to figure out if it's worth the cost?

I only read books that I get free from the library... I figured out that in gas costs, it would take me something like 60 YEARS to even break even on the purchase of the Kindle.

How much does your time cost? $10/hr. of driving, searching the stacks, checking out, etc. adds up to what?

You don't even seem to what to pay for books in the first place; electronic or otherwise. You're not the market they are selling to. They are selling this to people who *DO* buy books, newspapers, and possibility eventually magazines. Folks would likely have a "library" of their own at home. Those folks will find far more utility in this device than you will.

Do people even have any idea what's going on in the economy to be buying this useless stuff? People seem to be falling all over themselves to spend money on things that don't make any sense.

You're in the mac rumors forum ... and you are talking about useless stuff from an economic perspective? Exactly how is all the activity here making a constribution to the US GDP? (other than the ads that help pays the internet bills.)


Why buy a Mac? Just wait till the Apple store opens and just go use one of the demo models to surf the web. It is free. Why should anyone buy one? And those pesky bookstores. Just close them all and open more library branches. <cough>

 

[weg]

Then again, I've seen school text books go for $200+

The problem is, given the current pricing policy, the eBook version of the same book will be almost as expensive, if not more expensive. Add the $500 for the Kindle to it.. how many students will be able to afford it (unless, of course, the university libraries start supporting this... but at least at my university this won't happen in the next 500 years).

 

[G58]

Retarded

I want to record here that I believe Bezos has missed a trick. But I can't. I can't because he hasn't. What he's actually done, as he desperately tries to emulate Apple and Steve Jobs, is retard the delivery of the written word by about 100 years.

Amazon's main pitch with this new, larger Kindle, is to students and newspaper readers. Well I for one only ever read one newspaper in paper form on a regular basis. It's free and it's in colour. All my other news comes free online.

Not having the option of viewing colour content would seem like a pretty obvious deal breaker to me. And not just for news geeks. Does the excitable Mr Bezos really believe students want to go back to black and white? What about the bar charts and pye charts, art, photography, medical diagrams?? Are students really supposed to view everything in black and white? No, 16 shades of grey is NOT a credible substitute.

I said he's retarded the delivery of the written word by about 100 years. But even before Victorian times, there were books with illuminated colour panels. Colour is almost as natural an element in our read media as it's possible to find. Black and white is a compromise - one that most students will never have known!

So, given that Sony are in on the reader thing too, the important question is: what WILL Apple do next? IS the tablet idea dead? Touch screens? Yes we have taken to them in a big way in the iPhone and the iPod Touch... but in a tablet form?

Well, as close as anyone can get to predicting Apple's next announcement, and bearing in mind that Steve likes to launch products with three "insanely great" features or functions, my money is now on an iBook! Yep, they could resurrect the name in an entirely new product: a sub notebook/ebook, book reader... that's also a phone...??

Oh, come on, you've read dumber ideas on the net. And you know you want one. And... if it's in clamshell form, with the two screens closely married in the centre, sanity could return to the form factor, as magazines become an option and double page spreads become possible. But of course students could benefit too. Lots of textbooks have large illustrations.

The reason Apple haven't done this before is battery longevity. But their experience with the iPhone, iPod Touch, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is two-fold: Firstly they've developed small powerful batteries. But more importantly [at least for Apple], thanks to Jobs' reality distortion field, we've accepted limited capacity between charges in powerful little devices!

So, a new device that falls between the iPhone and the MacBook Air in size functionality, could end up not being too badly affected by power shortages.

If only Bezos had what Steve has - we could be using a colour Kindle DX, instead of still waiting for an announcement from Cupertino.

Engadget has just wrapped up live coverage of Amazon's press event introducing the Kindle DX, the next generation of Amazon's eBook reader. The Kindle DX, now available for pre-order at a price of $489 for shipment this summer, contains a 9.7" screen and is being positioned as a device for reading documents such as newspapers, textbooks, and research journal articles whose formats have not worked ideally with the smaller 6" screen of the current Kindle 2 model.

