New Kindle with WiFi announced

[Josieb1]

The problem isn't so much the format (ePub is a great format, I love it). The problem for ePub and the book stores that back it, is that Amazon are offering, and continue to offer the least complicated reading experience around their own proprietary format. This year is the tipping point, and it'll tip in Europe with a price as low as £109 and with the Amazon brand behind that price, you'll get a lot of non-technical adopters who'll buy this come Christmas

Your probably right, and using Calibre I can convert all my epubs into mobi format but for me (thinking christmas here) that £109 is probably better put towards an Ipad, and that's what its going to come down to Apple or Amazon, at least with an Ipad I get colour, plus proper internet access using Safari or Google, plus all the other apps I want, and with ibooks I can add in my epubs. I just find it strange that Apple chose epub and Amazon can ignore it.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by jswinden

... If Amazon eventually wins the day and most publishers choose AZW/MOBI over ePub will I be upset. No! ...

Even if it means those publishers books will only be available to you from a single vendor?

Graham

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by volwrath

Except for that fact that overdrive's website is abysmal. It is near impossible to locate anything worth reading on there.

But you don't go to Overdrive's site to borrow eBooks. You go to your library's overdrive site to browse/borrow eBooks. But I do have to say that Overdrive's update of their site is not good.

Personally I am dumping Sony for K3 for whispersync. It was always such a pain to figure out where I was in my sony reader after I had been reading it using fbreader on my pc or stanza on my ipod touch. Whispersync is awesome. Personally I thought Sony would have some apps out by now for popular devices, but I guess the real battle will be between B&N and Amazon now. Does the nook and kobo readers have whispersync type technology?

I'm not doing anything until I see what the others bring out later this year. I might go for a new reader or I may not. I have no idea.

[Josieb1]

Just one question about the one feature that has got me interested in a kindle, the book speaking function. Is it on the existing Kindle, and if so can you chose a voice type, ie. male/female, and does it sound okay? I am a big audiobook fan, I have about 200, so the option of having all my books read to me is very very tempting.

[OrcaBlue]

I find libraries are good resources. You can find almost any books that available at book stores there. If you can't find one from one library, they can request it from the network of libraries and have it ship and ready for you the next time you come in. From best seller list to business books, I can check all of them out for FREE. Amazon do not have some of reference materials that available at most metropolitan public libraries today.

By not supporting epub, Amazon will not reach a large chunk of the reader communities.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Your probably right, and using Calibre I can convert all my epubs into mobi format but for me (thinking christmas here) that £109 is probably better put towards an Ipad, and that's what its going to come down to Apple or Amazon, at least with an Ipad I get colour, plus proper internet access using Safari or Google, plus all the other apps I want, and with ibooks I can add in my epubs. I just find it strange that Apple chose epub and Amazon can ignore it.

Why not the best of both worlds (and what most people do after they use the abysmal iBooks), and put the Amazon Kindle App on the iPad?

[mikij]

Nice features, but do we really need Wi-Fi? - NO!
WE NEED ePub - and it's still missing! No way to buy this limited device.

[TallMomof2]

Unless you have an excellent library, out of the box library support is a minor issue. My local library is mediocre, I rarely find anything to read. I was able to get a library card from the next county and it is a little bit better but there are only a handful of books I want to check out.

IMO, if Amazon switched to ADEPT ePub tomorrow and kept all the Whispernet features it would crush the competition. Then Amazon would probably have to deal with anti-trust issues such as Microsoft dealt with several years ago.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by rahulm

hi guys

I'm in Canada and I just want to confirm:

The Kindle will not give me access to free 3G internet, right?
Montreal is in the 3g coverage zone but I'm assuming it's only for the Kindle store access.

No.
Kindle 3G Browser support *is* enabled, repeat enabled, in Canada.
A whole bunch of other countries, too.
See here for a disccusion and listing:
http://kindleworld.blogspot.com/2010...r-expands.html

Hope you find this amongst the epub uber alles debate.

[AnemicOak]

Library books are all well and good, but at this point most have quite limited selections and they can't even get all the major pubs on board at this point. While it's a nice feature (I've used the library for almost 50 books so far) I'm not sure it's that big of an issue for the majority and for the most part folks on Mobile Read are not the majority, they're mainly early adopters who understand formats and DRM and the like.

I'd guess most folks don't want to be bothered with such things (DRM, formats). They want a device the "just works" and to be able to find the books they're looking for when they go shopping and easily purchase them, Amazon does that better than anyone at this point.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Just one question about the one feature that has got me interested in a kindle, the book speaking function. Is it on the existing Kindle, and if so can you chose a voice type, ie. male/female, and does it sound okay? I am a big audiobook fan, I have about 200, so the option of having all my books read to me is very very tempting.

You can choose male or female voice. There are no pauses where there should be, and the voice is robot-like. If you like audiobooks, don't expect this feature to come anywhere near that quality.

Originally Posted by Graham

Even if it means those publishers books will only be available to you from a single vendor?

Graham

Are Bluray DVDs only available through Sony? I don't think so. Sony owns the format. If AZW/MOBI become the universal format that does not necessarily mean you will only get them through Amazon. Of course Amazon will have to license the format, and they might choose not to. But a clear winner is better to me than every company using their own formats making it frustating for non-techies to find the books they want that will work on their reader. Its not a problem for those of use who can convert.

[fumanchu314159]

Originally Posted by OrcaBlue

By not supporting epub, Amazon will not reach a large chunk of the reader communities.

Since Bezos has gone on the record saying Kindle books sales will surpass paperbacks within a year, I don't think he's too worried about this....

[Josieb1]

You can choose male or female voice. There are no pauses where there should be, and the voice is robot-like. If you like audiobooks, don't expect this feature to come anywhere near that quality.

oh okay, thank you, looks like an ipad for me then, eventualy

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

why do you folks refuse to understand that you can get library books on your kindle?

Please provide a link or explanation. I've never borrowed an ebook from a library, but that would be a nice option to have. Thanks.