Comments on: Amazon debuts Kindle e-book reader

The retail giant forays into gadgetry with the launch of its electronic-book reader, hoping to succeed where hardware companies have failed.

[henebry]

Lots of key info missing

I would like for reporters to have posed several key questions
for Bezos:

How many books can the device hold?

Can books be backed up for storage when you're through
reading them?

What rights does the purchaser have to transfer books to his PC?
To copy and paste text into documents? etc.

[jellydonot]

kindle page up on amazon.com

Kindle page is up right now on Amazon.com, along with personal letter from Bezos. There's a good summary here: http://www.pollsb.com/polls/poll/3872/amazon-launces-own-e-book-the-kindle

[irondog1970]

There's another reason?

Once I buy a book, I can resell it at a used book store, loan it to a friend, or donate it to a library.

eBooks, with their digital rights management, will prevent most if not all of that.

Books aren't only highly evolved, they are less bound by restrictions.

eBook readers are too expensive and the restrictions on the eBook file themselves are the two reasons why the technology simply isn't here yet.

[JMF10]

Family Sharing

One immediate weakness we see: The inability to share books between family members. My husband and I often like to share books with one another, but as we both travel for work we could not share one kindle. We'd buy two of them today if there was an easy way to share books, especially with annotations, between members of the same family.

[jogul]

Palm and eReader

Been reading ebooks using ereader on my Palm Tungsten E2 for a few years now. Read about 50 books a year. Very easy to use. Very legible. I read on my subway commute every day. Can read on dim subway platforms where it is to dim to read a book. Also can read in bed at night with lights out so spouse isnt bothered by lights.

[cnetdebbo]

I agree...Palm ereader rocks.

Can't complain about palm ereader. I don't have to pay $399 for it either - software came with the palm treo. Just the cost of my ebooks.

[DougInKY]

100% on Palm here too

I have been using various models of Palm's for years as ebook readers using ereader. I am reading Sixty Days and Counting right now. Love the Palm setup for reading books.

[trboyden]

Wait for 2.0

I've been pretty skeptical of these devices in the past but after reading the article and the device info page on Amazon, I think Amazon might actually have something here. This is a very good 1.0 device, especially with the packaged in mobile wireless connection with the Sprint network. However it is a 1.0 device and a couple of shortcomings right of the bat are: no color screen - Who wants to read time magazine and their great photgraphy in B&W?; Roll-up eInk screens are around the corner - While right now this is pretty current tech, organic-based eInk screens that will weigh a couple of onces and can be rolled up like a newspaper are within a couple years of being produced to the public.

I also agree with the other comments about the DRM of content. Unless they can match what you can do with the "analog" versions of the content, consumers will not find any value long-term committing to this platform. But overall I applaud Amazon for looks to be the iTunes and iPod of the print world. This has great potential.

[NYCMC999]

What about pdf's?

I have a bunch of old books on pdf that I would like to use but did not see any mention of that in the article. I saw something about emailing them files in other formats (pdf was not mentioned) for conversion to their Kindle format. Did I miss something?

[jacksmith4204]

hello, even i had many pdf articles and notes which I had to give for conversion for two different companies, but i got the best files converted to ebook from www.kindleconversion.com and now it is very easy and clear to handle my kindle

[john55440]

Not Cost Effective

For $399, you get an "empty book holder", and then you have to pay an additional $9.99 per book. No thanks.

In addition, the printed book Just Works, on multiple levels. Like past e-book readers, I suspect that this one will be a marketplace failure.

[mypalmike]

Industrial design?

U G L Y you ain't got no alibi, you're just uggglllyyyy.

[sevort]

Yep, Bezos is no Steve Jobs...(nt)

nt

[frankz00]

All eBook readers will suck until....

they support PDF natively. Which is something that all seem to not do. How long do they think they can ignore the 500 lb elephant in the room?? Sony's might but I remember it being way too expensive (as most Sony products are). If Kindle support PDF natively, it will success. Otherwise, throw it in the trash pile with the rest of them...

[ddamico361]

I Can Tell You Why

"Why are books the last bastion of analog?" asks Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. This is an amazing question coming from anyone that works at Amazon. It is probably the largest book seller of all time.

-Books are friendly and easy to read on a whim, no recharging required.
-Books have texture on the paper and ink on the pages which have such a long lived history that it seems normal for them to be that way.
-Old copies of books that are out of print are easy to find and are compatible with current eyeball technology.
-Books represent more than the information within their pages; they represent history in their aesthetic and makeup.
-Books are more than receptacles for knowledge. They are often artistic. People craft them as objects.
-Letterpress, bookbinding, printmaking all contribute to the book as art.
-Some people like the feel of materiality rather than cold plastic.
-As long as the current population who are familiar with books are alive, they will buy what is familiar to them.
Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon must be a dim bulb.

[DavidRD]

No Thanks

Won't download from my computer. Need to email word files to it. Geared to purchases from Amazon. And costs $400. No Thanks

[Michael Labay]

2 hours to recharge?

so, i have to WAIT for my book to recharge?? haHahaHaHahaha!

no thanks

losers

[Dillbaggs]

Not going to work

Here is why:

I am miser when it comes to books. I almost never buy books that are fresh on the market. I am not going to pay $20+ for a book when there are plenty of older books to read while I wait for the price to drop 6 months to a year later.

