Kindle Owners - Did you own a Sony Reader?

[RSaunders]

When I look at the Kindle, I'm taken by the choices made by Amazon. I've had a Sony Reader for a year, and none of the choices strike me as important. The PR, even Newsweek, and the business advantages all go to Kindle. Nobody who has used Sony CONNECT hasn't wished it was integrated with Amazon.com. My question is about the technical features, and I guess you really need to know the Sony Reader to answer them.

1) Do you like daily charging better than computer docking? The Kindle has a radio that allows it to be updated by Amazon, but it gives you daily charging instead of the monthly charging of the Sony Reader. I charge my Sony by plugging it into my computer's USB port. So, if it has to be plugged in every day, why spend $$ on a radio?

2) How often do you buy books? I buy 3-4 books at a time, a behavior I have had in pbook stores, on Amazon, and now with my Reader. It takes me hours to read a book, that's why they are a good entertainment value. I'm about 100 books behind, so I don't mind 2 day pbook delay from Amazon.com. Do you buy books every day?

3) Is the EVDO Internet the killer app? My kid has an iPhone, so he has Internet at the same speed. He has full web features, and color, and it was really cool for a couple of weeks. Now, he never uses it. Sure, wikipedia is a cool thing to have. But I have a laptop with WiFi right on my desk, when I'm reading I can go for ages without using it.

4) Are you going to buy a lot of Amazon books, now that you know that there are lots of places to get DRM-free books? I buy books from Sony, well, almost never, because I can get books in other formats with much more diversity. I'll spend 5 minutes on my computer to convert a book to Sony format, sometimes to save $5, other times to get a book Sony isn't listing. I read hundreds of pages every week (mostly SF) and I never seem to need Sony titles.

I really want Kindle to succeed. I'd like to see Amazon take over and sell books to all the eBook readers. Surely, beating Sony's store could be done with one hand behind their back. I just can't seem to breakout of the notion that Amazon sees this as a hardware play, being in the gadget business. If they were trying to be in the book business, priceless.

[vivaldirules]

I find your comments interesting and I'd probably agree with them myself except for the last one. Yes, there's lots of DRM-free content available elsewhere - even free content. But not nearly as much as Amazon has available now. If I had a Kindle there are plenty of ebooks that they offer now that I'd be buying from them. I can only hope that Sony catches up and offers these (and a lot more) soon. The rate that Sony is increasing their offerings is pretty tiny at the moment.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

The rate that Sony is increasing their offerings is pretty tiny at the moment.

It will hopefully change as their Borders deal takes full effect.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by RSaunders

When I look at the Kindle, I'm taken by the choices made by Amazon. I've had a Sony Reader for a year, and none of the choices strike me as important. The PR, even Newsweek, and the business advantages all go to Kindle. Nobody who has used Sony CONNECT hasn't wished it was integrated with Amazon.com. My question is about the technical features, and I guess you really need to know the Sony Reader to answer them.

1) Do you like daily charging better than computer docking? The Kindle has a radio that allows it to be updated by Amazon, but it gives you daily charging instead of the monthly charging of the Sony Reader. I charge my Sony by plugging it into my computer's USB port. So, if it has to be plugged in every day, why spend $$ on a radio?

I think it's too early to ask this question. I have only had my Kindle 6 days. I don't feel I can answer this question until I've had it at least 3 weeks to a month.

But I can say that I don't have to charge my Kindle every night. I keep the EVDO switched off when I don't need it. My current estimate is that it will be a twice weekly charge.

2) How often do you buy books? I buy 3-4 books at a time, a behavior I have had in pbook stores, on Amazon, and now with my Reader. It takes me hours to read a book, that's why they are a good entertainment value. I'm about 100 books behind, so I don't mind 2 day pbook delay from Amazon.com. Do you buy books every day?

I don't think I will change my book buying habits much. I bought most ebooks for my Sony in LIT format, and then converted them. I haven't purchased any since I got the Kindle but I do not see a reason to change. It takes about 2 minutes to change a DRMed LIT to a non DRM PRC that I can read on the Kindle. It may cost me more money than AZW, but I think of it as a premium for not being locked in to one format.

3) Is the EVDO Internet the killer app? My kid has an iPhone, so he has Internet at the same speed. He has full web features, and color, and it was really cool for a couple of weeks. Now, he never uses it. Sure, wikipedia is a cool thing to have. But I have a laptop with WiFi right on my desk, when I'm reading I can go for ages without using it.

The EVDO is nice, and will get even better when Munsey's gets their site up and running.

