NY Times new article on ebooks / Amazon Kindle

[Azayzel]

Originally Posted by nekokami

The only way I see this working is if they get a couple of major textbook publishers on board-- at greatly reduced costs. I just paid nearly US$70 for ONE textbook. If textbooks were something like US$10-20 on the Kindle, a full-time student in the US could recover their investment in the first year. But the only way I see the textbook publishers going in that direction is if the DRM is time-limited.

A little OT, but I just read an article in a newspaper that detailed how Utah State University rented ther Biology textbooks to students at a substantial discount, $28.75 vs. $129.35 to purchase. Now that's a pretty darn good deal! I would have rented my books, because even when you try to sell them back the university bookstore would only give you a fraction of the cost back, and that was only if the book wasn't discontinued.

Renting eTextbooks would be a lot cheaper, they could publish in-house without any printing costs, and if they used some type of DRM-expiry system, they could simply have the books lock themselves a few weeks after the semester is over for people who choose not to unlock it at a higher price.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What do you mean by "a single purpose device"? I paid a lot more than that for my Sony Reader, which is equally "single purpose"!

Sorry, should have said "before most people will buy a single-purpose device." We bibliophiles are the exception, I think.

HarryT, did you really pay more than that for your Reader? Are you counting VAT or customs fees or something?

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by Azayzel

Renting eTextbooks would be a lot cheaper, they could publish in-house without any printing costs, and if they used some type of DRM-expiry system, they could simply have the books lock themselves a few weeks after the semester is over for people who choose not to unlock it at a higher price.

I've actually seen this done, or attempted, anyway. One of the universities I worked at a couple of years ago offered this as an option. Looks like this is the same thing: http://www.coursesmart.com/ The example they show in the "tour" is still pretty pricey, but I guess the program is still in beta, too.

I personally prefer to keep my textbooks for future reference, but I know most students just sell them back.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Sorry, should have said "before most people will buy a single-purpose device." We bibliophiles are the exception, I think.

HarryT, did you really pay more than that for your Reader? Are you counting VAT or customs fees or something?

Yes, I paid a total of $620 for my Reader. Bought it from eBay for $450, and the rest was shipping, import duty, and VAT.

[Ravenflight]

Is that photo a true representation of what the Kindle is supposed to look like??? If so that is one of the ugliest pieces of consumer electronics I have ever seen! Not to mention unwieldly. Who is going to buy it? I want a reader that is about the size of a paperback and the weight and thickness of a magazine,easy to use with as few buttons as possible. Not some Frankenstein tablet with 49 buttons and a scrollwheel taking up half the device that looks like a nightmare to operate. If this is the Kindle, then Amazon should light a match to it, and buy or partner with a company with some design sense. I dont think Bookeen or Sony has anything to worry about.

[TadW]

Originally Posted by Ravenflight

Is that photo a true representation of what the Kindle is supposed to look like???

It's called retro-design

But don't worry, most likely this was just a dummy case used for the prototype. At least this is what the majority here believes.

[Ravenflight]

Originally Posted by TadW

It's called retro-design

But don't worry, most likely this was just a dummy case used for the prototype. At least this is what the majority here believes.

Retro is right. It looks like a cheesy prop out of some 1960's scifi- Star Trek maybe- or Kubricks 2001- except all the props I've seen in those look better than this Amazon device. The Flintstones perhaps.

[guguy]

Maybe amazon is gonna do just like apple and its iphone, launch it at
$400-$500 and break the price down to $300 for X-mas.

[petermillard]

Originally Posted by guguy

Maybe amazon is gonna do just like apple and its iphone, launch it at
$400-$500 and break the price down to $300 for X-mas.

Except the iPhone was/is a groundbreaking piece of industrial design (both in aesthetics and function) and Apple had hundreds of thousands of people (give or take - exact numbers are hard to come by...) queuing up to shell out ~$500 for it at launch. I may be wrong, but I can't see that many people queuing up for the Kindle at $400 (especially if it looks like a piece of 35 year-old chewed-up space trash) unless the feature set is compelling, and even at $300, I'd have my doubts.

Time will tell, I'm sure.

Pete.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by guguy

Maybe amazon is gonna do just like apple and its iphone, launch it at
$400-$500 and break the price down to $300 for X-mas.

Apple has pissed off LOTS of people and Apple's You can have $150 of Apple merchandise to make up for the $200 price drop is crap. It''s enough to say NEVER buy anything from Apple if that is how they treat initial buyers. If it was me, I'd want the $200 and not a lesser amount in credit that I don't want.

[Ravenflight]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Apple has pissed off LOTS of people and Apple's You can have $150 of Apple merchandise to make up for the $200 price drop is crap. It''s enough to say NEVER buy anything from Apple if that is how they treat initial buyers. If it was me, I'd want the $200 and not a lesser amount in credit that I don't want.

Actually as an owner of the iPhone since day one I am very pleased that Apple is offering anything at all- I expected the price to drop even before I bought it- and never expected Apple to offer some rebate to initial buyers. Every premium phone I have ever bought has dropped rapidly in price- SO WHAT? What about the $500.00 Razor? I don't see everyone up in arms demanding rebates that were never promised when it dropped from $500.00 to 99.00 in less than a year. Should Motorola give all their initial buyers a 400.00 rebate? I could give many other examples, but Apple giving a price break to customers that bought a premium phone at the initial premium price is, I think, a first for the cell phone industry. However I don't see Motorola, Palm, Nokia et al jumping on the bandwagon to give back money to their customers.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Ravenflight

Retro is right. It looks like a cheesy prop out of some 1960's scifi- Star Trek maybe- or Kubricks 2001- except all the props I've seen in those look better than this Amazon device. The Flintstones perhaps.

Nope, original Battlestar Galactica, no question.

General consensus seems to be that it's probably an early mock-up for the FCC (who's site the pic came from), and that the released version will be less ... fugly.

Have you considered how hard the thing would be to pick up off a flat surface, like, say, a table?

[Ravenflight]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Nope, original Battlestar Galactica, no question.

General consensus seems to be that it's probably an early mock-up for the FCC (who's site the pic came from), and that the released version will be less ... fugly.

Battlestar Galactica- yep you nailed it.

I don't buy the FCC explanation though. The purpose of submitting a device to the FCC is so they can verify it's doesn't emit too much RFI that will interfere with the functioning of other devices that use radio frequencies like TV's, radios, and cell phones. You can't submit a device for compliance and then release a radically different version. Any change you make to the device, the housing, the circuit board, the display, or even the orientation of the components, is going to change the radiation amount and pattern of RFI that the device emits. If this is the final mockup that they submitted to the FCC, then this is going to be pretty close to what the released version should look like. They might change the color, but I can't imagine any color that will make that thing attractive to the general public- much less convince them to part with real money for it. They could give it away and I for one wouldn't sign up for it.

[NatCh]

Depends on what the case material is made of, I'd guess. I'm not an expert, nor particularly knowledgeable, in the area, but I didn't think that thermoplastic had that much affect on RF radiation. If that's not totally wrong, then they could change the case a fair amount and not bother anything.

But as I said, I don't claim any special knowledge here, so salt to taste.

[RalphTrickey]

Thermoplastic has no effect on radiation. I don't know how much they can change the keyboard, etc. after submitting to the FCC.