Here is a 1 year cost comparison on 18 books per year:

Kindle: Device + Book Cost = $578

Normal: Books + Shipping for Some Books + Travel for Other Books: $181

The $9.99 book cost is equivalent to waiting and getting the used books online, so I would never get ahead.

Here is the strategy:
1. Make a Amazon ebook-of-the-month club. You get the device for $50 which is probably twice the actual cost since the device is made in China. (<--Another reason for me not to buy)

2. Make a requirement to buy 5 eBooks at $9.99 for new releases and $5.99 or less for older releases. (Why in the hell should I pay more for older books considering they are saving money in printing and distribution.)

3. Make it possible to download news articles that are found free at Google News or similar sites along with other freebies.

4. Pray that the above works.

[Dillbaggs]

I forgot

Why should I pay for a book when I can get it for free at a library?

hmmmmmmmm.

[Paul Schantz]

Hope you get paid for that

Actually a very good idea for them to pursue. Given Bezos' comments, it wouldn't surprise me if Amazon DIDN'T think of this.

[ewelch]

Right...

You forgot that it's going to cost more than $25 to make. The
screen alone will cost more than that. Not to mention the built-
in Sprint EVDO hardware, not to mention the cost of using
Sprint's network to download the book - for free to you.

Some problems I have with this reader are:

1: Audio books are better with good voice actors, and offer a
level of reading that printed books don't. Orson Scott Card has
made that case better than I. Considering this type of reader,
and Sony's, I'll just listen on my iPod, thanks. Plus I get two
Audible books a month plus other streaming media each month
for about the same price of two books from Amazon.

2: They don't support color, which would be an advantage over
audio books, or any black and white eBook media. Sure standard
novels don't really benefit that much from color. But
newspapers, magazines, and other media prove PDFs are way
more flexible when embedded with videos, flash, Postscript text,
graphics, etc.

3: No backlight for reading in bed without a lamp. I suppose
someone could put that in their Match.com profile. "I don't
snore, use a backlit eBook reader, or eat crackers in bed."

[dinkeldorf]

Restrictive DRM from the folks that are suing google

The publishing (emphasis on the physical act)industry weren't ever going to let Bezo do an mp3 player equivalent hence the closed, proprietary system. This is the same industry that sues Google for daring to index books!

[JadedGamer]

It's even worse...

There isn't 'a' DRM system, there are multiple. Kindle will not show books purchased from Peanutpress/eReader, and the Palm eReader app will not show books purchased for Kindle...

So you get even more locked into a particular content provider than otherwise in entertainment when you buy one of these.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Pocket PC/SmartPhone is better...

I have been using Pocket PC`s/SmartPhones to listen to Audible books as well as real books in print form since 1999. MicroSoft developed a technologhy called "clearType" just for this purpose. And it works very well.If I wanted a device that complicated for $400 , I would just get a new laptop on sale at Fry`s for about the same money...and have a real full-function computer.
I could see this device being plausible for someone without a computer or high-speed internet connection however.

[LuvThatCO2]

Funny

Its funny ... as I was reading your post there was an add for a $399 Dell Vostro laptop on the right side. Why should someone spend $399 on Kindle when they can get a laptop for that price? Spend a little more, get a full blown tablet PC, and call it good.

If Amazon expects this to take off, they need to get it below $100.

[LuvThatCO2]

This shouldnt be difficult

E-books are a great idea. I think they'd be a huge boon to students who have to carry around tons of heavy text books. There's no reason in this day and age why they still have to do that. But why is it so hard for companies to come up with a good e-book reader?

Take a small, 5x7 WinCE or Palm or Linux based tablet, add wifi and a pdf reader, and viola. This shouldnt be rocket science.

And I'm sorry, but $399 is way too expensive for this. You can get a full blown PDA w/wifi and bluetooth for far less. I understand the e-ink surface may make things more expensive, but still, this is too much.

And whats with the keyboard? That just makes it bigger. Learn from phones - slide out keyboards, or better, touch screen.

[ian807]

$399 - You're kidding. Right?

For that, I can get a full blown laptop, on which I can do *anything* - not just read books.

Did someone's head fall off? Does any rational person really not understand why these readers aren't adopted?

Here's the solution for adoption for all of those idiotic products. Put the decimal point after the second digit, as in $39.99. THEN I'll buy it, and not before.

[cnetdebbo]

Ebook concept is not going away for one reason...

The Ebook concept is not going away for one reason: PORTABILITY.

If you like to read, and want to read from a wide selection of materials - or have at your disposal, a 'library' or collection (even if it's just 2-3 books) - then ebooks make it much more convenient, and enable you to essentially take multiple texts (a couple of newspapers, 2-3 bestsellers, your reference books )on the road.

That's why the e-book is not going anywhere. When someone finally learns to do it right (and PDF is key, I agree with another poster) - they will have a goldmine.

The kindle may or may not be it - but it's on the right track with the instant downloads.

[amigabill]

SDHC?

The SD card is neat. But SD only goes to 2GB capacity. The newer SDHC (high capacity) cards are physically identical but electronically incompatible. They go from 4GB to 32GB. Support for these newer SDHC cards would be cool.