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Old 05-06-2009, 01:48 PM   #106
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Everyone keeps talking about how great this will be for students and business applications.

I want to buy this because it be great for musicians who can convert all their music to PDF (or buy it that way -- usually non-drm'ed) and will be so much easier to use than hard copy music (with the possible exception of on-the-fly mark-ups). As a pianist, it would be easier to press "next page" than trying to flip the page and trying to get it to lay flat on the fly. Although having to go backwards for codas sounds suboptimal if you actually have to rotate it.

Still, the larger size opens up a lot of possibilities for other uses for musicians, craft persons (knitters ??) etc. Now to sell my Kindle 2...

I do wish Sony would get on the stick and announce a larger format -- this is really going to put Sony behind the 8-ball and could quickly cause them to lose market share making Kindle the defacto standard. (sorry -- most people don't care about drm because it hasn't bitten them in the butt yet -- just like most people don't care about Microsoft and their draconian EULAs).
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Old 05-06-2009, 01:49 PM   #107
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No, I never said it would be too difficult. I said that's why they're not selling to Kindle 2 or the DX in Europe. You guys will have to wait for special hardware (or some universal Kindle 3 in the future).
It's actually not hard at all from an engineering perspective. I think it's the business perspective that's at play here. They need a good enough catalog to launch (ebook rights aren't always international) and they have to have a way of providing the 3G service. The easy way to do that is let people buy their own sims and pay for their bandwidth. That may or may not be very attractive to people. If they want the same level of service we get with Whispernet (no monthly plans and no charges at all except personal documents) then that will take partnerships.
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Old 05-06-2009, 01:49 PM   #108
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I paid about $550 for the iLiad Book Edition. So, the Kindle DX with its large catalog of books, a larger screen, native PDF support and free 3G for life definitely does not feel overpriced to me.
Compared to the iLiad, the DX does look like the iPod of ereaders. Slick and simple. I once had the iLiad Book Edition in my hand and it felt to me like a cheap paper weight. The Kindle is 1/3" thick and weighs 19 ounces. How does that compare to the iLiad?
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Old 05-06-2009, 01:52 PM   #109
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Frankly, to me it looks too big to carry around--awkward. I'd be constantly worrying about breaking the screen. I can see keeping one at home or in the office for reading PDFs and newspapers though. Of course, all I really want a reader for is to read fiction and non-fiction books, so a Portable reader does it for me.
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:00 PM   #110
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I do wish Sony would get on the stick and announce a larger format -- this is really going to put Sony behind the 8-ball and could quickly cause them to lose market share making Kindle the defacto standard.
Yep. And even though there are plenty of other great uses, as you say, if Amazon gets the students and business users on board, they've got a really good lock.

If you look at the Mac vs Windows thing, one of the main ways Mac has kept a good market share is going after the student market aggressively with discount programs and donations to schools as well as their design and marketing. Windows still has the largest share because it got the business market. Plus many of the people who use it at work buy it for the home. They're used to it regardless of whether it's the best tool for the job. Since Windows has the marketshare, they get more attention from software development. Just like Kindle gets more book exclusives being the 800lb gorilla, there is plenty of software out there that you can only run on Windows. Emulation doesn't work for everything. Even though I primarily use Linux I will always have at least one PC with a copy of Windows on it because of this.

If Sony cedes both these sectors to Amazon, I doubt their reader division will stay viable. As the tech improves and these devices become more commoditized, the margin is going to be in the content, anyway, and that's already Sony's weak suit and Amazon's strength.
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:04 PM   #111
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We need Sony to stay in the eBook market. We need them to keep ePub alive. We need Amazon to realize that ePub is the way to go. But until Amazon realizes this, we have Sony. I'm hoping October 2009 will see a large screen Sony Reader.
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:09 PM   #112
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Originally Posted by TadW View Post
Compared to the iLiad, the DX does look like the iPod of ereaders. Slick and simple. I once had the iLiad Book Edition in my hand and it felt to me like a cheap paper weight. The Kindle is 1/3" thick and weighs 19 ounces. How does that compare to the iLiad?
I am certainly not a big fan of how the iLiad BE feels in my hand. The build quality leaves a lot to be desired and I have started to hear a lot of creaking noises as I have been using the device for about 3 months now. The plastic is certainly of an inferior quality. That said, the screen is definitely superior quality and I do really enjoy reading on it.

