Here's more on the Amazon Kindle, Amazon's wireless eBook reader.
What I like:
- Ability to download books wirelessly without a computer.
- The ability to use a cellular connection without a contract. No cellular fees -- they are covered by Amazon.
- Free wireless access to Wikipedia.
- Built-in dictionary.
- Amazon stores all of your books online for you to redownload if your Kindle is ever lost or stolen.
- Cheaper prices of books than their physical counterparts (see below).
- Long battery life.
- SD Card slot.
It also looks like Amazon is the first eBook publisher to price eBooks below their physical counterparts. (Sony charges more per eBook than you can buy the hardcover on Amazon.) This is a critical move to gain wider acceptance of this technology. Who wants to spend more than the price of a regular book for digital content.
What I don't like:
- No mention of PDF support. (Although apparently you can convert PDFs to Mobi's format for viewing on the device.)
- An 800x600 pixel display. (I'd like to see 1024 x 768.)
- Four-color greyscale. (I'd like to see at least 16 shades.)
- Few, if any textbooks!
- No Lonely Planet travel guides.
- Over 50% of the books I tried searching for are not available in Kindle format. (Yet!)
- You have to pay to subscribe to blogs!
I think two of the best applications for eBook readers are for textbooks and travel guides. Both students and travelers are likely to carry more reading material than they'd prefer and are probably willing to pay a premium to reduce the weight they carry. Having a lot of experience both as a student and as a traveler, I would certainly pay for this convenience. The thought of being able to download travel material on the fly is especially appealing.
Overall, despite some limitations, I am very impressed by Amazon's first foray into the digital book world. Amazon has raised the bar in book pricing, technical features, and usability (computer-free) for eBook readers. I am excited by the competition this will generate and look forward to future enhancements. (I'd love to see some inking abilities on these things, but realize that might significantly impact battery life and not be worth the trade-off at this point.)
Would I consider buying one of these? I am sorely tempted and probably would if I was not currently on a grad student budget. I'll wait for some reviews to see how good others think it is before making the plunge.
If Amazon allowed embedding of their demonstration video, I would have included it in this entry. I think they're missing the boat by not allowing this. You can watch it here. (Follw the link and scroll down to the page to see the video.)
See more photos of the Kindle here.
P.S. -- This platform would be perfect for offering some kind of subscription service like Rhapsody or Netflix that would let you download an unlimited number or limited number of books in a given time frame. The challenges at this point are business and legal, not technical. Imagine unlimited, almost instantaneous access to all the books currently in print. The fact that it is now technically possible is absolutely amazing!
2 comments:
This is indeed a fascinating development. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
One of its strongest features is its use of ubiquitous cellular 3G networks to allow for downloading of content anywhere. This is a huge breakthrough. I believe in time the iPods and iPhone will offer this, certainly the iPhone once it is released in a 3G version.
I'll make one prediction: Kindle may very well be to ebooks what the iPod was to digital music.
What's amazing is that there is no reason in the world why Sony could not have developed this device. Instead they remained stuck in their preconceived ways of doing things. Imagine that an online retailer, of all things, would develop a better device than the largest and most famous consumer electronics company in the world. Sony should own the portable music and ebook markets; instead they have let their opportunities slip away.
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