Amazon Kindle might be the worst thing that could happen to e-books?

[robhedin]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Well. Actually. You see... The Kindle does *NOT* support .mobi directly. Nope. Users are reporting that html, doc and prc/mobi files (except for .txt) are getting translated into .azw. Which has it's own proprietary DRM crud.

Derek

Well, according to page 76 of the Kindle user guide there's no need to convert unencumbered .MOBI or .PRC files, just copy them to the Kindle and away you go.

Below is directly from the manual (feel free to D/L it yourself to check):

"When Kindle is connected to your computer, you will see three directories or folders. The one called "documents" contains all of your digital reading materials like books, newspapers, your "My Clippings" file, etc. The "Audible" directory is for your audiobooks, and "music" is for your MP3 files. You can add Kindle compatible files to these directories, and you can copy, move, or delete the files that are already there. The computer file formats that you can read or listen to on your Kindle are listed below:
• Kindle (.AZW)
• Text (.TXT)
• Unprotected Mobipocket (.MOBI, .PRC)
• Audible (.AA)
• MP3 (.MP3)

Tip: Mobipocket files must have no Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection applied to be readable on your Kindle. If you purchased a Mobipocket file from a Mobipocket retailer, you will not be able to open the file on your Kindle."

[Zoot]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Well. Actually. You see... The Kindle does *NOT* support .mobi directly. Nope. Users are reporting that html, doc and prc/mobi files (except for .txt) are getting translated into .azw. Which has it's own proprietary DRM crud.

Well, those .azw files are probably vanilla unencumbered .mobi files. Somebody needs to take a converted file and try renaming it to .mobi and see if it's readable with Mobipocket or whatever. I bet it works fine.

Z.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by tirsales

Oh and btw: Zune has failed.

Yes, and so has:

Tablet PC
Playstation 3
Sony Reader
Vista
Blu-Ray DVD
HD DVD
Tivo
Satalite radio
HD Radio
etc...

Actually, none of the above have reached "The Tipping Point"... that doesn't mean they have failed.

BOb

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Jack B Nimble

Come on, guys. The real ebook equivalent of MP3 is HTML, which is why PG is using it. It is usable on nearly every computer and handheld available, though some do it really well with lots of features, and some are very basic (my mac ebook reader software (Tofu) even allows me to reformat and saves my place when I close it). The only devices you expect to read it and don't are the Sony ones, which force you to convert HTML files -- that sounds a lot like Sony's approach to MP3 on their early music players as I recall. It just extends the metaphor.

Jack

What is PG?

You all know what PCMCIA is right?

People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms!

BOb

[Alisa]

PG = Project Gutenberg = http://www.gutenberg.org/ = huge repository of public domain books for free! Yay Internets!

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JerryEF

She wanted to know if she could get many of the books on the Oprah list. She buys books now on Amazon with one-click and loves it. I showed her the new Kindle format on the book pages and how she would only have to OneClick on it and the book would magically appear on her ebook reader.

They could even extend this to Wish Lists. If I put Kindle books in my wish list and someone buys one, it auto-magically gets put into my Kindle library. I could get a notice that I got a gift... the gifter could send a little note to be attached to the notification.

Jeff Bezos... Wish List to Kindle Library is copyrighted by me... if you want to use it I would be happy to license the idea to you for a revenue share on Kindle Wish List purchases!!!

BOb

[Charbax]

Couldn't Amazon just add support for other ebook DRM formats and also add built-in support for PDF, DOC and other unprotected text formats?

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by tcv

Still, if you've an iPod, you've got to use iTunes. Sure, you can bring in other formats, but it's still an Apple world.

Actually, the iPod is open... you can use many formats on it and it will play them just fine, including the ubiqitious .mp3. iTunes is "semi-open" it will support any format that iPod does and synch them all to you iPod. iTunes is "closed" in that it will only sync to an iPod as a device.

What is "closed" is the iTunes store... but, this is changing now that they do have DRM free tracks. The next "great" move for openness would be for iTunes to support other devices. I think there is a simple file format standard that many of the devices support which would make it a driver free no brainer!

Kindle and Amazons Kindle store are starting out as iTunes did... one device and one store. I would hope eventually the content would become non-DRM... it is the only way that wide adoption will take place.

BOb

[da_jane]

You know what I don't get? Where are these extra books coming from? I.e., all the publishers I contacted said their books would be available in all formats (except for Wiley). So when Amazon says it has 80,000+ ebooks, what are they?

[pitcher23]

Originally Posted by tirsales

And don't tell me that there are no GPRS-carriers willing to break a similar deal ...

There may not have been. Other major GPRS carriers may have wanted to broker more expensive deals that would not have aligned with Amazons price point.

Originally Posted by tirsales

Yes, they are a US-based company and they make the same mistakes tons of companys do: They ignore the rest of the world. Why?
One content customes is three customers won - one discontent customer is seven customers lost. Make your own calculations...
And yes, it is their right to sell only inside the US. But it is stupid.

The U.S. is only the first market. It would be foolish to start it world wide without building a strong base in its home market. Once (or if) it takes of in the U.S., it will most likely start to open in European countries.

[pitcher23]

Originally Posted by dugbug

The playstation 2 launched in japan first, so did the game cube. Just relax, it will make it over.


-d

Excellent point. Us U.S. Gadget lovers usually have to wait for our favorite Japanese or South Korean electronics. Hell, I was jealous of my European peers when they received their Iliads a couple of months ahead of me.

[mitja_i]

Ok, the bad:
- new exclusive DRM
- no .mobi DRM
- document conversion by Amazon only (office, picture formats)
- price (too much)
- it's big
- ugly
- US Only
- EVDO (slow, US only)
- no open source community

But to be honest, there are some good things:
- internet acess (limited wikipedia only?)
- keyboard for text input (strange design)
- note making
- wireless (not direct PC sync)
- huge store
- great book prices
- great battery

[Zoot]

Originally Posted by mitja_i

But to be honest, there are some good things:
- internet acess (limited wikipedia only?)

Currently it appears to be unlimited web access, but the license agreement says they reserve the right to change the price from zero or otherwise limit or eliminate it in the future. They do say that Wikipedia access is free explicitly (though it's not mentioned in the licens agreement) so chances arer that even if they started limiting or charging for other web access that they'd leave Wikipedia free.

Z.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JAcheson

But with the EVDO on this device, would they allow you to use it on a plane?

There's an "off" switch for the wireless comms.

[resistor]

Originally Posted by mitja_i

- EVDO (slow, US only)

Actually, EVDO is 3.1Mbits, about the speed of a low-end DSL or cable connection. Hardly slow.