Kindle: 'Designed in a Soviet tire factory'

[simonp]

Of all the iPad hype of the last week, this is perhaps the most ludicrous example of techno-utopian fanboyism that I encountered.

I present to you the words of one Darren Wershler, professor of communications at Wilfrid Laurier University (in Ontario, Canada). That this hyperbole was uttered by a grown man who most likely has a Ph.D. just beggars belief.

From the Globe and Mail:

The iPad also has the sex appeal notably lacking in the Amazon reader. “The Kindle looks like it was designed in a Russian tractor factory,” Mr. Wershler said. “The aesthetics of the thing are horrifying.”

But Apple clearly has bigger game in mind than the traditional reader who values a good page-turner in crisp black and white. Whatever ultimately emerges from the tablet revolution would likely be unrecognizable today, according to Mr. Wershler. “To call what we're reading on our phones and our computers today e-books is like calling a car a horseless carriage,” he said.

[TallMomof2]

The dude has some of his facts wrong, especially about the ePubs Apple will sell. Sure, Apple is selling ePub but with their own flavor of DRM. That makes 3 different DRM schemes for ePub.

Certainly the Kindle isn't as sleek as the iPad but personally I value function over form. The Kindle does what it does well. For me the reading experience is far better than anything I can get on non-reflective screen.

[Pardoz]

Highlight of the article:

The new digital cornucopia is wonderful, according to Darren Wershler, professor of communications at Ontario's Wilfrid Laurier University. “But I'm profoundly distrustful of anybody who comes along and offers to consolidate all that for me,” he added. “I don't want them making choices about what I'm reading, where I can get it, what format it's in, which machines I can look at it on. All of those things are a real problem, and nobody ever talks about them.”

The article then goes on to completely ignore all of those questions, proving Prof. Wershler correct (at least on that; I disagree with him on the aesthetic questions, but that's entirely a matter of personal taste.)

[WT Sharpe]

With the Kindle, you don't have to pay an additional $30/month for unlimited wireless.

[fugazied]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

The dude has some of his facts wrong, especially about the ePubs Apple will sell. Sure, Apple is selling ePub but with their own flavor of DRM. That makes 3 different DRM schemes for ePub.

Is this conjecture or do you have evidence of that? From what I have read, no one knows if the epub on the iPad will have some strange DRM attached to it.

It's important to remember that even when Apple had DRM on Mp3, they still allowed you to use un-DRMed Mp3 in itunes and on ipods. There is no evidence which leads us to believe that they will treat epub books differently. None. The only 'assumptions' we can make are that publishers would have demanded some kind DRM on ibookstore sales. From Apple's past history with Mp3s - If you don't want that DRMed content you should be able to buy from another source and load your own epubs on (just like itunes let you load your own Mp3s from the start).

As for the Kindle bashing, I think it's un-necessary. We are talking about different purposes on these devices. A device solely dedicated to text reading VS a device that does all kinds of things. Of course the iPad is more attractive it's newer! The Kindle is attractive as well (slim and functional), just not as flashy. Kindle 3 will be a step up, they are due for a refresh so lets see what they do.

[Rootman]

Boy those soviet tire / tractor guys sure are smart! Love my Kindle. I'd like the iPad too if it wasn't so expensive and required monthly fee for data to get 3G.

As far as I care the 2 are totally different markets, the iPad is stunning but is SO much more than an ereader. It's comparing the venerable apples and oranges.

[TallMomof2]

Originally Posted by fugazied

Is this conjecture or do you have evidence of that? From what I have read, no one knows if the epub on the iPad will have some strange DRM attached to it.

It's important to remember that even when Apple had DRM on Mp3, they still allowed you to use un-DRMed Mp3 in itunes and on ipods. There is no evidence which leads us to believe that they will treat epub books differently. None. The only 'assumptions' we can make are that publishers would have demanded some kind DRM on ibookstore sales. From Apple's past history with Mp3s - If you don't want that DRMed content you should be able to buy from another source and load your own epubs on (just like itunes let you load your own Mp3s from the start).

Here is one place where it is stated:

Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple's DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers.

That tells me that Apple is using it's own flavor of DRM. I'm sure that Apple doesn't want DRM that it's the publishers insisting on it. You should be able to load uninfected ePubs and if Apple is smart they will continue to allow apps that read other DRM formats such as the Kindle app, the B&N app, and the Stanza app.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Pardoz

Highlight of the article:

The article then goes on to completely ignore all of those questions, proving Prof. Wershler correct (at least on that; I disagree with him on the aesthetic questions, but that's entirely a matter of personal taste.)

Mr. Wershler is absolutely correct. Certainly no one here at MobileRead or any of the countless tech sites on the World Wide Web have ever raised any of those concerns. Surely in all of human history, Prof. Wershler is the very first person to whom any of these questions ever even occurred. In the 13.8 billion years this Cosmos has existed, no intelligent life form anywhere has ever talked about these problems; with the sole exception of Darren Wershler.

[perkata]

I am a retired editor who worked at a major publisher for 25 years. I am a reading junky who has owned a Sony 505, an iLiad (still own), and a Kindle DX (still own). I like to read a full page of text rather than parts of one, and that is why I bought the iRex and the Kindle DX (and why I don't read books often on my iPhone). I should add that most of my reading is of pdf files. I have no objection to epub, djvu, chm, txt, rtf, etc. But most of my files happen to be pdfs.