The Kindle DX features a built-in accelerometer that allows for auto-rotation of content between portrait and landscape orientations, and increased storage over the Kindle 2 of 3.3 GB, which provides space for up to 3,500 books periodicals, and documents. Like the Kindle 2, which will remain available at its current price of $359, the Kindle DX offers free 3G access through Sprint's network to allow downloading of content on the go. Native PDF support is also included.

The Boston Globe, The New York Times and The Washington Post are all planning to offer long-term subscriptions for Kindle newspaper editions at discounted prices.

Many people have viewed the Kindle as a competitor to the iPhone's eBook capabilities, with a Kindle for iPhone application also offering compatibility with Amazon's service on the iPhone. Rumors of an Apple "media pad" that could provide more direct competition to the Kindle on the eBook front have also been circulating in recent weeks.

Article Link: Amazon Launches Kindle DX eBook Reader with 9.7" Screen

 

[kas23]

Plus now that Amazon owns Stanza, we should get tons of Public Domain books to the Kindle soon. Good times.

Books in the public domain were technologically available for the first Kindle. They certainly don't need Stanza to access them. Besides, it is not in Amazon's financial interest to make free public domain books available on the Kindle. Amazon is in the business of selling books, not giving them away. Problem is, most people don't know about these public domain book - so they blindly buy them through Amazon.

Its easy to say Amazon won't be able to sell this. But since they can hardly keep the Kindle 2 in stock, I don't think they are worried.

The exact same thing was said about the original Kindle - it couldn't be kept in stock at first. But after a few weeks to a month, sales grew cold and it turned out not to be so successful after all. I really don't see anything new and exciting in the Kindle 2 to drive more sales than the original Kindle.

 

[masmullin]

I would buy

I would absolutely purchase this if it were released in Canada

 

[deconstruct60]

It's free and it's in colour. All my other news comes free online.

How long is 'free news' going to last if everyone stops paying for news?
The news was never free. Subscriptions + ads paid for it. The more it becomes more solely ads support the "entertainment" encoded it seems to become.




Not having the option of viewing colour content would seem like a pretty obvious deal breaker to me. And not just for news geeks. Does the excitable Mr Bezos really believe students want to go back to black and white? What about the bar charts and pye charts, art, photography, medical diagrams?? Are students really supposed to view everything in black and white? No, 16 shades of grey is NOT a credible substitute.

I said he's retarded the delivery of the written word by about 100 years. But even before Victorian times, there were books with illuminated colour panels.

Chuckle.... yeah there was widespread, mass media color print books in Victorian times. Here is a test for folks who think that most books are awash with color. Go to a bookstore and walk into the fiction/mystery/scifi section and pick a random paperback or sub $30.00 hardcover book off the shelf. Yeah if you go to the photography/art aisle you'll find a higher density of color but what percentage of the store is that?

Colour is almost as natural an element in our read media as it's possible to find. Black and white is a compromise - one that most students will never have known!

Ansel Adams was compromising in his photography ... yeah right.
I'll buy into the more recent generations have been conditioned into color is "everything" mindset. Colorized (including that horrific stuff pushed by Ted Turner) movies. However that is the kool-aid of the this century. The conent of the read media is what should be worried about first. Secondary, is this window dressing of color.

they've developed small powerful batteries. But more importantly [at least for Apple], thanks to Jobs' reality distortion field, we've accepted limited capacity between charges in powerful little devices!

Err, the reality distortion field covers both parts. Apple hasn't invented any new battery tech. They have gone non-replaceable to make bigger batteries. However, there has been no per cubic centimeter increase in energy density tech that is unique to them rolled out. They have different packaging, not different technology.

