Joe Wikert's Kindleville Blog: All Kindle, All the Time

XO Skins: My New Favorite Screen Protectors

2012-01-30T09:24:00.000-05:00

Touch screens are very sensitive and it's a good idea to cover them with a clear screen protector. I've been using a ZAGG Invisible Shield on my iPad for a couple of years now but I've never liked the bumpy feel it has. I've wanted to put something on my Kindle Touch but I wanted to avoid that "orange skin" texture you get with Invisible Shield.

And then I discovered XO Skins.

XO Skins are everything Invisible Shields are, but without the bumpy texture. That means they go on easy, are extremely durable and never bubble up. The one I put on my Touch actually seems to improve the readability of the screen. It's such a clear, smooth surface and it never smudges. XO Skins are very easy to install and the results are outstanding. I highly recommend them for all your devices.

Why I Rooted My Kindle Fire

2011-12-12T11:53:00.000-05:00

Actually, a more accurate title would be, "Why I Had My Son Root My Kindle Fire." He had some spare time this weekend so I asked him to do the job for me. I simply emailed him this link, handed him my Fire and told him not to worry about the results. After all, I've hardly used my Fire since it arrived. I do all my book reading on my new Kindle Touch (highly recommended) and intended for the Fire to replace my iPad. But it hasn't.

My favorite iPad apps are Zite and Flipboard. Neither of them are available on Android. More importantly, I kept running into interesting apps that are available in the Android Market but not Amazon's appstore.

The rooted device looks and acts a lot like it did before. One key difference is that I can now go to the Android Market and download whatever I want. Here are a few I installed immediately:

The real Twitter app -- It's totally ridiculous that Amazon doesn't offer this one. Prior to this my Fire twittering took place in the browser. Awful idea.

The Dolphin browser -- Don't get me started about the Fire's supposedly super-fast Silk browser. I've done side-by-side test with my iPad, Galaxy S II phone and Mac PowerBook Pro. The results show the Fire browser comes in last place pretty much every time I load a page, reload a page, etc. This is one of the most disappointing aspects of the Fire. I originally planned for it to be a fast, small browsing device. Now that I have Dolphin installed it's at least as fast as my iPad. Amazon should publicly apologize for the misleading promises they made about Silk.

The Everpaper app -- I'm a big fan of Instapaper. The Fire's smaller size should make it a better alternative for this sort of short-form reading than the iPad. Sure Amazon offers InstaFetch but it's not as good as Everpaper. I'd argue that Everpaper is a better app than Instapaper's own one on iOS. Isn't Amazon supposed to curating a list of the best apps for their own app store? If so, why are they leaving this terrific one out?

News360 -- This one is an excellent news aggregator that's well designed for a tablet user interface. Again, for some silly reason Amazon has decided it's not worthy of their own app store.

I could go on and on but I won't. I'm sure I'll discover more each day and I'll be sure to report the best ones on Kindleville. I should also mention that every Android Market app doesn't come with a simple installation process on a rooted Kindle. In fact, I've come across a number of apps that simply don't show up in the Market search results when I look for them on my Fire. The solution there is to back up the .apk file on my Android phone and email them to myself. I then open the .apk on my Fire and most install just fine. Btw, if you need to do the same you'll want to install the free ASTRO File Manager app on your phone. It's a great little tool.

Then there are the apps that, for one reason or another, simply won't install on a rooted Kindle Fire. The biggest disappointment so far is Google Currents. I'm getting tired waiting for Zite and/or FlipBoard to appear on the Android platform and Currents is a nice app on my iPad. I've tried installing it a couple of times on my rooted Kindle and it always ends with a failure message. Bummer.

I'm also pretty sure the next time Amazon pushes out a Fire OS update it will unroot the device. My son tells me he can re-root it in a matter of minutes though now that he's done it once. That's good news because there's no way I'm going back to the walled ghetto Amazon has created with the standard Fire setup.

The Kindle Fire Needs a Killer App

2011-11-28T11:52:00.000-05:00

My Kindle Fire is proving to be a decent ebook reader and a worthy tablet. I can't ditch my iPad though because I can't abandon Zite or Flipboard. I consider both of them to be killer apps for the iPad platform. Neither of them were available when the iPad was launched but I'm so hooked on them now that I can't imagine losing either one of them.

Given how long the Kindle Fire was in development I have to admit I'm disappointed that Amazon didn't see to it that one (or both) of these apps were ported to the Android platform at launch. I can understand why the developers behind Zite and Flipboard hadn't ported their apps to Android yet. Prior to the Fire no Android tablet made a dent in Apple's market dominance. But everyone realized the Fire was going to change that situation, so it wouldn't have been all that risky for either company to port to Android earlier this year. They didn't though, so the door is wide open for someone to create a Zite-like or Flipboard-like app for the Fire.

Meanwhile, there are no apps out there that truly make the Fire unique. A cheap tablet is great but Amazon needs to make sure one or more irresistible apps get developed soon for their shiny new device. And please don't tell me Amazon's content and cloud strategy are the Fire's killer app. I'm not buying it. It makes for a nice platform but delivery pipelines aren't what make people buy (and remain loyal to a tablet). Unique apps do though, as evidenced by my need to keep lugging my iPad everywhere I go.

Shhh...Don't Tell Amazon You're Loading These Apps on Your Kindle Fire

2011-11-22T13:59:00.000-05:00

Up to now I've only bought ebooks from Amazon because I figure they offer a great multi-platform service. I can read those books on my Kindle hardware, my Mac, my iPad, a Windows PC, etc. Good luck doing that with books you buy from the iBookstore.

We all know the Kindle Fire is based on the Android operating system and you probably realize that only a small number of Android apps are offered through Amazon's Appstore for Android. That's because Amazon wants to limit the apps you run on your Fire. In some cases they're trying to prevent you from a buggy or unpleasant experience. In other cases though, they're just looking out for their own revenue stream.

So what if you've bought some ebooks from Barnes & Noble? Are you out of luck and unable to read them on your Fire? No way. Thanks to the extremely easy steps outlined in this article you too can load not only the nook app on your Fire but also a bunch of other non-Amazon-sanctioned Android apps as well. Btw, there's no rooting involved in this solution. It took me less than 5 minutes to implement and now I have access to a much larger list of apps for my Fire. Highly recommended!

Kindle Fire & Touch: First Impressions

2011-11-21T12:14:00.000-05:00

I thought everyone was pre-ordering both a Kindle Fire and a Kindle Touch so I did too. Now a lot of people are asking me why I got both. More on that in a bit. After using the Fire and the Touch for a few days now I wanted to share my initial thoughts on each of them.

Kindle Fire
When I heard the Fire was going to be roughly the same size as the RIM Playbook I was pretty excited. I've got a Playbook and, although it has almost no apps to speak of, RIM's form factor is perfect for me. I bought a first-gen iPad on day one and I've enjoyed using it but I've always felt it's too bulky, especially when you have to lug around a laptop in addition to a tablet. It's been said that tablets are much better at content consumption than content creation, so why have something as large as an iPad when consumption can be accomplished on an even smaller screen? I'm finding the smaller Fire is a much better match for my needs.

The major disappointment with the Fire so far, as reported elsewhere, is the unimpressive results from the Silk browser. Amazon really played this up and many of us were expecting a speedy browsing experience. In reality, the Fire's browser is no faster than my iPad's. It makes you wonder how Amazon benchmarked this and why they feel it's superior.

I've been outspoken about the need for a better way to manage and organize content on a Kindle and I'm not convinced Amazon's Carousel view is the solution. It has all the sizzle of Apple's cover flow without an underlying folder structure. Have you grown accustomed to the Collections organization capability of your eInk Kindle? Get used to living without it on a Fire. That's right. One step forward, two steps backwards. One minor advantage to the Fire user interface is the Favorites section. That's the smaller-sized view of covers at the bottom of the screen. If you're reading 3 books at the same time, just drag them down there so they don't get lost in the larger Carousel clutter. And speaking of clutter, is there really a reason for so many operations to add items to the Carousel? Open a new tab in the browser, go back to the home screen and there's an image of that web page added to the Carousel. Yuck. Amazon needs to get a UI expert to help them reconfigure the main screen and navigation.

Finally, my last beef with the Fire has to do with the app selection. There are a number of iPad apps I use that aren't available on Android. Zite is the most important one. I can't imagine a day without Zite. It's an amazingly useful app but it's for iOS only. I realize there haven't been any successful Android tablets up to now and that's why developers like Zite haven't bothered with an Android version. But surely they saw the enormous potential for the Fire, so why weren't some of these killer apps available on day one? I'm forced to use both an iPad and my Fire till more of these apps are ported. If you buy a Fire, btw, don't limit yourself to only those apps Amazon offers. Here's a link to a very simple series of steps you can take to open your Fire up to a large number of additional ones, including, believe it or not, the B&N nook app!

You might think that with all these complaints I regret buying a Fire. You'd be wrong. I'm optimistic Amazon will address all of these issues in the coming months and I have no buyer's remorse whatsoever.

Kindle Touch
My third-gen Kindle is less than a year old but knew I wanted to upgrade to the Touch as soon as I heard about it. I never liked it that so much Kindle surface area was dedicated to a lousy keyboard that gets used, at best, perhaps 1% of the time I'm holding the device. It made no sense.

The Kindle Touch is a terrific device. I opted for the $99 Touch with Special Offers. The "offers" are totally unobtrusive and never appear during the reading experience. I have yet to find one I want to take advantage of but if this program helps lower the cost of the device I'm all for it.

The touch screen is great but not exactly perfect. It's clear that eInk displays aren't intended for use with something like a virtual keyboard where you want instant feedback that the right key was pressed. The delays are a bit irritating. Then again, since the keyboard is used so infrequently it's not a big hassle. It's so nice though that I can now simply touch or swipe the screen rather than hunt for the physical button for any operation.

I've noticed a bit more screen ghosting with the Touch than I had with my third-gen Kindle. I believe the new eInk display technology is to blame for this. Amazon offers a new option called "Page Refresh" on the Touch and it's set to "off" by default. If you've used a Kindle before you're familiar with the screen flash that happens each time you turn the virtual page of an ebook. What's happening is every little dot on the screen gets reversed before the next page is displayed. With this new setting in the off mode you don't see so many of those flashes but you wind up with a bit of ghosting. It's easy enough to flip the switch to "on" and the ghosting goes away.

The Touch is even smaller than the already lightweight third-gen Kindle and the battery seems to last even longer, if that's possible. You could easily tuck the Touch in your backpocket (assuming you're not concerned about sitting on it, which you should be!).

The bottom line is I'm very happy with both these devices. So why did I buy more than one? I'm hooked on eInk for long-form reading. As crisp as the Fire's display is, I find eInk to be a much more comfortable reading experience. I wouldn't want to do much web browsing on a Touch though and, of course, the Fire is much more extensible via the app ecosystem. I've been using both a tablet (iPad) and an eInk device (Kindle) for most of 2011 and I don't see that changing. It would be great if eInk would offer full color since that would allow me to go with one device instead of two. That doesn't appear to be on the short term horizon so, for now, I'll continue using two devices.

How Frequently Will Amazon Release Kindle Fire Software Updates?

2011-11-16T10:22:00.003-05:00

It's unfortunate (for me) that Amazon decided to deliver my new Kindle Fire while I'm out of town. New Fire and Touch devices are waiting for me at home though and I can't wait to try them out. In the mean time I've been living vicariously through all the bloggers and tweeters who have written about their initial Fire experiences.

One point I've seen made in too many reviews so far is that the Fire has a number of minor bugs and annoyances. Many users go on to say that these are things Amazon should be able to fix quickly by issuing software updates.

While that may be true I worry that Amazon doesn't have a history of frequent updates and improvements. Yes, they've issued a number of new O.S. releases for the eInk Kindles but it's happened at a glacial pace with very few core functionality enhancements. Something as simple as folders, better known as Collections, was considered a radical improvement!

My point is that it doesn't appear that Amazon dedicates enough developer resources to their Kindle platform. That may have been acceptable in the eInk, dedicated reader days. After all, most customers only expected their eInk Kindle to do one thing and do it well. With the Fire though, Amazon has now entered the tablet arena and the expectations are different, particularly since they're pushing so many cloud-based content consumption options (e.g., music, video, etc.)

The minor bugs and annoyances I've read about sound reasonably acceptable for an initial release. However, they also sound like the type of fixes that could and should be made within the next week or two. Let's hope Amazon assigns a higher priority to these Kindle Fire software updates than they've shown in the past with eInk Kindle software updates.

We Need A Better Way to Manage Content

2011-11-07T15:10:00.000-05:00

When the Kindle first arrived there was no way to create groups. Every book, newspaper or magazine just got plopped onto the home screen. As a result, everyone's home screen quickly turned into many home screens and you had to flip through page after page to find what you're looking for.

Fast forward to today where we now have the ability to create Collections. Terrific. It's 2011 and the state-of-the-art Kindle content organization technique is something MS-DOS supported way back in the 1980's. Can't we do better than this?

Here's my problem. I'm constantly downloading samples and buying new ebooks. I also have subscriptions to a couple of magazines on my Kindle. There's so much stuff piling up that I can't remember what I wanted to read next. In short, there's no way to prioritize my Kindle reading list!

In the old days I'd just stack my books on my desk or nightstand and I'd make sure the important ones were on top. That works when you're only reading 3 or 4 books at a time, but what happens when you're juggling a half dozen or more as well as thinking about reading any one of 10+ samples? The current model breaks down.

Here's one simple solution: How about automatically pouring all of my samples into a Samples Collection? That would be pretty easy and I'll be Amazon could code that up in no time. Or how about this?: Let me assign a priority to each of the books, magazines, samples, etc., that I download. Then let me sort my library by priority. Even better!

I'm sure a great user interface designer could come up with a variety of solutions to this problem. I hope they do it soon because I keep losing track of what I want to read next!

Why I'm Not Trading In Any of My Old Kindles

2011-10-24T10:29:00.000-04:00

In case you missed it, Amazon recently announced that they'll accept trade-ins of older Kindles. Visit this page to see how much yours might be worth. I've got a first-gen Kindle (yup, with the super-ugly design and keyboard) as well as two third-gen ones. I have no intention of sending any of them back. Not even the first-gen one with the weak battery.

Why? First of all, thanks very much to the glacial pace of change of the Kindle e-reading software, that first-gen device is every bit as useful as the latest one. Amazon never made functionality a compelling reason to upgrade; it's just always been about a sleeker design or a slightly faster device. As a result, all of the Kindles I own make for great hand-me-downs. When my Fire and Touch arrive next month I plan to give my third-gen Kindle to my son (just don't tell my daughters).

That leads to reason #2 I'm not taking part in the "great Kindle trade-in deal": Account sharing. All 3 of the Kindles in the Wikert family are on the same Amazon account. That means we buy a book once and can share it with each other. Yes, you have to be careful with Whispersync when you do this, but my wife and I have been sharing books all year with no problems. When I pass some of these older Kindles to my kids I'll keep them all on that same account so we can continue sharing books we only have to buy once.

Finally, the trade-in prices are awful. Seriously. $20 for the wifi Kindle I just bought earlier this year? No way. Again, even when the new generation ones hit next month I feel my current Kindle has way more value than $20. If Amazon really wants to make this program interesting though, they should consider giving all the trade-in Kindles to schools and other non-profits around the world. At least then we'd know the paltry trade-in credit we're receiving was for a good cause.

What Could a "Kindle Membership" Program Look Like?

2011-10-11T06:03:00.000-04:00

Amazon is selling millions of Kindles every year and, of course, they're selling even more ebooks, so perhaps they don't feel the need to sweeten the customer pot with a membership program like the one Barnes & Noble offers. You could argue the B&N program is more oriented towards physical products with in-store discounts and free express shipping. Then again, that sounds a lot like Amazon's own Prime program; Amazon has at least started migrating Prime more towards digital content with their TV/movies streaming service. I think it could be even more valuable in the digital world though.

Here's a good example. Do you check out the Kindle Daily Deal every morning like I do? I find myself simply hoarding content from it now. After all, if a book is usually $9.99 or more and available for only a buck or two, how can I resist? That only leads more to the Amazon formula factor I mentioned in an earlier post: the more I buy the more I feel compelled to stick with Amazon's platform. I'm already way behind on all my reading and these cheap daily deals are creating even more of a backlog.

Does Amazon really need to take these deals all the way down to 99 cents though? What if there were two tiers instead? For the general public, also known as non-members, that $9.99 book is $4.99 today; for members of a Kindle program the price is 99 cents. Membership could cost $20, $50 or whatever makes sense per year. Discounts could also apply to other products on Amazon (e.g., magazine or newspaper subscriptions, accessories, etc.) In short, they'd need to come up with a program that's compelling enough to get you and I to fork over money in advance. If they come up with the right formula I'd definitely sign up.

The Amazon Formula

2011-09-26T11:23:00.000-04:00

They didn't create the first ebook device. Sony's original Reader had more than a one year head-start on the Kindle. What they were first with though was a platform that made wireless ebook buying a snap; Whispernet was a game-changer.

Next, they had the vision to create a Kindle reader app for every platform known to man. Want to read a Kindle book on your Windows laptop? No problem. On a Mac? Absolutely. On an Android device, an iPhone, iPad or Blackberry? Check, check, check, and check. This, btw, is what made me comfortable building up a library of Kindle content. I pity the sucker who's bought a ton of content from Apple's iBookstore; that person is locked in with Apple for the rest of their lives.

Of course, the more ebooks I buy from Amazon the more I'm locked in with them down the road. But I don't mind. That's a key part of Amazon's secret sauce. Btw, when I say "locked in", I'm talking about the content platform, not the hardware platform. I plan to buy a Kindle tablet on day one, but if another Android tablet comes along a year or so later and is better, I'll probably switch to it.

I've been asked why I don't buy econtent from Barnes & Noble or Kobo. After all, they too offer apps on a variety of platforms. I'd rather stick with one reader app I'm used to and not have to remember which options are/aren't available (or how they work) in other apps. Then there's the practical side. if I want to search for a phrase I know I read but I can't remember which ebook it was in, it's easy to search across your entire collection...as long as that collection was purchased from the same ebookstore! Good luck searching simultaneously across your Kindle ebooks, your Nook ebooks, and your Kobo ebooks. It can't be done. In fact, cross-library features like this are something I'll bet each vendor will build up further, again, with an eye on keeping you loyal to them.

So the fact that I keep buying more and more econtent from Amazon, just like many of you, means I'm making it harder and harder to ever abandon them. But as long as they keep supporting all platforms I'm perfectly content to keep doing this.

P.S. -- It's no secret that I'm a huge Amazon fan. In fact, I took the Amazon position in a fun Tools of Change (TOC) for Publishers webcast debate we recently had. In that debate I presented the five key reasons why I feel Amazon's platform is superior to Apple's. You can watch it via this link or the embedded version below.

How "Open" Will Kindle Tablet Be?

2011-09-12T09:36:00.000-04:00

I recently got into a fun Twitter debate with Andrew Rhomberg. He wanted to know if I thought the much-anticipated Amazon Kindle tablet will be open, with no restrictions onwebsite access or Android app support. I stubbornly said yes, it's got to be or it won't be successful. Andrew then pointed out that everyone's not as "geeky" as me, that he doubts it will be as open as I suggest and that the mainstream market doesn't need it to be.

Gulp. You know what? I'm afraid he's right...sort of.

Most people probably don't care that today's Kindle web browser is awful. They're using the device to buy and read content. I think that changes when you go to a tablet. Of course, what we don't know is whether Amazon will market this device as a tablet or simply a color reader. If it's the former they better support any and all websites. After all, what if Barnes & Noble comes up with a cloud-based reader just like Amazon did? That should be usable from every device.

