I never thought I would see the day, but I am a believer. Amazon's Kindle book reader, or amazonkindle as it says on the device, is better than books. The form factor and light weight are better and the reading experience is better. If only the store experience was better.
Not that the store experience is bad because it is is not. But Amazon chose to make a separate Kindle store instead of making Kindle editions part of the principal Amazon bookstore and the Kindle store has but a pale shadow of Amazon's regular search and recommendations capabilities.
That separation from Amazon's regular inventory may have something to do with the relatively limited availability of Kindle editions. Relative in this case means 300,000 books instead of millions, but that is still a significant deficit for a multiple books each week reader like myself who is generally seeking things from the intermediate space between expired copyright and current bestsellers. Which is of course precisely the area where the Kindle inventory is understandably the weakest.
That said, I was able to find four books of interest in my first day in Kindle's kingdom and I have gone on from there. Multiple books in a single device - the new generation of Kindle holds about 1500 of them at a time - was the reason I began thinking about acquiring a book reader. The $299 (about 210 Euros) price is the tradeoff for a ten ounce book reader that replaces five or ten pounds of carry-on reading material on a long distance flight.
Once past the initial pain of the device purchase, Kindle books are about the cost of a paperback, so there is no obvious ongoing economic penalty to digital books. Delightfully, new reading material is downloaded quickly, wirelessly. In fact, my initial orders were in the reader when I opened the box. And did I say that the reading experience is better than books?
Now if only they can do something about that bookstore.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Lifestyle: Better than Books
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
22 comments:
As an avid book collector, my initial reaction to the device was that it was a blasphemous abomination. However, I have heard nothing but sparkling reviews about it. The reasons for having one that you have outlined, especially the convenience of travel, have further shown me its usefulness. Let me ask, how is the actual reading itself? Meaning, I cannot stand to read things longer then a blog post on my computer screen. How does the screen of the contraption read?
No eye strain. The digital paper in the kindle reads much better than a computer screen.
interesting...
I'll wait awhile. I like to underline, look up, highlight, write in, and then go back and do it again a year or so later when I've matured some more.
Which version of the Kindle are you using?
I heard from a friend that one of the downsides of the Kindel is that you cannot transfer your books to a newer device. So, if you purchase a Kindel today and buy 300 books and a newer one comes out in two years, you would have to repurchase to the extent you want any of the books from your old device on the new one...
Mine is the second generation of the original form factor, which supports undermining, bookmarks and highlighting.
And I am fairly certain that books can be moved. I know amazon let's one manage books between two devices registered to the same person.
There's a good-sized article on the Kindle in a recent issue of The New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/03/090803fa_fact_baker?yrail
One major downside: if a copyright holder decides to stop offering an electronic version, they can remove the book (wirelessly) from your kindle and you are just out of luck. (You do get a refund, but I would suppose that you would prefer to have the book.)
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2009/tc2009084_132111.htm
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/31/shock-high-school-student-whose-kindle-1984-was-deleted-sues-amazon/
Google "Kindle 1984" and you'll find hundreds of other news stories on this item.
To me, the major problem is that you don't actually own the books you have paid for. I don't care how easy it is to read (BTW - as soon as there is a PDF reader for an affordable iPhone, I'll be using *that* - fortunately for me, most of the books I am interested in reading are available in pdf format.)
ex animo-
i suggest reading walter bejamin's "unpacking my library".
Doesn't look as good on a book shelf and can't loan out to friends.
I'm really all for new technologies, but you just have to draw a line somewhere:
A room without books is like a human being without a soul. - Cicero
Where would we be, if all that Esquire Illustration where only available in an (now not longer working or just deleted or extinct- think tapes!)electronic form? Poorer indeed!
The kindle is not an archive device, so I am unsure why anyone would care about the vanishingly small liklihood that a copyright holder would withdraw permission, and repay all the royalties earned to date.
I think of the device as a cassette tape player, if you remember those. I still have hundreds of tapes in drawers. I paid for them, and then bought the music all over again in a new format, probably several times.
For an archive, the physical book is probably best, at least until Google finishes its archival project. Just don't ask me to take one an airplane ever again.
Will,
what Amazon did was the equivalent of your tailor, without permission, coming into your house at night, open your wardrobe door, and take away a suit he made for you, because, he had infringed on the Duke of Windsor's copyright.
And then he leaves in your inbox a voucher for a new suit with him.
Would you see that as an acceptable act, or a violation of your privacy?
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/17/amazon-zaps-purchase.html
E.o.M.
I agree that the Kindle is quite a convenient experience, but I must exempt from this estimation its terrible display of what would otherwise be detailed photos and illustrations -- I read that even thousand-dollar medial textbooks heavily reliant on accurate images are available for download/purchase -- that I suppose will be alleviated in subsequent editions of the device.
@Kirby
I very much doubt that this is the case. Your digital orders are saved on Amazon and you can re-download them at will.
@Eric
The case you refer to is that of a piece of work, "1984", that was made available on the Kindle illegaly by a 3rd party seller that didn't have the rights to the book. It's very different from a publisher offering the book for a while and then changing their mind. The sold books would remain your property.
KiWeTO, that's hardly an accurate analogy if you think about it.
Some low level manager at Amazon handled that case stupidly, and probably lost his or her bonus over it, but I'd still have my hardback copy as well as the information in my brain post-reading. A suit is unique.
I simple can't image why I would have a need for such a device.
I would rather own a book than a digital approximation of one, regardless of how convenient they may be for travel. Not that I see wnything wrong with someone buying one if they see a purpose for it, but it will never overtake real books.
I am a bit surprised at your enthusiasm for the Kindle. I abhor electronic books. I read for content and purpose online, but to really appreciate a book, it has to be printed and preferably beautifully bound. I would compare books to clothing - you could go to KMart and buy plenty of clothes to cover your nakedness, but you choose to go beyond the functional in this area. I guess maybe we all choose our priorities in which to invest ourselves. Clothes rich and book poor? Or book rich and clothes poor? Or maybe some people choose to invest in other areas of quality.
I am very surprised that a site concerned with aesthetics and appearance would consider this sort of book replacement. I read newspapers and some magazines on my iPad, but the sensual qualities of a book make it irreplaceable. Using a Kindle is like wearing a clip-on tie.
Reasonable people may disagree. I might read four or five books when on the road for a week. And I am already lugging a camera bag and a computer bag in addition to clothes. An iPad with Kindle software weighs a pound.
Post a Comment