NY Times new article on ebooks / Amazon Kindle

[NatCh]

We've been wondering that for a year now, MaggieScratch. There's some who think that the chassis from the pix was simply a quick and dirty packaging to show the FCC, and that the final design will be vastly different from the "fugly one." (which still reminds me of the original Battlestar Galactica )

[James Scherber]

I am excited about the Kindle. I would love to have the New York Times automatically downloaded daily onto my Kindle along with my Tech Magazines monthly. How about a digital copy of the New York times that automatically updates itself as news stories develop and only contains the sections I'm interested in? Novels and manuals are great, but this type of device could do so much more.

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by James Scherber

I am excited about the Kindle. I would love to have the New York Times automatically downloaded daily onto my Kindle along with my Tech Magazines monthly. How about a digital copy of the New York times that automatically updates itself as news stories develop and only contains the sections I'm interested in? Novels and manuals are great, but this type of device could do so much more.

Well, this is content you're talking about, not a device. You could do exactly the same things on the iLiad, or on the Sony/Cybook (though you would have to update through USB for these 2).
I read TechCrunch, Slashdot, Tech Dirt and BBC News on my Sony Reader every morning...

[James Scherber]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Well, this is content you're talking about, not a device. You could do exactly the same things on the iLiad, or on the Sony/Cybook (though you would have to update through USB for these 2).
I read TechCrunch, Slashdot, Tech Dirt and BBC News on my Sony Reader every morning...

Having to sync to my PC every time I want an update on a news story or to visit a website would be a deal killer for me. Much rather have it pushed right to the unit. It is what is so tremendous about the new iPod touch, content downloads directly to the unit. I do pretty much the same thing with audio books (audible.com) directly to my Blackberry. I listen to the Times every morning, no syncing involved. Pretty neat. I am concerned however what the subscription for the Kindle is going to cost me.

I'm curious what a hyperlinked newspaper would be like. Read a news story about the Taliban in Afganistan. Select the word Taliban and read the Wikipedia entry on them or some such thing. How about novels. See an obscure entry in the text and select it to read background data on the subject.

I'm curious what people could do with this technology.

[James Scherber]

Originally Posted by NatCh

We've been wondering that for a year now, MaggieScratch. There's some who think that the chassis from the pix was simply a quick and dirty packaging to show the FCC, and that the final design will be vastly different from the "fugly one." (which still reminds me of the original Battlestar Galactica )

I think the final design is going to be pretty close I'm afraid. The Times article specifically mentions the scroll wheel on the right side of the display and also the right hand indicator.

[NatCh]

I think it was the shape of the chassis that most folks found ... objectionable, rather than the specific controls.

[CommanderROR]

I'm pretty sure they won't be selling it with that design...

The whole Amazon Kindle deal would excite me a great deal more if it didn't look like a US exclusive deal once more. The sony Reader has still not made it's way over here, so I guess the Kindle would take just as long...forever...
Wireless book transfer is a nice thing, but as long as the wireless data costs are so high and WiFi hotsports are not at all free and far apart here in Germany, I guess it's a no-deal at the moment.
It's something i've been raving against for years now...we have a alomost 100% coverage of mobile networks, at least GPRS is available everywhere, but for the trickle of bandwidth it offers it's just too darn expensive. Also, the kindle would need a SIM card to work, and that would meanyou either need a new mobile contract or a Kindle specific subscription...and then it depends on who they partner with...
I'd love to see something like the "Fon" project get going, where everybody just offers part of his/her WiFi and landline interent connection bandwith to the general public...that would ensure almost 100% coverage in cities, and for the outlying areas you could always go with long-range WiFi or WiMax connections to bridge the gap...and make those part of every landline DSL flatrate...but that's just my dream.

In that case a system like the Kindle or the Iliad with their wireless connection would make sense. Otherwise, just making a cheap and easy book-reader that you fill up with books at home would be perfect...

Oh wait...there is still the price issue...and the availability issue...
IF Amazon could really put some pressure on the publishers to sell the DRM (mobipocket) ebooks for significantly less than the paperback version right from the first appearance of the hardcover, then ebooks would perhaps finally start finding some real demand...

Well, I guess we won't see my dreams come true this time, but it might be a small step in the right direction anyway...we'll see...Oktober is close...if they make it to market by then...
Would it be the first time on of these eink devices is NOT delayed?

[TadW]

What the BusinessWeek thinks about it (another look in the future - article is dated September 17):

The Kindle launch could spark increased sales of e-book content, especially since users of the device will be able to shop for books and download them over its high-speed wireless connection, according to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. Even though titles from Amazon's Mobipocket aren't well represented on Amazon's site, it has the largest selection of any e-book seller: 40,000 titles, compared with 18,000 at Sony Corp.'s (SNE ) online bookstore, Connect.

Amazon wouldn't confirm any plans for an e-book reader. "We do not comment on rumors or speculation," says Andrew Herdener, an Amazon spokesman. Some industry observers think Amazon will hold the price below that of the $299 Reader from Sony Electronics.

Amazon isn't shy about jumping into speculative ventures. It spent $201 million in the last quarter on a range of new technologies and announced an online payment service to compete with eBay's PayPal. Digital media delivery is another area that will require sustained investment to bear fruit.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by James Scherber

Having to sync to my PC every time I want an update on a news story or to visit a website would be a deal killer for me. Much rather have it pushed right to the unit. It is what is so tremendous about the new iPod touch, content downloads directly to the unit. I do pretty much the same thing with audio books (audible.com) directly to my Blackberry. I listen to the Times every morning, no syncing involved. Pretty neat. I am concerned however what the subscription for the Kindle is going to cost me.