The same goes for apps, but I realize this is more than wishful thinking on my part. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize Amazon built their own Appstore for Android because they want a cut of every app bought for their device. I'm sure they'll also configure their Android Kindle so that you're only able to install apps from their app store on it. I figure there will be no support for the broader Android Market.

That would be a shame and it would prove that Amazon isn't confident enough in their own content ecosystem to offer a completely open device. What I want is a Kindle tablet that lets me install apps from any Android storefront. Sure, there's a nook app for Android. Let me run it on the Kindle tablet. More importantly, Amazon, make your reader app and content so irresistible that I don't even want to consider other apps. But don't lock them out. Besides, if Amazon doesn't offer a completely open device they'll only invite hackers to unlock it. I'd prefer not voiding the warranty but I'll seriously consider it if the tablet is too closed. You should too.

The Print Tail Still Wags the Ebook Dog

2011-09-06T09:51:00.000-04:00

I've been anxiously awaiting Thomas Friedman's new book, That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back. I'm fascinated by both Friedman as well as the book's insanely long title. I first heard about the book earlier this year and discovered the Amazon catalog page for it a few weeks ago. At that time I could have pre-ordered either the print or the Kindle edition. That was the case until yesterday when I was finally able to download the free Kindle sample.

I have one question for both the book's publisher and Amazon: Why won't you let us download an upcoming book's sample before the book is formally released? I know the answer: Both publisher and Amazon are still following an outdated tradition of coordinating the release of any content with a new book on a specific date. September 5th was apparently the date the publisher decided the embargo could be lifted on this one. Why? Because that's the date they fired up their marketing and PR engines, making sure all their efforts were focused on the book's first sale date.

I have two words for this approach: Stupid and out-dated. It's a print model that's still being used in the e-world.

What's the harm in letting a prospective customer like me download the sample of this book a week or a couple of months before the print book is available? None whatsoever. I end up reading the sample and probably pre-ordering the Kindle edition before September 5th. I also probably tweet/blog about it and that's what the publisher is worried about. They want to control the messaging that surrounds their products and they insist on everyone starting at the same time...except for anyone who received a pre-release or galley copy of the book, of course!

I know...the brick-and-mortar stores would complain if their online competitors had earlier access to some of a new book's content before they did. Should that really prevent the online retailers from serving their customers? I don't think so.

I find it incredibly frustrating when I discover an upcoming book with a Kindle edition page that only lets me pre-order but not sample it. Rather than being stuck in a model from yesterday, both publisher and Amazon have an opportunity to try something new: How about selling me the sample (or something a bit longer than the sample) before the book actually publishes? For a $20 book, sell me the first 3 chapters for $5. Then if I decide to buy the entire book, apply that $5 sample charge to the $20 price so I can buy the rest of the book for $15 more. As a consumer I won't buy too many pre-release samples like this but there are certain cases where I definitely would, and Friedman's book is a good example.

The Kindle edition of this one was ready for distribution well before September 5th. There's no good reason it, or a sample of it, couldn't have been offered for sale before the 5th. Let's drop yesterday's silly marketing/PR restrictions and start living in today's e-world. And hey, if this causes more print book diehards to finally make the jump to ebooks we'll all be better off!

Give Your Kindle Some Personality!

2011-08-22T09:33:00.000-04:00

Amazon isn't exactly known for creating devices with a lot of sex appeal. Even though today's Kindle is more attractive than the original one (remember how ugly that was?!) it's still no head-turner like the iPad. How would you describe the color of the Kindle's case? I think "army-olive drab" is pretty accurate.

I wouldn't call either of those Kindles in the picture on the left "drab" though. That's because they're now covered in a couple of skins from DecalGirl. The Kindle on the left is mine and features the "Lucky" dog skin. Now when I'm reading on my Kindle I feel like one of our three Bassett hounds (yes, we have three: Olivia, Betsy and Ricky) is staring back at me. The Kindle on the right is my wife's and features the "Three Amigos" horse skin.

Each of the Kindle 3 skins are available in either gloss or matte finish and only cost $14.99. Besides the fun factor, the thing I love most about these is that they're super easy to apply. Unlike screen protectors I've wrestled with for my iPhone and iPad, these Kindle skins are vinyl and easy to put on, take off and reapply. If you screw it up the first time you can take comfort in knowing you'll be able to reposition the skin. There's no excuse for anything other than a perfect, bubble-free application.

DecalGirl isn't just about Kindle skins though. They offer colorful skins for pretty much every popular electronic device. Be sure to check them out for your iPhone, iPad or even laptop or game device cover needs. You won't be disappointed.

Kindle Cloud Reader: First Impressions

2011-08-10T12:36:00.000-04:00

Apple forces Amazon to remove their in-app purchase button from the Kindle app and Amazon complies. Meanwhile, Amazon was obviously developing their HTML5-based Kindle Cloud Reader for all platforms. Advantage, Amazon! If Apple ever had any hope of grabbing 30% of all Kindle content sales taking place on iPads/iPhones that dream just crumbled.

If you're a Kindle device user this development doesn't mean a whole lot to you...yet. You'll continue using your Kindle hardware like you always did. But if you own a tablet like the iPad you'll find Kindle Cloud Reader is a terrific alternative to Amazon's native app for those other platforms (e.g., Apple's iOS, Android, etc.)

You'll notice a significant user interface difference vs. what you've been used to in the platform-specific Kindle apps. Amazon built this from the ground up and the result is an extremely clean interface. Some might argue they've hidden too much but I'm hoping they'll allow for more interface personalization in a future update.

So what does it mean to have all your books in the cloud? In simplest terms it's delivering on the "buy once, read anywhere" promise Amazon hypes in their press release. That's not all that different from how things worked yesterday though. I bought Kindle books on my iPad and was able to read them on my Kindle, iPhone or Mac, to name a few platforms. And all that content was sync'd across my devices. The same holds true for this cloud approach. Now though, if you're using the Cloud Reader your content starts out living remotely on Amazon's servers. You can download books for local storage, which is something you'll want to do anytime you're offline.

Given that this is an initial release it's not without bugs. For example, I'm a huge sampler. I've tried downloading a few samples on my iPad using the Cloud Reader and they're nowhere to be found. Then there's the purchase option. If you buy a book on Amazon's website (or with their native apps) you can tell Amazon where you want the book delivered (e.g., to your Kindle, iPhone, iPad, etc.). The Cloud Reader doesn't offer any of these options. All purchases simply go to the Cloud Reader. In fact, they don't show up automatically in the Cloud Reader. I've had to press the sync button to make them appear. Again, not a huge bug but a minor annoyance. I'm also disappointed I still can't get my one and only Kindle magazine subscription (The New Yorker) onto my iPad through the Cloud Reader. Lastly, you'll find the Cloud Reader takes a long time to load, at least it does on my iPad. And once the app is loaded I've been getting synchronization errors. If you touch the "Kindle Store" button in Cloud Reader you'll also find it takes a long time to load the store page; much longer than it used to take to hit the store from the Kindle iPad app. These are issues I'm sure Amazon will address soon.

Since I recently switched from long-form reading on my iPad (with the Kindle app) to a new Kindle device I probably won't get a lot of use out of the Cloud Reader. Most of the time I'm just shopping for content and buying it on my iPad and then reading it on my Kindle. For those situations I'll probably just stick with the simple home screen shortcut I created to the Kindle store I wrote about earlier.

I'll check in on Cloud Reader from time to time though to see what enhancements Amazon makes to it. I'm particularly curious to see if this will become the model they'll use for the Android-based Kindle tablet that's supposedly coming soon. It makes a ton of sense to shift to this HTML5 platform across the board since they'll not only avoid the Apple hassles but they'll have one common app for all platforms.

How Apple Is Pushing Me Away, Towards Amazon

2011-08-01T12:28:00.001-04:00

I held off for a bit but finally wound up letting iTunes update the Kindle app on my iPad. It was my tiny protest against Apple's forced removal of the "Shop in Kindle Store" button in the app. But then I noticed the updated app also lets you view "some" magazine subscriptions, so I decided I wanted that functionality enough that I was willing to live without the in-app purchase ability.

(Notice I said "some" magazine subscriptions. Based on the recommendation of a colleague, I recently signed up for a Kindle subscription to The New Yorker. It's a weekly magazine and a bargain at $2.99/month. Unfortunately it's also one of several Kindle magazines that aren't available for the iPad. I guess the magazine's publisher, Conde Nast, is trying to protect their iPad app investment. The subscription rate for the iPad app version is $5.99/month so they're probably not too keen on letting me enjoy my Kindle subscription there as well.)

Back to the loss of in-app ebook purchasing in the Kindle app... It's easy enough to create an icon that links directly to the Kindle ebook store on your iPad. Just go to www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks, touch the icon to the right of the bookmarks icon (the one with the right-facing arrow coming out of the box), select "Add to Home Screen", give it a name (I went with "Kindle Store") and press the Add button. I dragged it into my Books folder and placed it next to the Kindle app (see image at top of post). You'll see it even comes with its own attractive icon. So now when I want to buy an ebook from Amazon I just touch that icon and am immediately in the Kindle store.

This is all rather silly though, don't you think? Apple's goal here was to get on even footing with Amazon and be able to earn a 30% cut of any books bought within the app. Amazon's removal of the in-app purchase button means (a) customers have to buy from outside the app and (b) Apple still gets zero. So in the end, Apple, the supposed king of elegant user interface design makes it more awkward for Kindle app users on their iPad.

Here's what I'd love to see happen: Amazon (or someone else) releases a Kindle ebook that's (a) nothing more than that link I provided above (www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks) and (b) always locks itself in the top right corner of my Kindle book list, just below where the old "Shop in Kindle Store" button used to be. In fact, maybe this special ebook could be called "Shop in Kindle Store." It's a free ebook, you download it to your iPad and anytime you touch it you'll launch Safari and head to the Kindle store!

Could Apple prevent something like this from happening? I'd like to think not but it all depends on how Apple wants to interpret and enforce the language in section 11.14 of the App Store guidelines (see this TechCrunch post for a comparison of old vs. new wording). It starts off by saying "Apps can read or play approved content..." So what does "approved content" mean? Nobody at Apple is reviewing the almost one million ebooks in the Kindle store, right? This one would jump out at them though, I'm sure. :-)

But what if Apple does intervene and say my proposed workaround is not acceptable? Then where do they draw the line? Will publishers no longer be able to include any links to other products for sale in the Kindle store or elsewhere?

That would be ridiculous, but it's all part of the reason why I'm anxious to dump my iPhone as well as my iPad and jump to the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S II Android phone (recommended by my son) as well as whatever Android-based tablet Amazon releases later this year. I'm tired of Apple's games and ready to make the switch.

I Want an Uber-Magazine Subscription

2011-07-11T09:07:00.000-04:00

I used to subscribe to at least 10 print magazines. Now that's down to four. Three of those four include free iPad app subscriptions if you're a paying print subscriber. I don't pay for any other magazine or newspaper subscriptions for my iPad and I don't subscribe to any on my Kindle.

What's wrong with this picture? When I bought my iPad I figured I'd sign up for all sorts of digital magazine subscriptions but it just hasn't happened. Part of the problem has to do with ridiculous pricing models (see Wired, although they finally wised up and decided to offer free iPad access to print subscribers). The other problem is every magazine is operating on its own and they're not coming together to leverage their collective strength.

Here's where Amazon has a huge opportunity. Those four print magazines I subscribe to cost me about $100/year or between $8 and $9 per month. I would gladly pay more than twice that much (at least $20/month and I might go as high as $25) if I could get all-you-can-eat access to a bunch of magazines.

Think of this like Safari Books Online, but for magazine content. I pay a flat fee of $20 or $25 per month and I'm able to access the contents of several dozen magazines. Individual magazines are paid on a pageview basis. So let's say my subscription costs $25 per month and last month I was kind of busy so I only read a few articles from one magazine. That magazine receives my $25 that month (less whatever fees the service provider charges). Next month, maybe I've split my reading across three different magazines, so they split my $25 based on my usage of their content.

Let me set up a profile so the service knows my interests and can send me daily summaries of the articles that are likely to be most relevant for me. The service should also learn from my habits, so even though I may not have said I'm interested in the Android platform, if it sees I read several Android articles every month it should add future Android article links to the recommendations it sends me.

This is part of Amazon's DNA. They have a terrific recommendation engine and they leverage it every day. See for yourself by checking your email inbox or see what pops up on amazon.com the next time you visit their site.

I realize the biggest challenge in creating a service like this is magazine publisher resistance. My reduction from 10+ paid subscriptions to four isn't unique though. This is a market that's struggling. The model I'm suggesting means publishers with the most read content will be the winners, which is exactly how it should be.

Here I am saying I'm ready to step up and invest more than twice what I spend today for magazine content. Let's hope Amazon makes this happen. It would be a terrific new service to go along with the Android-based tablet they're rumored to be working on!

Why Can't I Subscribe to an Author?

2011-06-27T09:01:00.000-04:00

What do you do when you discover a new author but you've read every book they've written? You probably go to their website. Maybe you subscribe to the site's RSS feed. Perhaps they're a columnist, so you subscribe to the magazine or newspaper they write for (or maybe you just read that content for free online or you grab it's RSS feed). If they're into Twitter you probably follow their tweet stream too.

The good news is there are quite a few options besides books if you want to keep up with what your favorite author has to say. The bad news, IMHO, is there's no single service tying all this together. I subscribe to way too many RSS feeds, so the result is I don't read many of them at all. I've also been cutting back on magazine subscriptions, so I'm losing that option as well. And even though I use TweetDeck to help split up the various groups of people I'm following (e.g., colleagues, publishing industry people, sports figures, etc.), I never find myself going from one tool to the next for a particular author.

Here's what I'm talking about: I used to subscribe to The New York Times on my Kindle. I did so, not because it was my news source, but because I enjoyed getting the latest articles from my favorite columnists including Thomas Friedman. When I dumped the subscription I realized I wasn't subscribing to The New York Times; I was subscribing to Thomas Friedman (and a few other columnists). Steve Rushin is another example. Steve stopped writing for Sports Illustrated years ago but he's active on Twitter. I follow him there and I even have "Steve Rushin" set up as a constant search on Google News. (Yes, I'm that big of a fan!) So I have to check in on Twitter every so often and then look in my Google News tab to see if there's anything recent from him. What a waste of time and effort.

Why not just have an author feed subscription via the Kindle? Yes, Amazon sells blog feed subscriptions, but that's a ripoff and I'm looking for more. I don't want something I can get via an RSS reader for free. I want a combined feed of the author's blog, their Twitter activity and any publication/website they write for. All in one. I'd be willing to pay a modest amount for this ($10/year?), at least for the 4 or 5 authors I care most about. And heck, go ahead and include some advertisements in it if necessary.

This is all about the convenience of having everything from one author in one source, automatically pushed to my Kindle (via WiFi) on a regular basis. It seems like an opportunity for Amazon to extend the Kindle's functionality as well as a terrific way for authors to engage with their readers. On top of all that, it's a great way for authors to let their fans know when their next book is coming, perhaps give them a preview or even a loyalty discount.

How Amazon Could Improve Discoverability

2011-06-20T09:34:00.000-04:00

Discoverability is one of the biggest issues facing e-retailers. How do the right customers know when a new product they might be interested in has arrived? Amazon knows I buy a lot of books on sports and WWII. Although I get emails from them every day I don't think they're doing enough to help me keep up with the latest products I might want to buy.

Here's an idea: Why not let me opt in to a service that automatically sends me samples of new books in my favorite topic areas? I'm not talking about emails with covers and links back to catalog pages. I'm saying they should deliver those product samples right to my Kindle.

Give me a checklist to fill out. I'd like samples from all the new titles about baseball, hockey, Roosevelt, D-Day, etc. Go ahead and send them my way. My Kindle has plenty of memory and I'll delete the ones I'm not interested in. Let's not limit this just to topics though. I've got some favorite authors as well. Let me sign up to automatically receive samples from all of them too.

Yes, this could lead to a very cluttered Kindle home screen. That's why Amazon should also create a "Samples" folder with subfolders for each of the topics/authors I'm subscribing to. Alert me when new samples have arrived...again, not via email to a device I'm not reading on but rather send a message to my Kindle so I can see a summary of what's just come in.

Some customers won't see the benefit of this. I'm not one of them. I would greatly appreciate this sort of service. It would save me from manually going through each topic area every so often to see if I've missed anything. It forces Amazon to push more content to customers but I'm sure they'll benefit from the additional sales the samples will generate.

Delivereads, eReaderIQ & Amazon's "Sunshine Deals"

2011-06-06T09:04:00.000-04:00

Today's post is all about content discovery and great deals. First up is Delivereads. This is a simple email service that provides you with short-form content you might not have discovered otherwise. It's all free, of course, and the content is delivered directly to your Kindle. Emails come when Delivereads founder Dave Pell feels like sending them, but I generally find at least one piece that's worth reading in each collection.

Next, if you're not familiar with eReaderIQ I recommend you give it a try as well. Rather than scouring Amazon's site to see what's free or inexpensive today, the folks at eReaderIQ gather all that info for you. Like Delivereads, eReaderIQ is also a free service and you can expect to receive an email from them every day.

Speaking of great values, have you heard about Amazon's new "Sunshine Deals" program? It's a deep mark-down of more than 600 older ebooks in the Kindle catalog. Prices are either 99 cents, $1.99 or $2.99. Several publishers are featured and I scanned all of the 650 titles the other night. I was prepared to buy quite a few books, saving a ton along the way, but I only wound up buying 3. That's right. I looked at 650 titles and only found 3 worth spending no more than $2.99 on. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did. Be sure to review the list soon though as the campaign ends at midnight on June 15th.

Sharing Within Your Kindle Account

2011-05-16T08:53:00.000-04:00

Both Amazon and B&N have long offered lame solutions for the ebook sharing problem. Why limit the share period and why only allow it once in the life of the book? Ebooks should be more powerful than print books but here's a great example of how the market leaders are trying to make them less powerful.

I don't see the situation changing anytime soon but I wanted to mention a partial solution that works well for me: sharing within my Kindle account. Our family now owns three Kindles. Every time I buy a new one I just add it to my original Kindle account. Now all three of the Kindles have access to the same common library. There's no reason for us to buy any ebook more than once.

Until recently I assumed pretty much every Kindle owner was aware of this option. I've mentioned it to at least three others in the past couple of weeks though and none of them had considered it before. That's why I'm sharing it here.

Obviously this in-account sharing doesn't address the larger problem of being able to share with all your friends but at least you can share within your family (assuming you're all configured to use the same account). And yes, Whispersync complicates things when two or more are reading one book at the same time. That's why I always bookmark my last location before I close a book!

Why Isn't Twitter Connected to Amazon's "Look Inside" Feature?

2011-05-02T09:16:00.000-04:00

One of my complaints with the first-gen Kindle was that there was no way to quickly tweet book excerpts. The new Kindle lets you tweet as you read, of course, but it's a cumbersome process. How many key combinations does it take to send a single tweet?!

Process aside, I'm very disappointed with the way Amazon handles the excerpts you want to point to. For example, I'm reading Jane Leavy's terrific biography of Mickey Mantle called The Last Boy. I came across a cool link in the book pointing to a simulation of a tape-measure home run Mantle hit at Yankee Stadium in 1963 (go here and click on mantle_hr_63 to see it yourself). Here's the result of tweeting the excerpt:

This wasn't at all what I expected to point my Twitter followers to.

If you go to this book's Amazon page you'll see the "Look Inside" feature has been enabled for it. That means you can flip through the book a bit before you buy it. Why in the world doesn't Amazon take Twitter followers right to the book page I tweeted via "Look Inside"? Followers could then read more than what I included in my tweet. More importantly, they'd be right there on the product page, able to "1-click buy" it on the spot.

