Reading newspapers on a Kindle

[lensman]

I read the WSJ every morning on my way to work on the bus/PATH. I find the experience better than reading the physical paper because:
1. I don't have to turn my paper into origami to read it without disturbing my neighbors.
2. I can scan for the articles I want to read more quickly than I can the physical paper.
3. I don't have to look for article continuations from the front page.

The line drawings are in the Kindle version. No photos, of course.

Finally, each front section has at least one Kindle page of article titles with a little of the article text to give it that "front page" look. I like this formatting a lot.

I do sometimes get lost in navigation, but I'm slowing figuring out good ways of navigating my way through the paper - mostly be intelligent use of the "back" button.

[Kremo]

Originally Posted by xianfox

The lack of photos is likely due to licensing issues from AP and Reuters. The company I work for publishes a bi-weekly magazine. I generate .mobi and .lit for each issue without images due to the high cost AP wants for licensing those images for electronic distribution. Until emagazines and enewspapers begin generating significant revenue I wouldn't look for images to be included in these publications.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Catch-22. They won't generate enough revenue to include the photos and because the photos aren't there, the reading experience won't be all that good.

This is something I'd never thought about, and you are probably both right: photos licensing is a cost, and to bear it publishers need to foresee enough revenues. At the same time, if the product is not enough appealing, customers don't buy it. It's a vicious circle.

XianFox, one question: what about .PDF online version of newspapers for subscribers ? Do publishers need additional "photo rights" to distribute them ?

[xianfox]

Originally Posted by Kremo

XianFox, one question: what about .PDF online version of newspapers for subscribers ? Do publishers need additional "photo rights" to distribute them ?

Yes, they do. We pay AP for use of 30 or 60 photos per issue (I forget which). We pay an additional $90 per issue to be able to distribute the PDF version of the magazine. I'm uncertain if it would be an additional $90 for a .mobi version also. If AP has a "price list" they keep it pretty close to their vest. Every time we wish to modify our agreement we have to renegotiate our agreement with them.

It's messy. I'm just glad I don't handle that aspect of our business.

[ojleblanc]

Originally Posted by Kremo

I wonder if and when is available a paper-like version of newspapers on epaper devices... think about having a (smaller) 1st page version of the NYT, like you may see on true paper, and then being able to "click"/touch an article to read it at a comfortable font size...

Anyhow... just "dreaming". I think I'll go for Gideon suggestion.

THanks

It seems a number of papers in Europe have published this way on the iRex device. I'm a little confused as to why no American paper has attempted to do so, rather than develop all new devices (like the apparently upcoming Kindle to be introduced tomorrow or devices by Plastic Logics that are being tested with the Detroit News this summer).

Here is a link to the photo of a newspaper in newsprint format on the iRex. And what's really interesting about this is that it appears to be displaying the New York Times!

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6216

Attached is a shot of the WSJ on an iRex. So, I should clarify my question.... why haven't we heard anything more about American papers on the iRex given these images?

[radleyp]

The NYTimes is on the present Kindle (I have been reading it for months on my Kindle), but reformatted to fit on the Kindle page. The graphics of the original are not reproduced: the page size of the Kindle is not suited for that. If you want the original graphics, then I think you must have the larger page (even 8x11 is too small). If newspapers, however, can be successfully reformatted, you can dispense with a large e-ink reader, but then you don't get the charts or photos of the original.

[BarryTX]

I read the Houston Chronicle on my Kindle 2 every day, but not from the Amazon subscription. Instead, I download the newsfeeds through Calibre. No photos or logo, but all the stories that I have in the home edition are there. It works great and because it does, an Amazon Whispernet subscription to the Chronicle doesn't make sense for me. I just plug in the K2 and download, then read at my leisure.

[radleyp]

True, but I get the NYTimes wirelessly wherever I am, while you must be at your computer.

[BarryTX]

Correct. I almost always have my laptop and a connection available; about the only time I don't have access to the net is when I'm traveling overseas in a few spots - in which case Whispernet is not available to me either. So for me it comes down to ease of downloading, and while I would *prefer* to get it wirelessly, I guess I'm too cheap to pay to simply avoid hooking up a cable. Cuique suum.

[numindast]

I'm not sure why ojleblanc awakened this sleeper thread from Feb 2008, but the screenshots on the first page of a NYTimes newspaper is old and misleading. I'll add photos of current issues when I get home, but here's a synopsis:

Newspapers: (I've tried New York Times and Chicago Tribune) have sections lists, and next to each section name is an article count; click the article count and it shows a summary of each article in the section (title and the first few lines of text). The progress bar uses the familiar little dots to indicate progress through articles in a section.

Photos vary amongst publishers. The Tribune had almost no photos, but the NYTimes had several more, certainly not in every article though.

Magazines: I tried Slate, the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and uh, one other I can't think of. These were much the same as the newspaper in terms of navigation and photos/illustrations.

Blogs: I tried Wired, Engadget, and one other. There are no sections. Wired seems to have at least one photo for every post, sometimes multiple ones. Wired throws in a LOT of external links that just show up as a little icon, alone on a line, with no text to explain what the heck the link is for. *shrug*

Same photos from my K2 to come...