Comments on: Make it better: Amazon Kindle 2

Molly Wood offers some constructive advice on how to make the Kindle 2 a truly killer device.

[arshield]

One simple thing. Add an alarm to it. Wouldn't take much and for me it would be a great help.

[russkeller]

Now that's a bad idea... Probably inevitable.... but a very bad bad idea.

[deamesharlan]

My wife and I have a total of three Kindles and we can and do share books. You can have up to six Kindles on an account and all of them can read the same library. I realize this isn't the same as sharing among friends, but I just wanted to make it clear that you don't have to buy the books more than once on any given Amazon account.

[chrisshelley]

I would love it if they offered a Kindle without Whispernet at a discount. For ~$100 discount, I would gladly plug in my Kindle to my computer to sync.

[waynebranch]

Now that is a great idea. Most every one that buys an e-Book reader, already has at least one computer at home, which can be used to download the books, and sync to the reader. Adding Whispernet is a waste of money.

[AListener]

This is a reply to waynebranch also.

The whispernet is used also for unlimited 24/7 web access by many of us. When away from our computers, we don't have to look for WiFi hotspots or have to worry whether they're free or not. We just start Googling or just go direct to many websites. There are tricks to speed it up. Amazon put a bunch of websites in its web bookmarks to start people off. I compared results with Kindles 1 and 2 when I got the 2nd Kindle. Results are at

http://kindleworld.blogspot.com/kindle-screen-comparisons

No color, of course. :-)

- Andrys

[gglockner]

Amen Molly.

The other thing it's missing is the ability to read books on the computer. For example, I'd love to be able to login to Amazon and read some of my books while at the computer, then have it sync with the iPhone and/or Kindle when I switch to those devices.

[coughlin_jason]

DEFINITELY! I have wished for the ability to continue reading a Kindle book on my computer when I get to work. (Just don't tell my boss!)

[paulej]

Agreed. This is really a must. I don't care whether I'm required to log into Amazon or if I have some kind of book reader software installed on my PC. But, I really would like the ability to access books via the computer. I actually hate reading lengthy texts via the computer screen, but the computer is great for looking through books for specific text, searching, etc. And didn't Amazon buy a company that made a PC-based book reader a long time ago?

LOWER the price! For crying out loud, not all of us have Oprah's disposable income. Just a thought.

I'm unemployed and not someone who's particularly impressed to buy the Kindle but I think you're off on this one. I think the Kindle is pretty darn cheap given the pervasiveness of connectivity and the capabilities of the machine. The price seems reasonable versus some other CE devices like the Nokia N97 or the Prada phones or the original iPhone or most mainstream LCD TVs over 40" (Samsung, Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, LG).

[freeswim]

Right....? Geez....

[mishmash0101]

The Kindle is the last gasp of the print media's stranglehold on publishing. In 10 years, its all gonna be digital and its all gonna be open source. Even iTunes is selling non-protected MP3's now. How long can it be until books take the same path?

Please prove your point. You've made a comparison to media that is consumed in a different manner to try to prove your point.

I don't necessarily disagree but I think the Kindle might be a part of the ALL DIGITAL ecosystem.

[MBKid]

Interstingly enough, non-digital print media is already open source and free...ever heard of a library?

[brittianbear]

color and price drop

[ralfthedog]

Both would remove the #1 selling point. Digital paper. LCD is cheep and it has color but it is much harder on the eyes. Digital paper is easier to read than paper. For those of us who read up to 12 hours a day, that is nice.

[BigGuns149]

The advantages of digital paper aren't merely being better on the eyes. Another huge advantages is the battery life. A "long" lasting LCD based device measure its' battery life in ~8-12 hours. A digital paper based device can be used for thousands of page turns, which is literally days if not weeks of use. Not having to constantly recharge the thing is a HUGE advantage over a LCD based display.

A price drop definitely would be appreciated considering that the Kindle has now been on the market for close to 2 years. While the Kindle 2 is an improvement over the original Kindle I don't think it adds enough of an improvement to rationalize why it is only 10% cheaper than the original MSRP for the 1st gen Kindle nearly two years later.

[sambledsoe]

I read at least 12 hours a day, in several different media, and, with the entry price, subject and other limitations, kindle is way down the list of my preferences-- and I don't find e-paper a particular advantage. It's possible to tailor an lcd screen to the readability preferences of virtually anyone, and e-paper offers only one of these preferences. I'll take my general purpose computer as a reading engine anytime!

