Amazon Kindle: The Future of Reading?

[EliSnow]

What are people thinking of this product? For those who haven't seen it, Amazon has created a device (below) that is being touted as doing for reading, what the iPod did for listening to music. Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/id/70983) has even touted it as the Future of Reading.

http://www.nancarrow-webdesk.com/warehouse/storage2/2007-w46/img.71582_t.jpg

Essentially, the device hold approx. 200 books, with others storable on memory cards. It can purchase and download the books from Amazon directly from anywhere (using cell phone technology). It can access newspapers, blogs, amongst other things (probably comics at some point). And the key thing is the size and the readibility. According to reports, it's not bright like a computer screen but rather is marketed that reading it is like reading a regular paper page.

I agree that a device like this is the future of reading. It's the way we're going with everything, and there's no getting around that. And the techie in me really would love to have this device. It would be great for reading while traveling and save me room in my bags (rather than traveling with multiple books like I usually do).

But the old school reader in me loves my books. I love my bookshelves and storing my books on them. I love having a book in my hand and turning pages. I love re-reading books and finding old airline tickets as bookmarks. So I'm conflicted.

I know what the Blowhard is going to say, but what does everyone else think?

[djjd]

i'm pretty curious to see how this pans out

my views in reading and books have changed a lot in the past few years, moving more towards audio books for my lighter reading while reserving real books for more serious subjects

i could see the kindle being really cool for periodicals and newspapers, the ability to carry 3 or 4 newspapers and a half dozen periodicals in something a little bigger than a paperback is very appealing

[Doctor Z]

Yeah, total flub.

[booster11373]

People whose opinion I respect have all panned this product, It will take a lot to replace real ink and paper in most peoples eyes this I'm afraid wont do it. There are also some weird DRM restrictions as well as WI FI issues

[KC2OSO]

Bezos was on NPR a few weeks ago basically doing a commercial for this disguised as a news story.
I think it's great. What a printed newspaper is still doing around in 2007 escapes me. The newspaper format is ridiculous. Chopping down trees to create newspapers is farcical. Who has a 4'x4' space to read the NYT or the WSJ anyway?
I like this idea for books more than for newspapers though. There are RSS feeds all over the place. Plus, I get all the news I need reading RF.net. :blink:
People who hate this sort of thing (read: luddites) will miss the tactile joy of touching the pages of a good old book. Fuck that. Get lost in the story, not the feel of the book. Function above form - always.
Plus for the greenies, what's more green than 250 books in electronic storage not wasteful paper? This has been tried before so we'll see what happens. Reading is for fags anyway.

[Chigworthy]

I looked into this and while it is an indication of the future of reading, it is basically the iPod of the digital book world. The unit is very overpriced ($400!!!!), the files are proprietary, uploading your own files (say homework or writing files) you have to spool it through an amazon server that converts it to a format that the Kindle supports (for a small fee), and the books are expensive (10$ for a New Release!?).

This product seems like an obvious Christmas gadget-ream by Amazon, that will catch the consumer public by surprise as loved ones think that it would be the best thing for the reader in the family. The goofy wedge shape, the tactile grip pad on the back, and the "electronic ink" screen all seem like things that will sell this thing to Christmas compulsons and cover up the device's shortcomings. This thing will be 200 bucks in 4 months.

Also, the cocksucker who tries to sell it to you in the product videos really gets on my tits.

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[EliSnow]

People whose opinion I respect have all panned this product, It will take a lot to replace real ink and paper in most peoples eyes this I'm afraid wont do it. There are also some weird DRM restrictions as well as WI FI issues

Have they panned it because there are technical problems with the product or because they can't accept this type of device replacing books, newspapers, etc?

[TooLowBrow]

how is it ipods hold 20,000 songs but this thing can only hold 200 books?

[scottinnj]

It's a great idea, but it is way too expensive. Also it should be able to goto a color screen so you can download comics as well as books and newspapers.

