A $45.13 Amazon Kindle story with a happy ending
Black and white and read all over
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)The Amazon Kindle world just snuck up on me and removed $45.13 from my wallet. And the experience turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
I'm not technophobic, but I honestly was planning on sitting on the sidelines for this particular episode of the digitization of the world. I figured electronic books would arrive in good time as Net access expanded, devices grew more sophisticated, publishers and distributors hashed out the business issues, and legal complications of Google Books ground themselves through the courts.
I'm not opposed to reading text on a screen, though print is easier on the eyes. I just figured that--judging by the digital convulsions in the movie, TV, and music businesses--the San Francisco Public Library would be my safe haven for two or three more years.
During that time, e-book readers would get better displays, battery life, network access, and other features, and Amazon's Kindle book readers or some equivalent would grow up to become worthwhile.
What I hadn't counted on was a free Amazon iPhone application that converted me to the new order in a matter of minutes. E-books doubtless aren't for everybody, but one idle moment when I had time to kill showed they are for me.
I prefer reading white-on-black text at night.
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)
The Shankland Rule
Let me share a little family background to explain this. Specifically, the Shankland Rule, handed down from father to son: "Always bring something to read." It's reinforced daily in airports, oil-change service stations, supermarket checkout lines, and sluggish public transportation.
Of course, the iPhone made compliance with the rule much easier. With it, I spend quality time to ingest text from The New York Times, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, a jillion RSS feeds, and naturally CNET News. I always bring my cell phone with me, so I always have something to read.
But I like a good book, too, and a couple months ago when I was on vacation I decided I was in the mood for something a little more long-form. I'd gotten a recommendation for a book called "Sharpe's Rifles" by Bernard Cornwell.
I confess I'm one of those people who has a soft spot for the Napoleonic Wars. I began with C.S. Forrester's books about Horatio Hornblower's adventures in the British Navy, then graduated to Patrick O'Brian's deeper and richer tales of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin in the same setting. Those series highlight the freedom of the seas, making landbound warfare look plodding and dull, and I inherited the bias, so at first I wasn't terribly interested in the story of an army infantryman named Richard Sharpe.
Books in your archive can't be handed on to your friends.
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)It turns out, though, that the core value of a novel transcends all the high-tech trappings of e-books. The Kindle device and its iPhone application let you try before you buy. I tried, and within minutes, I bought.
I wasn't so surprised to find infantry derring-do can be entertaining after all. What did surprise me was how rapidly the medium of the book vanished into the background. A 320-by-480 pixel iPhone screen doesn't hold a lot of text, but it holds enough to transport me to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, in 1809.
Technological advantages
The technology proved to be important in several ways, though.
First, I loathe going out shopping--the time, the traffic, the parking, the item out of stock--so I'm a good candidate for e-commerce. Novels zip wirelessly to my iPhone in no time flat, facilitating impulse buys I probably wouldn't make at all in the real world. Try before you buy was a good-enough replacement for dust jackets and other real-world evaluations.
Second, although the real Kindle device is probably better than the iPhone app for reading under most conditions, the iPhone's backlit display let me read in bed, at night, in the dark, without disturbing anybody. I dim the screen as low as it will go, switch the text to white on black, lock the orientation to portrait mode, and dive in.
Book purchasing is a cumbersome process.
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)Third, I'm in the midst of moving, and have acquired resentment for all the physical objects I've accumulated. My iPhone didn't get any bigger when I downloaded the books or make it any harder to move. I enjoy being surrounded by real books--I see people's libraries as a reflection of their personalities--but I also enjoy not being encumbered.
Rough around the edges
Not all is perfect. Here are my gripes about reading books through the Kindle iPhone app.
• I couldn't buy books through the iPhone Kindle app. The Kindle app can open an appropriate Web page for searching and buying in Safari, which works, but it's an awkward handoff to the browser and return to the Kindle app. Happily, you can purchase the e-books with a PC and a browser, which helps when you know in advance what you're looking for. Using the iPhone Amazon.com app also works, but you have to locate a separate e-book version.
• Text is fine--I use the second-to-smallest setting with no trouble. But plenty of books have artwork, graphics, charts, and photos. I had to really squint at a graphic of the Battle of Assaye.