I am fairly confident Kindle DX will certainly have a better build quality. It is certainly much, much thinner than the iLiad, which is about twice as thick as the DX (0.6"). The DX weighs about the same as the DX (20 oz for the iLiad vs 19 oz for the DX). However, note that the screen size on the DX is much bigger so that means that you get a bigger screen but without the weight.

Oh, and I actually forgot to mention the biggest thing that bugs me about the iLiad: the short battery life and the total lack of a sleep/hibernate mode which makes the battery life even worse. I also don't like having to turn it off and then turn it back on all the time. I am looking forward to the long battery life that I will (hopefully) get with the Kindle DX, as they advertise.
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:10 PM   #113
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We need Sony to stay in the eBook market. We need them to keep ePub alive. We need Amazon to realize that ePub is the way to go. But until Amazon realizes this, we have Sony. I'm hoping October 2009 will see a large screen Sony Reader.
I also think sony make the best hardware i've held an irex book edition and the design and build were not a patch on my prs505. Don't forget though samsung are/have? entered the ebook market so they should be aggressive with pricing and fast at adopting new tech as it comes along.
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:10 PM   #114
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I totally disagree, I don't think Sony is behind the 8ball at all, in fact if I were a student and all the text books became available in electronic form I'd rather lug around a Netbook pc than a Kindle. Do much more with a Netbook. Unless of course Amazon manages a monopoly on electronic text books and they are all in azw format, that would be tragic



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Originally Posted by purl4peace View Post


I do wish Sony would get on the stick and announce a larger format -- this is really going to put Sony behind the 8-ball and could quickly cause them to lose market share making Kindle the defacto standard. (sorry -- most people don't care about drm because it hasn't bitten them in the butt yet -- just like most people don't care about Microsoft and their draconian EULAs).
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:14 PM   #115
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same old excuse really they have had what nearly 2 years to sort things out it's not like they are new upstart company they have been doing business world wide for years. If they are not carefull they will loose every other market for good and be stuck with just the US.
If Amazon as a company had the power to unilaterally change import/export restrictions, I'd be very afraid of them.
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:20 PM   #116
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Frankly, to me it looks too big to carry around--awkward. I'd be constantly worrying about breaking the screen. I can see keeping one at home or in the office for reading PDFs and newspapers though. Of course, all I really want a reader for is to read fiction and non-fiction books, so a Portable reader does it for me.
Yep. I don't see this so much as an upgrade from a Kindle 1 or 2 but a separate option. If I had to choose one, I'd pick the 6". I want a larger reader in addition for my work stuff but I can't see myself carrying this around casually for leisure reading. The 6" reader is a great size for carrying around in a handbag.
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:21 PM   #117
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We need Sony to stay in the eBook market. We need them to keep ePub alive. We need Amazon to realize that ePub is the way to go. But until Amazon realizes this, we have Sony. I'm hoping October 2009 will see a large screen Sony Reader.
Unfortunately, October 2009 will be too late. I think the Kindle is being released in Summer so they can be out in time for the fall semester.

Several years ago UNC-CH made all students purchase a particular laptop (or maybe gave them to all students??) so that all students would have the same standard platform.

Considering Amazon is setting up pilot projects at 5 separate universities, they are really hoping to capture the student market...
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:21 PM   #118
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I totally disagree, I don't think Sony is behind the 8ball at all, in fact if I were a student and all the text books became available in electronic form I'd rather lug around a Netbook pc than a Kindle. Do much more with a Netbook. Unless of course Amazon manages a monopoly on electronic text books and they are all in azw format, that would be tragic
A netbooks screen is no comparison with an eINK when reading so the netbook is a none starter for me. Though i imagine alot of students will have both once prices of ebook readers comes down.
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:22 PM   #119
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It's great to see a new model-- and the competition heating up in this arena. The price, though, makes me start thinking netbook!

If you can handle reading off laptop screens, a lightweight 9-13" netbook looks good in comparison and you could even have cash in the bank! And, what will happen when Apple introduces a 10" color device that runs OS X, can switch between an eink b/w type display and regular color, and has a full-fledged internet browser? The KDX will look pretty limited and drab!

My biggest question, though, is whether Kindle's page turning, screen refresh, flickering problem has been solved. That (and waiting for Apple's latest) are the biggest factors that would prevent me from jumping on this.
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:25 PM   #120
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I totally disagree, I don't think Sony is behind the 8ball at all, in fact if I were a student and all the text books became available in electronic form I'd rather lug around a Netbook pc than a Kindle.
I've tried that with an MSI Wind, and while I like it for many reasons I just couldn't read off it for a long period of time without getting a serious headache. Especially reading material that require concentration, such as textbooks.
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