Make it 50 bucks, or have the newspaper companies give it to you with a one year subscription agreement, and the dinosaurs still using Gutenburgs technology may be saved from the digital juggernaut currently mowing down ad revenues the newspapers once had.

[scottinnj]

It will take a lot to replace real ink and paper in most peoples eyes

No it won't.


This has done just nicely

http://www.gshop.com.au/images/network_cable.jpg

[JustJon]

I looked into this and while it is an indication of the future of reading, it is basically the iPod of the digital book world. The unit is very overpriced ($400!!!!), the files are proprietary, uploading your own files (say homework or writing files) you have to spool it through an amazon server that converts it to a format that the Kindle supports (for a small fee), and the books are expensive (10$ for a New Release!?).


Most the reviews state the above (all negatives) plus bad button placement. But maybe in a version 2 or 3 it'll catch on alot better.

With that said, it's going for about triple the cost on ebay because Amazon won't be able to get more by X-Mas.

[HBox]

Sony already released a similar device that went absolutely nowhere.

[DarkHippie]

I think I'll wait until they fine tune this. I like the idea of being able to carry 200 books with me. I'd like it better if i could read my word documents on it too.

[SeriouslySuprCJ]

Sony already released a similar device that went absolutely nowhere.

But Sony didn't have the library available to it that Amazon has (I assume).

It's the price of this thing that really turns me off, though. And not just the $400, but actually the $10 per book. I get most of my books used or from the library, so dropping even $5 per book just doesn't feel right to me. Especially since I wouldn't then be able to let others borrow the books or trade them in or anything of that sort.

[JustJon]

I think I'll wait until they fine tune this. I like the idea of being able to carry 200 books with me. I'd like it better if i could read my word documents on it too.

You can convert your word docs to pdf to put them on the kindle

[Chigworthy]

You can convert your word docs to pdf to put them on the kindle

For a fee; they have to spool through Amazon's servers to arrive on your kindle.

[ToLEEdo]

I think it would also do better if it didn't look so bland. It looks like old technology. It is not marketable at all. It looks like an old white typewriter. It should have been better designed so people would be more interested. It would be a great alternative to textbooks.

[TooLowBrow]

I think it would also do better if it didn't look so bland. It looks like old technology. It is not marketable at all. It looks like an old white typewriter. It should have been better designed so people would be more interested. It would be a great alternative to textbooks.

if textbooks were made in a non-physical format the 'textbook industry' (ha) would lose money. the fact that every few years schools have to buy whole new sets of textbooks is something they don't want to change. although it would be easier and cheaper for the buyers.

[JustJon]

For a fee; they have to spool through Amazon's servers to arrive on your kindle.

10 cents. But I heard on TWiT there's a way to connect it to the pc and not get charged the 10 cents.

[ShowerBench]

What are people thinking of this product? For those who haven't seen it, Amazon has created a device (below) that is being touted as doing for reading, what the iPod did for listening to music.


I have the Sony reader, which is similar in terms of "realistic" ink/paper technology but doesn't have wi-fi and doesn't have newspapers and magazines.

It's actually a great gadget to bring several books along anywhere that you can read in lines, waiting rooms, etc. The selection from SonyConnect isn't bad.

The Amazon Kindle is ridiculous looking though.

[Furtherman]

It's neat.

But people love to show off their bookshelves, so it'll stay a novelty item.

[TooLowBrow]

It's neat.

But people love to show off their bookshelves, so it'll stay a novelty item.

it happened with records, tapes and cd's

[Chris from TX]

I like my bookshelf. How else will people know how smart I want to appear?

[TooLowBrow]

I like my bookshelf. How else will people know how smart I want to appear?

where else would ron keep the copy of his book?

[Chigworthy]

I have the Sony reader,

It must be waterproof...

[KnoxHarrington]

where else would ron keep the copy of his book?

I'll happily cover the cost of spooling Ronnie's book to his Kindle.

This thing does look cool, but I'd really like to play with one before I bought it. Just from the list of features, it does sound like something I'd like, and use, but I'm a tad skeptical of the way the screen works.

