http://astore.amazon.com/buy.cheap.amazon.kindle.ebook.reader-20

Yet I still read hardback and paperback novels

I’ve seen the Sony version and now this offering from Amazon.

I have to say that none of this has particularly impressed me….and I’m a true gadgeteer…I realize that all this technology is trying to get to the Star Trek paperless PADD era, but I think its going to take a long, long time…

P.S.–I am also an avid comic book reader, and have tried Marvel and DC comics’ versions of ‘digital’ comics….didn’t like them….there is just something about curling up in bed with a nice big stack of pulpy comic books thats just somehow…I don’t know…comforting…

Anyway, I’d like to know if as an international user, can I say ask a friend from US to purchase a device then send it to me so I can simply buy kindle books from my own Amazon account? I figure if that can be done then I’ll just use USB to transfer the book from PC to Kindle. I’ve heard of rumors that buying Kindle books will require the buyer to be actually living in US… is that true?

I’m very interested in this device not because just out of personal curiosity, but also that I’m in the textbook business here and we’ve been trying to study the potential effect of incorporating Kindle into the industry. It’s very exciting really, but I’m with some of the posters above that this device is a bit too expensive, though counter argument might be that it’s just the buying habits of students nowadays as they’d spend 400~500 (or even more) dollars on a new cell phone, but not 30, 40 dollars on textbooks. I don’t know what it’s like in the US, but that’s pretty common here.

Lastly just want to say this is a wonderful review; you’ve covered a lot of important information about the device which basically is what I think any pre-Kindle owner would want to know about. Thanks.

However, I believe that this effort will fail like the other ebook efforts. Most book readers that I know are slightly technophobic. The problem with newspaper/magazine readers is that they have spoiled with free internet access. They really don’t think that they need to pay.

There is only one way for Kindle is to have the newspapers and magazines remove their online content and force it through Kindle. If Kindle works everywhere it technically allows them to say they are online. You can put the genie back into the bottle but only if you are willing stop giving away content for free.

Also change the UPI and AP contracts so that no content can not be seen unless it is contained (DRM or printed). No online content can be allowed where the content can be cut and pasted. Sure this will kill off many blogs but newspapers really don’t make money off other people’s blogs.

Sure the newspaper/magazine people will buy a few books with their subscriptions, but don’t expect hard core readers to read them.

I also agree that that audio books are affecting book sales but also let’s not forget that free podcast and radio broadcasts (such as listening to NPR’s All Things Considered) affect newspaper sales, too.

Survey people you know. Most of my cohorts pretty flatly refuse to do anything more ‘e-booky’ than research on a computer screen. “I like the feel of real paper”, etc. Even amongst my friends with PDAs. etc., I am the only one I know who routinely uses e-books on mine.

e-Books are also competing against audio books, a category that just seems to keep growing (no matter how much I dislike them).

I am also unsure of the portability. My PDA is nice, but books, etc. can be rolled, stuffed, tucked, sat on, tossed, and generally abused while most e-readers I have seen are not nearly so tolerant.

On the other hand, I LOVE carrying all of my books electronically. So convenient, and the DRM don’t bother me a lot.

(Did you know that many paper book publishers feel you really DO NOT have the right to sell ‘their’ books without them getting a cut. If RIAA’s stuff had gone more smoothly, I have no doubt they would be pushing their cases more aggresively.)

For PDF conversion, you can use Amazon’s e-mail service which either mails the converted file back to you for free, or directly to the Kindle for 10 cents. On Windows, Mobipocket Desktop works too (and is probably pretty similar to what Amazon’s service uses under the hood). It works best on PDFs which contain mostly text and are relatively simple, because it’s essentially converting to a fairly low level of HTML. (I hope they add a proper PDF reader at some point, but my experience with the Sony reader and with PDAs tells me that good PDF reading on a small device is easier said than done…)

Does this thing work with Wi-Fi also?

Can you convert .pdf docs to be read on it?

I love the idea of the subscriptions; no more fumbling with magazines and newspapers!

Another thing which may play into this in the long term is Amazon’s digital text platform which allows anyone to upload a book and sell it in the Kindle store. For smaller publishers and individual authors who don’t need the marketing machine of a major label, this might be a very attractive way to expand their distribution.

I also think the magazines and newspapers may end up being more important to the Kindle than books are. Those are already essentially disposable content — you read them once and toss them in the recycling bin. Electronic distribution thus seems like a huge win, and the DRM is pretty much irrelevant if you’re only going to read stuff a couple of times and then delete it.

However, books cannot easily be converted to digital format so there is no critical mass of electronic devices in the hands of people to demand their favorite material be available.

Amazon is betting on the illusion that ebooks are like digital music but it’s not the same at all. However, if they made ebooks just like regular books, then more people would be exposed to digital media increasing the desire for devices and then expanding the market.

(Assuming an ebook standard emerges. I guess PRC format is close. However, IMHO, ebooks won’t take off unless someone develops a slot you can shove a book and and out pops a PRC file.

Third, DRM is the only way to get content providers to play along; just like how it took several years of iTunes before the music labels became convinced to start selling unprotected tracks, it will probably take a while for most publishers to come around to the idea. And fourth, i don’t think DRM is necessarily bad, so if you would prefer to just assume I’m an evil bastard, go ahead and do so, I totally won’t mind

–Rob

Until e-books act like real books – I own them, I can loan them, I can give them away, I can sell them as I please it’s just not going to happen.

Of course, if the price was WAY lower than physical books – like $2 or $3 for a $20 book, that would be different.