[lisbeth28]

I would love to see the Kindle become more social for example. If I am reading a great book and want to recommend it to my friend why not just shoot an email on the spot from my kindle to their email address. Its a win-win for both the book lover who wants to share information and for Amazon who can then sell more books

[AListener]

See Jeff Bezos' recent words on why it's not $99 or whatever many of course would prefer...

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/06/jeff-bezos-why-the-kindle-is-so-expensive/


- Andrys
http://kindleworld.blogspot.com

[toosday]

Make it cheaper.

Seriously, $360 USD is too freaking much!

[karpenterskids]

Agreed.

[w_2logan]

Maybe you would rather Amazon subsidize the Kindle for free & then you would have to buy two or three books a month for two years like the phone companies?

[Renegade Knight]

@w_2logan

The model most people are thinking about when they say "make it chaper" is give away the razor and charge for the blades. Amazon charging a lot for the Kindle and charging a lot for the books. Not much incentive unless you absolutly have to have digital books.

[RogueTess]

The Kindle2 Customer Service dude just told me I could register up to 25 Kindles on the same account! Ordering one for DH's Father's Day/birthday gift right now. We'll register it under my account so I can order books on it and read them too. When I grow up, maybe we'll buy a second one. ... Yeah, that'll happen.

[readersRus]

1. cost around $400- You can buy 300 real books for
the price of the reader

2. - the cost of E-books(of course not the free ones)are to high.

real books:
1. no batteries
2. no annoying flash when page is turned
3. easy to use
4. owners of real world books are free to sell, give or donate there books
5. real world books have a very long self-life, and are quite tough.
(no distractions, e.g. audio, e-mail, surfing the web...)

I can see a future where the e-book and the reader" will be one and
cost will be around $15- $20, wait for 10 years...
regards,
K. Talat Muskara

[wshun0]

If you see from the viewpoint of a guy, like me, who lives in an apartment of 200 sq. ft., you know that the size of 300 real books are really really big!

That is one advantage of e-books that few people in US understand.

[Renegade Knight]

@wshun0

We "get it". You don't have space. Most folks read a book and pass it on. Some have a library. Nobody said you had to keep all 300. You can use bookcrossing to pass them on. You can donate them to the library, or even sell them on Amazon when you are done.

You can't do any of that with the kindle. Kindlecrossing? That would be dool.

[qnet]

Since someone corrected you on the notion of sharing -- my partner and I ave two Kindles and two iPhones on the same account -- why don't you CORRECT THE ARTICLE INLINE AND MARK THE CORRECTION instead of depending on us to find out you're wrong in the comments?

(BTW, subscriptions cannot be shared -- Amazon says it's a contractual issue, but they should be encouraged to renegotiate those, since families share newspaper and magazine subscriptions all the time.)

[jflamm]

Kindle supports multiple registered units on same account. Do your research before submitting your articles.

[e2jedi]

Molly did her research. You can only share on same account. This is not the same as sharing or giving a book to a friend.

Read the article more properly.

[pbg3445]

The day there's an open source Kindle is the day I consider getting one.
I have no interest in allowing a company to control my reading, even a little bit. Nor do I wish to be tethered yo Amazon.com.

Being blessed with a wonderful public library, I no longer buy books. If there is a book I want, I goto the libraryy and ask for it. If they don't already have it, most of the time they buy it. Andthat means after I read it, it gets shared with the community.
It's kind of the Anti-kindle approach, and I think it contributes more to the life of the community than entering into a subscription relationship with a big company/

[qnet]

It certainly doesn't contribute much to the life of the author. Unless, just as you'd prefer to have programmers become day-laborers instead of profiting off their intellectual property, you'd prefer that authors make their money off of running around giving speeches, or writing on demand.

[BigGuns149]

Not everyone's local library is so financially capable to buy everything that people are requesting. While most libraries have sufficient funding to add new books to their collections in my experience a single recommendation rarely is enough for them to justify adding the book to their collection. In a lot of community libraries a lot of new books are often donations from local community members who are either charitable or simpy have book they no longer want to keep.

[dshaskin]

While I understand and agree with your comments, particularly on the life of the community, I would point out that many companies control your reading with printed books, since the all the publishers make choices about what they do or do not publish, long before you ever get a chance to have a say in the matter.

My approach combines both printed books (which I will not stop buying) and the Kindle. The books fill my well-used library at home, and the Kindle goes with me on my weekly business trips. It's the best of both worlds.