I'm curious what a hyperlinked newspaper would be like. Read a news story about the Taliban in Afganistan. Select the word Taliban and read the Wikipedia entry on them or some such thing. How about novels. See an obscure entry in the text and select it to read background data on the subject.

I'm curious what people could do with this technology.

Buy an iLiad and find out . You can do all these things on that.

[Lemurion]

I like the possibility that it may use mobipocket as that's a pretty decent format. Unfortunately the device itself looks overpriced and incredibly ugly. Having said that, I'm going to wait and see what happens with it in future. If they ever could get it down to $50 I'd be very interested despite the looks (though I'd want to be able to read my existing purchases on it).

[Azayzel]

I'm quite content with the Sony Reader as it stands today, minus PDF support. Do we really need an eReader that forces DRM onto you; i.e., wireless that connects directly to Amazon and d/l's books w/o a PC? That's really all it amounts to, they're just trying to sucker people into the new platform w/ the promise of adding more features than what's currently available. Also, if the Kindle looks anything like the early prototypes we saw pics of before, it will be hard enough to give away, let alone sell for the price of an iTouch.

On the other hand, if the Kindle supports native PDF's with a screen larger than the Reader and adds color support, I'll be all for checking it out once a deal pops up where I can get one for a sub-$150 price (Hey, I picked up my first Reader for $150 + $50 in free books and my second was ~$3 + $50 in free books; so I think I can nitpick the price :P ). Now, I'm off to research the Kindle a bit more and see if I can find updated pics!

[andym]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Well, this is content you're talking about, not a device. You could do exactly the same things on the iLiad, or on the Sony/Cybook (though you would have to update through USB for these 2).
I read TechCrunch, Slashdot, Tech Dirt and BBC News on my Sony Reader every morning...

Hadrien -I'm curious about how you do that. When I tried downloading the BBC feed via FeedBooks I got the BBC's RSS feed but the feed only consists of a 'teaser' ie the first couple of sentences of the story. To read the whole story you have to go to their site. Have you fiound a way to do that so the whole story can be read offline?

[nickbogaty]

Hello all,

I received a number of calls and emails yesterday in regard to the New York Times article on eBooks specific to Amazon's plans to implement open standards in the Kindle. People seemed to be alarmed by the below paragraph in the piece which reads:

"Some also complain about the fact that Amazon is using a proprietary e-book format from Mobipocket, a French company that Amazon bought in 2005, instead of supporting the open e-book standard backed by most major publishers and high-tech companies like Adobe. That means owners of other digital book devices, like the Sony Reader, will not be able to use books purchased on Amazon.com."

Amazon has been very (and maybe smartly) tight-lipped on their release plans for the Kindle and I don't have any special knowledge about development and version plans. However, in the development of OCF and OPS, the two specifications that make up the .epub standard, both Mobipocket and Amazon have expressed to me, the IDPF working groups responsible for the specs and other IDPF members as to their intention to implement .epub. I have every indication that they're going to do this. A clear sign of this is found in Mobipocket Reader 6.0 where there is an option to import OCF files which is the container part of .epub. This takes the OCF file, unzips it, and then converts to .mobi; completely automated. Reader 6.0 was released before OPS 2.0 (the markup part of .epub whose final member vote ends Monday), so I can only assume that their OPS implementation will come in the next version of their Reader software.

Again, I have no inside knowledge of Amazon's development plans, but it seems to me that Times quote might have been based on incorrect information.

Hope this helps,
Nick

--
Nick Bogaty
Executive Director
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by andym

Hadrien -I'm curious about how you do that. When I tried downloading the BBC feed via FeedBooks I got the BBC's RSS feed but the feed only consists of a 'teaser' ie the first couple of sentences of the story. To read the whole story you have to go to their site. Have you fiound a way to do that so the whole story can be read offline?

Oh their official feed is just one of those lame partial content feeds. But some people extract the full articles and repost these feeds as full content feeds. You could also DIY with tools such as Dapper.

In this newspaper for example, there's the full content of the BBC Tech articles: http://www.feedbooks.com/news/newspaper/1

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by nickbogaty

Hello all,

I received a number of calls and emails yesterday in regard to the New York Times article on eBooks specific to Amazon's plans to implement open standards in the Kindle. People seemed to be alarmed by the below paragraph in the piece which reads:

"Some also complain about the fact that Amazon is using a proprietary e-book format from Mobipocket, a French company that Amazon bought in 2005, instead of supporting the open e-book standard backed by most major publishers and high-tech companies like Adobe. That means owners of other digital book devices, like the Sony Reader, will not be able to use books purchased on Amazon.com."

Amazon has been very (and maybe smartly) tight-lipped on their release plans for the Kindle and I don't have any special knowledge about development and version plans. However, in the development of OCF and OPS, the two specifications that make up the .epub standard, both Mobipocket and Amazon have expressed to me, the IDPF working groups responsible for the specs and other IDPF members as to their intention to implement .epub. I have every indication that they're going to do this. A clear sign of this is found in Mobipocket Reader 6.0 where there is an option to import OCF files which is the container part of .epub. This takes the OCF file, unzips it, and then converts to .mobi; completely automated. Reader 6.0 was released before OPS 2.0 (the markup part of .epub whose final member vote ends Monday), so I can only assume that their OPS implementation will come in the next version of their Reader software.

Again, I have no inside knowledge of Amazon's development plans, but it seems to me that Times quote might have been based on incorrect information.

Hope this helps,
Nick

--
Nick Bogaty
Executive Director
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)

This is fantastic news Nick, thank you for this information. So... We can expect Epub on the Sony Reader, on the iLiad using FBReader and on the Kindle too ? Great news for this format.

I'm glad we're working hard right now on Feedbooks and will support Epub as an output this month ;-)