The Twitter functionality shown above is a small step forward from the complete lack of Twitter connectivity Amazon offered with Kindle 1.0. But Amazon is really missing the boat here by simply showing the short excerpt I pulled for the tweet. And just to add salt to the open wound, why isn't that url in the excerpt live? I know Amazon hates sending customers to sites off amazon.com, but jeez, they're doing customers a disservice by making them type in that simulation link.

I hope Amazon takes this to heart and utilizes "Look Inside" in some future release of the Kindle platform. I don't see a lot of value in tweeting any more excerpts without "Look Inside" connectivity.

Kindle Likes & Dislikes: Another Point of View

2011-04-25T16:20:00.000-04:00

Today's post is a contribution from John Holdcroft, one of my O'Reilly colleagues. John is also a big fan of the Kindle and offers these likes and dislikes about the platform:

After coveting all sorts of e-reader gizmos from friends and colleagues, I finally bought my first Kindle last summer. Amazon found my sweet spot of $139 (now down to $114 with embedded ‘special offers’) and my excitable fingers did the One-Click dance in a hurry. At first, it was the novelty of having an e-reader device that excited me, no matter what the experience. I imagined stuffing it into my back pocket for a stroll in New York City, or showing it off loudly at a proudly independent Seattle area coffee shop. Now, after buying and downloading everything from popular fiction, cycling histories, and primitive board games for my seven-year-old, I am hooked deep. Some quick thoughts for you about my reading and consuming journey:

Likes
Ubiquitous reading experiences. Amazon has done a great job of not just building a great reading device, but building better places and formats to read at any time. I love reading a couple of chapters of Steven Levy’s In The Plex at night, then synching up the next morning as I wait in line at the post office and pull out my iPhone and continue reading exactly where I left off. This seamless connection of reading makes all the difference in the world.

Browsability of content. Amazon is right behind Google as far as mastering search, and I can go to the amazon.com page and type in “Jon Krakauer” and find his latest essay in Singles program. One-click and boom (goes the dynamite), I am ready to read. I also dream about a moment when I am on a beach in Hawaii (I used to do such things before I helped sire two small children), think of an author, topic, or newspaper I want to read, find it on Kindle, and have it instantly. This ‘Eureka!’ moment has not happened yet but I know that when it does it will feel GOOD.

Kindle community and shopping experience. Amazon seems focused on how readers are consuming right now better than other mediums. Front-end early adopters seem to consume bits of data in fits and starts (though I am sure that long, dense novels are not yet forgotten). Kindle Singles speaks to this style directly, and I would hope and expect to see this program mushroom out into new environments soon. Perhaps combining the burgeoning podcast market into a book/audio file experience is also something for the Kindlings to consider.

Dislikes
Social media shackles. Gee, thanks, Amazon, for keeping my highlights, bookmarks, etc., and adding them to my locker of data that you own. Not that my data is particularly interesting, I just want to own it, see it, track it, etc. I am less interested in seeing 63 highlights of the best lines of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom (my choice comes from a description of long suffering heroine Patty, who “tried to make (her son) her Designated Understander”). Also, I should be able to see this data under the Manage My Kindle feature. Right now, Amazon holds it. Let me have it back, or at least joint custody, with weekends visits and every other holiday. Tweeting and Facebooking is suffering right now because of this loss.

Keyboard. Seems pedestrian at best and blocky and unresponsive at worst. Compared to the fetish-loving iPad users, this looks really bad. Is it that hard to bid out this job to a usability lord and get better results?

Page numbers. What titles have pages number references, and what ones do not? Which books, authors, are so lucky to be ‘pagified’ first, and why? Why the murkiness of this process, Amazon? And since one must hold down the MENU button to find the page feature, this is hardly an intuitive process. Make page numbers an Opt-Out feature, not Opt-In.

Overall, I love my Kindle and look forward to seeing the innovations that I assume are on the horizon. It appears that e-readers are a part of the growing digital kudzu that Steven Levy notes in his great new book. Found on Kindle, of course.

Kindle Lessons Learned After a Year Away

2011-04-18T12:23:00.000-04:00

I'm glad I jumped back into the Kindle market. My wifi-only Kindle is getting almost as much use as my iPad. I recently wrote a post on my iPad blog about lessons learned the first year with that device. I figured I ought to do something similar covering lessons learned after a year away from the Kindle:

There's nothing wrong with doing only one thing exceptionally well -- I love my iPad, mostly because it's a jack of all trades. But there's definitely something to be said for a device like the Kindle that pretty much just does one thing but does it extremely well. (It's still hard admitting this since I jumped ship and did all my long-form reading on my iPad for the past 12 months!)

No free memory indicator -- I'm sure this device has plenty of storage space but I miss the ability to see just how much memory is free. Unless I'm missing something, there's no way to tell that on the device itself.

No SD slot -- Speaking of memory, would it really have killed anyone to include an SD slot on this model? It feels very Apple-esque without an option to add memory, particularly since the older Kindles used to support this.

Text-to-speech is a terrific feature -- I didn't have this with my first-gen Kindle and I'm already finding it very useful on my new device. I'm still amazed there are publishers (and authors) out there who refuse to enable this in their Kindle editions. Do they really think Kindle edition owners are also running out to buy the audio versions of the same book? Highly unlikely.

Apps still feel awkward -- I haven't come across a single app that seems compelling enough to buy/install. I've got dozens on my iPhone and iPad but can't find any that look appealing for the Kindle. Are there any worth trying out?

The dictionary is even more awkward -- Here's where not having a touch-screen is a huge drawback. The Kindle app for iPad spoiled me by letting me simply touch the word I want to look up. The Kindle device makes it more of a challenge where you have to press the up button for every line, then the right button for every word till you get to the word you're looking for. Ugh.

Experimental seems to have stalled out -- One year and two generations later and yet the "Experimental" screen looks the same as it ever has. I really wish Amazon would use the R&D potential of this area and start adding some cool options.

Why I Bought a New Kindle (as an iPad Accessory)

2011-04-10T17:49:00.001-04:00

I'm back. It's been one year to the day since my last Kindleville post and I've decided to resurrect this blog. After using my iPad exclusively for ebook reading for a year I went out last week and bought a new, $139, wifi-only Kindle. I'm not abandoning my iPad. Far from it. But after playing around a bit with a friend's graphite Kindle I decided I needed one too. I'm glad I bought it as we just wrapped up a family vacation and I was able to give my wife my first-gen Kindle while I tried out the new one.

I recently read a statement about the relationship between iPad and Kindle and I think it's very true: The Kindle is a terrific iPad accessory. I'll still read a ton of short-form content on my iPad but it's nice to have the Kindle option when I want a device that's even lighter. For the record, I've never had any eyestrain or other problems reading on my iPad, even when outside. The Kindle offers a better direct sunlight option but I've always been able to read my iPad on my back deck, for example.

When you can get a Kindle for as little as $139 they're almost disposable. It reminds me of the VCR evolution. My first one cost $500 back in 1983 and before DVDs became more popular you could get one for every TV in your house for well under $100. I like having two in the family since it enables my wife and I to read the same books and only pay for them once. Sharing across accounts is still clunky but sharing within an account is wonderful, as long as you're both bookmarking to avoid a collision when sync-ing to the furthest point read.

I also don't see the need for 3G service, which is why I went with wifi-only. I'm almost always in a hotspot and I don't anticipate using the Kindle for magazines or newspapers since the user experience is still awful. It's long-form content only for me on the Kindle and I'm quite content with buying and/or syncing up on my home wifi connection before heading out.

Finally, since I skipped the second-gen and went directly from first- to third-gen I have to say the new Kindle form factor is terrific. The control buttons are still clumsy but this new Kindle is so small it fits comfortably in the sleeve of my favorite iPad case. So I can take both my iPad and my Kindle with me on the road in a case that's about the size as the one I used for my first-gen Kindle. Very nice.

Kindleville is alive and well again. I plan to post at least once a week and more frequently when possible. If you're interested in writing a Kindleville post or two let me know. It's nice to be back!

This Site Officially Under Deconstruction

2010-04-10T21:42:00.000-04:00

That's a wrap, folks. Kindleville is no more. I bought an iPad last week and since I'll no longer be using a Kindle I have nothing further to say here about the platform.

Thanks for all your support over the past couple of years. This blog will remain accessible via www.kindleville.com till the next domain renewal (10 months from now, I believe). Even after that expires it can still be found at kindleville.blogspot.com.

If you're interested in reading about my iPad adventures be sure to check out my iPadHound blog. Thanks!

WANTED: Kindle Fan for Debate

2010-03-22T10:50:00.002-04:00

We're looking for a die-hard Kindle fan who would like to be part of a point/counterpoint debate we're planning with an iPad user. Contact me at jwikert [at] gmail.com if you're interested in participating.

Kindle app for BlackBerry -- a first look

2010-02-18T11:40:00.002-05:00

The new Kindle app for BlackBerry devices is here, promising the same nifty Whispersync(tm) technology that iPhone users have enjoyed for a while now. And the best part is, it's free.

I installed the app today on my BlackBerry Bold and gave it a test drive.

The first time you run the app it asks you to sign in to your Amazon account. Within seconds it pulled up my Kindle archive, showing me the list of all the books I've ever purchased or downloaded from the Kindle store.

When you highlight a book and then select it by clicking the trackball it immediately starts downloading to your device. I tested a couple of books, both relatively large (one of which was The Complete Works of Shakespeare), and the download only took a few seconds.

Once you've nabbed the books they show up in the "Home" folder in the app, and all you do is click to read. You can turn the "pages" by clicking the spacebar or scrolling with the trackball. So far I'm liking the spacebar method the best. And as with the Kindle you can change the font size to suit you.

The Whispersync worked well on both the books I tested, taking me right to where I had left off reading them on my Kindle.

Amazon has labeled the app a beta for now, but at first glance it appears pretty solid.

I certainly can't see spending a whole lot of time reading on the BlackBerry, but this app will be a lifesaver for those times when I'm stuck in line at the bank or grocery store without my Kindle.

Kindle owners should grab this app right away.

Too Little, Too Late

2010-02-07T13:57:00.007-05:00

The iPad isn't even available yet but I've already decided it's time to ditch my Kindle and switch to the Apple platform. Why? In short, I'm disgusted with Amazon's glacial pace of Kindle innovation. The device's functionality is pretty much the same as it was when it launched more than 2 years ago.

Anytime I've suggested Amazon open their platform up to third-party developers, just like Apple's done with the iPhone App Store, most folks questioned the idea. They asked what kind of cool apps could really be developed for an ereader. These are probably the same people who figured all a cell phone needs to do is make and answer calls.

Amazon recently announced their upcoming Kindle Development Kit "for active content." It's about time. Seriously, why did they wait this long? The timing came across as a desperate attempt to divert attention from Apple's iPad announcement.

Regarding the question of what sort of apps could be build for the Kindle, check out this post by Jared Newman entitled 8 Amazon Kindle Apps We Hope to See. (FWIW, I've been pleading for Twitter integration on the Kindle for a long, long time...)

Although Jared offers some great ideas, I've totally lost what little Kindle enthusiasm I still had. Call it iPad envy. As a result, I'm ready to wind down Kindleville. To be honest, I haven't invested much time in it for the past year anyway. Paul Higginbotham has done a nice job keeping Kindleville afloat. If you'd like to join Paul to keep Kindleville around, just let me know. Otherwise, keep an eye out for what I hope to do next on the iPad platform...

Here comes another one

2010-01-05T14:20:00.002-05:00

How many "Kindle-killers" have been announced or released in the past two years? I've lost count. Yet despite the flood of killers on the market, the Kindle is still doing quite well, thank you. As you've no doubt heard, Amazon announced that for the first time ever, Kindle book sales surpassed physical book sales on Christmas sales.

Of course the rallying cry of Kindle scoffers has been "B-B-B-But just wait until Apple comes out with an e-book reader!"

It would appear that very day is near. January 26, to be precise. That is the date that Apple has (allegedly) reserved at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, where they will (allegedly) introduce the long-anticipated iSlate(tm), the mega-super-mondo-all-in-one tablet device. The rumored feature list grows everyday, and includes everything from gesture-based page turning to video playback to mammography screening.

One thing that everyone is certain about, however, is that it spells doom for the Kindle.*

In a recent blog post -- re-published by the Huffington Post -- tech blogger J.S. McDougall gushes over the possibilities.

I'm not going to reveal any names, but I have it on very good authority, for example, that--unlike the Kindle--the new Apple tablet will, indeed, have a color screen. Might it also ... play video?! (Please pardon the sarcasm.)

It's amusing to consider the evolving criticism of the Kindle. First it was "It will never replace the physical book!" Now with Apple's digital marvel on the way, the Kindle criticism has turned into "The Kindle is too much like a real book! All it does is display text!"

"Digital books should include author interviews, instructional videos, pop-up definitions of esoteric terms, instant foreign translations, optional soundtracks, links to helpful web sites, and anything else publishers and authors can dream up to increase the value and effectiveness of their content," asserts McDougall.

Really? Do we want our books to do all that? In an age when we're constantly surrounded and bombarded by audio/video stimulus, don't we just want to sit down and relish the written word on a plain page occasionally? One of the great things about the Kindle is that it does not get between the reader and author. As Stephen King pointed out back in 2008, after a while the device simply becomes invisible, allowing the reader to become fully absorbed in the story. Also, the Kindle offers no distractions to get in the way of reading (Sure there's a web browser, but it's so bad we're never tempted to actually stop reading and use it.). I see that as a positive.

Aside from that, the Kindle's two biggest strengths are e-ink and wireless access to Amazon's vast selection of e-books -- neither of which the iSlate will have (allegedly).

So why might Apple's Kindle-killer succeed? The same reason the iPod became the number one MP3 player despite that fact that it was neither the first nor the best of its kind: it's made by Apple. Say what you want about Apple products, but the brand carries a hipness and smugness that outweigh any consideration of features and price.

There's no doubt the iSlate will sell big, regardless of what features it does or doesn't have. That's the power of Apple marketing (warning: contains some NSFW language). But after the strongest holiday season ever for the Kindle, and with Amazon's on-demand e-book selection growing every day, is the Kindle really in danger of losing its core audience of people who just like to read? After all, despite what Steve Jobs has said, there are obviously still quite of a few of us around.

A Christmas gift from The Book View Cafe

2009-12-15T10:03:00.001-05:00

Sue Lange, one of the authors from The Book View Cafe, is offering one of her stories for free for your holiday reading pleasure. Head over to BVC to download a free copy of "Jump" from Lange's sci-fi satire short story collection Uncategorized. It's only available for a limited time so grab it soon.

You can get the whole collection of stories for $1.99 via the BVC. It's good, bawdy sci-fi fun from start to finish. If you like your science-fiction with a little cheek (or a lot, even), you'll dig Uncategorized.

Book View Cafe embraces the Kindle

2009-11-24T09:49:00.002-05:00

When you read a lot of news about the Kindle it's easy to get discouraged about the attitudes of publishers and authors, some of which are finding themselves being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Ebook is a four-letter word to many in the business, and digital distribution is seen as the road to piracy and bankruptcy.

Fortunately there are those who "get it" -- who see the benefits of delivering their books via ones and zeros as opposed to pulp and ink. One such group is The Book View Cafe. Part online publisher, part bookstore, the BVC consists of a group of best-selling authors who assembled in 2008 with the goal of building a web site to deliver their works digitally directly to their readers.

Recently they announced a new project called Book View Press, which will consist of works written and edited by BVC members and distributed not only via the BVC but also via the Kindle and Sony eReader stores. Their first offering, Rocket Boy and the Geek Girls, is a sci-fi anthology from thirteen authors.

Kindleville recently chatted with Sarah Zettel, the Project Manager for Book View Cafe, about eBook publishing and their new support for the Kindle.

Kindleville: For most readers e-books are still a relatively new phenomenon, but it looks like you saw the shift coming a couple of years ago. What made you want to move toward e-publishing?

Sarah Zettel: Sheer practicality. Publishers, no matter how good, can only keep so many books in print, and bookstores, even the huge chain, can only stock so many on the shelves. Ebooks allow an author to keep their books in print and available for their readers, and to constantly attract new readers.

Did you see e-books as the future of publishing, or were you just dissatisfied with traditional publishing?

I've been around long enough to have seen several waves of attempts at ebooks, and ebook readers, and each time I've said to myself, «when the hardware is finally truly workable, this will take off.» Then, along came the Kindle, and I said, «Okay, now.»

What was the initial response from readers when you first launched BVC?

We have had very good response from readers and the media right from the beginning and have experienced a gratifying steady growth in user traffic and sales since we opened our virtual doors.

Has reader reaction changed over the years?

Where we've witnessed the biggest change has been mostly within the writing and publishing community. We were met with a great deal of skepticism when we first started out. With the continuing growth in the e-book market, that skepticism has started to turn around.

Book prices at BVC are quite low. Was it a conscious decision to keep prices down or just a benefit of e-publishing and skipping the middle man?

It was a conscious decision. As a cooperative organization without outside investors we need to keep happy, we have the luxury of being able to be somewhat experimental in our pricing.

Some major publishers have said publicly that they disagree that e-books should by definition be cheaper than physical books. What is your opinion on that?

From what I have seen, it is cheaper and easier to produce and distribute a good e-book than it is to produce a good paper book. They are also a more disposible product than, say, a hardback book. All this says to me in makes sense to price them lower.

Some feel that publishers are destined to repeat the failures of the recording and motion picture industries by fighting digital content rather than embracing it. Do you agree?

It's very possible. But I also think that money talks very loudly in these cases, and the data show that the market for e-books is growing by leaps and bounds, especially with the development of the new generation of personal reading devices like the Kindle.

Why do you think so many publishers fear e-books?

Traditional publishers have a multi-billion dollar investment in the production and distribution of paper books. They operate within a system that has been refined for at least the last 100 years. Frankly, it would be surprising if they weren't resistant to change.

You have quite a wide variety of genres represented at BVC. How do you choose your authors?

We need a wide variety of books because we hope to appeal to the full diversity of the reading public. Our authors must all be professionals, that is, they must have at least one book published with a traditional advance-and-royalty paying publisher. Other than that, they have to have the time to volunteer to help with the work of BVC. We operate on what might best be described as a shoestring, so everyone has to pitch in.

How has your experience dealing with Amazon been?

From the beginning, Amazon has proved to be expert at designing infrastructures to get books into the hands of readers. The Kindle support infrastructure is as seamless and easy to use as the system for ordering paper books

How could Amazon improve the Kindle experience, either for readers, authors or publishers?

Zettel: For authors and publishers, I'd say perhaps some additional support could be available for formatting books for the Kindle. For readers, I'd like it to be a little easier to browse new titles and authors, For readers, I'd like it to be a little easier to browse new titles and authors, beyond the «you might like» and «also bought» options.

Francis Hamit: An Author's Point of View

2009-11-02T11:27:00.006-05:00

Author Francis Hamit emailed me recently about a major frustration he recently ran into with Amazon. Although Amazon generally offers a terrific customer service experience, Francis' story sheds light on the challenges faced by authors and other content providers. I asked him to write a guest post about his experience and here's what he had to say:

I’ve pulled the Kindle edition of my novel “The Shenandoah Spy”. Although it was priced at six dollars less than the print version, it sold less than one percent as well as that edition. I saw a post from another author who said he was selling thousands of copies of the Kindle editions of his novels, but at a much lower price. I thought that perhaps if I dropped the price, sales would improve.

One of the problems with distributing your work on Kindle is that Amazon.com makes thousands of public domain classics available at 99 cents each. Forget about your contemporaries, you’re competing with Dickens and Trollope and the like, and they have the price advantage. If you have a print edition at $18.95, you don’t want to compete with yourself by going too low on the e-book edition. There is a previous serialized version of this novel, in 14 parts, still available on Amazon Shorts. I decided to lower the price to match at $6.99.

