Hi guys,

I'd like to buy a Kindle to read... not books, but newspapers and magazines.

Is there someone so kind(le) to post some snapshots of the user experience when reading i.e. the WSJ or Forbes ?

Thanks a lot

Kremo

No pics, but for what it's worth, the only thing I tried was Time magazine, and it was a disaster. I could live with the lack of pictures or graphics, but navigating through it was weird and very annoying. After the two free issues, I canceled it. Even at $1.99 a month, it was not worth it.

Thanks.
Do you know if the lack of pictures and graphics is a Time's issue or a general Kindle's one ? (at least for what's related to Magazines/Newspapers). In other words: do u know if newspapers have pictures and graphics ?

Thanks.
Do you know if the lack of pictures and graphics is a Time's issue or a general Kindle's one ? (at least for what's related to Magazines/Newspapers). In other words: do u know if newspapers have pictures and graphics ?

No, but go to the papers' site on Amazon and read the user reviews. I did that after the Time fiasco, and found most of them rated it pretty low for the reasons I found.

I read the Washington Post and the New York Times daily, and the Nation weekly and the Atlantic Monthly.... er.. monthly.

The periodical option was actually a big part in me choosing the Kindle and I've been very happy with it. There are, as mentioned, few pictures most the time but it kind of changes from issue to issue. Hopefully, in the future they will make better efforts in this regard. But that being said, I find it to be absolutely amazing and reading the papers every morning is a favorite part of my day.

I'd do the following... order a Kindle, see how you like it (because, ultimately, hands on experience is really the only way to evaluate the thing. I researched the hell out of it and until I had it in hand I had no idea regarding what kind of device I was getting) and if you don't like it, return it. Amazon has a 30 day return policy on the device.

The only pictures I've seen are on blogs and most of the time they aren't very good.

I read the NYTimes every morning and have found it very easy to navigate and find the article and sections I'm really interested in. Here are a few pics - they aren't very good but do show you some of the options available. - sheureka

Thanks a lot Sheureka, and Gideon and KlondikeGeoff too.

Based on Sheureka's pics, It seems that the reading experience is easy even if quite different from the traditional "paper-based" one. In other words: the ePaper version of a newspaper is different not only because of the "medium" but also because of the layout.

I wonder if and when is available a paper-like version of newspapers on epaper devices... think about having a (smaller) 1st page version of the NYT, like you may see on true paper, and then being able to "click"/touch an article to read it at a comfortable font size...

Anyhow... just "dreaming". I think I'll go for Gideon suggestion.

THanks

I'd like to get some (more) quick answer... so I've just added a quick poll to this post.
Kremo

The lack of photos is likely due to licensing issues from AP and Reuters. The company I work for publishes a bi-weekly magazine. I generate .mobi and .lit for each issue without images due to the high cost AP wants for licensing those images for electronic distribution. Until emagazines and enewspapers begin generating significant revenue I wouldn't look for images to be included in these publications.

The lack of photos is likely due to licensing issues from AP and Reuters. The company I work for publishes a bi-weekly magazine. I generate .mobi and .lit for each issue without images due to the high cost AP wants for licensing those images for electronic distribution. Until emagazines and enewspapers begin generating significant revenue I wouldn't look for images to be included in these publications.

I suspect you are right. I subscribe to Reader's Digest on the Kindle and there are a fair number of images in each issue. Of course, I also subscribe to Fortune and I don't think I've ever seen a single image in it.

Bob

Kremo, one further note: the NYTimes publishes a mobile edition (mobile.nytimes.com) as does the WallStreetJournal (their version is still in beta, just go to wsj.com) intended for phones. Using the Kindle's browser I have accessed them (they are free) and find that they format well and include a few pictures: the content appears to be the same as the version provided by Amazon. The only real difference is that they have to be read while you are connected, content is not downloaded onto the Kindle.

The lack of photos is likely due to licensing issues from AP and Reuters. The company I work for publishes a bi-weekly magazine. I generate .mobi and .lit for each issue without images due to the high cost AP wants for licensing those images for electronic distribution. Until emagazines and enewspapers begin generating significant revenue I wouldn't look for images to be included in these publications.
Catch-22. They won't generate enough revenue to include the photos and because the photos aren't there, the reading experience won't be all that good.

I don't own a Kindle but I made some comments this last fall about electronic editions of the NYTimes that I should correct. I had said then that the web page articles appeared to be abridged versions of the more complete daily newsprint versions and speculated therefore that the Kindle version is likely abridged, too. So I recently signed up for a free trial of the full electronic edition of the NYTimes (which is an exact copy of each page of the newsprint edition) and compared it to the web page articles. I found no differences at all for the many articles that I compared. So aside from fewer advertisements and photos the Kindle edition of the NYTimes just might be the complete version of that paper.

My experience is that all the main articles are there, but I cannot swear that absolutely all the articles are. If the NYT does eliminate some content, I don't see the basis for the choices: I did compare the Book Review (my favorite section of the NYT) and I can assure you that every single article in the print version was reproduced. Has anyone here done a comparison? Yes, there are far fewer pictures, but somehow that does not bother me. You are right that every article is exactly the same as in the print version. And consider the price: $13.99 a month, where 4 Sunday newsprint copies cost $18 today! And remember, the mobile version is free!

I read the WSJ every morning on my way to work on the bus/PATH. I find the experience better than reading the physical paper because:
1. I don't have to turn my paper into origami to read it without disturbing my neighbors.
2. I can scan for the articles I want to read more quickly than I can the physical paper.
3. I don't have to look for article continuations from the front page.

The line drawings are in the Kindle version. No photos, of course. :)

Finally, each front section has at least one Kindle page of article titles with a little of the article text to give it that "front page" look. I like this formatting a lot.

I do sometimes get lost in navigation, but I'm slowing figuring out good ways of navigating my way through the paper - mostly be intelligent use of the "back" button.

The lack of photos is likely due to licensing issues from AP and Reuters. The company I work for publishes a bi-weekly magazine. I generate .mobi and .lit for each issue without images due to the high cost AP wants for licensing those images for electronic distribution. Until emagazines and enewspapers begin generating significant revenue I wouldn't look for images to be included in these publications.

Catch-22. They won't generate enough revenue to include the photos and because the photos aren't there, the reading experience won't be all that good.

This is something I'd never thought about, and you are probably both right: photos licensing is a cost, and to bear it publishers need to foresee enough revenues. At the same time, if the product is not enough appealing, customers don't buy it. It's a vicious circle.

XianFox, one question: what about .PDF online version of newspapers for subscribers ? Do publishers need additional "photo rights" to distribute them ?

XianFox, one question: what about .PDF online version of newspapers for subscribers ? Do publishers need additional "photo rights" to distribute them ?

Yes, they do. We pay AP for use of 30 or 60 photos per issue (I forget which). We pay an additional $90 per issue to be able to distribute the PDF version of the magazine. I'm uncertain if it would be an additional $90 for a .mobi version also. If AP has a "price list" they keep it pretty close to their vest. Every time we wish to modify our agreement we have to renegotiate our agreement with them.

It's messy. I'm just glad I don't handle that aspect of our business.