I bought the Kindle DX despite knowing of its absolutely ludicrous design faults: (1) miserable keyboard; (2) lack of unicode support (in a machine supposed to appeal to the college market?); (3) unfathomable lack of support for folders in the file system; lack of what I regard as sufficient storage (my library of English-language publications is about 50GB, of Chinese about 310GB); lack of external storage other than my laptops or desktops.

The Kindle is fine if all you do is read English language books and don't have so many that you have to organize them to locate a particular title easily; I read a lot of Chinese and Russian (yes, I know, if I have my pdfs embed the fonts, I can read Chinese and Russian on the Kindle, but that doesn't help with the Kindle's content display unless I translate the file names into English). I am aware of many ways to process my book files so that they are more easily located; dragging all my archaeology books to a folder called Archaeology would be easier.

BUT, the Kindle DX does handle my pdfs, most of them, very nicely.

As to 3G availability: I use it occasionally in the DX, but since I do the bulk of my reading at home, where I have 802.11n, and at places that have wireless access, iPad wireless would do just fine for me; I don't download books so frequently that instant availability is an issue. And I sincerely doubt that many people do.

One thing I've not been able to figure out about the Kindle (among many) is why Bezos decided not to include 802.11g. When people download via their own or other people's networks, Amazon doesn't have to pay for Sprint's carrying the freight.

The faults I've listed for the Kindle DX were largely avoided by earlier machines, like the iLiad: it had wireless, folders, external storage -- SD and CF -- (and digital ink input). If Bezos' folk had ever tried to use their own machines for reading, they might have adopted a few of the "innovations" pioneered by Sony and iRex (no folders in a Linux file system?).

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by perkata

One thing I've not been able to figure out about the Kindle (among many) is why Bezos decided not to include 802.11g. When people download via their own or other people's networks, Amazon doesn't have to pay for Sprint's carrying the freight.

One reason is support - more phone calls about network problems if you include WiFi. I have seen reports that the wireless providers will give you a better deal per MB if the device does not have WiFi (because without WiFi they get more volume). On the other hand the Nook demonstrates wireless providers will accept WiFi if they have to. On the Nook, it is likely that WiFi in the B&N stores was the major reason for including it. B&N does not want Nook owners to stop coming to their stores.

If Amazon had known how hard it would be to get international wireless coverage they might have included WiFi anyway.

[pboss]

The Kindle looks like it was designed in a Russian tractor factory.

This. I actually lolled out this time. So hard that my dog jumped right up out of her deepest sleep. It's funny because there is some truth to it. But don't forget that Soviets sent man into space first (and everything that breathes for that matter).

It would be nice if those eggheads would understand that we're talking about two devices with entirely different purpose and market. They should not be compared.

Kindle's e-ink, non-reflective screen, low distraction environment = pure reading experience - and nothing much more. No, I'm not a fanboy protecting his precious and yes, I'm going to buy an iPad as soon as they hit the market.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by perkata

I bought the Kindle DX despite knowing of its absolutely ludicrous design faults: (1) miserable keyboard; (2) lack of unicode support (in a machine supposed to appeal to the college market?); (3) unfathomable lack of support for folders in the file system; lack of what I regard as sufficient storage (my library of English-language publications is about 50GB, of Chinese about 310GB); lack of external storage other than my laptops or desktops.

The Kindle is fine if all you do is read English language books and don't have so many that you have to organize them to locate a particular title easily

The Kindle 2 / DX are mass consumer items, not specialty contraptions for folks with a half terabyte of e-books.

The Kindle folks may bring out a college-centric edition with full unicode support. That's a software update. There's also ver 2.5 or 3 to look forward to.

And, taking your first (and one supposes therefore you most important) point, the "miserable" keyboard is the way it is to keep manufacturing costs down but deliver "good enough" access when keyboard input is required. It is there to facilitate buying stuff in the store, doing rudimentary searches within books or wikipedia, and very basic "note taking".

I can well see Kindle bringing out a mid-range hybrid which has more bells and whistles designed for the college crowd ... but it will be competing for netbooks and laptops which almost everyone will already have. Just as the iPad is not designed primarily to replace e-readers like the Kindle, the Kindle is not designed primarily to replace a full portable computer experience. That also explains the lower price, etc.

But we agree: the Kindle is fine if all you do is read English language books and as it evolves into future editions no doubt it will well embrace the same functionality in other languages and character sets.

[clarknova]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

Here is one place where it is stated:

What a great link! Leave it to Adobe to re-iterate the hilarious beliefs of many users: DRM encumbered ePub is bad — unless it's encumbered with Adobe® ADEPT DRM which is totally great!

[GJN]

“The Kindle looks like it was designed in a Russian tractor factory,” Mr. Wershler said. “The aesthetics of the thing are horrifying.”

He's probably talking about the Kindle 1 and, let's face it, lovable as it is (I love my K1 though prefer the K2) its design does have a certain Soviet air to it.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by GJN

“The Kindle looks like it was designed in a Russian tractor factory,” Mr. Wershler said. “The aesthetics of the thing are horrifying.”

He's probably talking about the Kindle 1 and, let's face it, lovable as it is (I love my K1 though prefer the K2) its design does have a certain Soviet air to it.

I prefer the design of the K1 to the K2. It's delightfully asymmetrical.