Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Amazon to Announce the Kindle eBook Reader

Re: Amazon to Announce the Kindle eBook Reader

Tragicallyhip — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 03:34:57 -0000

I do agree on the proprietary issue. Sony, Amazon, Audible and others should agree on standards and support them. In the same way an iPod supports MP3, AAC and other non-protected formats but also Apple's Fairplay DRM.

Re: Amazon to Announce the Kindle eBook Reader

karl — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:39:44 -0000

Hmmm.

backlight is a non-sense. The technology is e-ink, not LCD. A bit like saying my horse does not have wheels.

Anyway, the issues around ebooks are mostly

* DRM. Some earlier versions of Sony Ebook reader or the iRex had limited life for downloaded books and with some specific formats sometimes.
* Battery life is another issue. You want to be able to travel a long time with continuous use of the device.
* Search and Indexing of the content.
* Not tied to a specific shop

Electronic book is a misnomer in general. These devices are electronic libraries more than books.

Re: Amazon to Announce the Kindle eBook Reader

Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:08:55 -0000

I think you answer your question from the first half of the comment in the second half, Tragically Hip.

Additionally, the device appears to be one of those that only works with certain proprietary formats. If this was a device shown to work with open technologies, like PDF and RSS, and not tied to one particular reseller, my tune might change.

The last thing we need is another entrenched business model like the US mobile market, where we pay money to enter a contract.

Re: Amazon to Announce the Kindle eBook Reader

Tragicallyhip — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:57:07 -0000

You're incredulous that you have to spend $399 to buy a device that gives you the ability to buy books? You think the same thing about digital media players, which you have to pay for for the right to buy songs and videos (unless of course you get them illegally or only rely on free content)? Or cell phones, which you buy for the ability to make phone calls as some price per minute (even if its in a pre-paid plan, there is a cost; and even free cell phones have a cost in the form of a binding contract)? Or TVs, which you buy for the ability to pay for cable TV or rent DVDs? Do you expect them to give you the reader for free or for a steep discount? I suppose they could, if you agree to spend $80 per month on e-books for 2 years. Or would you rather buy a separate e-book for every title you want to read?

Digital book readers have failed in large part because they haven't matched or improved on the experience of reading a book as it exists today. The Sony product apparently does this well (great contrast, nice page navigation, etc.), and hopefully Amazon's will as well. I've always thought the best initial market for these is textbooks, which need to be updated often, must be carried around in backpacks to the detriment of the user, and which can have significant added value with the addition of multimedia content. Plus, from a business model perspective, you can sell thousands at a time in contracts to schools, bookstores, and others.

Re: Amazon to Announce the Kindle eBook Reader

Jeffro2pt0 — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:53:07 -0000

I've heard some great things about the Sony Ebook reader from Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte but like you Mark, I would kill to have a sweet device with FireFox as the browser that would do nothing more than check email and allow me to read and manage my feeds. I've been looking for a portable RSS feed reader device for awhile now and haven't been able to find one.

Re: Amazon to Announce the Kindle eBook Reader

Chris — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:13:23 -0000

Palm ebooks are the best ones, they occupy less memory, I don't know why others are trying to find new formats when there is already one. Amazon is very late in this field. Many download Palm e-Books more from my site than any other format. You can pack 1000s of books in a small memory device, and still you can read well. For $399, you can get more than 1000s of functions than just reading books in a Palm Device.

Re: Amazon to Announce the Kindle eBook Reader

alexisbrion — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:40:24 -0000

I don't think I need backlight if that makes the device thinner.

Imagine having several books there or a feeds reader... I can't wait to have one!

Re: Amazon to Announce the Kindle eBook Reader

Guest — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:25:49 -0000

At first glance that thing looks like a turd, and after the review, I know it is a turd.

Come on, as soon as these things start rolling out, and have every capability that Google feed reader does, the newspaper will probably die!

I'm serious, the ability for independent news sites that tackle specific local niches will be able to survive. And I'm one of them.

The technology is already here. What's the problem, it doesn't look that hard to create. They create cell phones that do mostly everything a feed reader should. I smell conspiracy!