I also noticed that the text-to-speech version had been enabled. This is something that was not part of Kindle when I uploaded the file last year, and something that I have already said I will not permit in a letter to the ‘Los Angeles Times’ earlier this year. But without notice or permission, there it was. My concern again reached back to that “competing with myself” thing. I’m currently negotiating with another publisher for audiobook rights. If there is a text–to-speech feature enabled for the Kindle version, then that will have a negative impact on the sales of an audiobook version that sells between thirty and fifty dollars a copy. And the Kindle sales to date have been, well, pathetic. Less than one copy per month.

But it’s not the reality but the perception that cheapens your brand in the marketplace. Amazon plays power games with vendors like myself. They induced about 400 authors to participate in the Amazon Shorts program and failed to promote the site even within their own pages. (A search for that term will more likely produce links to underwear.) They created quite an uproar over print-on-demand books, threatening to not distribute any that were not bought from their in-house provider. That left me with interesting choices: create separate editions for Ingram and Amazon with different ISBN numbers or lose significant parts of our distribution. Or, as we ultimately did, get a smaller distributor like Pathway Book Service to provide the book to all comers. That meant an offset print run and greater total cost, but more margin per unit.

When I objected to the text-to-speech feature on the Kindle edition I got this in reply:

Hello from Amazon DTP.

I see that you've entered the new price for your book, however, it is not updated on our website, as your book was not re-published after changing the price. Please note that your new changes will not be updated on our website, until it is saved and published again. Also, note that whenever any book is published / re-published with new changes, it has to go through the review process by our kindle operations team, it takes up to 5 business days for the review to be completed.

Please note that at this time we are not supporting the feature to manage Text-to-Speech (TTS) settings through Amazon’s Digital Text Platform (DTP), by default all the books are published with TTS enabled, we are unable to turn it off. We will continue to evaluate options for adding this to DTP customers in the future. If you still have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at dtp-feedback@amazon.com.

Thanks for using Amazon DTP.

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please send us a new e-mail.

Best regards,
Padmanaban Guruswamy
http://www.amazon.com

That’s a document simply amazing in its arrogance. It makes the simple act of changing a price a bureaucratic nightmare. Uploading the original DTP file took three days, and I won’t say we ever got it right because the interior map that is a feature of the print edition could not be included.

That they will not even try to write a line of computer code that could disable the text-to-speech function is simply another example of their disregard for authors’ rights. But, when I asked, they did take the file down, which relieves me of the burden of filing a lawsuit. Copyright reserves the right to control distribution to creators. If you are distributing a Kindle edition of your own original work, it’s a good thing to keep in mind. It’s yours, not theirs.

Amazon.com did send offers to do that file conversion for me, for the amazingly low fee of $99.00 marked down from $299.00. I was not persuaded that this would be a good investment. And while Kindle only produced about one percent of our sales to date, Amazon.com is responsible for less than ten percent of our total sales. Surprised? I was.

I can’t fault their advertising either. They do try hard with all of their book titles, create author blogs, and so on, and I’m pretty sure it’s not the book itself since I have more than a dozen favorable reviews including those five star ones on Amazon.com. (Click here to read them.)

The brick and mortar space still generates more book sales than any other channel. We have the good fortune to have done 16 book signings with the Hastings Entertainment chain, which does stock “The Shenandoah Spy” on the shelves of its 152 stores. We’ve been very aggressive about promotion, and we are following a “slow and steady” marketing plan to build word of mouth because it is the first of five books in a planned series.

I’ve been publishing e-books, mostly recycled trade magazine articles, since 2004. I have to say that this is not the financial bonanza that everyone thought it would be. Although available in multiple channels, these titles are very low demand and produce only a trickle of revenues.

That’s true of the fiction as well as the non-fiction.

We continue to experiment with e-book publishing, but it’s no longer a priority, and any future Kindle offerings will be through Smashwords.com.

Coming Soon to Your PC: Kindle Books

2009-10-22T12:13:00.007-04:00

First there was the Kindle iPhone app and now Amazon is further hedging their hardware bet with this announcement about the future ability to read Kindle books on your Windows PC. No word on Mac support, btw.

The most important point in this announcement is captured by these three words: "No Kindle required." You probably won't want to read on your laptop for hours at a time, but a netbook/tablet device becomes a more viable option, even with a backlit display.

Just as printed books will never go away I can see where dedicated e-readers like the Kindle, Sony Reader, iRex, etc., could be around for quite awhile. And while they'll offer a reading experience that's easy on the eyes, I've said it before and I'll say it again: More and more reading will take place on multi-function devices, not one-trick ponies like the Kindle.

Amazon obviously realizes that too and is taking the initial steps to ensure they remain relevant as an e-content provider on other platforms.

The Asus Eee-Reader: I Don't Get It

2009-09-14T09:00:00.001-04:00

Have you seen the leaked photos of the upcoming Asus Eee-Reader? If you missed it, here's a short article on CNET with a picture. OK, I get the lower price. Sure, that's something the market is clamoring for as the Kindles, Sony Readers, etc., are destined to be nothing more than nichey luxuries as long as they're $300+.

But what's with the 2-panel hinged display? Why take a relic of the print book and force it into an e-reader? Think about it. There's not a single time in the past year where I've said, "gee, I really wish this Kindle had a second display that hinged onto this one." Never.

Why? First of all, I can only read one screen at a time. OK, things get more interesting when you can have full color with hi-res so that images pop. Um, that's not the current state of the Kindle (or Sony) technology though, is it? So a second screen is just there, waiting for me to get to it. Oh, and btw, it costs more to make. And since this new device won't be using eInk display technologies, it's basically a pair of LCD screens that suck more juice from the battery. What's there to like?

They talk about using the second screen as a virtual keyboard. Anyone who owns an iPhone will tell you the thing they like least about it is the virtual keyboard. Heck, even the chicklet Kindle keyboard is better than a virtual one. (Wow, did I just say the Kindle has an interface feature that's better than the iPhone's?! That's the only one, btw.)

The article goes on to talk about how the device will have speakers, a webcam and a microphone built in. Sounds great, but isn't this starting to smell a lot like a netbook? Asus has been in the netbook space for a few years now and they're just tweaking their product a bit and calling it an e-reader.

I'd rather just have a netbook. And if there's one thing I've learned in 2009 it's that the dedicated e-reader doesn't have much of a future. Sure, they'll still be around in a few years but the real action will be with the multi-purpose devices like mobile phones and tablets.

Managing Stolen/Lost Kindles

2009-09-07T11:10:00.007-04:00

It should be so much easier than this. I'm talking about Amazon's policy regarding lost/stolen Kindles, as outlined in this article. I can't imagine losing my Kindle and having Amazon tell me they won't disable it.

Come on. That's an almost $400 device and it would be so easy for them to deny service to the person who found/stole it. If England can do this with cell phones why in the world can't Amazon do it with Kindles?

Whatever happened to this company that built its reputation on a foundation of outstanding customer service? Anyone who accepts this policy and then buys another Kindle to replace their lost/stolen one is a sucker.

Dear Mr. Bezos, can you please just implement the oh-so-simple solution outlined at the end of the article?!

Sheet Music on Kindle DX

2009-08-24T09:07:00.001-04:00

Kudos to Andrys Basten and her Kindle World blog for opening my eyes to something I had never considered before: Using the Kindle DX to display sheet music. The DX screen still seems a bit too small to me for this but maybe that's just because my vision isn't what it used to be!

You'll find there's a quite a bit of sheet music already for sale on Amazon's website but be sure to consider the free options as well. Andrys provides info on IMSLP, a free public domain sheet music library, as well as some screen shots of how sheet music renders on her own DX (here and here).

If you're on Twitter, and you should be(!), you can follow Andrys there too.

Slowly Losing Interest in Subscriptions

2009-08-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

I've been a Kindle NY Times subscriber for more than a year now. Because the issues show up automatically and wirelessly wherever I go it's one of the reasons I tell people I enjoy owning a Kindle and taking it on the road.

I discovered the NY Times iPhone app when I got my first iPhone. As is the case with most apps, they keep updating and improving it. The latest version has me wondering why I bother paying Amazon $13.99/month for the Kindle version. I hear there are elements in the Kindle version that don't appear in the (free) iPhone version but I'm hard-pressed to tell you what they are. All the articles I read in yesterday's Kindle edition are right there in the iPhone version.

The iPhone version has ads and the Kindle version doesn't. So what? If that's one of the key differences and it saves me $14/month, bring on the ads!

The Kindle version comes automatically and can be read without a live web connection (once the issue is downloaded, of course). The iPhone version let's me save individual articles for later offline reading. Close, but not quite the same. Of course, if the iPhone app ever comes with a setting that lets me save the whole edition automatically, well, I'd pay at least $5/month for that, maybe even $10.

Amazon hasn't exactly set the world on fire with new and exciting Kindle features. The ones that exist on the K2 and DX are pretty much the same that debuted with K1 almost 2 years ago. Meanwhile, Apple is rumored to have a sexy netbook/tablet coming next month. It will undoubtedly build on the success of the iPhone and unless Apple lays an egg it's likely to be the product I upgrade to from my Kindle 1.0.

Lessons from the iPhone App Store

2009-07-30T11:36:00.003-04:00

The Kindle Review blog recently posted this excellent article on lessons we can learn from Apple's App Store. As the post notes, discoverability is one of the major problems in the App Store today. Sure, Apple provides lists of recent additions and even popular apps, but finding your way through 65K+ apps seems hopeless when you're scrolling through 5 or so at a time!

I'm an iPhone owner and I love the device. I've downloaded a few dozen apps over the past 6 months but I'm amazed at how many I miss out on. The other night at dinner a colleague mentioned a new one to me that's just what I was looking for (Fluent News). I had never heard of it but I immediately downloaded it. Word-of-mouth promotion is nice and all but it can't be the only way forward.

I'm anxious to see how this all plays out. What new promotional vehicles will develop that help improve the discovery problem? And before we look at it as just an Apple issue, think about how this applies to ebooks...

Amazon has a tried and true method for promotion and encouraging discovery. But they're only one outlet. More and more ebook storefronts are popping up every week. Then there's the self-publishing angle. How many new self-published works hit virtual shelves every month? Hundreds of thousands?

Is this an opportunity for a third-party aggregator to step in and build an uber-catalog with all sorts of bells and whistles? This isn't just bestseller lists but also community recommendations and other lists tailored for your needs and interests.

Ebook services and offerings are growing like crazy. Without an uber-catalog service we'll soon find ourselves as lost in the sea of unknown ebook choices as iPhone owners are in the sea of apps.

A glimpse of the future?

2009-07-22T10:47:00.001-04:00

At the end of the film 2010, Dr. Heywood Floyd looks up at the new sun that had been created in our solar system and observes, "You can tell your children of the day when everyone looked up and realized that they were only tenants of this world. We have been given a new lease and a warning from the landlord."

Amazon's recent Orwell (and Orwellian) debacle served as a similar wake up call for me as a Kindle user.

People are still debating over whether Amazon handled the situation properly. Some, including our own Joe Wikert, have offered suggestions on how Amazon could have handled it better.

But what bothers me is not whether Amazon was right or wrong in removing books from our Kindles -- it's the fact that they had (and still have) the technology to do it at all.

In a recent Slate column titled "Why 2024 Will Be Like Nineteen Eighty-Four," Farhad Manjoo warns that we've just glimpsed the future of book banning. Sure it sounds alarmist now, but consider the possibilities. As Manjoo observes, Amazon's mass deletion "sets up a terrible precedent. Amazon deleted books that were already available in print, but in our paperless future—when all books exist as files on servers—courts would have the power to make works vanish completely."

Unthinkable? Perhaps. But now we've been shown that it is technically possible.

Manjoo's suggestion?

Don't buy a Kindle until Amazon updates its terms of service to prohibit remote deletions. Even better, the company ought to remove the technical capability to do so, making such a mass evisceration impossible in the event that a government compels it.

I'm not quite ready to go that far, but I do think we need to keep the pressure on Amazon. And the incident has made me think twice about purchasing Kindle editions of books.

I'm sure Amazon didn't intend to send a message when they deleted those files from our Kindles, but a message was sent nonetheless.

It was a reminder that we do not really own the e-books we purchase from Amazon.

It was a reminder that when we abandon physical media for digital we give up a lot of rights.

And it was a reminder that the media giants who sell us that digital content wield an ever-increasing amount of power.

We Kindle users just got a warning from the landlord. For the future's sake we better pay attention.

Has the incident made you think differently about the Kindle or the future of ebooks?

Paul

Follow me on Twitter @phigginbotham
What I'm reading now on my Kindle: Nothing. I'm reading a dead-tree edition of American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury by Kevin Phillips.

How Amazon Should Have Handled the Orwell Situation

2009-07-21T10:18:00.012-04:00

It's old news by now. Someone who didn't own the rights uploaded Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm to the Kindle distribution service. Amazon then stepped in and removed all the illegal copies from Kindles around the country. It should also be noted that Amazon provided refunds as well.

It's one thing to wake up and find you're missing a book you bought, especially if you had already started reading it. It's another thing when you find Amazon also deleted the notes you took while you read the book. This happened to at least one student that I've heard about, which is unfortunate as Amazon is trying to push the Kindle in the academic channels.

I don't dispute the fact that IP must be protected. I just have a problem with how Amazon addressed the problem.

Amazon's self-service publishing platform clearly needs more checks and balances. I realize one person (or even a team of people) couldn't possibly scan the mountain of submissions to see if something illegal has been uploaded. But how hard would it be to have the system check random excerpts against the content already in Amazon's library of Kindle content? This step would have immediately flagged the problem and rejected the submission.

Amazon should also have some sort of guarantee that the content you're buying is legit and won't be removed, even if they refund your money. The automated review process I described above would be a big first step to helping then stand behind this promise.

But let's say something sneaks through again. Somehow a book from publisher xyz is scanned and uploaded by another party without the rights. Once Amazon discovers this problem they should remove it from the site, substitute your illegal copy with a real one and pay the publisher the full price. That's right. I'm suggesting Amazon foot the bill for the legitimate book. They could start by taking it out of any further payments owed the illegal distrbutor and they could follow that up with a lawsuit to try and recoup the rest. It's highly unlikely this will cover everything, so Amazon would simply have to write off the difference. Maybe that would be enough of a deterrent to reduce the likelihood this sort of thing in the future. At least this way Amazon would get high marks on customer satisfaction, which has to be far better than the PR hit they're still struggling through.

Follow-up: More publishers delaying e-books?

2009-07-15T08:17:00.002-04:00

Just two days ago I posted news about one publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc., purposefully delaying the release of an e-book version of a new book. Now The New York Times is reporting that other publishers are considering the same course of action.

Authors whose works may be delayed in e-book format include Dan Brown and Stephen King (Yes, the same Stephen King who wrote a story exclusively for the Kindle to help pimp the Kindle 2.).

Are we heading for a showdown between publishers and Amazon?

Paul

How do you spell "shortsighted?"

2009-07-13T14:21:00.003-04:00

S-o-u-r-c-e-b-o-o-k-s. As in Sourcebooks, Inc., an independent book publisher that recently announced it is thumbing its nose at e-book readers.

In an article titled "Publisher Delays E-Book Amid Debate on Pricing" from the July 13 Wall Street Journal (I'd link to it but WSJ are stingy with their online articles and the link would expire in a week), the chief executive of Sourcebooks says they are delaying the e-book release of the latest in their Brian Hambric series* for as much as six months after the dead-tree version hits shelves.

* I'd never heard of it, but apparently it's pretty popular with the Harry Potter crowd?

"It doesn't make sense for a new book to be valued at $9.99," said Dominique Raccah, CEO of Sourcebooks, which issues 250 to 300 new titles annually. "The argument is that the cheaper the book is, the more people will buy it. But hardcover books have an audience, and we shouldn't cannibalize it." An e-book for "Bran Hambric" will become available in the spring, she said.

Let's break that down a bit, shall we?

First, "It doesn't make sense for a new book to be valued at $9.99." Um, it doesn't make sense to whom? Wiser folk than I have repeatedly done a great job at breaking down the various costs involved with publishing and shipping dead-tree books. Sometimes those costs even include being forced to accept unsold merchandise.

When you take away those costs and replace them with a digital product that by nature is in unlimited supply and costs you nothing to distribute how much larger is your profit margin?

Consumers are savvy. They understand these things. No one, especially Kindle owners who cherish reading, wants to cheat publishers or authors out of hard-earned money. But no one wants to be gouged either. Like it or not, the market has settled on a $9.99 price point for new novels. As a publisher you either embrace it or risk alienating a growing percentage of your readers.

Second, "But hardcover books have an audience, and we shouldn't cannibalize it." Maybe you can help me with this one because it just baffles me. Are the profit margins for publishers that much higher for hardcover books than for e-books? If so you're doing something wrong. And if not, why does it matter in what format your fans read your works?

Is it a sentimental clinging to the venerable printed word? Is it a growing fear that as the e-book market grows and the dead-tree format shrinks there will be less of a need for publishers at all?

After watching the music industry completely fail at accepting and embracing digital technology and seeing the resulting consequences, it's almost unfathomable that any other major media industry would make the same mistakes. But the publishing industry is heading in that direction.

Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. and Geoffrey A. Fowler. "Publisher Delays E-Book Amid Debate on Pricing". Wall Street Journal. 13 July 2009.

Paul

Follow me on Twitter @phigginbotham
What I'm reading on my Kindle: Nothing! I'm reading a dead-tree edition of Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas.

PC Mag and BusinessWeek on the Kindle

2009-07-12T11:31:00.019-04:00

I've been an on-again, off-again print subscriber to PC Magazine and BusinessWeek for many years. I let my PC Mag subscription lapse a couple of years ago, lost track of them and assumed they went belly up. The last several PC Mag issues I saw on newsstands were pretty thin, hence the assumption that they went away.

New magazines seem to appear on the Kindle without a lot of fanfare. PC Mag is currently #5 and BusinessWeek is #10 on Amazon's Kindle magazine bestseller list, but initially it was hard to find either anywhere on the site (despite the fact that you could subscribe to both if you found them!). Another example from the newspaper side is the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. I've been subscribing for a few months but up until recently it almost impossible to find The Trib on the site. (I'm wondering if Amazon does soft launches initially, letting subscribers slowly sign up, then waits to make sure there are no major problems/complaints before making it more public.)

Having looked pretty closely at the latest Kindle edition issues of both PC Magazine and BusinessWeek I have to say I'm not overly impressed with either. PC Mag is definitely pretty lightweight. I read the small number of articles that interested me in less than 20 minutes. This is a magazine I used to invest at least 2-3 hours immersed in every time a new issue arrived. Yikes. Even John Dvorak's stuff just ain't what it used to be.

BusinessWeek's problem isn't so much the lack of content. All the regular columns appear to be intact. Even the tiniest of sidebar elements seem to have made it through to the Kindle edition. What's missing though are some of the USAToday-like standalone graphics that frequently catch my eye. I'm not sure why BusinessWeek didn't just include images of these but their absence is disappointing.

More importantly, I'm starting to become as discouraged about the quick-and-dirty print-to-e conversions the magazine business is doing, similar to what the book publishing world has done up to now. Nobody's really fully leveraging the Kindle's full capability. When was the last time you saw a Kindle version of a product that had more e-functionality built into it than the static print version? And let's not be satisfied with embedded links, although most of those opportunities are often missed as well! I'm talking about really taking advantage of the wireless connection and dynamic content capabilities the Kindle offers.

I blame some of this on Amazon for having such a closed model and not allowing for a third-party development ecosystem like what Apple has done for the iPhone, but most of the responsibility lies with the content publishers. I don't see anyone stepping up and creating some great, new Kindle content that wows you. I almost get the impression we're all figuring te Kindle is a flash-in-the-pan and we (publishers) don't want to spend too much on it for fear of it going away tomorrow. That's a valid concern, particularly if Apple comes through with their much-rumored "iPad."