Besides. The Kindle can go a week without recharging, while still using everyday (for reading). Any Apple device even remotely close to that that time frame? E-Ink costs more and has limitations on spectrum of tones, but power ... it beats the slop out of anything Apple is doing.

 

[G58]

Doh!

This process is already happening. See the Boston Globe. Traditional paid for Paper Newspapers don't make money any more - period. The Free alternatives distributed twice a day in UK cities are the model that currently works best for this medium. But the business model has already evolved... even if some sectors of the consumer market haven't.

Are you seriously suggesting news media will start charging for what we now get for free? If you are, I suggest you buy shares in whoever is dumb enough to try it. I like a dose of Schardenfeude for breakfast!

I never said "there was widespread, mass media color print books in Victorian times." I said the option to add colour to books is a lot older than that. And it is. The point being that it was desired long ago. Ignoring this desire in the 21st Century is just plain dumb.

Any fool can quote exceptions to a rule: sci-fi books etc. But every decent biography and autobiography boasts colour plates - most of which are culled from press photography - all of which originates in colour. Also, biography and autobiographies represent a vast proportion of volume selling hardbacks and paperbacks.

You say: "The conent of the read media is what should be worried about first. Secondary, is this window dressing of color."

This is the most utter drivel. Presentation affects the way the message is received. One example is blood stained streets. B&W shots sanitise the horror of death. Colour leaves the reader in no doubt. Psychologically we're also attuned to colour now.

I was in the design industry and buying advertising media when spot colour in a newspaper was the holy grail. Some publications offered discounts for some colours [RGBY] if they were running an editorial feature that REQUIRED colour. But it was always expensive, so it was used sparingly. Colour was a luxury! Never mind that we lived in a colour world!!

The big game was designing separations with enough tolerance to take into account drift and paper expansion, and hoping the registration would get checked by the belligerent unionised print operators who pretty much ruled the roost. In reality it was dire.

Then the first colour newspapers came along. And in the UK, this coincided with the breaking of the unions' stranglehold on the print industry. In other words, print evolved - for the better. This was 1986 [23 years ago] when the visionary Eddy Shah launched Today - sadly now defunct. But I think he got the idea from the USA.

Bezos has taken print backwards. The idea of a medium devoid of colour is not only retarded, it's idiotic, and definitely not going to last. The examples I gave a re totally valid. No charts or medical diagrams are ever going to be viewed on a B&W screen. It's just not going to happen.

Re: batteries... Check your facts. The majority of laptop batteries contain generic tubular cells that waste a lot of space. Apple's battery cells are square. Fact. Apple were involved in the development of these unites. Fact.

Re Kindle, Apple devices, E-Ink etc: So what? As we know, it's useless without colour, so it's limited by design. Unless or until there's a colour version of E-Ink, the medium will not be valid alternative to the vast majority of text books and many many other books.

How long is 'free news' going to last if everyone stops paying for news?
The news was never free. Subscriptions + ads paid for it. The more it becomes more solely ads support the "entertainment" encoded it seems to become.

G58 wrote this:
Not having the option of viewing colour content would seem like a pretty obvious deal breaker to me. And not just for news geeks. Does the excitable Mr Bezos really believe students want to go back to black and white? What about the bar charts and pye charts, art, photography, medical diagrams?? Are students really supposed to view everything in black and white? No, 16 shades of grey is NOT a credible substitute.
End of G58 quote


Chuckle.... yeah there was widespread, mass media color print books in Victorian times. Here is a test for folks who think that most books are awash with color. Go to a bookstore and walk into the fiction/mystery/scifi section and pick a random paperback or sub $30.00 hardcover book off the shelf. Yeah if you go to the photography/art aisle you'll find a higher density of color but what percentage of the store is that?


Ansel Adams was compromising in his photography ... yeah right.
I'll buy into the more recent generations have been conditioned into color is "everything" mindset. Colorized (including that horrific stuff pushed by Ted Turner) movies. However that is the kool-aid of the this century. The conent of the read media is what should be worried about first. Secondary, is this window dressing of color.




