Quote:
Originally Posted by Monteagle
Beware, Oprah. The corporate PR machine of Amazon is not giving you the full scoop. Are you in the role of journalist, talk show host, or spokesmodel for Amazon on this one?
Ebooks are a good thing, but building a complete reliance on Amazon can be a dangerous thing. Sony's new reader (700) has features that make it superior to the Kindle - including quality and reliability. It's great that awareness is up for eBooks through Oprah's interest. It's ugly that Amazon is the only means since Amazon has not hesitated to give the industry a black eye in the past when it shut down hundreds of thousands of customers' ebookshelves for reasons of profitability, hardly a customer friendly move. If Oprah were truly concerned about the regular people that watch her show, she could have done a little homework on this one and told viewers about other devices, far less expensive options, and other more customer-oriented ebookstores. Oprah has the power to drive this kind of education and awareness to protect consumers.
Check out this mobileread thread , which describes a problem happening right now, sourced at Amazon's servers. (Amazon owns Mobipocket.com, which provides the software used for Kindle.) The repercussions are this: those who want to download their Mobipocket PX eBooks (the Amazon-sourced version) this weekend are unable to do so. (The "OD"-sourced Mobipocket ebooks sourced by Overdrive are still working fine - as always.) Amazon's server is down again - without notice. This has happened before on a short-term basis, and for nearly a month last September. And when this happens, because of the insidious way Mobipocket/Amazon's code works with ebook retailers, they cripple the websites of Kindle's competitors. Fictionwise is having huge problems this weekend as are others. BooksOnBoard.com, which apparently shut off the Amazon links as soon as the problem was discovered, may be the only major ebook shop offering Mobipocket that's still running without problems at this writing.
eBooks are good and the Kindle can be good - except that the Kindle, unlike the Cybook eBook reader and the Sony Reader which use open and customer-friendly standards, is Amazon proprietary leaving the customer entirely at the mercy of Amazon for ebooks from the major publishers.
New eBook customers should consider the Sony Reader and the Cybook - both with slightly different features than the Kindle, both with open standards to give customers improved flexibility and sourcing options. Customers might also consider reading on their PDAs, including the Palm Treo, iPhone and the new Blackberry Storm. Mobipocket is a good format, but the OD-sourced version of it (which can work on Kindles, too) does not rely on Amazon's up again-down again servers. (Microsoft Reader - with significant updates two months ago - is a great alternative for Windows Mobile devices.)
If customers don't rely solely on Amazon, they can also shop customer-oriented independent bookshops like BooksOnBoard with both ebooks and audio books and Fictionwise with an extensive multi-format selection. BooksOnBoard, currently, is the only one carrying the OD sourced Mobipocket titles - they remain available when Amazon goes down as it has this weekend. OD is Overdrive, the same outfit that provides most of the ebooks and audio books for libraries in the US. |
Interesting view, however, whole portions of it are wrong. Customers wishing books for their Kindles do not have to rely on Amazon. And, really, the conspiracy theory you propose is a little far fetched.
Oprah has Mr. Bezos as a guest on her show, and they are supposed to talk about all the alternatives to the Kindle?? I see .... so when she has Susan Sarandon on the show because SS has a new movie out, they are supposed to talk about all the OTHER movies that the audience should go see??
Not a position even worth arguing.