Given how many books I have purchased from Amazon, I would have thought Jeff Bezos would have given me a Kindle
But, no, he didn’t. And, despite my love of new gadgets, I am not rushing out to get one: I already have too many partially-read regular books and ebooks.
Nonetheless, I really like the concept of Kindle. For one, it is high time that we further our efforts to reduce the amount of paper we consume. I also like the fact that it lets you carry along several books with you when you travel.
I have been a fan of eBook reading for a long time, and have read numerous eBooks on my Pocket PCs and Palms over the years. Heck, I even put together an eBook, so you know I believe in them. And just reading about Kindle has inspired me to start back to reading some of my ebooks. One that I began reading over the weekend had a lot of material I considered quote-worthy, so I just copied and pasted several quotes into my Notes app. I really like being able to do that.
There are several thumbs-up and thumbs-down reviews of the Kindle. Looks to me like the thumbs-up reviews are in the lead. A couple of the initial posts I enjoyed were Marc Orchant’s initial discussion of the Kindle and Robert Scoble’s most recent review (he does several). Robert’s Kyte video review is really fantastic (only takes about 8-minutes … well worth the time if you are considering Kindle). Also, Marc has more recently done a second review and a roundup of reviews.
I fully expect Kindle to be a success:
- One thing that has kept the ebook market fairly small is the relatively small number of titles that are available in eBook form. But Amazon is making 90,000 titles available right off the bat, and no doubt this figure will climb significantly over time.
- It seems to me that Kindle is designed for reading. Scoble mentions typography in his video, and I am confident Amazon has studied the heck out of typography and has done a good job with it in Kindle (For example, typography tells us that certain fonts provide better reading experience than others and that having less than 75 characters on each line is best matched to our eye movements.) Just look at how well-designed the Amazon web pages are.
- Amazon is not the kind of company to do anything on a whim. Like the other internet giant, Google, they test every idea thoroughly before making a go-no-go decision on it. No doubt in my mind that they have put Kindle through the paces. (Scoble takes a contrary view to this, though, in his most recent post … he slams the user interface in several areas.)
- It is not too hard to envision the Harvard Business School giving its students a Kindle filled with all of the textbooks (and other reading material) needed for their course work. Once that starts happening, and once large corporations do a similar kind of thing for their management staff (or perhaps for all employees), Kindle will take off.
There will probably come a time when I get a Kindle. Right now I cannot justify it. But it looks to me like it could be worthwhile, especially for heavy readers like me.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on Kindle and on the future of eBook readers in general?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
The textbook angle was one I had not thought of. It makes sense, as do many of the other point you make. I think one of the biggest obstacles to widespread adoption is the price of the unit. I wonder why Amazon didn’t do some sort of subscription plan, not unlike cell phone service providers…
I am a bit surprised at their pricing, too, capo. The subscription idea would have been a good one for them to implement, I would think.
Perhaps we will see a price reduction in the next generation of the device.
I'm a mom to 4..one in college, and twins who are seniors in high school… and I think it holds GREAT possibilities for students…..
I have ordered one (should arrive around Dec 3)…. I ran out of room in the house a long time ago for my books..and have moved over to ebooks. I don't particularly like reading on my laptop or desktop…. and my phone (Tilt) screen is small….. so I am really looking forward to having “book-sized” ebooks again !
The Kindle is a version 1…lots of possibilities for future versions (like a reduction in price)….. I am hoping all the enthusiasm (and purchases) of the device will convince them to continue to make improvements on the device.
Also….anything that ENCOURAGES reading is a-okay with me!!
My 2 cents
I’m a mom to 4..one in college, and twins who are seniors in high school… and I think it holds GREAT possibilities for students…..
I have ordered one (should arrive around Dec 3)…. I ran out of room in the house a long time ago for my books..and have moved over to ebooks. I don’t particularly like reading on my laptop or desktop…. and my phone (Tilt) screen is small….. so I am really looking forward to having “book-sized” ebooks again !
The Kindle is a version 1…lots of possibilities for future versions (like a reduction in price)….. I am hoping all the enthusiasm (and purchases) of the device will convince them to continue to make improvements on the device.
Also….anything that ENCOURAGES reading is a-okay with me!!
My 2 cents
Sounds like Kindle is the perfect device for you, gasusan2005! I am 100% with you on anything that Encourages reading. I, too, think it holds great possibilities for students.
Please stop back by and let us know what you think of the reading experience after you have used it for a few days.
Best wishes.
I don’t know if anyone saw this Kindle info at the web site below. I don’t plan on buying one but it appears there are more possibilities with the Kindle than some people realize.
http://www.mobilehornet.com/archives/581
Thanks, Mike. There’s a good bit in that article that I did not know. In fact, it looks to me like my own ebook can be read in Kindle (the MobiPocket format is a prc file, and Amazon owns MobiPocket). Interesting.
Thanks again.
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