Amazon is destroying e-reader innovation

[Barty]

I just want amazon to put TTS back on their eink reader, especially now that they bought the excellent Ivona TTS system. But they won't b/c they want you to buy the fire

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Barty

I just want amazon to put TTS back on their eink reader, especially now that they bought the excellent Ivona TTS system. But they won't b/c they want you to buy the fire

Or, maybe they found people weren't using the audio features.
Remember, the audio in the KT worked for audible titles, so taking it out (technically) reduced the potential market for their own audio ebooks. You could even buy them direct from the Kindle.

http://audible.custhelp.com/app/answ...h-%26-touch-3g

If all they wanted was to force people to spend more, they could've taken out just the (licensed) TTS instead of all the audio. It really, ahem, sounds to me more like a trade-off made to hit a pricepoint: higher-res screen plus frontlight plus audio would've driven the price higher than they wanted for the Paperwhite. And since neither Nook nor Kobo had audio by then and they kept the KT around, it cost nothing in terms of competitiveness.

We may, however, see a comeback for audio in the PW3 since they are now actively pushing synchronized text and audio ebooks.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Or, maybe they found people weren't using the audio features.
Remember, the audio in the KT worked for audible titles, so taking it out (technically) reduced the potential market for their own audio ebooks.

Yes, but... There are *many* books with no official audio books and there are those of us who do use the TTS feature. It is really nice that my Fire can switch back and forth between ebook and audio, but it's really nice to have TTS when it's available.

And it would be nice if Amazon *really* used Ivona. I played around with it on an android tablet I had for a while and I really preferred quality of the TTS as compared to the default Fire.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Yes, but... There are *many* books with no official audio books and there are those of us who do use the TTS feature. It is really nice that my Fire can switch back and forth between ebook and audio, but it's really nice to have TTS when it's available.

And it would be nice if Amazon *really* used Ivona. I played around with it on an android tablet I had for a while and I really preferred quality of the TTS as compared to the default Fire.

The KT TTS is pretty nice and yes, the Ivona TTS is even better.
But, as we keep coming back to in this thread, Kindles are all about lowest-common denominator usage patterns. So, while it would be really nice to see Amazon go all out and do a Kindle Pro high-feature eink reader, I doubt we'll see it. It's not impossible, but I don't think they see a big enough market for it because it runs counter to their normal economies of scale.

Kindle prices are built around the virtuous circle of high volume sales (a lot like pbooks, actually): high volume sales leads to lower build costs which leads to lower sale prices which leads to more sales and more efficiencies and lower costs and round and round until they hit a point of diminishing returns where going lower doesn't necessarily bring in more sales, just lower (zero?) profit.

Now, try to cram in more hardware: audio, higher resolution, more memory...
Price goes up, well into tablet territory. Volume goes down because most buyers really are happy with the basic model and the silent PW. Lower volume means lower units to spread fixed (R&D and design, staff and overhead) costs over as well as lower component buys with less leverage and higher unit costs. This drives the build cost higher, the projected list price higher, and expected sales lower. Pretty soon what looked like a million-selling $129 PW with $20-30 worth of extra components has turned into a $200 Kindle that might not sell the 100k units needed to break even.

The same non-linear economics that drove down Kindle prices by half in two years (2010-2012) as volumes grew by a factor of ten will work in reverse against high feature devices. Especially in a market where color tablets are riding the growth curve down themselves. The primary distinguishing virtues of eink--outdoor readability and extreme low power consumption--are not as compelling to the mass market as us enthusiasts would prefer. I can easily draw up a wishlist of features that would make an eink reader preferable to an LCD tablet, for me, even at a higher price than a similar tablet. But the vast majority of shoppers wouldn't make that trade-off.

Amazon (and the other walled garden ebook vendors) are more interested in selling books so selling ten basic kindles is a better deal for them than selling five premium ereaders at double the price. And with the volume difference likely closer to ten-to-one than two-to-one, the business case just isn't there.

Most companies try to deploy their resources where they'll bring back the most money in return. For Amazon, these days, deploying a screenless android tablet disguised as a TV STB is going to bring in (a lot) more money than a high feature eink device could. Things will likely change at some point in the future but it won't be soon.

Alas.

[crossi]

That is exactly why I want DRM to go away. More innovation is possible. I could buy a non-Amazon reader with my desired features of larger memory and better file management (even if it cost more) and still buy my books from Amazon.

[QuantumIguana]

TTS on the e-ink Kindles got caught in the crossfire. People weren't buying audiobooks to read on their e-ink Kindles in sufficient numbers to justify the added cost of the audio equipment. With no audio capability, TTS went out along with it.

Amazon didn't exactly make listening to audiobooks on the e-ink Kindles all that appealing, the software was pretty rudimentary. You could only jump forward of back in 30 second intervals. And if you paused playback, waited until the Kindle went to sleep and then woke up the Kindle... the audiobook forgot where you were and started out at the beginning.

I would have paid extra for a Paperwhite with audio capability, but the software would have had to have been improved a bit. Of course, it would have been pretty easy to improve...

[speakingtohe]

If I liked audiobooks and TTS I think I would try this
http://techczech.net/2012/07/23/make...our-eyes-time/
Demo
http://minus.com/mG7O6RcdF

Helen

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

TTS on the e-ink Kindles got caught in the crossfire. People weren't buying audiobooks to read on their e-ink Kindles in sufficient numbers to justify the added cost of the audio equipment. With no audio capability, TTS went out along with it.

I've never bought an audiobook. I tried the TTS on my Kindle Keyboard a couple of times but never really cared for it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by crossi

That is exactly why I want DRM to go away. More innovation is possible. I could buy a non-Amazon reader with my desired features of larger memory and better file management (even if it cost more) and still buy my books from Amazon.

You can do that now.
Alf is a friendly guy. And useful for the (relative) few that need his services and/or care enough.

[ingmar]

Yeah, but we shouldn't have to, is my point.

[crossi]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

You can do that now.
Alf is a friendly guy. And useful for the (relative) few that need his services and/or care enough.

Yes, and I use him. But my point was that third party makers of readers can't really make ones that can officially buy from Amazon or any ebookstore in the way that any manufacturer can make mp3 player that can play music from any site. So no manufacturers will start making their own devices with a wide variety of features and prices for customers to choose from.