[Radioguy]

I was in the Rockefeller Center (heart of publishing country) Sbarro's a week or so ago, when a woman got on line with one of these. She was so engrossed in it that she got passed over.

No book would come between me and my garlic knots, I can tell you.

[Sheeplovr]

when they come out wiht a color screen im so in

[KnoxHarrington]

when they come out wiht a color screen im so in

Yeah, that's kind of a real want for me too, but given the way the technology works, that might be a while off.

I'm more annoyed by the fact that you can't put your own PDF's on it directly, though (at least not without a hack.) My suspicion is that that's a way for Amazon to kind of sniff out illegal PDF's.

[bobrobot]

I've been reading offa electronic gadgets for a decade now, from early palm pilots to my current Treo 700P. Many books, articles, music manuscripts, etc. are available to me for free to DL, tho, honestly, there's a lotta overpriced DLs for my Palm eReader too. I luv the idea of this thing but it's wayyy overpriced for the hard & software espesh w/out color... I can DL color illustrations on my Treo... nyah, nyah, Amazon!!! & btw... Project Gutenberg ROOLZ!!!

[Tall_James]

I support my local library.

Call me a literary Luddite.

[EffMeBoobs]

Lou sleeps with his kindle.

[KnoxHarrington]

Is there any place where I can actually see one of these things for myself? It does sound like something I'd like, but I'm not going to shell out $400 just based on the description on Amazon's web site and the video.

[DolaMight]

I want a future where you just plug in to read. Enough with my tired eyes.

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/warner_brothers/the_matrix/matrixjacks.jpg

[kdubya]

I am with you, there is something almost zen about going to the library and checking out a good book (even a bad one) I've had books on a PDA before and it just isn't as satisfying as a good old fasion hard bound book.

I support my local library.

Call me a literary Luddite.

[KnoxHarrington]

So I actually got to take one of these for a test drive this past week. I went to the hospital to see my new nephew, and my half-brother was there as well, and he has one. I borrowed it for a few minutes and read the first chapter of a book ("The Ten-Cent Plague", by David Hadju, about the crusade against comic books in the early '50s.)

It's actually much easier to read on this than other e-book readers I've seen. The screen is not illuminated; it really does kind of look like the words are printed on the screen. Given the size of the screen, you'll have to flip pages quite a bit more than in a real book, but there are two large buttons on the side, one that advances a page, the other that backs up a page. Through the menu, you can also jump to the start of a chapter. If you close the book, the Kindle remembers your place. It does bring up the next page very quickly; I didn't notice a lag between pages.

The menus are rather intuitive. In a menu option labeled "Experimental", there's a way to get on the web, but I didn't play with that. I'm told that the wireless network is rather fast (my brother said that a book downloads in a minute or so, usually), and battery life is pretty good.

I want one.

[JustJon]

With my commute I'm tempted to buy one, but I actually want to play with one in person before I drop $360.

[booster11373]

Morning Edition on NPR did a story on the kindle this morning, I cant be bothered to find the link but it's there...

[Mike Teacher]

Well, on the technology end of it, someone mentioned Luddites, I love the word, and the idea, but in an weird irony...

Paper remains the longest lasting, most stable, most readable, most easily transferrable of all the technoloies that have come after it.

Nothing has come close to the permanence and ease of transfer of paper.

All the old data from the computers of the 1960 and 70s is being lost simply because the machines that read the tape havent been manufactured in 30 years. This continues as we move past tape reels and floppies and silvery discs. There are so many memory storage devices out there that they thought would be around for decades. Like SmartMedia cards. The 3.5" floppy. How easily are they read? Transferable?

At the same time, we have books hundreds of years old. To transfer the data, you need a human who can read and write. period.

Simplifying to make a point? Of course. But paper is long lasting stuff, love it or hate it.

[Reephdweller]

Morning Edition on NPR did a story on the kindle this morning, I cant be bothered to find the link but it's there...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92079896

Morning Edition (http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=3), July 7, 2008 · People who like to read also like books — the feel of them in their hands, the look of the printed word on a paper page. So it's no surprise that the advent of the electronic book has been greeted with a mixture of skepticism and curiosity.