At this point though, it's hard for me to get overly excited about Kindle content unless it's available at rock-bottom prices, and that's not much of a reason to get excited for the future, is it?

UR, by Stephen King

2009-07-06T20:31:00.005-04:00

I love it that Stephen King is willing to experiment with new content models. Do you remember The Plant, a serial novel King started writing and releasing in pieces back in 2000? I loved it...or at least I loved the handful of chapters he released before abandoning the project. It was probably ahead of its time. King relied on the honor system and not enough readers paid up so he never finished the project. Bummer.

King's latest experiment is a Kindle-only story called UR. At first I couldn't help but think it was nothing more than an advertorial for the Kindle, but the story still managed to pull me in. It's an intriguing read and well worth the $2.99 you'll pay for it.

It's also a very quick read. I'm a slow reader and I still managed to get through it in little more than an hour. You might call that "short" but I call it "perfect." I spend most of my Kindle time reading short pieces of content. Newspaper articles, magazines, blog posts. Those are the things I like reading most on my Kindle. For some reason I tend to lose interest with longer Kindle books.

Jeff Bezos originally pitched the Kindle as a way for all of us to get past "info-snacking" and get back to reading long-form works. UR is another great example of how the Kindle is still feeding my info-snacking habit, I'm afraid.

A Kindle App Opportunity

2009-06-25T13:18:00.004-04:00

Do your friends and colleagues send you email messages with links to great articles and web pages they want you to go check out? I do, and when I get them I never seem to have enough time to thoroughly read them at that moment. Sometimes I print them. Quite often though I accidentally forget and miss the opportunity to read them.

What if you could do this?: Grab the url from the email message or your browser and drag it over to your Kindle, which is connected to your computer via USB? The application looks up that url, grabs all the HTML content that appears on the page, converts it to the Kindle's native format (mobi) and drops it into your home screen so you can read it later.

This is an app that you'd buy for your PC/Mac and would have no affiliation with Amazon. You'd be free to use it to easily and quickly convert and load whatever webpage content you want.

I provided more info about it in this longer post on my Publishing 2020 blog. I'm curious to see if others would benefit from an app like this. Also, if you know of a service that already fills this hole, please let me know!

When Two Out of Three Ain't Good

2009-06-16T19:20:00.008-04:00

Remember that great Meatloaf song, "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad"? I do, and for some reason I thought of it when I read this Jeff Bezos quote from Wired's "Disruptive by Design" conference yesterday:

“[The Kindle DX] is $489, and that is an unbelievably low price for something that has inside it a sophisticated computer, a completely new kind of display of that size, and a 3G wireless radio,” Bezos said.

Bezos rightfully points out three important attributes of every Kindle: it's a full-fledged computer, has a great display and a 3G wireless radio. What irritates me though is that that Amazon, in their infinite wisdom, prevents Kindle owners from fully leveraging two out of the three (computer and wireless).

Imagine the iPhone without the App Store. It would be nothing more than a phone, like most of the other phones that preceded it. Have you heard of any third-party apps you can add to your Kindle? No, because Amazon doesn't want you to extend the device's capabilities. And even though all Kindles have wireless functionality built-in, there again, you're pretty much limited to what Amazon does and doesn't want you to do with that feature (although clever services like KindleFeeder have managed to get around it).

Jeff, can you imagine the doors that would open and the opportunities that would arise if you'd just let us fully utilize that "sophisticated computer" and "3G wireless radio"?! The DX's $489 price tag will always be deemed wickedly expensive as long as you place artificial limits on what we can and cannot do with it.

WSJ's Mossberg on the KindleDX: "Bigger, Not Better"

2009-06-11T15:00:00.001-04:00

Walt Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal's personal technology guru and hit maker, has weighed in on the KindleDX, and the word isn't good. He indicates that after testing, he "didn’t like it nearly as much as the Kindle 2, which I own and enjoy using daily."

See the full review here.

What do you think? Are you planning to spring for a DX? Indicate your intent in our poll below:

Online Surveys & Market Research

E-Books get Olfactory

2009-06-11T14:18:00.002-04:00

Do you enjoy e-books on your Kindle, but feel like you are a few sniffs shy of the full reading experience? Worry no more, Smell of Books has you covered.

With tongue firmly in cheek, Smell of Books promises to delivery the "smell of your favorite paper book" in a handy aerosol delivery format.

Not convinced it's a joke? Jump to site for DuroSport, the parent company of Smell of Books and browse the archive of truly funny product announcements and press releases. My favorite: the company's response to the Author's Guild, who criticizes Smell of Books for "Allowing unauthorized third parties to provide the “scent” for a book substantially changes the underlying work to a degree that infringes upon the author’s copyright, not to mention artistic vision."

Funny stuff!

Do You Want More Magazine Options on the Kindle?

2009-06-10T20:02:00.005-04:00

I do, and that's why I wrote this post on my Publishing 2020 blog. I don't normally cross-post like this but this particular topic is perfect for Publishing 2020 but also highly relevant for Kindle owners who read Kindleville.

Let me know what you think of the idea.

The Lion That Squeaked?

2009-06-02T16:02:00.002-04:00

Look out, Amazon! Google is getting into the e-book market! Or as the New York Times puts it, Google is "throwing down the gauntlet."

Sayeth the Times,

In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google.The move would pit Google against Amazon.com, which is seeking to control the e-book market with the versions it sells for its Kindle reading device.

Google boasts that unlike Amazon e-books which require the proprietary Kindle, their e-books will be accessible on multiple devices, including phones and PCs.

And publishers are giddy because Google plans to let them have more of a say about e-book prices, giving them more control over their commodities than Amazon does.

Anyone would be foolish to underestimate Google's impact on a market once they set their sights on it, but am I the only one who sees the flaws in their plan?

First, attacking the Kindle by making e-books available on multiple devices is a nice concept, but has Google considered that one of the keys to the Kindle's success is that people don't want to read to books on computer or cell phone screens? To paraphrase an old political attack, "It's the e-ink, stupid."

It bothers me not one bit that I can't read my Kindle e-books on other devices because I have no desire to.

Second, giving publishers more control over pricing will certainly bring plenty of them running to the table to do business with Google, but have they been paying attention to the virtual revolution that Kindle users have initiated over pricing? One of the biggest and most active threads in the official Kindle discussion forum is titled "Boycott anything over $9.99."

Publishers: "Hurray! We can raise the price of our e-books and increase our profits!"

Consumers: "Uh, yeah. About that..."

E-book adoption has been slow enough. Do the publishers think raising prices will help? Perhaps they think that multi-device access will make readers more willing to loosen their purse strings? Or are they just so scared of what Amazon means to the future of publishing that they're anxious to back any other contender?

Again, I wouldn't dare dismiss Google's venture into e-books -- or any market -- as folly. They'll undoubtedly make an impact. I'm just not sure they quite have their finger on the pulse of the consumer in this case.

Paul

Follow me on Twitter: @phigginbotham
What I'm reading now on my Kindle: Nothing To Be Frightened Of by Juilan Barnes

Unlike Texting, Reading While Driving is Safe

2009-05-31T21:23:00.002-04:00

Too many compare Kindle’s text-to-speech to a beautifully crafted and performed audio book. That is a mistake. There’s too much additional information in an audio book represented by among other things, the voices of famous actors. It’s hard to imagine a text-to-speech engine ever being able to impart the drama and emotion of a Richard Burton or Peter O’Toole. Not to mention the fact that two audio books performed by different actors will result in two different works.

The text-to-speech capability in Kindle is obviously not on par with an audio book, or up to speed with the best speech engines. However, once you’re into a book and familiar with the characters and story line, brief episodes with Kindle’s text-to-speech are perfectly acceptable.

For example, let’s say you started reading a particularly thrilling book last evening and continued reading the next morning. Sadly, you must leave for work. Instead of listening to the radio or another rap song, fire up your Kindle and "read" while you drive. Again, it’s not great audio, but at this point you’re so engrossed in the story it doesn’t matter.

Try it. You might be surprised.

--by Mel Dashner, Kindle Zen blog

Kindle File Manager is Awful

2009-05-25T14:40:00.006-04:00

Amazon desperately needs to come out with a better Kindle file manager. Every time I use it I feel like I'm stepping back into the 1980's. I'd say it's got all the functionality of MS-DOS but that would be an insult to anyone associated with that fine (but very old) operating system.

Am I the only one who wonders why there's no GUI interface for the Kindle? Haven't we all been using GUI's for at least the past 15 years? Just because the display is one color doesn't mean the operating system interface has to feel so outdated.

OK, maybe a GUI is asking too much. How about simply letting me arrange my books and other documents in whatever order I prefer? Why can't I customize it so that my main page features the books, magazines and newspapers I want to read that day? Why do I have to go hunting through screen after screen of listings just to find that book I'd like to read today? I may not have read from it for a couple of weeks but I'd like to have it front and center every time I wake up my Kindle.

I typically have enough entries on my Kindle to fill up 8 or 9 pages of screen listings. Some of these are books. Others are magazines or newspapers. Some are just book samples. One of the major problems I'm finding with the current Kindle file manager is that I forget about certain books/magazines/etc. Out of sight, out of mind. I'd really like to move all the important stuff to the first page but there's no option for this.

C'mon Amazon, can you at least bring this UI into the 1990's and let me dock my important stuff on the first screen?

Thoughts on Amazon's New Whispernet Charge Policy

2009-05-21T13:29:00.000-04:00

As everyone probably knows by now, Amazon has altered the conversion/delivery fee associated with sending files wirelessly to your Kindle. When I got my Kindle v.1 I was happy to see that I could email PDFs and other documents and have them delivered wirelessly to the device for 10 cents/attachment. When I dug in deeper and was told by an Amazon rep (last summer) that they're actually not charging anything for this service I was ecstatic.

Once I figured out there was no cost involved in using this service, well, I'm sure I used it a lot more frequently than Amazon anticipated. Unfortunately, I apparently wasn't the only one doing this, which is what forced Amazon to change the policy.

Am I happy about the change? Absolutely not, but I understand the reason behind it. Here's a great summary of the situation from the Kindle 2 Review blog, btw.

So although I understand why Amazon made this change, I think they're financially addressing the symptom but not the cause. If the problem is due to so many of us using Kindles for services other than buying books or subscribing to magazines, newspapers and blogs, well, Amazon what does that tell you?! Maybe the model for those books, magazines, etc., needs to be adjusted.

This gets back to one of my chief gripes about Amazon and the Kindle. I see almost no innovation happening with the platform. How about other ways to acquire content? What would you think of an all-you-can-eat Kindle content subscription model like Safari Books Online, for (one simple) example? When I get my AMEX bill every month I'm amazed at how little I spend on Kindle content. I guarantee you I'd spend considerably more for a monthly all-you-can-eat subscription model on it and I suspect I'm not alone.

So Amazon, rather than just putting a bandaid on the wound and hoping it gets better, would you please take a closer look at the data and see what it might mean about the platform itself?

KindleFeeder Free Wireless Is Back!

2009-05-13T23:06:00.008-04:00

When Amazon announced their recent decision to start charging for wireless file conversions (and raise the price from 10 cents/file to 15 cents per meg) I had to change my KindleFeeder settings to manual rather than wireless. I was pretty bummed because I had gotten hooked on the ease of use this service offered and now I'd have to shift to always remembering to download and move the files from computer to Kindle via USB cable.

Earlier today I got an email from KindleFeeder's Dan Choi saying he's got an interesting workaround to resurrect that wireless service (premium KindleFeeder subscription required). Here's how he describes it:

It's the "Prepare download" button in the middle column of the Dashboard. Click this, then wait for the delivery to become ready in the Deliveries box on the right side. When it's ready, download the linked file on your computer and transfer it manually to your Kindle. This should be a one-time thing.

Then, when you open this latest delivery in your Kindle, you should see links at the top for "Check download status & get download" and "Prepare new download". You click the latter link to tell Kindlefeeder to start preparing a new download. Then 5 minutes or so later, you click the "Check download status & get download" to go to a page (using your Kindle web browser) where you can download your newest Kindlefeeder delivery. This is pretty fast, maybe 20 seconds for a big delivery. Then you should be able to find the new delivery on your Kindle home screen and read it.

I'm heading over to give it a shot right now!

Thoughts on the Kindle DX

2009-05-11T08:30:00.017-04:00

The big news this week, of course, was Amazon's announcement of the next member of the family, the Kindle DX. I decided to let the news settle a bit before writing anything about the DX here on Kindleville. Now that a few days have passed I wanted to share my observations as both a consumer and a publisher. Let's start things off with the positives.

Kindle DX Pros
I'm glad Amazon is innovating and not just sitting still. The Whispernet content delivery feature included in the entire Kindle family was a unique why-to-buy for K1 and it remains one for K2 and DX. It would be very easy for Amazon to just sit back and watch the competition limp around without that sort of feature but they're not. (Although I have to admit it's remarkable that Sony, for example, still hasn't figured out a wireless solution almost 18 months after the Kindle set the standard.)

I'm also delighted that Amazon is, at least on the surface, trying to help the newspaper industry find their way. Perhaps most importantly though, I'm thrilled Amazon is looking to help reinvent the textbook publishing industry. Having seen firsthand just how screwed up that sector is I'm glad Amazon is trying to do something about it. It's just that I'm not convinced the newspaper industry can be saved and I'm pretty skeptical the textbook industry can be changed, which leads me to...

Kindle DX Cons
The word on the street is that Amazon keeps 70% of the subscription fees you and I pay for newspapers and magazines. Hey, I wondered why there are so few products to choose from and now I know why. 70%. Are you kidding me?! Even Apple turns that model around and only keeps 30% on App Store sales, passing the other 70% along to developers. I can totally sympathize with newspapers/magazines as long as this remains the Kindle revenue model. As I read somewhere else recently, Amazon needs these magazine/newspaper publishers more than the publishers need Amazon. I hope Bezos & Co. wake up to that before too long. In the mean time, just know that your choices here will continue to be extremely limited.

One of the key benefits to the Kindle DX is the larger display size. Amazon plays that up and how it will provide a reading experience closer to what you've grown accustomed to in newspapers and magazines. Huh? I've had a NY Times subscription on my Kindle for almost a year now and I'm here to tell you that I love the fact that the content isn't rendered like it is in the printed paper! One of the flaws in trying to invent a next-generation product is to focus too much on the attributes of the current product. As my O'Reilly colleague Mac Slocum asks in this blog post, "why would anyone want a print experience on a digital device?" Amazon, liberate yourself from the way things work today and focus more on the great functionality you an offer tomorrow.

Regarding textbooks, I've got two kids in college and there's no way I'm spending almost $1,000 so both of them can have an e-reader...unless the price of textbooks comes way, way down on these devices. Heck, I recently bought a replacement laptop for my daughter and only spent $350, so there's no way I'm coughing up this kind of cash for a one-trick pony like the Kindle DX. You might be thinking it's OK to pay $489 for the device because the textbooks will be a fraction of the price students pay today. Dream on. I'm sure DX textbook prices will be less but I seriously doubt the savings will pay for a DX. Don't forget there are a bunch of textbook publishers out there who are used to getting fat margins on their print products; they arguably have a monopoly in this space and even though it's being challenged on a number of fronts, don't look for them to suddenly become filled with benevolence.

I admit that I'm still pretty irritated with Amazon's decision to essentially abandon the K1 and focus on K2, DX and beyond. I'm not asking for a free upgrade but I sure would appreciate it if they'd simply provide some of the same features available on K2 to all those early adopters who bought into K1. Text-to-speech is a great example. Is there really a reason why Amazon can't simply offer a software upgrade to support this on the K1? Again, despite the rumor of a "media pad" from Apple, the folks in Cupertino are not abandoning existing iPhone users. In fact, I'm looking forward to the OS 3.0 update that's due later this summer. It sounds like it will include a number of very cool features...and it will show up on my phone for free. Hey Amazon, even if you can't find it in your heart to offer free K1 software updates like this, how about making text-to-speech (and other K2 functionality) available for $5?!

I still use my K1 every day and I even bought a new book for it last night. So although I haven't abanded Amazon and the Kindle platform, each new product release seems to give me more and more reason to explore other alternatives. That doesn't sound like the type of customer loyalty Amazon has built via their core services but sometimes it feels like the Kindle comes from a totally different company.

Some Kindle pundits have caught Whine Flu

2009-04-30T14:57:00.001-04:00

As you've no doubt heard by now, Amazon recently announced that they will finally begin charging a fee for sending personal documents to your Kindle wirelessly (after giving it away for two years). Instead of charging by the document, as they had originally planned, they will by the megabyte -- 15 cents per MB rounded up to the nearest megabyte.

Of course Kindle critics see this as one more sign of the Kindle's future downfall.

One blogger asks "Does this increase lessen the value of the Kindle?", and proceeds to express his displeasure at the pricing change.

My favorite headline so far comes from C-Net: "Amazon's Kindle: Your fat personal docs aren't cheap."

Exactly how "fat" do your personal documents have to be before transferring them wirelessly is no longer cheap?

Just for a frame of reference, I visited Project Gutenberg and looked up War and Peace. Any guess on how much that "fat" txt file will cost to transfer under the new pricing structure? 60 cents. That still seems like a bargain for document conversion and wireless delivery, especially considering we're paying no monthly fee for wireless service.

Of course PDFs are much larger than text files, but given the dodgy quality of PDF conversions for Kindle I doubt too many Kindle users will be concerned about PDF pricing.

I don't know about you, but I don't have too many Tolstoy-sized personal documents sitting around that I need to transfer to my Kindle. But if you do, fortunately there's always the free solution of transferring documents to your Kindle manually via USB cable, either after converting them yourself using a program such as Calibre (which we introduced you to earlier), or by using your @free.kindle.com email address.

I'm certainly no Amazon apologist, but the whole thing seems to be much ado about nothing. I strongly doubt it will affect future purchase decisions or send any current Kindle users scrambling to eBay to list their device. Not until Apple unleashes their "Kindle Killer," that is (yawn). But that's another column.

Paul

Currently reading on my Kindle: Nothing! I'm reading a real paper book from my local library. Ugh. Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-zinn.

Follow me on Twitter @phigginbotham.

The New York Times Laments Forward Progress with the Kindle

2009-04-26T16:17:00.012-04:00

The Kindle prevents you from learning more about the stranger sitting next to you on the subway, or so this New York Times article suggests. Gone are the days when you could tell whether that person was into sci-fi, sports or politics, for example. Well how about just knowing they're an early adopter who loves the portability, power and flexibility of an e-reader?!

I've had more people ask me about my Kindle (in airports, conferences, etc.) than I've ever had ask me about the print book I happened to be reading; and don't forget I've had a Kindle for less than a year but I had been reading print books all my life prior to that.

How about this little gem from the article?:

Will they (Kindles) help or hurt book sales and authors’ advances? Cannibalize the industry?

It's called "progress", people, and it's not a bad thing. The same fears probably kept some people from making that scary jump from horses to automobiles 100+ years ago. I'm glad nobody squashed that idea, although current GM shareholders might disagree.

I laughed out loud when I read this excerpt:

Publishers will no longer get the bump that comes when travelers see someone reading, say, the latest James Patterson and say to themselves: “I’ve been meaning to get that. I think I’ll buy a copy at Hudson News before I hop on the train.”

Just how many people does the typical commuter influence like this? And isn't that number kinda tiny when compared to the more modern forms of e-promotions, including e-mail blasts, Twittering, etc.? Maybe this Times columnist is living in the era of horse-and-buggy transportation after all.

