Amazon Kindle

[NSFL]

I can't believe I've never heard of this thing until now. I did a search on CP to see if anyone's discussed it and I was surprised as hell to see no one has. So this is either Amazon's best kept secret, which I doubt as it's on amazon.com's front page, or it's a crappy product that no one's interested in. So I was wondering if anyone had any comments about this. I really want one. But it doesn't ship outside the US and it costs $400.

I stopped carrying books around me to read because it takes up so much room and it seemed every time I reached into my bag, I'd end up with a paper cut, so for me, this thing would be awesome.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846

Product Overview

• Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper.
• Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing.
• Wireless connectivity enables you to shop the Kindle Store directly from your Kindle—whether you’re in the back of a taxi, at the airport, or in bed.
• Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute.
• More than 110,000 books available, including more than 90 of 112 current New York Times® Best Sellers.
• New York Times® Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise.
• Free book samples. Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.
• Top U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post; top magazines including TIME, Atlantic Monthly, and Forbes—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
• Top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland; Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and The Irish Times—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
• More than 250 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics, including BoingBoing, Slashdot, TechCrunch, ESPN's Bill Simmons, The Onion, Michelle Malkin, and The Huffington Post—all updated wirelessly throughout the day.
• Lighter and thinner than a typical paperback; weighs only 10.3 ounces.
• Holds over 200 titles.
• Long battery life. Leave wireless on and recharge approximately every other day. Turn wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging. Fully recharges in 2 hours.
• Unlike WiFi, Kindle utilizes the same high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones—so you never have to locate a hotspot.
• No monthly wireless bills, service plans, or commitments—we take care of the wireless delivery so you can simply click, buy, and read.
• Includes free wireless access to the planet's most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia—Wikipedia.org.
• Email your Word documents and pictures (.JPG, .GIF, .BMP, .PNG) to Kindle for easy on-the-go viewing.
• Included in the box: Kindle wireless reader, Book cover, Power adapter, USB 2.0 cable

[Burninator]

I looked into it when it first came out and it's useless if you aren't in the US. It doesn't ship to Canada, so it might be hard to come by (eBay I guess). You download books via amazon.com over the cellular network, which you can't do here. And as far as I know there isn't a way to put books onto the thing without being in the US. Plus this type of technology could be risky (especially for $400) because it hasn't caught on yet. I think you would have to wait till it comes to amazon.ca, but data rates in Canada will have to drop first. It's the same thing thats holding back the iPhone.

[NSFL]

Oh yeah, definitely. I meant I wanted it as in I'll wait until conditions in Canada work. I was just wondering opinions on the concept itself as pretty much a slim portable bookcase. I don't expect to see anything like this in Canada for at least a couple years, if ever, but I'm really not in touch with the tech world.

[Tyler]

I'm still not entirely convinced people are unhappy with the portability and convenience of books.

I mean, its an interesting technology, but I don't think it really matters to your average person.

[photon]

I'd buy the Sony one in a heartbeat if it was a bit cheaper.

[Barnes]

The lifetime free internet connection is what makes the device. I don't read enough books to justify wanting one but it is a cool device.

[NSFL]

Originally Posted by photon

I'd buy the Sony one in a heartbeat if it was a bit cheaper.

Sony has one?

[photon]

Yeah, and there's a few other ones out there as well, the big thing I want is to avoid any DRM locking in.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...52921644523779

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah, and there's a few other ones out there as well, the big thing I want is to avoid any DRM locking in.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...52921644523779

so you choose Sony?

the irony is delicious

[fredr123]

A propos to the conversation in general and photon's concerns in particular, Columbia law students provide a summary of some of the legal issues involved when you "buy" a book for your Sony e-reader or Amazon Kindle. It's all based on US law and has little applicability to the state of Canadian affairs but it does give you a sense for the DRM concerns many have.

http://gizmodo.com/369235/amazon-kin...o-longer-yours

[photon]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

so you choose Sony?

the irony is delicious

Heh, the Sony supports straight PDFs. I wouldn't be interested in purchasing through either's storefront at this point.

[mykalberta]

Its first get. From some of my US friends who have it, they love it but also has some serious hardware asthetic flaws.

In there words - they need to hire someone from apple to tweak it.

Very innovative from probably the most innovative web company based in North America.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

In there words - they need to hire someone from apple to tweak it.

Agreed. So far it hasn't been easy for companies to push the "ebook" and trying again with an ugly piece of technology isn't going to help.

[4X4]

Bumpy McBumperson

So my dad and my uncle are in the office down the hall going on and on about kindle. They are both the types that hear about cool new stuff and want it immediately, so they dispatched me to find out about ebooks and Kindle. Naturally I came directly to CP. But before posting I did do a bit of research...

It turns out that the Kindle 2 is not very popular and that it's still exclusive to the US.

I found this Sony one that looks similar to the Sony one that pho posted a year ago:
http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/ser...ductId=1005164


I gotta say that I'm very interested in this as well. I love the idea of having books on a readable tablet (not a laptop). Something that's easy to read in bed or on a plane or where ever. And I love the idea of having dozens of books accessible at any time. Nice to have a heavier, sciency book as well as a novel available.

Anyway, if anyone has actually been keeping up with this technology and has anything interesting to add, please do.

And one more thing... Kinda pathetic how far along handheld video games and mp3 players have come and books are still in the technological stone age.

[Barnes]

The Kindle is a really great product. Amazon is really the only company who will succeed in this area because the have the content. They, like Apple get it. Their bread and butter is content and the device will encourage content sales where as Apple sells content to encourage hardware sales.

The biggest problem for us is the publishing industries archaic systems. A book in one country will be published by another company in another country. Amazon had to make deals with all the US publishers and will have to start from scratch in Canada and again in the UK and so on even though the content is the same.

[4X4]

Since it's all electronic, can I get a buddy in the states to just courier me the kindle and do all the ordering for me and email the files?

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by 4X4

And one more thing... Kinda pathetic how far along handheld video games and mp3 players have come and books are still in the technological stone age.

Maybe, but if you drop your book it won't break, and even if it does it will only cost a fraction to replace. You don't need batteries/charging.

There are things like that which are unique to a physical book that an electronic gizmo can't replace.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Maybe, but if you drop your book it won't break, and even if it does it will only cost a fraction to replace. You don't need batteries/charging.

There are things like that which are unique to a physical book that an electronic gizmo can't replace.

Agreed. But I'm already used to all my other electronic gizmos. The only one I drop is my phone (all the f'ing time). Books are typically read sitting down and with two hands. phones and ipods and other devices are toted around and used while in motion.

But you do bring up a good point. I'd sure be choked if I dropped my ebook and lost a bunch of books I paid for. I wonder how licensing would work for these books. If they're only good on one device, how do you upload your stuff to a new device in the event you damage, destroy or upgrade your hardware?

[Bobblehead]

Oh, and I just noticed, the next Kindle iteration is due out this summer.

Kindle DX

the big changes are a larger 9.7-inch screen that rotates to landscape display, a PDF reader, and more storage space at 3.3GB.

[Clever_Iggy]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Oh, and I just noticed, the next Kindle iteration is due out this summer.

Kindle DX

My boss has the second generation one (Kindle 2) and loves it. The bigger screen is a huge upgrade. Hopefully they'll include the ability to buy a replacement/2nd battery on the DX.

The Kindle and the Sony version are awesome. I agree with the posters that say it's all about content. Amazon is definitely going to push Sony out of the market place as a result.