I think the killer app is the search function, not EVDO. I have all my sf ebooks on the Kindle. If I feel the urge to reread a certain author, I search for the name and all of that author's books and stories from inside various magazines will be listed.

4) Are you going to buy a lot of Amazon books, now that you know that there are lots of places to get DRM-free books? I buy books from Sony, well, almost never, because I can get books in other formats with much more diversity. I'll spend 5 minutes on my computer to convert a book to Sony format, sometimes to save $5, other times to get a book Sony isn't listing. I read hundreds of pages every week (mostly SF) and I never seem to need Sony titles.

I might buy a magazine subscription, but don't think I will get many novels.

[jocheguevara]

Its a great System

Florentino Guevara

http://www.wantaebook.com/

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jocheguevara

Its a great System

Florentino Guevara

http://www.wantaebook.com/

Which is a great system, the 505 or the Kindle?

[gregr209]

I bought a Sony Reader 505 last week before the Kindle was released. I ordered the Kindle on the release day and am returning the Sony Reader tomorrow. I do like the Sony but the Kindle is more feature rich and the books on Amazon are cheaper. I wish Sony wouldn't have 'stuck' it to us, regarding book prices, before the Kindle came out cause I see now they have started lower the prices on their own store.

Don't get me wrong the Sony Reader 505 is a great product but the Kindle has just way to many plus for me to pass by.

Greg

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by gregr209

I bought a Sony Reader 505 last week before the Kindle was released. I ordered the Kindle on the release day and am returning the Sony Reader tomorrow. I do like the Sony but the Kindle is more feature rich and the books on Amazon are cheaper. I wish Sony wouldn't have 'stuck' it to us, regarding book prices, before the Kindle came out cause I see now they have started lower the prices on their own store.

Don't get me wrong the Sony Reader 505 is a great product but the Kindle has just way to many plus for me to pass by.

Greg

Sony did not stick it to anyone regarding prices. If you had looked before the Kindle came out, you would have seen that Sony's book prices were competitive with others. And according to most of the ebook sites, prices are set by the publisher. Either Amazon managed to get the publishers to drop prices or they are losing money.

[tklaus]

Originally Posted by RSaunders

1) Do you like daily charging better than computer docking? The Kindle has a radio that allows it to be updated by Amazon, but it gives you daily charging instead of the monthly charging of the Sony Reader. I charge my Sony by plugging it into my computer's USB port. So, if it has to be plugged in every day, why spend $$ on a radio?

I don't think the radio necessarily means daily charging. If you don't need/use the wireless features on a regular basis, just turn off the wireless. Even if you have subscriptions, you can just turn it on once a day, select 'check for new items' from the menu, wait for them to download (should be quick), then turn it off.

[gregr209]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Sony did not stick it to anyone regarding prices. If you had looked before the Kindle came out, you would have seen that Sony's book prices were competitive with others. And according to most of the ebook sites, prices are set by the publisher. Either Amazon managed to get the publishers to drop prices or they are losing money.

But if Sony was serious about selling the Reader they would have sold the books for less in the beginning. They are/were trying to get as much as they could. I do believe that Amazon is taking a huge hit by selling the books cheaper because everything I have read the publishers are not happy about the lower prices and so I think Amazon told them well we are going to sell them for "X price" anyway.

The price for Ebooks HAS always been WAY TO MUCH and has been over priced for years. I don't know who they think they are fooling but there has been no reason for the high prices of ebooks. NONE. Unless I'm missing something. Am I?

Just my 2 cents.

Greg

[drgnbear]

I wish I had waited to get my 505 it's been too long to return it and I did the free personalization thing. I have my old 500 too... I think I'll sell the 500 on ebay and keep the 505 for reading my stuff that I bought from sony. Frankly I love the Kindle and hope it starts a reader war, my bank account can't handle it but the market sure can.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by gregr209

But if Sony was serious about selling the Reader they would have sold the books for less in the beginning. They are/were trying to get as much as they could. I do believe that Amazon is taking a huge hit by selling the books cheaper because everything I have read the publishers are not happy about the lower prices and so I think Amazon told them well we are going to sell them for "X price" anyway.

The price for Ebooks HAS always been WAY TO MUCH and has been over priced for years. I don't know who they think they are fooling but there has been no reason for the high prices of ebooks. NONE. Unless I'm missing something. Am I?

Just my 2 cents.