[OhFrak]

I would really like to see implemented on the Kindle a log of the last 100 or so words I've looked up via the Kindle dictionary while reading books. I enjoy expanding my vocabulary and find it helpful to review words I've looked up in order to cement them in my brain. Otherwise, I tend to forget rather quickly. Yes, I could just write it all down, but having it auto-generated and continually updated for my review would sure save me a lot of time.

[AListener]

OhFrak,
You can almost automate a log of this -- with the Kindle 2 at least.

When your 5-way cursor is on a word
The 2-line summary definition is at the bottom.
Press the Enter key to get the full definition.
Press the 5-way button down to get to the top. :-)
Start to Highlight the dictionary entry
Don't end the Highlight

Press Spacebar instaed
That makes a copy of what you highlighted
Push the 5-way button to the right until you see the option 'note'
That puts all that into the 'note' for the book.

It also puts it into your "My Clippings" file
That's a text-file and you can copy it to your computer and edit it.

So, you'll have a copy of all the words plus definitions that way, without typing.

There's an easier way in that you can just highlight the dictionary entries, period, but we tend to highlight much more than we add notes. This way this won't get mixed up with all our highlighting for a book.

I hope you come back to read this :-)

- Andrys
http://kindleworld.blogspot.com

[sambledsoe]

Try the internet-- dozens of dictionaries and encyclopedias available. Plus a few other extras.

[magvine]

Your list is a joke to anyone who actually owns and uses a Kindle on a daily basis.
Here's a better list of ways to make the Kindle better:
1. All books should come with a Table of Contents, and using the 5 Way controller you should be able to skip to the next or previous chapter.
2. Bookmarks should also be naviable in a similar fashion with the 5 Way (espically if #1 isn't implemented).
3. A real pagination scheme. I still have no clue how to decifer what page I'm on. I can't believe they want to sell these to students. How in the world are they going to "turn to page x" or cite their source?
4. Get rid of the 5 way, it's hard to use when not sitting down (like on cardio equipment).

These ideas would make the Kindle a much better experience. Though, it is very good already. The price is steep, but it is free internet. For those who feel they can just sync to a computer, you wouldn't believe how nice it is to be somewhere (at the gym, perhaps) and need something new to read and be able to get a newspaper or magazine in a few seconds.

[ralfthedog]

Reduced power modes. The Kindle has great battery life. No battery lasts forever. It would be cool if the cell modem in the Kindle could drop from 3g to 2g or even better be set to only wake up and check for new content every three or four hours.

An app store. The Kindle has very little processing power. That is why it gets such good battery life. At the same time, many cool applications could be designed for this platform. Users would get quite a bit more utility. Programmers would get quite a bit of money. Amazon would sell even more units than they do now.

[TongueTied]

Think outside the box, I mean outside the US! Yes, you probably didn't realise but Amazon discriminates against anyone who lives outside the US. If you are outside the US, you are not allowed to buy one.

[gconnery]

For me, it needs to offer ways to read magazines, and offer various tech magazines that I currently read (Laptop, PC Magazine, Wired, Newsweek) at reasonable rates, say comparable to the subscription rate for the paper magazines, which is often quite low anyway. Yes I know there are formatting issues, and no I don't want to scroll around like crazy, they would need to reformat the content in some fashion to make this work. And the reformatting would have to be somewhat automatic so that the publishers don't have an enormous job to do in order to offer this. But that's what I want. I just don't read enough books to justify the current price.

Similarly, it should offer ways to read PDFs without relayout. Yes I mean by scrolling around. And yes including all the images and everything. I can live with them requiring conversion, but I want the option to not have it reformatted, or to view it without reformatting if I need to.

And of course it should support existing non-Amazon ebook formats.

Agree on the better browser with a monthly fee. But no I wouldn't be interested in this if it were limited to some walled-garden of sites. Just do it with caps or something and automatic bump up to the next level if you exceed or something so it doesn't get crazy. Since you can't watch video or anything, it seems unlikely the bandwidth usage would get that high anyway. But yes, I would like to download and listen to internet radio or MP3 podcasts. I want a device to browse the internet while I sit in front of the TV, or in bed, and this would be perfect... with a decent browser and a plan.

And that's without even considering hardware changes (Touch screen, lose the keyboard, make the bezel and the device smaller, or the display larger).

[rareskills]

I can get a netbook cheaper than this... lower the price!!!! (and add what molly said :-) )

[AListener]

I like netbooks, as separate entities.

You'll not get one with 24/7 wireless, free, that you can use outside your home.