At BookExpo, the book industry's annual convention, there was a palpable buzz about Kindle, Amazon.com's new electronic reader. Not only did Amazon founder Jeff Bezos fill a ballroom for a presentation extolling the virtues of the reading device, but on the convention floor, people who had never seen a Kindle were eager to get a look at it.
Kindle is light — about the weight of a paperback — and slim enough to fit into most bags easily. Its big advantage over other electronic readers is its wireless capability, which allows readers to download 125,000 titles from Amazon — including books, newspapers and magazines — pretty much anywhere, at anytime. Under the screen are a bunch of buttons, similar to the keys on a computer.

"We have very prominent page-turning buttons, because when you're reading a book, and you're sitting down, you don't want to be thinking about where the page-turn button is," explains Jay Marine, director of product management for Kindle.

When it comes to durability, Marine compares Kindle to the Blackberry, offering: "I would definitely take it to the beach, but I wouldn't bury it."

I wondered how the reader would fair with sunshine and water, so, accompanied by Rob Pegoraro, a technology writer who reviewed Kindle for The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/06/ST2007120600997.html), I took it to the neighborhood pool on a hot summer day.

Pegoraro says that Kindle, like its competitor the Sony Reader, is actually quite easy to read outdoors because it's not backlit. Instead, it uses a kind of technology that makes the screen readable in direct sunlight. But he adds that the screen is a little bit slow: "I'm pressing the previous page button, and it flashes — and then I'm back. That's fine for going one page at a time as you're reading, but if you want to go back two chapters ... you're sort of waiting," Pegoraro says.

As for the pool, Pegoraro says that while a few drops won't hurt the device, you probably won't want to bring Kindle on the raft with you.

"This is not water resistant, so far as I know. I haven't put it to the test yet," he says.
Pegoraro likens Kindle to cell phones in terms of its ability to withstand wear and tear, but he adds that the reader has some features — like it's electronic screen — that may make it especially vulnerable. Some users choose to carry the device in a plastic bag or a leather case to protect it.

"I wouldn't play catch with it," Pegoraro jokes — especially good advice considering that the reader sells for $360.

Kindle, says Pegoraro, may be beating the competition at the moment. But it still has a way to go before it changes the way most of us read.

"They've still got some learning to do with designing gadget interfaces," he says. "It's not quite the iPod of eBook readers."

But if Kindle isn't the future, you can see it from here: a better, cheaper product is sure to come along. And when it does, we may all be reading the classics electronically.

[Reephdweller]

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[Reephdweller]

Before you buy the Kindle, Gizmodo's site is buzzing about a rumored Kindle 2 coming out this fall.

mazon kindle (http://gizmodo.com/tag/amazon-kindle/) Rumor: Amazon Kindle 2 Coming This Fall (http://gizmodo.com/5025640/rumor-amazon-kindle-2-coming-this-fall)

CrunchGear's got it on good authority that the next year or so will see not only an update to the current model—making it thinner and lighter—but also an altogether new model with dimensions something like a piece of loose leaf paper. They should come out in October and sometime next year, respectively, though no word on pricing. To try to sway the youth market, it's said the new Kindle's will come in trendy new colors. [CrunchGear (http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/07/15/kindle-20-coming-around-october-2008/), ]

[Coach]

I like books myself..but mom was moist in the panties (for the first time in about 40 years I bet!), over this..I think I need to get her one..oh and Stephen King loves his..he wrote a piece on it for Entertainment Weekly like months ago.

[KC2OSO]

Project Gutenberg ROOLZ!!!
You said it Bobo. Couldn't agree more.

[Aqualad]

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/07/16/amazon-to-release-tw.html

Two new Kindles by the end of the year?

[OGC]

.... But paper is long lasting stuff, love it or hate it.

Good paper is long lasting stuff, a lot of the books and all of the magazines and newspapers are printed on crappy paper that falls apart.