Err, the reality distortion field covers both parts. Apple hasn't invented any new battery tech. They have gone non-replaceable to make bigger batteries. However, there has been no per cubic centimeter increase in energy density tech that is unique to them rolled out. They have different packaging, not different technology.


Besides. The Kindle can go a week without recharging, while still using everyday (for reading). Any Apple device even remotely close to that that time frame? E-Ink costs more and has limitations on spectrum of tones, but power ... it beats the slop out of anything Apple is doing.

 

[NinjaHERO]

Books in the public domain were technologically available for the first Kindle. They certainly don't need Stanza to access them. Besides, it is not in Amazon's financial interest to make free public domain books available on the Kindle. Amazon is in the business of selling books, not giving them away. Problem is, most people don't know about these public domain book - so they blindly buy them through Amazon.



The exact same thing was said about the original Kindle - it couldn't be kept in stock at first. But after a few weeks to a month, sales grew cold and it turned out not to be so successful after all. I really don't see anything new and exciting in the Kindle 2 to drive more sales than the original Kindle.

From what I read, Amazon uses software protection on their Kindle books. That is not the same format that public domain books are found in. So therefore, it was not easy to install public domain books on the kindle. A fact that Sony was proudly advertising as their counter to the Kindle. The press release for the acquisition of Stanza stated, among other things, that Amazon was hoping to use their software to easily add public domain books to the kindle. But that's just what I read.

As for its sales, time will tell. They are believed to have sold over 500,000 last year. And they say those numbers would have been higher had the Kindle not been sold out in November and December.

I look forward to seeing how it improves with each generation.

 

[Manic Mouse]

I didn't say that, I said Amazon is testing the waters before spreading lemon juice to the rest of its financial statements...failure factors for the Kindle, and MAJOR differences to any BS comparison you guys have been making with Macs and iPods:

- EXTREMELY limited use;
- monochromatic screen and no possible choice of other paper tones;
- ABSOLUTELY overpriced for its limited scope;
- BULKY.

The Kindle IS DEAD.

And had Apple released an "iBook" (if you will) you would be singing a different tune. Kindle is not dead, it's actually doing really well. It has no more a limited scope than an iPod, which only plays music with some half-assed and redundant features tacked on. The Touch, of course, if a different kettle of fish.

The Kindle is, for books, what the iPod is for music. Literally. Steve Jobs was right when he said people don't read any more, just in the same way they don't buy CDs any more. Perhaps Kindle is the thing to change that. I know I'd buy one if they were released anywhere but America.

 

[MikeTheC]

With apologies to Johnny Mathis:

Oh...

It's beginning to look a lot like Star Trek
Ev'rywhere you read;
Take a look at the Kindle DL e-book'in once again
With keyboard, screen and scrol'in bars a-go.
It's beginning to look a lot like Star Trek
Toys for every store,
But the tech-iest sight to see is the PADD-y that will be
On your own book shelf.​

 

[Goona]

This has nothing to do with Apple at all, if I wanted to know about the Kindle I'd use KindleRumors...

This device is supposed to compete with Apple's so called tablet which will fail if released.

HAHAHAHA! All you people who are saying its too pricey, its just sad.
The moment a high costing electronic isnt made by apple, it becomes to expensive.

Seriously, if this was an Apple product, the cost would not be the issue.

Apple fans make me sick sometimes..

So they can't say it's expensive because they're Apple fans, lol.

That's right, basically I don't want any electronics made by other companies if I can avoid it. Keeps my life incredibly simple but substantially more flexible and effective than other people I know, with their pointless ludicrous array of crap tech with differing operating standards, philosophies and systems.

When you have ALL Apple kit across the board the advantages somehow multiply by a factor of 100. I know from the bad old days that having multiple windows devices did precisely the opposite to that point, and worse that I became some kind of home IT manager. This is also one of the reasons I recommend Apple to my friends and family cos I know they won't need to call 'family tech support guy' not only from my point of view, but for their own feeling of efficiency and well-being.