I nearly cried though when I read the part about David Rosenthal, EVP and Publisher at Simon & Schuster. Here's a publishing executive who owns a Sony Reader, uses it to read manuscripts but won't read a published book on it. Yeah, you read that right. I wonder if he trusts his computer's spreadsheet to analyze P&L's or if he still insists on doing things the old-fashioned way, with a sliderule, pencil and paper.

Meanwhile, back to the snobbishness of carrying around a book rather than reading it electronically. Maybe there's a market for someone to produce an e-reader cover with a see-through slot in front where you can print out and insert whatever book cover you want to impress everyone with. I'd put a Mad magazine cover on mine, just to be different.

My Visit to E Ink

2009-04-19T15:39:00.013-04:00

Last week I mentioned I was heading to our Cambridge office and had a meeting scheduled with E Ink, the company that makes the Kindle and Sony Reader displays. I wound up spending the better part of an hour with Russ Wilcox, CEO of E Ink, and got to see some very cool stuff.

I need to preface this by saying that the E Ink technologies I got a peek at are still a ways off. Don't look for them in a new Kindle version anytime soon. IOW, if you're thinking about buying a Kindle today but wondering if a new version is about to arrive with any of these display capabilities, forget about it! You're better off buying a Kindle 2 today, not waiting for this stuff to arrive.

First up, I saw a display that supports animations. You probably know your Kindle can't show anything other than static text/photos. A prototype I saw allowed for simple animations. I say "simple" because I'm talking about animated line-art, not video like you see on YouTube. Nevertheless, it was implemented in a manner that lends itself nicely to simple, motion-filled ad blocks on a portion of the display. Although the Kindle's content is currently ad-free, I'd like to see Amazon enable ad support so that publishers/authors will have a new way to monetize their content.

I saw several prototypes and all of them offered crisper renderings of text and graphics than what I've seen on either Kindle 1 or Kindle 2. And it's important to note that the animations described above were done without the need for the annoying reverse-out (and ghosting) effect we've all grown accustomed to on first- and second-generation Kindles.

Most importantly, I'm here to tell you I've seen a color display and it was very attractive. The colors were a little washed out but the clarity was excellent...and don't forget E Ink has plenty of time to address the colorization before a device ever ships. Like today's E Ink displays, the color prototype had no backlighting. As a result, I can see where it too will be much easier on the eyes than staring at my backlit LCD laptop all day.

So for anyone wondering whether progress is being made on color displays for e-readers, I'm pleased to report the answer is "yes." And don't be surprised if you see a post-2 Kindle display that's still monochrome but has more bells and whistles than today's model. Just don't look for it anytime soon!

New KindleFeeder Feature

2009-04-19T15:15:00.006-04:00

How cool is this? I'm catching up on my KindleFeeder RSS feeds last night and I had an idea to improve the service. My feeds are automatically delivered every morning at 6AM. I could choose a different time but I like to get the latest as early in the morning as possible. But what about those times when I'm about to hop on a plane and I'd like any updates that have hit since 6AM?

If time permits (and it never does) I could boot my computer, head to kindlefeeder.com and have it push an update to me. But it would be even better if I could request the update from my Kindle, within the KindleFeeder file/feed itself.

I sent this idea to Dan Choi, the guy behind KindleFeeder, and he implemented it overnight. So now there's an extra link on the first KindleFeeder screen that says, "Trigger a new wireless delivery". I just tried it and it works perfectly. The next time I board a plane I'll just pull out my Kindle, click that link and I'll have all the latest feeds before I even take my seat. Very slick!

I've said it before but I'll say it again: If you're not using KindleFeeder you're missing out. I use it every day and totally love the service. Btw, if you want to follow Dan Choi on Twitter you'll find him here.

What Would You Like to Tell/Ask E Ink?

2009-04-12T09:14:00.004-04:00

I'm back on the road this week and one of my stops is at the offices of E Ink in Cambridge, MA. If you're not familiar with E Ink you're not paying attention... They're the company who created the ultra cool display in your Kindle. They also produce the displays for the Sony Reader and a number of other devices.

I've been told I'll get a glimpse at some next-generation technologies. It's not clear whether I'll be able to share all the information I gather on this visit, but I'll tell you what I can.

I've got a number of questions for the E Ink team and I thought it would be a good idea to ask Kindleville readers if they have some as well. So here's your chance to use me as a messenger. Is there anything you'd like the folks at E Ink to hear about your experience with their display technology? Do you have any questions you'd like me to ask them while I'm there?

If so, you can either send them as a comment to this post or email them to me at jwikert[at]gmail.com.

The Kindle Swiss Army knife

2009-04-09T10:50:00.001-04:00

I've recently been playing with an e-book management program called Calibre. Now I don't see how I lived without it.

Calibre is an open-source, cross platform program that lets you manage your e-library, convert documents and e-books to different formats, download news feeds, and sync everything with your Kindle.

As if dragging and dropping files to your Kindle's "Documents" folder weren't already easy enough, Calibre makes it even easier, even giving you a choice of sending a document to your Kindle memory or your SD card (for K1 users only, obviously). It makes conversion a snap too for those documents not already in Mobi format.

Calibre's best feature is "Fetch news," which lets you download popular news feeds and then transfer them to your Kindle. There are a lot of fantastic feeds available, such as The New York Times (registration required), The Economist, and Wired magazine, but with a little work you can add your own custom feeds as well.

You can schedule automatic downloads of your favorite news feeds, but for that to work you have to leave your computer on and Calibre running. I prefer launching Calibre and manually downloading the feeds when I want them.

So far I've downloaded issues of the NYT and The Economist for my Kindle and they look great.

The program is easy to use but there is a manual on the website in case you get stuck. The one roadblock I ran into initially was not noticing that Calibre has the preferred e-book format set to EPUB by default, which sadly doesn't work with Kindle. So I when I tried to transfer my first batch of news to my Kindle I got an error saying no valid device was connected. Once I realized my mistake and switched the preferred format to Mobi it worked like a charm.

I can't recommend the program enough for Kindle owners. It's a fantastic way to get news to your Kindle -- for free -- and an all-around good tool for managing your e-library.

Calibre is free but they accept donations.

Paul

Why Isn't Amazon the 800-Pound Gorilla of eReaders?

2009-04-05T13:35:00.013-04:00

OK, the Kindle is pretty darned successful. Amazon ran out of stock twice in the first year so maybe they don't need to worry about selling more units. That sounds like a rationalization to me though and I keep wondering why Amazon hasn't tried to turn the Kindle into a much bigger hit.

Other than the Kindle you own, how many have you seen in the wild? For me, the answer to that question is...drum roll please...2. I've been on at least 30 different flights since the original Kindle arrived in November of 2007 and I think I've seen one other person using one on a plane. It's an unfair comparison, but I couldn't even tally the number of iPhones I've seen on those same flights.

As much as we've all assumed Sony's initiative has failed, have you checked Google Trends lately? This is one of my favorite tools and it's quite useful for comparing search popularity between two or more terms. In this case, I'm comparing "Amazon Kindle" with "Sony Reader." Sony has had a lead on the Kindle since shortly after the latter was first released. That gap kept increasing till Kindle 2 arrived earlier this year. But look at how Kindle search activity has died back down and the Sony Reader searches are again comfortably ahead.

Critics have complained that Google Trends isn't an effective tool for this sort of comparison. They say "nobody needs to search for the Kindle since it's right there, front and center on Amazon's home page." Perhaps, but if that were the case, how come so many of my friends and relatives who are loyal Amazon customers have still never heard of the Kindle?!

Amazon is the king of online book sales and yet I feel like they've left the door wide open for a competitor to come in and crush them in the e-reader space. The barrier to entry isn't exactly low but Amazon simply doesn't have the momentum I would have expected by this point.

It seems every time I turn around someone else is announcing plans for a new reader. Why do I get the impression Amazon isn't hungry and aggressive enough to dominate this space? They seem perfectly content to take the slow and steady path, focusing more on customers with the most disposable income and not the mass market.

Here's a link to a story about Rupert Murdoch and speculation about what he wants to do on the e-reader front. Btw, Amazon might not be the hungriest of competitors here, but do you think the newspaper industry is a tad bit starved these days? You have to wonder if they'll awaken and do something really exciting and innovative...or maybe not.

How about this recent NY Times article about Vook.tv? Or this upcoming, "next generation reader," called txtr? Amazon's Whispernet connectivity has always been its key competitive advantage, but how long will it be before someone comes out with something even more powerful at a much better price?

I admit I'm down on Amazon right now. I feel like I spent $360 on a Kindle 1 and although I use it every day I don't see growth potential or an upgrade path for it. My iPhone, on the other hand, features a slew of new apps every week, making it even more appealing today than it was yesterday...and who knows about tomorrow? How long will it be before someone creates an e-reader with that sort of sex appeal? Or does it already exist and it's called "the iPhone"?

P.S. -- I'm heading to Cambridge next week and, among other things, I'm scheduled to meet with the folks at E Ink, the company that makes the displays for the Kindle and Sony Reader. I'm told I'll get to see some next generation display technologies. Assuming I'm not tied to an NDA for the visit I'll be sure to report back on any of the cool stuff they show me.

Why Is Everyone Stuck in 1980's Thinking?

2009-03-29T10:48:00.017-04:00

Earlier in my career I was a programmer at NCR. That was in the 1980's, the dawn of truly bad music and even worse hair styles. I came to NCR towards the end of their inwardly-focused, proprietary business model. They built their own hardware that supported their operating system and ran their own applications. It was a model that made sense at one point, but was getting clobbered by the open alternatives that were sprouting up.

Last night I was criticized by people who I think are still stuck in the 1980's. When I wrote this tweet at the bookstore I got a slew of direct messages and other replies about how "it's so wrong to browse a physical bookstore, buy nothing and go home to buy the Kindle editions" of what I liked. Btw, I've had representatives from both the major U.S. brick-and-mortar bookstores tell me they're well aware of customers who come in and browse the store then go home and buy on Amazon for 34% off. So the Kindle approach I tweeted about is more of the same, only with a new layer of technology involved. (Btw, I should also mention that my wife bought two books while we were there, so our family supports the store even if I don't directly).

I'm blogging about this because I think it's important to move on, to recognize customer habits are changing and, most importantly, to adapt! This is a Darwinian thing where either the brick-and-mortar stores will evolve or die off. Right now they don't have to worry about ebook sales putting them out of business, but in a few years, who knows?

I'm in the publishing business and I face a similar issue every single day. That's why I'm working so hard to experiment with new ways of delivering content. As I've said many times now, my biggest competitor isn't another publisher...it's Google. I'm not going to sit around whining about how all those prospective customers are killing the publishing business by using free solutions online. I'm too busy trying to create something that's better than those free alternatives, not sticking my head in the sand and wishing they didn't exist!

Amazon, in some respects, is also still operating with a 1980's mentality. The Kindle is about as closed a platform as you'll find these days. Heck, even Apple, the king of proprietary systems, has opened the iPhone up to third-party developers. Apple still decides who gets in the App Store and who doesn't, but I'm told that most submissions eventually make it through and are offered to the iPhone/iTouch customer base.

Why in the world won't Amazon open the Kindle platform to third-party developers?! I wish I could configure my Kindle so that every purchase I make and every sample I downloaded would be auto-Twittered. Heck, Amazon acts as if Twitter doesn't even exist, so the thought of auto-Twittering is completely foreign to us Kindle owners. That's just one great example of the add-on application ecosystem that would develop if Amazon would just open their API to developers.

Jeff Bezos, turn off the Madonna CD, pause Dirty Dancing on your VCR and open up the Kindle platform!!

Pass this on to your friends

2009-03-27T15:37:00.001-04:00

Those of us who fell in love with the Kindle long ago often forget that there are a whole lot of people out there who have not even heard about it yet. And there are many more who have heard of the Kindle but aren't quite sure what it is or what it can and can not do.

As any Kindle evangelist has probably discovered already, one of the most common misconceptions about Kindle is that you must buy all of your books from Amazon. With all of the free books available (legally) for the Kindle, one could read a lifetime and never purchase a single book from Amazon.com.

Etan Horowitz from The Orlando Sentinal has published a nifty, concise guide to finding those free books and getting them on your Kindle. Yeah, you already know this stuff, but it's a great page to send to those new Kindle owners in your life or anyone thinking of becoming one.

Horowitz doesn't list all the sources for Kindle freebies, but his article is a nice starting point.

---

What I'm reading now on my Kindle: The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Follow me on Twitter @phigginbotham.

Interview with Kindlefeeder Founder Daniel Choi

2009-03-20T10:51:00.007-04:00

If you're not using Kindlefeeder you need to check it right now. I've basically abandoned my traditional RSS reader and read all my feeds exclusively on my Kindle via this terrific service.

I've gotten to know Kindlefeeder's founder, Daniel Choi, a bit over the past year or so and he was kind enough to answer a few questions for the following blog interview:

JW: Kindlefeeder has pretty much replaced my need for a separate RSS reader. What sort of feedback have you heard from other customers?

DC: Basically, the feedback has ranged from really appreciative to effusively grateful. Lots of Kindlefeeder users really like what the service adds to their daily Kindle use.

JW: Are there any features you're working on for a future release that you could share with us now?

DC: Since I rewrote the softwore for Kindlefeeder at the end of Februrary (the first version was launched in September), I've been putting out fires and trying to get the new version of the service into a stable, relatively bug-free state. I'm still in fireman-exterminator mode right now. I also have other projects and clients that I need to devote serious time to. So major new features for Kindlefeeder are probably at least a few weeks off in the future.

But there are a few smaller features and improvements I do have in the queue. A few people have asked for the ability to schedule more than one feed delivery per day, and I think that feature suggestion has merit.

I also really want to improve Kindlefeeder's handling of different character encodings. Right now the service does a good job with feeds encoded in UTF-8, but it's hit or miss with feed content that comes in other character encodings.

Another great suggestion a user gave me was to embed a link right inside the Kindlefeeder documents that you could click to trigger a fresh new delivery from Kindlefeeder to your Kindle. I think that's a really cool idea.

JW: How has your growth rate been for the service? Have you noticed an up-tick in subscribers now that Kindle 2 is shipping?

DC: For the first few months after I launched the first version of the site last September, growth was pretty modest. Kindlefeeder plateaued at around 350 or so users by around December.

But then, at the end of February, after the Kindle 2 started shipping, my user base more than doubled in the space of a week. Now there are over 1,200 users and the user base is currently increasing by around 25 new users a day.

JW: I've often wondered what the author of this great service does with his Kindle. I mostly read The New York Times, KindleFeeder feeds and a couple of magazines. IOW, I don't use it as much for books as I thought I would. How does your usage look?

DC: I actually like to read books on my Kindle, especially nonfiction. I think I've read around 25 books on it since I got my Kindle (1.0) last August, and I enjoyed most of them. The last books I read are Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz, Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin, and The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. I'm almost done reading So Damn Much Money by Robert Kaiser, and that's a really important book I think everyone should read.

But I also use Kindlefeeder to read feeds from my favorite blogs. I like to read feeds from The Economist, Slashdot, and BBC News.

JW: If you could wave your magic wand, what are the top 2 or 3 features you'd love to see Amazon add to the Kindle?

DC: First, I would really, really love to be able to write notes and annotations on an e-ink screen with a stylus or some sort of electronic pen. The ability to scrawl notes in margins and underline, star, and circle passages is the most important reason I still often buy printed books, even when they're available in a Kindle version. I hate using the "Add Note" and "Highlight" features on my Kindle. They're totally clunky and unnatural.

Second, I would love to have a device with a much bigger screen. I mean big enough to show at least two pages at once. Because then you could do a lot of productive cross-referencing. This is important when you're reading something like an O'Reilly programming book. You need to be able to cross-reference the table of contents, the index, and multiple chapters really easily. Until then, I'll keep buying print copies of books on software programming.

But I could buy a netbook for that!

2009-03-13T09:46:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago my old television died. I decided to finally take the plunge into the world of high definition television. I shopped around and found an HDTV that suited me perfectly.

But then it hit me. For the same amount of money, or less, I could have bought so much more. I paid good money for something that does only one thing -- display video -- when I could have spent a little less and had a machine that not only displays video but also plays DVDs and VHS tapes! What was I thinking?! Surely the machine that does it all is much better.

That's the mentality that pervades many who scoff at the Kindle's steep price tag and uni-tasking nature. Read an internet forum about the Kindle and without fail some naysayer will eventually bring up netbooks as a better alternative. After all, the Kindle only does one thing well: display e-books. Why wouldn't you prefer a netbook for the same money since it can do so many other things in addition to that?

The problem is, we avid readers don't want another device that does all those things. We want something designed specifically for reading books. Period. And while netbooks can certainly do the job, the quality of the screen, the battery life, and the ease of purchasing new reading material can't begin to compare to the Kindle.

Dan Ackerman of C-Net's "The Download Blog" discovered just that recently when he pitted an Acer Aspire One against the Kindle as an e-book reader.

"In the end, our Netbook was not a perfect substitute for the $359 Amazon Kindle 2. The Acer Aspire was heavier and harder to hold onto, and while the screen was bigger, unlike the Kindle's muted grey-on-grey, the bright glow of the LCD is tiring to the eyes after a while."

Ackerman still views netbooks as a suitable alternative, especially given the price of the Kindle, but as a pure e-book reader he admits that the Kindle wins.

Don't get me wrong. I like netbooks and would love to have one someday. But not for reading.

Multi-purpose devices are handy, but sometimes you want something that just does one thing -- and does it better than anything else.

---

Currently reading on my Kindle: Silas Marner by George Eliot.
Follow me on Twitter @phigginbotham.

Tips and Tricks for Kindle 2.0 Owners

2009-03-12T10:21:00.003-04:00

For those readers who own a Kindle 2.0, here is a list of tips and tricks, courtesy of Amazon's own Kindle Blog.

Sleep/Wake: slide and release the power switch

Show the time: press 'Menu' and the time shows at the top of the screen

Want to jump from page 1 to 5 of your Home screen? Press '5' then press the 5-way controller

To bookmark: ALT-B

If you'd like to quickly jump to the Web, type in your search terms and move the 5-way controller to the right and then select 'google'.

To search Wikipedia, select 'wikipedia' as the search category.

To search content by a specific author: @author [author's name] in the Kindle Store search bar

To view summaries of the articles in a newspaper or magazine, while viewing the section list, click on the number showing the number of articles in a section

To jump quickly through a newspaper or magazine, move the 5-way controller to the right to advance to the next article

To play or stop an MP3: ALT-space bar

Advance to next song: ALT-F
Pause an Audible file: space bar

Play or stop Text-to-Speech: shift-SYM (note that the shift key is the up arrow)
Pause Text-to-Speech: space bar

Turn Kindle off: slide and hold the power switch for 4 seconds

Reset Kindle: slide/hold power switch for 15 seconds

Kindle for iPhone: Amazon's Gateway Drug

2009-03-10T16:32:00.007-04:00

Last week Amazon introduced 'Kindle for iPhone', an application which enables you to read Amazon ebooks on your iPhone. The interweb buzz centered on the notion that the decision to launch this application was a reflection of Amazon's desire to sell ebooks, not devices (the Kindle). I disagree.

The people who already own Kindles and iPhones will realize how superior reading on their Kindle is to reading on their iPhone. The comparison will be made and 'Kindle reading' will crush 'iPhone reading.' Alternatively, the people who don't own Kindles and download the application to their iPhone are just putting themselves on the Kindle-buying launching pad. They may not be in the market for a Kindle right now, but come Christmas. . .

Reading Comfort: Kindle 2 vs. Kindle 1

2009-03-04T20:57:00.003-05:00

I just got a message from a Kindleville reader who had this to say about the difference between Kindle 1 and Kindle 2:

Side-by-side, the K1 text is bolder and jumps out at you. It's as if the low fidelity, dot-matrix-like typeface of the K1 is better suited for the reading experience than the feathered, crisp, 16-shades of gray of the K2. After 30 minutes of reading on the K2, my eyes get tired and I actually experience mild dizziness, headaches. Never experienced that with the K1.

