"Kindle is a only a transitional reading device." A Lawyer Predicts Amazon's Future

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Not the webreader. The Kindle Cloud webapp. It looks like the regular app and will download books to your iPad. But you can buy books from within the app, and buy samples by clicking a button at the end of the sample.

Yeah, the Cloud Reader is pretty slick. Totally HTML5, so it doesn't appear or act like a normal webpage. It behaves just like the regular kindle apps.

[JohnGalt]

Originally Posted by stonetools

This article , which came out in May 2011, seems prescient but says a lot that's controversial . Excerpt:



LINK

There's a lot there-books in the cloud, the end of the eink Kindle, ad-supported books. Read the article and tell me what you think of this vision of the future.

What is the obsession "the cloud?" When I pay for a file, I want a file that I can own and control. On the cloud, you own and control nothing! I make some exceptions - Netflix, for instance, which I see as pull-driven competitor to push-driven telesion media. However, the people out there looking forward to the day that they have an empty console with no onwership rights to any programs and entrust the privacy and security of their data to a third party (which the most superficial examination of the current climate on rights to privacy ought to give one pause - CISPA, for example.) People are embracing the loss of property rights and privacy in their computing, and not really gaining much of anything in the exchange. Why?

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by JohnGalt

What is the obsession "the cloud?" When I pay for a file, I want a file that I can own and control. On the cloud, you own and control nothing! I make some exceptions - Netflix, for instance, which I see as pull-driven competitor to push-driven telesion media. However, the people out there looking forward to the day that they have an empty console with no onwership rights to any programs and entrust the privacy and security of their data to a third party (which the most superficial examination of the current climate on rights to privacy ought to give one pause - CISPA, for example.) People are embracing the loss of property rights and privacy in their computing, and not really gaining much of anything in the exchange. Why?

I agree, when I buy something, I want custody of it. With Netflix, I'm not buying anything. I'm paying for access to a service, just like I would do if I had cable. (It ditched cable a few years ago) Books are tiny, the storage requirements are negligible, so the justification that we save space by having them on the cloud doesn't make sense.

[BeccaPrice]

Isn't all technology transitional, from one thing to something better?

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by JohnGalt

What is the obsession "the cloud?" When I pay for a file, I want a file that I can own and control. On the cloud, you own and control nothing! I make some exceptions - Netflix, for instance, which I see as pull-driven competitor to push-driven telesion media. However, the people out there looking forward to the day that they have an empty console with no onwership rights to any programs and entrust the privacy and security of their data to a third party (which the most superficial examination of the current climate on rights to privacy ought to give one pause - CISPA, for example.) People are embracing the loss of property rights and privacy in their computing, and not really gaining much of anything in the exchange. Why?

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

Isn't all technology transitional, from one thing to something better?

Life is transitional...

[crossi]

I couldn't agree more. I've only ever bought one Steam game and I'm not going to buy another. I've had too many problems with access to what I've paid for.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by JohnGalt

What is the obsession "the cloud?" When I pay for a file, I want a file that I can own and control. On the cloud, you own and control nothing! I make some exceptions - Netflix, for instance, which I see as pull-driven competitor to push-driven telesion media. However, the people out there looking forward to the day that they have an empty console with no onwership rights to any programs and entrust the privacy and security of their data to a third party (which the most superficial examination of the current climate on rights to privacy ought to give one pause - CISPA, for example.) People are embracing the loss of property rights and privacy in their computing, and not really gaining much of anything in the exchange. Why?

Yes, I want the file and free and clear of DRM. But I also want to be able to keep a copy in the cloud for access by multiple devices.

[kennyc]

What happened to Stony (who started this thread)? Lose his job in this horrible economy?

[Crowl]

Beyond the comfort issue of eink vs LCD, the other major benefit of the current ereaders is the battery life, you hardly have to pay attention to charging the device and the lower battery needs also result in a lighter device which again increases the comfort factor for reading.

The current ereaders may only be transitional devices, but the same is true of current tablets, things will move on from now as they always do.

[Man Eating Duck]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Beyond the comfort issue of eink vs LCD, the other major benefit of the current ereaders is the battery life, you hardly have to pay attention to charging the device and the lower battery needs also result in a lighter device which again increases the comfort factor for reading.

The current ereaders may only be transitional devices, but the same is true of current tablets, things will move on from now as they always do.

Yes, but I sincerely hope that the E-Ink pure (literature) reading device will remain in some form. I also have a tablet, it's nice for its uses. I quite literally never leave home without my reader, however

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

Isn't all technology transitional, from one thing to something better?

Yes to the first part, but I wouldn't pre-judge the second.