I said I want something like this made by Apple so it'll be better and more useful in the long term and, as outlined, a nice Apple device that cleanly and simply fits in with the rest of the my techno-sphere!

A 9" Ipod Touch that allows me to flip-flop between OSX and the ipod OS, with a 200 ppi display and 8 hours battery life for $600 will be perfect, thanks.

I actually agree with you, Apple makes lovely and elegant products. If I'm looking for something and Apple offers it, I'll try and get that unless their option is so inferior to the competition.

Your logic is perfect, except that it doesn't really seem to be failing... Amazon cited, what, 35% of their sales of books with Kindle versions being the Kindle version? It seems they're not doing so badly. Amazon, apart from the obvious assumption one could make that they are lying, has suggested the Kindle is doing quite well.

They are doing well but yet they've never released sales for them.

Kindle 1 was a tremendous success and Kindle 2 hasn't show any visible signs of not performing well either. Nevertheless, you can always bet on coming to the spin city to read how a product is a "FAIL" and will never be successful.

Do people recall how slowly the original ipod was embraced?

These are the same people who will buy the Apple TV and coin it a "hobby" rather than admit it's a flop.

The minute apple comes out with a sexy version of the same device with similar functionality for similar price you will hear everyone running out to buy one and justify the price.

Tremendous success, how many have they sold?

 

[G58]

500,000 in 17 months is not really that impressive. Apple exceeded that figure in a less aware and less developed market with the first iPod in the same timescale [five quarters] by Q1 2003.

And the iPod was also something new, so it's a useful comparison.

Okay, there is the Sony - which is sensibly available in more countries that just one! I was surprised to learn that Bezos seems thus far scared to venture north into Canada. The logistics must be simple, the language is mostly the same...

This is an enormous missed opportunity imo. Amazon may have been late into profit - as was the way with a lot of the early first .com boom start-ups, but they have an established international market already...

Something about the management of this project is lacking direction. I would agree that any company that's diversifying into completely new markets should feel its way in the beginning. But Amazon have two of the best - no make that one of the best and THE BEST, examples in Sony and Apple. All they need to do is copy.

Amazon have their own [biggest] online direct sales conduit already running. I just don't get why Kindle isn't in the rest of North America and Europe already. What is he waiting for?

What Amazon should be doing is also selling Kindles through bookshops. But that would involve educating book selling staff about electronic devices - and that's where the house would fall down!

I see sales tailing off and the vast majority of students not taking up Kindle DX. As for news geeks buying it...

From what I read, Amazon uses software protection on their Kindle books. That is not the same format that public domain books are found in. So therefore, it was not easy to install public domain books on the kindle. A fact that Sony was proudly advertising as their counter to the Kindle. The press release for the acquisition of Stanza stated, among other things, that Amazon was hoping to use their software to easily add public domain books to the kindle. But that's just what I read.

As for its sales, time will tell. They are believed to have sold over 500,000 last year. And they say those numbers would have been higher had the Kindle not been sold out in November and December.

I look forward to seeing how it improves with each generation.

 

[jbernie]

500,000 in 17 months is not really that impressive. Apple exceeded that figure in a less aware and less developed market with the first iPod in the same timescale [five quarters] by Q1 2003.

So other than the physical book, regular computers & the Sony e-book reader what exactly predates the Kindle in this market? The iPod was predated by the phonographh, record player, 8 track player, tape player, walkman, all component systems, discmans, mini disc players, mp3 players etc. The discmans were probably gen1 for the digital players even though the media is removable.

There is also a huge difference between audio only nature of media players & the visual/touch nature of books, as many people have already said there is an awful lot of value placed in the turning of a physical page as opposed to just pressing a button or flicking a finger on a screen.