Is anyone else out there finding the Kindle 2 provides a less pleasant reading experience than Kindle 1?

iPhone Reading and Sync Now Available!

2009-03-04T09:43:00.002-05:00

Amazon quickly and quietly rolled out its iPhone client yesterday. It's available in the iTunes App store right now.

I downloaded and installed the Amazon Kindle App for my iPhone. I plugged in my Amazon user name and password and all my Amazon books appeared instantly. Interestingly, the current novel I'm reading, Dogville, a free e-book that SciFi publisher Tor made available this past fall, did not show up, only purchases from Amazon.

Perhaps most interesting is the Whispersync feature, recently announced with the Kindle 2.0 roll out. Whispersync will synchronize your reading progress across the Amazon supported devices you own. For example, if you are on page 50 of a novel and pick up your iPhone to read, it will take you to page 50. If you read 10 pages on yoru phone and then return to your Kindle, it will track your progress and start you on page 60.

A deeper review of both Amazon's iPhone application and the Kindle 2.0 are forthcoming.

Now That Kindle 2 is Here, What Happens with Kindle 1 "Experimental"?

2009-03-01T11:46:00.004-05:00

When I got my Kindle 1 last year I was curious to see how Amazon would add to and enhance the "Experimental" feature set of the device. (The Experimental main menu option is how you access the Kindle's web browser and music player, btw.) More than a year after Kindle 1 came out, Amazon has added zero functionality to the Experimental options. Zippo. Nothing. Nada.

Now that Kindle 2 is on the scene I can't help but think Amazon will completely abandon new features on Kindle 1. What a sham, er, shame. Early adopters flocked to Kindle 1 with the hope that Amazon would treat this area much like Google leverages their Labs. Take a look at Google Labs to see all the cool stuff going on there. It's a terrific place to preview the next tool Google has lined up in their plan for world domination. Amazon had the same opportunity with Experimental but they've laid an egg.

It's one thing to allow cobwebs to collect in this space, but I'm even more concerned about the features on Kindle 2 that could easily be made available on Kindle 1. Text-to-speech is a great example. Will Amazon ever offer that feature to Kindle 1 owners via a software/firmware update? If not, why not?

Come on, Jeff. Reward your loyal early adopters who sprung $360 for the homely Kindle 1. Are you really trying to force us to spend more than $700 total for two generations of the same device in about 12 months, just to get a couple of new features?

In all fairness, I really think Kindle 2 should have been called Kindle 1.1. Give me an open architecture where third-party apps can be added, where I can buy and download content from a variety of resellers, with great social networking functionality built in...now that would be a second generation Kindle!

Interview with E-Ink Leader

2009-02-28T11:10:00.001-05:00

Electronic Ink is the backbone of e-reading devices. The Kindle and other e-readers wouldn't have the pleasant, easy-to-read screen without E-Ink technology.

Xconomy.com has an interview with the Russ Wilcox, the co-founder and leader of E-Ink. It provides some interesting background on the Kindle's development.

Indigo launches Shortcovers

2009-02-27T11:06:00.003-05:00

Canadian bookseller Indigo has launched its Shortcovers service, which allows e-books to be read on mobile phones or PC's. It brings much of what's popular on the Kindle--browsing, sampling and purchasing courtesy of an internet connection--and adds social media elements to communicate about your reading to others.

Here's a short promotional video about the Shortcovers service:

Slate:The Kindle is hastening the end of publishing

2009-02-27T10:56:00.002-05:00

According to a Slate article the Kindle is hastening the end of publishing, rewarding Amazon through the sale of the Kindle hardware but harming publishers and authors.

This strikes me as off base. Amazon has done a fantastic job developing mechanisms that benefit customers for consolidating their purchases through Amazon. For example, BK--before Kindle--I would purchase my books from a number of sources, Amazon now and then, Barnes & Noble, airport paperback racks. But, with the Kindle, I purchase 99.9% of my titles via Amazon. I get the convenience of browsing, sampling and buying a book from the comfort of my couch, and Amazon gets my business. One may argue that such consolidation puts Amazon in the position of having too much leverage over publishers, in the same way Apple is charged with having too much sway with music labels. However the remedy for this, I think, is compeitition not complaining about innovation.

Christmas in February

2009-02-23T09:11:00.001-05:00

According to I4U News, Amazon has officially released the Kindle 2 today, one day earlier than planned.

Be sure to let us know when you get your K2 and tell us what you think of it!

Is Stanza a Threat or an Ode to the Kindle?

2009-02-19T20:14:00.007-05:00

After hearing murmurings that the iPhone application/electronic book reader, Stanza, was going to pose a threat to the Kindle's success, I decided to give the application a whirl and see how it stacked up. It didn't. In fact, the only thing that I liked about the application was its name, as it's apt. A stanza is about all I wanted to read on it. The relatively tiny iPhone/iPod screen has the glare of a computer, which is fine if you are using it like a computer, but annoying if you are using it like a book. Also, the fact that you are reading off your phone makes it difficult to read for pleasure as the medium itself is the antithesis of relaxation.

Additionally, as David Berlind pointed out in his recent post, Bezos already hinted at the fact that Amazon plans to make the Kindle books available on other 'mobile devices' which means that Stanza will quickly live up to its namesake (the poetic stanza) and become obsolete. If only they had named the company, EZ2READ maybe it would have fared better in a world that prefers acronyms to iambic pentameter.

Stanza's only hope now is that it can figure out some way to team up with Amazon when Amazon decides to make Kindle books available on the iPhone. In all honestly, however, the only thing this will do is put the Kindle on a higher pedestal as it shines in comparison. Stanza, once a threat, now an ode to the Kindle.

email me at andrea@bobarra.com

www.bobarra.com

Where no Kindle has gone before

2009-02-19T08:57:00.001-05:00

Brier Dudley, a technology writer for The Seattle Times, recently interviewed former Microsoft exec Charles Simonyi about his upcoming return trip to the International Space Station. Dudley asked about reading material for the journey.

Will you take more books to the space station library?

I decided not to. I want to see if the old ones are still there. It's not easy to find things - I know exactly where it was a year and a half ago. It's really a Kindle the space station needs.

So you have a Kindle?

I do but it's not qualified for the space station - they're very nervous about electronics and especially software.

Simonyi went on to explain that the biggest concern with a Kindle -- or any small electronics -- on the space station is the possibility of a battery explosion.

Fortunately we've heard no reports of Kindle batteries exploding so I wouldn't be surprised if the Kindle were deemed space-worthy in the very near future.

Now if they could only get Whispernet on the space station...

All are welcome. All are welcome. Come into the light.

2009-02-18T11:42:00.001-05:00

We Kindle owners are a happy bunch. We delight in looking at our Home screen and seeing the long list of books at our fingertips everywhere we go. We love finding a new book on the Kindle store and clicking that "Buy now" button, knowing that in a minute or less we're going to be reading that book.

But we also know that not everyone is ready to join us on the e-book bandwagon. We've discussed the objections that publishers and authors have over e-books, but there are also many readers who don't look too kindly upon e-books. The recent announcement of Kindle 2 has spurred a flurry of "Why I don't like the Kindle" op-ed pieces. Many of them have one thing in common: fear.

Specifically, many bibliophiles are glancing longingly at their grand collection of books amassed over their lifetime and getting misty at the thought of a life without them.

"Will Amazon’s Kindle 2 Make Our Library Obsolete?" ponders Bloomberg's David Pauley. Pauley brags about the library he had built in his new house and describes "the serenity I find when surrounded by real books."

Pauley writes "Today, I’m worried that technology will make books obsolete."

Mike Rau, a columnist for Dailypress.com, echoes the same type of worry in a recent essay titled "Technology can't replace paperbacks."

"So, to my friends at Amazon (and Sony), I can tell you that I'm impressed with your device. It's a wonderful technological gadget.
But I cannot now nor ever support anything that might so directly contribute to the demise of the printed word."

If you aren't ready to embrace the Kindle or e-books in general, fair enough. Old habits are hard to break. And some people will always prefer the look and feel of real paper to an electronic screen. But I don't understand the fear. Why do some feel that it's either/or when it comes to e-books and physical books?

And the term "obsolete" bugs me. When I think "obsolete" I think of 8-track tapes.

Unlike most media that is supplanted by newer technology, the book will always survive because it's a self-contained delivery system. Fifty years from now you'll be able to pick up a book from your shelves and access the content the same way you can today. Sadly the same can't be said of that box of 5 1/4" floppy disks left over from my Atari 800 days. Now that's obsolete.

My guess is that even when (or if) the day comes that e-books are overwhelmingly outselling physical books, that won't spell the demise of the printing press. Perhaps decades from now dead-tree books will become less common -- they may turn into a niche market, much like the vinyl LP market is today (Ever try to convince an vinyl enthusiast that CDs are better?) -- but books will always be around.*

Even those who adopt the e-book as their preferred reading medium will most likely still turn to dead-tree books now and then for special editions or works from their favorite authors. Some things are simply worth having in physical form. And there's a big difference between a book you want to read and a book you want to own (And as long as DRM is around there will always be a large distinction between the two.).

So fear not, Kindle naysayers. Your libraries are safe. Books and e-books can live in harmony. Join us. We'll be here to welcome you with open arms when you're ready.

Kindleville readers, do you have any additional words of comfort for those who fear the death of print? Or do you think there's a ring of truth to their worries?

* Newspapers might be a different story, but that's another column.

---

Follow me on Twitter: @phigginbotham
What I'm reading on my Kindle right now: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Will Kindle users buy fewer books?

2009-02-16T15:45:00.002-05:00

That's what Peter Smith at IT World thinks.

In his article "Amazon Kindle's impact on book sales?", Smith suggests that Kindles may have a negative impact on book sales. Why?

Smith offers two reasons:

1) The easy availability of free public domain books at places such as Feedbooks.com.

2) A change in browsing/shopping habits. Smith claims that having instant access to almost any book you want makes stocking up on books to read in the future unnecessary.

"So it seems to me that owning a Kindle would cut down on the number of books I purchased (but not the number of books I actually read)," Smith says.

My first reaction to Smith's assertion was "Rubbish," but looking at my Kindle reading history I saw that most of my books have in fact come from Feedbooks.

Still, I've bought several books from Amazon too -- definitely more than I would have purchased otherwise. It's tough not to buy books from Amazon via the Kindle given how easy it is. And odds are most of those public domain books I've downloaded for free are books I probably would have checked out from my local library rather than pay for anyway, so I don't think Amazon lost any of my money there.

I've heard a lot of Kindle owners say they read more than ever since getting their Kindle, but I've never asked precisely what they are reading.

What say ye, Kindle owners? Are you buying more or fewer books? Does Smith's argument hold water?

A Kindle 2 hands-on roundup

2009-02-13T11:25:00.001-05:00

A few lucky folks have already managed to get their hands on a Kindle 2. We rounded up several of them for you so you can get a nice range of first impressions.

Five Great Things

2009-02-12T17:32:00.003-05:00

One thing about the new crew publishing here at Kindleville--we are not pushovers! We cast a critical eye on the Kindle 2.0, provided insightful analysis about Amazon's manufactured scarcity, and noted the antiquated thinking of the Author's Guild.

So, during a week of tough love for our favorite e-reading platform, I thought it would be interesting to start a conversation about the five things you like best about your Kindle.

Here's my list:

1) I love that I can read the NY Times on an airplane without my elbows straying into my neighbors' ribs and my fingers getting inky.

2) I love that I can have the five books I've got going at once, plus sample chapters from 10 books I'm considering, in something the size of the paperback.

3) I love that the New Yorker is now available on the Kindle. I have a paper subscription and don't keep up the way I should, resulting in a growing pile of magazines that I will get to some day but that clutter up my office and remind me that I'm not keeping up.

4) I love being able to e-mail myself documents and PDF's.

5) I love having a dictionary at my fingertips to look up words that in the past I would gloss over.

What are your favorite five things you love about your Kindle?

An early sURprise

2009-02-12T11:51:00.002-05:00

Stephen King's Kindle-exclusive novella, UR, was originally slated to be released on February 24th (presumably to coincide with the release of Kindle 2). But as of late evening on Wednesday the 12th Amazon had begun wirelessly delivering the book to customers who pre-ordered it.

I got mine. Did you get yours?

They just don't get it

2009-02-12T09:22:00.001-05:00

You'd think book publishers would have learned something. After seeing the recording industry ignore then dig in and fight new technology to the extent that now they're struggling to maintain their current business model, one would guess that book publishers and authors would see the folly and strive to avoid repeating it.

Not so much.

Before the floor of the Morgan Library in NY had even cleared after the press conference heralding the coming of Kindle 2.0, some in the business were already proving that they would not go gently into the good e-book night.

Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, raged against the Kindle's new "Read to me" feature. ""They don't have the right to read a book out loud," Aiken told the Wall Street Journal. "That's an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law" (Fowler).

Attaboy, Paul! Cling to that vague copyright language! Even if it means alienating a growing percentage of your customer base. Who cares that it's only a "GPS voice," as Stephen King called it at the press conference, and not a true reading of the text?

Meanwhile Carolyn K. Reidy, chief executive of Simon & Schuster, was crying to the New York Times about the pricing of e-books. “We do not agree with their pricing strategy. I don’t believe that a new book by an author should ipso facto be less expensive electronically than it is in paper format" (Stone).

As the young'uns today say: "O RLY?" The fact that there is no paper, no ink, no electricity to run the presses, no packaging, no shipping, and no money paid to retailers when unsold books are returned should have no effect on price? Interesting. Ipso facto indeed.

As John Siricusa at ars technica observes in his excellent (albeit too cozy with Apple for my taste) essay, "The once and future e-book: on reading in the digital age,"

In short, the terms [of e-books] are unbelievably favorable for publishers. It essentially moves them from print publishing margins to software publishing margins: pay once for the creation of the content, sell an infinite number of times with no additional per-unit cost.

So why do some publishers and authors continue to fight against the future? Fear? Greed?

They certainly should take some time to study the recent history of technology and media distribution. Maybe even have a lunch date or two with some record executives before they, too, learn too late and grieve their industry on its way.

The future is coming, with or without you.

Paul

Fowler, Geoffrey A. and Jeffrey Trachtenberg. "New Kindle Audio Feature Causes a Stir." Wall Street Journal. February 10, 2009.

Stone, Brad and Motoko Rich. "Amazon in Big Push for New Kindle Model." New York Times. February 9, 2009.

Free E-Book for the Romantically Challenged

2009-02-11T11:09:00.006-05:00

If your idea of romance is offering to drive during your next outing to the drive thru, this post may be for you. Livingonadime.com is offering a free, 32-page e-book that will give you some better options.

The ebook--Valentines day on a dime--offers fairly creative, low-cost ideas for those in need. It includes sections on how to involve kids during the holiday, and has drink and food receipes.

The one very minor fact to mention is that the front and end pages of the e-book do have Bible verses included, so if that makes you uncomfortable be advised.

Download Valentines Day on a Dime

Kindle 2.0. Two steps forward, one step back?

2009-02-11T10:23:00.004-05:00

Kindle 2.0. Two steps forward, one step back?

As Tyler recently posted, Amazon has spilled the beans on the next version of Kindle. Now that we have all the specs, all that’s left to do is debate their merits relative to Kindle 1.0. In other words, is Kindle 2.0 really an upgrade?

A quick perusal of the official Kindle discussion forum at Amazon reveals a mixed reaction at best.

There’s no doubt that Amazon scored big with an improved display, a redesigned button layout, and longer battery life. The new Kindle’s “Read to me” feature is creating somewhat of a buzz too. But some of the improvements come at a cost that many current Kindle owners aren’t ready to pay – specifically the lack of an SD card slot and a user-replaceable battery.

It’s sure nice to be able to load some music onto an SD card and not worry about taking up valuable book space in the Kindle’s memory. And it’s comforting to know that when my battery finally loses capacity I can order a new one and swap it right out instead of shipping it back to Amazon or doing a warranty-voiding replacement job myself with household tools.

It’s probably safe to guess that squeezing the Kindle guts into a package thinner than the iPhone is what led to the elimination of those features. After all, the Kindle’s svelte new form factor is the first thing that Jeff Bezos touted at Amazon’s press conference in NY, so shrinkage must have been one of his main goals for version 2.

But I have to ask: Was anyone complaining about the original Kindle’s size? Since the Kindle’s rise in popularity I’ve heard a lot of reasons why people weren’t ready to pay big bucks for an e-book reader, none of which had anything to do with size (The biggest complaint – aside from a general reluctance to abandon print -- seems to be price, which Amazon didn’t touch). Why drop two features that most people liked in favor of one feature that no one is asking for?

There have also been complaints and numerous suggestions from Kindle owners regarding possible improvements and new features, but it seems few were addressed. Where are the folders? Where is the sharing? Where are the social features? Where is the wi-fi?

It’s as if Kindle 2 was designed in a vacuum.

Is Kindle 2 overall a better product than 1? The verdict among current Kindle owners is mixed, with this writer falling on the side of “No.” But it’s a tentative “No,” and only so much as to say I wouldn’t trade my original Kindle for one. Kindle 2 still looks like a great product, and when my original Kindle dies I’ll have no qualms about replacing it with version 2 (or whatever version happens to be out at the time). After all, at its heart it’s still a fantastic e-book reader wirelessly tied to the world’s biggest e-book seller.

But if I were still on the fence about buying a Kindle I’m not sure any of the new features would convince me to take the leap. If anything the new features versus the loss of current features is a wash.

Kindle owners, prospective buyers, fence-sitters -- tell us what YOU think. Which features do you like? Will you miss anything about version 1? Is 2.0 changing your mind about the Kindle and/or its future?

Paul Higginbotham

[Paul is the IT Director for an independent insurance agency in West Virginia. He has a master's degree in English literature and is an avid reader, Kindle lover, and aspiring writer. In what he calls his past life, Paul worked for 12+ years in radio broadcasting as a talk show host. Paul loves old time rock and roll but despises the song "Old Time Rock And Roll." Paul is author of the blog Destination Unknown.]

The Genius Behind "Sold-Out"

2009-02-11T04:30:00.004-05:00

I found it very strange that Amazon sold out of the Kindle right before the peak of Christmas season. They sold out just in time to miss Black Friday and Cyber Monday and then put the Kindle on a twelve week back order. How on earth could Amazon mess up their anticipated demand by that much? A twelve week back order? Really?

At first, it struck me as product suicide, now it strikes me as brand brilliance. Kindle owners, you have been played.

General Background:

When introducing a product upgrade, there are two basic problems:

1) Your current customers, the early adopters who were devoted to you from the beginning will feel wronged and demand compensation (like when the iPhone 3G came out).

2) Anyone who recently purchased the older version will just return it if they are able.

The Facts:

1) Amazon sells out of the Kindle in November 2008, putting it in a 10-12 week back order.

2) The Kindle is Oprah's favorite new gadget. On October 24th she has Jeff Bezos on her show and he offers $50 off to Oprah viewers who purchase the Kindle before November 1, 2008.

3) The number of Google searches that included the word Kindle jumped 479% on October 24th (Oprah/Kindle day).

4) Amazon has a special Christmas return policy that lets you return anything purchased after November 1st, 2008 for a full refund, as long as you return it before January 31st, 2009.

5) The company went radio silent on Kindle 2 until the first week in February.

6) Amazon introduced the Kindle 2 on February 9th, 2009.

7) Amazon tells current Kindle owners that if they order by midnight on February 10th, they will receive first priority on the Kindle 2.

