Potentially very disappointed

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Lets say you are looking for an ebook reader in the USA.

This is the crux of the matter. IF you are looking for an e-book reader, maybe the Kindle is a good deal, though I think that Sony is a much better deal right now if you want to go e-ink, and lcd's options are even better if you are not set on e-ink.

But Kindle was supposed to be the modern reincarnation of the book, so you were supposed to buy it without looking for an e-book reader.

Without major changes, I doubt the Kindle will outsell Sony. Right now Amazon fumbled it big time in my opinion, though with some tweaks they can get on the right path. The questions to me are how committed they are, what are acceptble sells, 15k a year, 50k a year, 500k a year - in the most optimistic case I thought 500k a year is a ceiling considering that up to date about 100 k dedicated e-book readers had been sold in the US ever, but now I think that if they sell 100k a year they will be lucky

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That would be a ridiculous thing to do. Right now, any book sold through Mobi is an additional sale, since it's to a non-Kindle device. Why would they want to stop that?

I think it all depends on how the contracts with the publishers are structured. Though Amazon owns Mobipocket, I have to assume that the .azw editions are contracted directly between Amazon and the publishers, not between Mobipocket and the publishers with Amazon acting as a Mobipocket dealer.

In the former case, Amazon can do whatever it wants with the .azw editions as long as it keeps them Kindle-specific, because there's no market crossover between Mobipocket and Kindle that way. The Mobipocket dealers, like Fictionwise, can't complain because the Kindle doesn't compete directly. However, that also means that there's no guarantee Mobipocket (or its dealers) will ever get a broader catalog or better pricing as a result of Amazon's direct deals.

I have to agree with Derek. If the Kindle is successful, I think Amazon will likely shut Mobipocket down. As long as they own Mobipocket, I don't see any viable way they can expand beyond the Kindle-specific market. If the Kindle is successful enough that they don't need to expand beyond it, then they have no reason to keep Mobipocket running. And unless they change the Kindle's format and DRM scheme, they're not likely to sell MP off intact.

Of course, if I'm wrong, it wouldn't be anywhere near the first time.

[tsgreer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Lets say you are looking for an ebook reader in the USA. You have the 505 and the Kindle. Now, you go an look at the prices for both devices. $100 difference. Just purchase 10 bestsellers using the Kindle and the price has just become cheaper then the 505 based on the amount you've just saved. Buy even more and the saving make the Kindle cost even less. Face it, Amazon is going to win if you look at it from an economic standpoint.

That's a good way to put it. I also see it as a sort of "America Online" thing going on. All the techies hated AOL because it was basically holding the hands of the newbies and making it so easy for them to get online. And guess what? It kicked butt, became the number one place for most people in the US and it's how most of them got online.

Of course, then came high-speed internet and AOL pretty much died a painful death. But for a while, they made things easy and that is what average joe user wanted. It's the techie people who cried. Then when most internet providers made it easy, the newbies came aboard.

My point is, good or bad, making it easy for consumers is what will make the Kindle a winner. For a while anyway. Average Joe User doesn't know what DRM means, doesn't know formats, doesn't know or want to know how to convert. They just want to buy a book, now and easy.

I like my Sony Reader as well, but I have a few Mac non-tech friends and they were scared of the steps I had to go thru to get a book on here. I didn't think it was hard, but they sure did...

[IreneDelse]

If you are in the USA and looking for an e-ink ebook reader, there's also the iRex's iLiad, available through eRedear Outfitters. Of course, at 699 USD, it's a lot more expensive than Amazon's Kindle, but the reading surface is larger, with a touch-screen, note-taking capacity, Wifi connection for downloading directly your ebooks & newspapers, plus self-publishing capacity through the MyiRex communities...

If you think about it, the Kindle is a kind of iLiad clone with uglier design and DRM-locked platform. Oh, and only available for the USA, not the whole world as iLiad. But, but, it's cheaper...

If Sony is going to have a hard time competing with Amazon, the same is true of iRex...

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by IreneDelse

If you think about it, the Kindle is a kind of iLiad clone with uglier design and DRM-locked platform. Oh, and only available for the USA, not the whole world as iLiad. But, but, it's cheaper...

If Sony is going to have a hard time competing with Amazon, the same is true of iRex...

The iLiad is just as DRM-locked as the Kindle is and so is the Sony.

Dale

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

The iLiad is just as DRM-locked as the Kindle is and so is the Sony.

Dale

Very true. There is no way to read best sellers without purchasing them with DRM. While some of us know how to strip the DRM, most people have no idea. And as long as they can read the book on their device, they won't care. Most people read a book once and that's it. Soit won't matter if say 2 years later they can no longer read it.

[IreneDelse]

Well, the iLiad DRM-laden, yes, if you mean that if you want to buy a book or newspaper subscription directly from your iLiad, you have to go through the iRex online store, just like Amazon with the Kindle. But IIRC, the books you get that way are ordinary Mobipocket (DRM'd) files, so you can read them on other readers in addition to the iLiad. And the iLiad supports the common formats like PDF, txt, html. So it's a lot more open than the Kindle, all things considered.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by IreneDelse

Well, the iLiad DRM-laden, yes, if you mean that if you want to buy a book or newspaper subscription directly from your iLiad, you have to go through the iRex online store, just like Amazon with the Kindle. But IIRC, the books you get that way are ordinary Mobipocket (DRM'd) files, so you can read them on other readers in addition to the iLiad. And the iLiad supports the common formats like PDF, txt, html. So it's a lot more open than the Kindle, all things considered.

Kindle will also read mobipocket books, although not the DRM'd ones. You can use MobiPocket PC version to translate PDF, TXT (although Kindle will read that one I think) and HTML as well as CHM and several others.

Direct reading of PDF doesn't work well for 6" screens although it is quite usable on 8" screens in landscape mode. How many subscriptions can you get for iLiad?

It is useful to be able to read books on more than one device but I am not sure that obviates the DRM tag. YMMV

dale

[IreneDelse]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

It is useful to be able to read books on more than one device but I am not sure that obviates the DRM tag. YMMV

True. But the thing is, a few of my favorite authors ebooks can only be bought in DRM'd format. So I have a few DRM'd Mobipocket ebooks. If I were to switch to Kindle (even if it *was* available to me, which is another can of worms), I would suddenly lose them. At least, the Sony PRS, the iLiad and the Bookeen Cybook all read them.

(Though I think that next time, I'll avoid these DRM'd ebooks like the plague and stick with paper books, even if they are more expensive.)

[FixB]

Irene, I don't think my Sony Reader can use DRM'd mobipockets.. And that's beginning to be a problem as I also don't find all the books I would want in other formats

[kleykenb]

There's a bit of tampering going on with this Kindle advertisements ...

Ive seen a couple of pictures from it having a colour display and that's just not right.

Right ?

[HarryT]

Right.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by FixB

Irene, I don't think my Sony Reader can use DRM'd mobipockets.. And that's beginning to be a problem as I also don't find all the books I would want in other formats

There is not a single vendor, so far, other than PDA's that support more than one DRM system on their device.

Dale

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

There is not a single vendor, so far, other than PDA's that support more than one DRM system on their device.

Dale

And that exclusivity is more than likely a condition of their contract with the provider of the DRM that they do support.

PCs, of course, are another exception, but who wants to read for pleasure on a PC?

[FixB]

Don't launch the same discussion again : you already have a poll for this question Harry