David Pogue on Kindle
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007
David Pogue seems to like the Amazon Kindle more than most: An E-Book Reader That Just May Catch On.
He makes excellent points and he gives a more detailed look at the various features of Kindle: the screen, “ink” and reading experience, and the user interface. I have to say, his review softens me on this device and given that Amazon has deep pockets, they can keep tossing money at it until they get it right and if they do get it right they have the best back end infrastructure to do something like this. Time will tell.
I have mixed opinions on this device. I’m sure I will like the display. I used a Sony Librie for about a year and loved it and I think they use the same technology.
I’m not so keen on the price; expensive however you look at it. The Sony Reader retails at $50 less and IMO is a much better looking device. I do like that books are retailing at a fair price for it but don’t like that I would have to pay to put my own content on it. On my Librie I was free to put books from Project Gutenburg, or other free libraries, on the device at no additional cost.
I agree with you though that Amazon has the resources to make this thing work. In a fashion anyway. As much as I like electronic readers they will never replace the good old, time tested paper that sits on my bookshelves.
Jamie: you can put your own content on for free via USB, just not through the wireless connection as Amazon and Sprint have a deal on that making it free for their content. That seems fair to me.
The cost also seems fair when you factor in the free wireless, at least compared with the sony which had more expensive books as well.
I’m still not convinced this thing will succeed but Pogue’s review makes me less sure it will fail.
For me, Kindle represents an idea with great promise, but whose current incarnation is probably too far from being realized to be worth buying into. I could deal with almost every design and ergonomic miscue as it now stands, though they dissapoint me, and become an early adopter…
If not for what I see as the real issue. 90K sounds like a lot of choices for titles, but it is not. In November, and also recently, I did a little experiment, analyzing my Amazon wish-list baskets, which at any point in time contains far more than I will ever buy (because I use it as a storage place for items of interest which I have looked at). The running average for availability of these items under the Kindle banner is about 16%. The real problem with the Kindle availability base is that it is tailored to the best-sellers and the momentary “it” propaganda of the cultural literary output. In this way it functions as an unconscious funnel for mainstream-only cultural activity into our hearts and homes. It is, as presently marketed, a cultural homogenizer device.
I know, I know — big plans for the future, everything on Earth scanned and available. Plan sounds nice, meanwhile what’s the timetable? Amazon needs some kind of associated link for KIndle site to describe current status about ‘what’s new’ in the library and also about what major projects are coming down the pike, when, regarding the missing literature out there.
I wrote to them twice, suggesting little research projects like comparing Amazon member’s browsing history/wish lists against Kindle availability and using this as a sort of feedback loop to scan new titles. That could get me excited. No response yet.
Robert: I agree on everything you say. What makes Amazon powerful is the “long tail” depth of their offerings and if more of that stuff were available on Kindle (one would think they are working on it) that might increase it’s popularity.
I too want to like this thing but I want a lower price on the gadget so I can put more money into content.
That said, my guess is there will be pressure from computers that are shrinking into tablets and smartphones that have other uses and frankly, I’d rather have one device rather than two. If they made this kind of subscription service available to computers via a browser, the way iTunes works on computer and iPods and iPhones, I think they might have something.