Quote:
Originally Posted by da_jane
Here's my reasons that I am passionate about the Kindle.
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Original comments are in
italic.
1. Amazon, a business that started out and continues today, provides book lover fulfillment. Therefore if anyone could get the Kindle right would be Amazon and Jeff Bezos, a purported book lover himself.
Until we use the unit we are not sure of how well it works in the hand. When I use my Sony I see the screen and the rest of the world fades away. Perhaps after we hold one and use it for a while (walk a mile in its shoes) we will have a better impression of the unit.
2. Amazon had 3 years and the benefit of everyone else's mistakes to open up the ebook platform to invite people in, rather than further confusing the issue with a superproprietary format that is tied to one device.
And in that 3 year period they overcame most of the problems that plagued the other readers. The 88,000 ebooks are a massive increase over what we have seen elsewhere. Consider that Sony launched with ~10,000 books. As for the DRM issue, it is most likely the only way that they could get the publishers to sign on at this time. Amazon is in the business of selling books, this way they don't have to split the profits with other parties. You can still buy material at Fictionwise (for example) in unprotected PRC files and load them. They have over 6,000 books in unprotected "multiformat" that works on almost every reader ever made.
3. Jeff Bezos is on record for saying that DRM free music is the wave of the future. If Bezos and Amazon truly is following the iPod/iTunes model, why shift toward more DRM rather than away from DRM. Amazon assumes that either you don't have any pre-existing purchases or that you are willing to repurchase them.
Unlike music, most people do not reread a book. I very, very seldom reread a book. Reference books are used over and over but that is not what I intended to read on the Sony and I have held to that. Publishers are worried that someone will snatch their content and sling it over the dark net. DRM is a way to launch the product and get it in the hands of many people. I doubt that most of the people buying the unit will care one way or another about DRM.
4. Bezos and Amazon appear to be arrogantly ignoring the consumer. Since the very inception of the pictures and details of the Kindle on the internet, we have been crying out for a design change. Design is incredibly important and Amazon's refusal to acknowledge the consumer opinion is simply a negative sign.
So it doesn't look like an iPod or an iPhone. So some think the Sony or the Gen3 is sexier. Heck, the Apple ][ looked a lot sexier than the original IBM PC but it got clobbered in the sales department. They did listen to the consumer -- the computer interface and download issues are gone. It is a single piece with a clean interface and a direct link to Amazon for new books. My 85 year old Mother-in-law could use it. I fear if she tried to buy a book through Sony.
5. If the Kindle fails, then the media and those with voices louder than ours will declare ebooks are dead. Given the investments that major publishers like S&S, HarperCollins, etc. have made in digitizing their backlists, I don't think ebooks are going away, but I wanted to see the Kindle actually fire us up rather than drag us down.
I agree. It is as close as anyone has come to creating a toaster for reading books.
I would have been the first in line to buy the Kindle if it had been a) a better design and b) allowed for me to read DRM'ed mobipockets.
I think the passionate voices are those who really longed for Amazon to get it right and now we are really disappointed.
The jury is still out and will be out for a while. It seems that Amazon sold out the first batch and is still taking orders for more.