Greg

Yes you are missing the fact that the price is set by the publisher and not by Sony. Amazon seems to be able to influence (coerce) the publisher to adjust the prices and we all benefit. I also believe that Amazon is losing money on some of the best sellers and this is one reason that don't want to sell them to someone that they didn't make the money on the hardware. This will change over time as market demand drives the prices down.

We are already seeing the benefit on the Sony books from the Amazon release as well as fictionwise books and others. As the publishers change the prices everyone benefits.

Dale

[runciter]

Originally Posted by gregr209

The price for Ebooks HAS always been WAY TO MUCH and has been over priced for years. I don't know who they think they are fooling but there has been no reason for the high prices of ebooks. NONE. Unless I'm missing something. Am I?

I agree. The price of ebooks is outrageous. They seem to be stuck in the same mentality of the music, movie and tv industry WRT digital media. According to "several publishing executives" the wholesale price of a $20 ebook is $10 so obviously Amazon is not making any money on the sale of ebooks, but they hope "to make money on older titles that have better profit margins."

The availability, pricing, increased selection, and my faith in Amazon have pushed me into buying a Kindle instead of the Sony Reader. I love the Reader, but Sony's Connect bookstore is rubbish. Going to connect.com redirects you to the music store with no link to the bookstore. Seems they don't have their heart into the ebook business which is a shame since the Reader is a fine piece of hardware.

Source for Amazon info:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/bu...ref=technology

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by runciter

I agree. The price of ebooks is outrageous. They seem to be stuck in the same mentality of the music, movie and tv industry WRT digital media. According to "several publishing executives" the wholesale price of a $20 ebook is $10 so obviously Amazon is not making any money on the sale of ebooks, but they hope "to make money on older titles that have better profit margins."

If the wholesale price of a book is $10, what would you consider a reasonable retail price to be, given the fact that it costs money to run the web site and distribution system, plus the fact that they have to make a reasonable profit in order to stay in business?

[rflashman]

Originally Posted by RSaunders

1) Do you like daily charging better than computer docking? The Kindle has a radio that allows it to be updated by Amazon, but it gives you daily charging instead of the monthly charging of the Sony Reader. I charge my Sony by plugging it into my computer's USB port. So, if it has to be plugged in every day, why spend $$ on a radio?

My Sony reader never lasted a month. I charged it daily, but when I didn't it lasted about 5-6 days. So far my Kindle seems to be lasting 2-3 days. So the difference is not as big as you imply. I'm sure I can push my Kindle further if I don't use the radio/wireless feature.

Originally Posted by RSaunders

2) How often do you buy books? I buy 3-4 books at a time, a behavior I have had in pbook stores, on Amazon, and now with my Reader. It takes me hours to read a book, that's why they are a good entertainment value. I'm about 100 books behind, so I don't mind 2 day pbook delay from Amazon.com. Do you buy books every day?

Nope, but I do let my Kindle download two newspapers a day, which it does automatically before I wake up.

Originally Posted by RSaunders

3) Is the EVDO Internet the killer app? My kid has an iPhone, so he has Internet at the same speed. He has full web features, and color, and it was really cool for a couple of weeks. Now, he never uses it. Sure, wikipedia is a cool thing to have. But I have a laptop with WiFi right on my desk, when I'm reading I can go for ages without using it.

I don't think EVDO matters. But I do think that eventually high-speed wireless web access anywhere is a killer app, but the exact perfect device has not appeared yet.

Originally Posted by RSaunders

4) Are you going to buy a lot of Amazon books, now that you know that there are lots of places to get DRM-free books? I buy books from Sony, well, almost never, because I can get books in other formats with much more diversity. I'll spend 5 minutes on my computer to convert a book to Sony format, sometimes to save $5, other times to get a book Sony isn't listing. I read hundreds of pages every week (mostly SF) and I never seem to need Sony titles.

I found a lot of that to be too much personal hassle and most books I read are only available with DRM anyways. For me, it's about the available easy-to-get content.

Originally Posted by RSaunders

I really want Kindle to succeed. I'd like to see Amazon take over and sell books to all the eBook readers. Surely, beating Sony's store could be done with one hand behind their back. I just can't seem to breakout of the notion that Amazon sees this as a hardware play, being in the gadget business. If they were trying to be in the book business, priceless.

I don't see this at all as a "hardware play". I think the key elements that make the Kindle unique: Amazon Catalog & Wireless Delivery are hardware less features. I expect Amazon to release more models. But does it seem that alien that eventually Amazon could merge or buy the Sony store? Amazon makes their money through content. Considering the amount of wireless data they are subsidizing for each hardware sale, I am not sure they are making any serious money with hardware sales alone.