• The application was a bit buggy, losing my place and sending me to the last page a few times. Flipping through a lot of pages to find my spot is a lot slower in the application than with a real book. I envision a similar problem browsing for a particular book if my electronic library gets large enough.
Graphics are hard to read on the iPhone.
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)• The world of e-books has inventory issues, just like real-world book stores do. I was thwarted by the unavailability of "Sharpe's Fortress" in e-book form.
• My biggest dislike is that I don't really own my books even after I paid for them. Amazon has just granted me access to them.
I'm not as concerned as some with Amazon's George Orwell book recall fiasco, in which the company reached out overnight and deleted Kindle copies of books it concluded it didn't have rights to sell after all.
But when I read a good book, my impulse is to lend it to friends and relations who might like it too. With the Amazon service and its digital rights management, forget it.
But at the modest pace I consume books, these blemishes are endurable, so I predict $45.13 won't be the last of it. Oh, look, Alex Haley's "Roots" is available for $9.99...
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
A Kindle screen does a better job with illustrations, although they can still be awkwardly placed in text-- and of course, no color. E-reading isn't perfect, but it's getting closer and closer.
Did I mention no DRM?
I'll pass, thanks. I have a small laptop that I can use for the PDF stuff, and if I don't bring that, I bring some comics or a novel . . . maybe two.
I just believe that anything that can't be done without power should be passed to some degree. At least my PDFs also have one to two hardcopies stored in my home office.
The reading experience of a Kindle is much better than print. The iPhone falls far short, but you have it everywhere you go. When you purchase a book on one, you get it on the other for free (up to five devices). Think of the iPhone as a free bonus reader for emergencies.
PS. I get the impression, Aeschylus was not a big fan of Zeus!
I also started toying with the USA Today app yesterday. Seems a little sports-heavy for my tastes on first glance, but I like the photo gallery a lot.
I use mobireader on my desktop pc to retrieve those rss feeds (you get full-content feeds!), and use iphonebrowser to copy those feeds into my iphone. Then use Kindle app to open and read it. Though not very convenient, but works!. See how I do it here:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=602277#post602277
does that mean stuck in snow?
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sneak
Main Entry: sneak
Pronunciation: \?sn?k\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): sneaked \?sn?kt\ or snuck \?sn?k\; sneak·ing
Amazon started with one book. Then more. My concern? If I move up to an iPhone, do I get to transfer all my apps to the new device and do I have access to all the books I've purchased thru Amazon?
An example: I've been reading ebooks on a handheld device since 1999. Yes many people (my wife included) thought/still think I was/am somewhat batty for doing so, but for all the reasons mentioned in the article, the ease and convenience of ebooks on my handheld device vastly outweighed the minor readibility loss vs a traditional book. And I've been doing so for 10 years!
Started with a regular Palm device, using the web provider 'PeanutPress', which was later purchased by eReader, who in turn was purchased by Fictionwise, recently purchased by Barnes & Noble. From the Palm to a Treo, then to a Windows Mobile device, now on a BlackBerry Storm. All electronic, all the time - for 10 years.
And the reporter makes it seem as if he alone discovered this capability. Granted, only recently have the masses become aware of ebooks, thanks to the Kindle, and other devices, and also the availability of the books themselves from Amazon and B&N et al. But still - it's not like this is the New World and you're Christopher Columbus. Some people have actually been here for a while....
The one downside for me: technical books don't work so well on PocketPC. A netbook tackles them really well, though.
eReader and Mobireader on Palm and Pocketpc/pda are the best because it has builtin offline dictionary support. Mobireader is also the best for offline full-content enews!. Unfortunately, I could not find similar app on Iphone that fully satisfy me on the enew feed area.
Just found a compromise way here for my iPhone: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=602277#post602277
Sean Bean = shawn been
- by Internet-Lawyer August 25, 2009 8:27 AM PDT
- There is little doubt in my mind that eBooks will take over the publishing world. The ability to disseminate information easily cannot be compared to the physical need and costs associated with traditional retail of books and magazines. Will it happen tomorrow? probably not. I think that traditional books are safe for the time being. It will take the court a while to for the courts to decide on the Google eBooks issues. As an <a href="http://www.web20lawyer.com">Internet Lawyer</a> the Google case is very interesting. As an avid reader i cant wait for an explosion in worldwide dissemination of all written materials.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(32 Comments)