My Speculation:

1) Amazon decides to push as many Kindles out the door before their November 1st special holiday return policy starts. Oprah loves her Kindle, they know that, why not offer her viewers a discount? At that point Bezos probably knew how many Kindles they had in stock and he probably knew they were going to sell out well before their Kindle 2 was introduced, so why offer a $50 discount? While it is hard to say no to Oprah, it is easier to say yes if it means that people would flock to buy them before the offer expired on November 1st and the special holidat return season started. Amazon could sell their soon-to-be obsolete inventory and not have to worry about holiday returns or getting stuck with useless Kindles.

2) Amazon waits until after their holiday return window has closed to announce the Kindle 2. If they released the news for the Kindle 2 before January 31st, their November sales revenue numbers would take a hit as the last of the November Kindle purchasers took advantage of their holiday return policy and traded in their model for the newer version.

3) By placing the Kindle on backorder for 12 weeks, Amazon builds an unnatural demand for the Kindle, making the Kindle seem almost unattainable.

4) Then at the Kindle 2 press conference, Bezos tells current Kindle owners that they will be first in line to receive the Kindle 2 if they place their orders before midnight on February 10th. If they hadn't been sold out of the Kindle for so long, a promise like this would seem irrelevant: "so you are telling me that I if I purchase one, I'll get one?" That's an awesome deal Amazon, awesome. I buy something, you send it. Talk about exceptional customer service. . .

So, in sum, Amazon doesn't ship any Kindle during the Christmas season, but they do accept orders and build demand. They (i) turn just having the ability to buy their product into 'good customer service,' (ii) don't have to worry about throwing a bone to the early adopters and (iii) don't have to deal with any excess inventory on the original Kindle because by the time people know about the Kindle 2, no one who owns a Kindle 1 would fall into the return window time frame.

Kudos to Bezos. He played us like a bunch of puppet bookworms. Now, on to placing that order for the Kindle 2. . .

ps- you can email me at andrea@bobarra.com or find me at bobarra

Kindle 2.0 Ships Naked?

2009-02-10T10:51:00.006-05:00

CNet's Crave Blog is reporting that Kindle 2.0 ships naked, without a cover. Should users want to buy the Amazon cover, the cost is reported to be $30. When viewed in light of the fact that Amazon's not lowering the price for Kindle 2.0, this seems a bit unfriendly.

What do you think? Is it a misstep on Amazon's part to charge separately for the Kindle 2.0 cover?

Our take on Kindle 2.0

2009-02-09T17:01:00.005-05:00

Amazon's announcement today of the Kindle 2 has reignited interest in its groundbreaking e-book platform.

Here's our take on the new features. Add your own thoughts to the comments to share your take on the new version.

1) Smaller form factor. "Thinner than an iPhone" is Amazon's point of comparison for the newer, svelter Kindle. To the degree that a thinner Kindle is a lighter and easier to hold Kindle, then it's slimmer profile is a positive enhancement.

2) Crisper, faster display. Like my hair, the Kindle 2.0 screen is sporting more shades of gray these days. While early reviewers have said that the new screen technology doesn't create a noticeable difference, higher resolution theoretically means e-books that are easier to read and that are closer to the contrast and readability of ink on paper.

3) 2 gigs of on-board memory. You can never have too much money, and gadget owners can never have too much memory. While it's not likely that anyone is likely to fill up 2 gigs of memory out of the gate, having built in memory saves Kindle customers from having to shell out for an optional memory card.

4) Read-to-me feature. Using text-to-speech technology, the new Kindle will read to you in an easy to understand but decidedly computer-generated voice. As I wrote previously, I wish Amazon would have enabled the ability to read a Kindle book while listening to the audio version. Time will tell, but I don't predict that having a Cylon read your novels to you will be very popular.

5) Whispersync will synchronize your progress across multiple Kindles, and, soon, multiple devices. I'm not sure how many Kindle owners have multiple Kindles they read the same book on, so out of the gate this feature doesn't impress me much. The real promise, when viewed in light of the news that Amazon will be making Kindle e-books available on the iPhone, it may be that Amazon will bring Whispersync to other platforms sooner rather than later. This would mean that you could start to read a chapter from a novel on your Kindle in the morning, and pick right up where you left off and read the rest of the chapter at work on your iPhone at lunch. This has the potential to be very convenient and very cool.

6) Exclusive Stephen King novella. UR, written exclusively for the Kindle, will be available for $2.99 near the end of the month. It's great that Amazon is exploring new models such as commissioning content for the Kindle. It's not clear if this represents a commitment to new publishing models or a publicity tactic to mark the launch of the new device.

So, will any of the new features prompt you to purchase a Kindle 2.0?

Take our poll to express your opinion!

Online Surveys & Market Research

Kindle 2.0 Details

2009-02-09T10:43:00.002-05:00

Amazon has just issued a press release of the features of Kindle 2.0.

From the text:

"New Slim and Sleek Design
The new Kindle 2 features a completely new design. At just over a third of an inch thin (0.36 inches) and weighing just over 10 ounces, Kindle 2 is pencil thin and lighter than a typical paperback. New buttons make it easy to turn the page from any holding position. The new 5-way controller on Kindle 2 allows for more precise note-taking and highlighting both up and down and side to side in lines of text. The new controller also makes it easy to quickly jump between articles and sections of newspapers. Kindle 2 comes with a redesigned power charger that is more portable than the previous Kindle charger. The official Amazon.com cover for Kindle 2, which is sold separately, has an integrated attachment hinge to ensure a secure fit and features a leather cover for style and durability. Patagonia, Cole Haan and Belkin also designed covers for Kindle 2 that are available in the Kindle Store.

New Crisper, Faster Display
Kindle 2’s 6-inch, 600 x 800 electronic paper display provides 16 shades of gray versus 4 shades available in the original Kindle, resulting in crisp text, and sharper images and photos. Kindle reads like printed words on paper because the screen works using real ink and doesn’t use a backlight, eliminating the eyestrain and glare associated with other electronic displays. With the latest electronic paper display, pages turn an average of 20 percent faster than the original Kindle for an even smoother reading experience.

New 2 GB Memory Holds Over 1,500 Books
With 2 GB of memory, Kindle 2 can hold more than 1,500 books, compared with 200 with the original Kindle. And because Amazon automatically backs up a copy of every Kindle book purchased, customers can wirelessly re-download titles in their library at any time.

25% Longer Battery Life
Kindle 2 customers can read for four to five days on one charge with wireless on and for over two weeks with wireless turned off.

New Instant Dictionary Lookup
Kindle 2 comes with the New Oxford American Dictionary and its 250,000 word definitions built-in, and with Kindle 2 definitions appear instantly at the bottom of the page.

New Experimental Read-To-Me Feature
Kindle 2 offers the experimental read-to-me feature “Text-to-Speech” that converts words on a page to spoken word so customers have the option to read or listen. Customers can switch back and forth between reading and listening, and their spot is automatically saved. Pages turn automatically while the content is being read so customers can listen hands-free. Customers can choose to be read to by male or female voices and can choose the speed to suit their listening preference. Using the read-to-me feature, anything you can read on Kindle, including books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and personal documents, Kindle 2 can read to you.

Still Wireless, Still No PC, Still No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots
Kindle 2 uses the same wireless delivery system as the original Kindle—Amazon Whispernet. Customers can wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive new content in less than 60 seconds, and read from their library—all without a PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing. Whispernet utilizes Amazon’s optimized technology plus Sprint’s national 3G data network and is expanded to cover all 50 U.S. states. Amazon still pays for the wireless connectivity on Kindle 2 so books can be downloaded in less than 60 seconds—with no monthly wireless bills, data plans, or service commitments.

Automatically Syncs With Original Kindle, Kindle 2, and future devices
Amazon’s new “Whispersync” technology automatically syncs Kindle 2 and the original Kindle, which makes transitioning to the new Kindle 2 or using both devices easy for customers. Kindle 2 will also sync with a range of mobile devices in the future.

Earth’s Biggest E-book Store Keeps Expanding, Plus New Stephen King Exclusive
The Kindle Store currently offers more than 230,000 books—up from 90,000 when Kindle launched. Books from numerous popular authors have been added since the original Kindle launched, including John Steinbeck, C.S. Lewis, Beverly Cleary, Martha Stewart, Terry Goodkind, and Spencer Johnson.

Author Stephen King announced today that he is releasing a novella, “Ur,” which will only be available on Kindle. At the center of Ur is lovelorn college English instructor Wesley Smith, who can’t seem to get his ex-girlfriend’s parting shot out of his head: “Why can’t you just read off the computer like the rest of us?” Egged on by her question and piqued by a student’s suggestion, Wesley places an order for a Kindle. Smith’s Kindle arrives in a box stamped with the smile logo and unlocks a literary world that even the most avid of book lovers could never imagine. But once the door is open, there are those things that one hopes we’ll never read or live through. Ur is available for pre-order beginning today and will be released later this month. For Kindle customers who pre-order, King’s new novella will download automatically when it becomes available.

The Kindle Store now includes many additional magazines and newspapers, such as The New Yorker, which is available for the first time on Kindle starting today. Magazines and newspaper subscriptions are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle overnight so that the latest edition is waiting for customers when they wake up. Monthly Kindle newspaper subscriptions are $5.99 to $14.99 per month, and Kindle magazines are $1.25 to $3.49 per month.

Over 1,200 blogs are available on Kindle today—up from 250 when Kindle launched. New blogs added to the Kindle Store recently include the Wired blogs, VF Daily and James Wolcott’s Blog from Vanity Fair. Blogs are updated and downloaded wirelessly throughout the day so Kindle customers can read blogs whenever and wherever they want. Wireless delivery of blogs costs as little as $0.99 each per month and includes a free two-week trial.

Same Popular Kindle Features
Kindle 2 includes all the features Kindle customers enjoy every day, including:
· Choose from six text sizes
· Add bookmarks, notes, and highlights
· Read personal documents such as Microsoft Word and PDF, and view images, all
delivered wirelessly
· Search Web, Wikipedia.org, Kindle Store, and Your Kindle Library where
customers’ purchased content is stored
· No setup required—Kindle comes ready to use—no software to load or set up

Kindle is available for pre-order starting today for $359 at http://amazon.com/kindle2 and will ship on February 24. Customers who are currently in line for the original Kindle will receive an automatic upgrade to the new Kindle 2."

What surprises does Amazon have in store today?

2009-02-09T09:31:00.002-05:00

For Kindle owners, Monday is an exciting day. While perhaps not as monumental as the presidential election or the Super Bowl, the promise of what may be a major upgrade to my favorite gadget is occaison for some wistful hoping. With the market becoming more competitive and Amazon choosing to introduce competition to the Kindle by selling "Kindle editions" for the iphone, the burden, as I've written elsewhere, is on Amazon to produce some significant new features for Kindle 2.0.

What might those feature be? Predictions abound, including this recent PC World article. Well, since Jeff Bezos seems to have lost my cell phone number, I'm not in the loop, but here are my top five hopes:

5) Longer battery life. Even with performance better than most gadgets I own, I'm recharging every couple of days, even with judicial use of the wireless modem. It would be tremendously convenient if the Kindle could be the camel of e-book readers, only needing a drink of the juice every week or so.

4) More Kindle titles. While this isn't a feature of the hardware per-se, the link between the Kindle store and the Kindle is inseparable, like Michael Jackson and his pet monkey. Want to read John Grisham's latest novel, The Associate? You can't. Not available on the Kindle. For the Kindle to become truly popular, Amazon will need to convince publishers to license the rights to high profile titles.

3) A backlight. While accessories like M-Edge's E-Luminator (a video review of which should be on Kindleville by the time you read this) are helpful, why not build in a light, as Sony has for its e-book reader?

2) The ability to read an e-book and listen to an audiobook simultaneously. I love to listen to a well-narrated audio book while reading along; it makes me slow down and relish the language and the details of the book. Currently, of course, you can listen to an Audible book, but you can't read on your Kindle while the audio book is playing. This seems just plain silly, and I hope Amazon fixes it, particularly since they own Audible and could bundle the text and audio versions together for a higher price.

1) Amazon needs to open its formats and drop digital rights management, as they have with music. Digital rights management provides the illusion of security--sort of like those TSA agents at the airports scrutinizing your Ziploc bag full of saline solution and lip balm for signs of Osama bin Laden. Many times--when the technological or economic winds change direction--DRM results in consumers losing access to digital products they've paid for with their hard earned dollars. Ditch the DRM and trust your customers, Amazon!

What are your predictions? What features do you think Amazon will unleash in Kindle 2.0?

Review of the M-Edge Executive Jacket & E-Luminator Booklight

2009-02-09T08:55:00.000-05:00

Watch Kindleville Review of the M-Edge Executive Jacket and E-Luminator Book Light | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Posted by Kindleville contributor Tyler Steben, author of the Reading Bytes blog.

Will "Fallout 101" Change the Face of Publishing?

2009-02-09T08:50:00.000-05:00

Members of the Kindle community have been encouraging Amazon to think creatively about how the capabilities of the popular e-reader can introduce new publishing models.

Amazon has launched an experiment in the form of distributing Andrew Macauley's science fiction project Fallout 101 that shows the company may have some interest in shaking up the status quo in the publishing world. While the overall plot is tried and true sci-fi―a man is revived in a laboratory on a futuristic world and must figure out where he came from and what's going on―there are some unique features of the project that make it stand out.

The work is being distributed in serial form, with users getting a couple chapters a week. In addition to the novel, subscribers receive essays from the author on various elements of writing the book (how he creates characters, for example) and the Amazon description promises that readers will periodically receive short stories that are not part of the novel but relate to the plot, characters, and setting of the work.

I've been reading Fallout 101 for a couple weeks now and have been enjoying it. The world that that Macauley has created is engaging―the characters are interesting, the action well plotted and there's just the right dash of cool futuristic gadgetry. The essays on character and plot development are a little less interesting to me personally, but I like that the project includes pieces that help to understand and develop a relationship with the author. One recent note indicated that the author would be posting less content on a given week than usual because he was helping his mother move. You don't get that with a Grisham novel!

While the project shows the potential for exploring new and different publishing models, there are some flaws. First, Fallout 101 uses the Kindle's blog delivery capability and displays installments in reverse chronological order, with the most recent installments at the top of the table of contents. This works well for blogs, but not so well for a novel. A late-comer to the Fallout 101 party would need to go to the end of the article list and return to the table of contents after each chapter to select the next chapter above the previous one. This process disrupts the flow of reading unnecessarily.

What hampers calling Fallout 101 a breakthrough experiment in e-book publishing is the fact the entire project is available for free at www.fallout101.com. Kindle subscribers, then, are paying for the convenience of re-distributing the content to the device, not for the content itself.

It does strike me as odd that Amazon is trying to fit the proverbial square peg in a round hole. There must be a more engaging way to present the content than using the blog reading interface. And why not commission a serial project from a capable author and make the content exclusive to the Kindle, or at least make the content exclusive while the book is being serialized? Amazon may argue that it is attempting to keep the price low, which is admirable, but this early adopter would happily pay a few times the current price of .99 cents a month for exclusive content.

What do you think? Does Fallout 101 represent an evolution in the publishing model, or is Fallout an experiment that falls short?

Posted by Kindleville contributor Tyler Steben, author of the Reading Bytes blog.

The Kindle: Remarkable but ot for the reasons you think

2009-02-09T08:45:00.000-05:00

Gut reaction to the Kindle? Do you remember?

When I started using the Kindle for the first time, my imagination went into overdrive: this was the end of books, the end of magazines, the end of libraries, the end of paper. Paper!

So, maybe my intuitions aren't spot on, perhaps I have a tendency to exaggerate, but the Kindle does bring visions of Adolf Huxley's A Brave New World to the forefront of your mind.

The intriguing and noteworthy aspect of the Kindle, however, is not necessarily the physical gadget created by Amazon, but rather the E-Ink technology behind it. The Cambridge, MA company is responsible for developing the 'electronic paper' technology used not only in the Amazon Kindle, but also in the Sony e-reader. In the coming years, I think that this is the technology to watch out for: just think of the implications of such invention, particularly when they are able to master the 'paper' part of 'electronic paper.'

While librarians probably don't have to start looking for a new profession just yet, perhaps the days of 20 pound text books are coming to a close.

Where do you see this technology going?

Posted by Kindleville contributor Andrea Nadosy, founder and CEO of bobarra.

The New Voices of Kindleville

2009-02-08T19:48:00.008-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how I was searching for a curator for Kindleville. My interest in the Kindle has been fading and I was hoping I could convince someone to step in and feed the Kindleville blog with posts of their own.

I'm happy to say that several people expressed an interest, but two in particular impressed me as a great fit for this blog. Their names are Andrea Nadosy and Tyler Steben. Here's a bit of background on both of them:

Andrea Nadosy is the founder and CEO of bobarra, a company specializing in stylish yet functional Kindle covers and checkpoint friendly laptop bags. Born and raised in New York City, Andrea graduated from Harvard College in 2003 with a degree in biological anthropology. She then spent a year living and studying in Paris before returning stateside for stints working in the non-profit world and studying at Columbia's School of Urban Planning. In 2006, Andrea made her way back to Harvard, this time for business school. It was at HBS where she discovered not only her love for the Kindle, but also for entrepreneurship; she launched bobarra soon after graduating.

She currently reads and resides in San Francisco where she enjoys hiking, baking and has a profound appreciation for iced-tea spoons.

Tyler Steben been involved with digital publishing for 18 years. His early career was in an academic institution where a large online project he created was acquired by a major university press. He then worked for one of Pearson's higher ed imprints in New York City as a member of the digital publishing team and established media brands and products that are still in existence today. In 1999 Tyler was recruited to be a founding manager at XanEdu, a company that does digital custom publishing for the higher ed market. He's had the good fortune to collaborate with a range of successful authors, ranging from Henry Louis Gates to leading textbook authors to musician Thomas Dolby. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife and son. Tyler also recently launched another blog called Reading Bytes.

When I talked with Andrea and Tyler they both struck me as extremely passionate about the Kindle and that's the key attribute I was looking for. I went in search of one writer and found two. Actually, I won't completely disappear from Kindleville. I'll still write a post now and then, but Andrea and Tyler will be the primary voices going forward.

P.S. -- Tomorrow we'll be hearing the big announcement from Amazon...the worst kept secret in years, Kindle 2.0. I'm heading to O'Reilly's Tools of Change (TOC) conference in New York tomorrow morning, but I plan to keep an eye on the Amazon news. I'll be Twittering both the TOC conference and the Amazon announcement(s). You can follow my tweets here, but if you're interested in hearing about TOC from other attendees, be sure to follow the #toc hashtag in Twitter.

Kindle 2.0 Pictures Popping Up

2009-02-07T09:37:00.005-05:00

There it is. What do you think? I feel it's a very sleek, attractive upgrade from Kindle 1.0, but I'm less concerned about look-and-feel and more interested in the Kindle platform itself.

As I just mentioned in an email reply to one of my blog readers, "Will Amazon open up this platform? Will they abandon DRM? Will they offer an upgrade deal for existing owners?"

As far as I'm concerned, the answers to these questions are much more important than whether Kindle 2.0 is thinner than Kindle 1.0 or if they finally fixed the placement of the next/prev page buttons.

Btw, perhaps I'm in the minority but I'm pleased with the news that Amazon plans to make their Kindle content available on cell phones. On the one hand, I hope it's a sign that they are about to open things up a bit. More importantly, if they're going to offer the entire lineup of Kindle content for my iPhone, well, I can just focus on upgrading one device (iPhone) and not two (iPhone+Kindle).

500,000 Strong?

2009-02-04T14:05:00.005-05:00

Here's an article with yet another estimate of the number of Kindles in use today. The conclusion is that Amazon sold approximately 500,000 units in 2008 and that sales of the Kindle have provided Sprint with some lift to their business.

It would be interesting to know whether Sprint is comfortable with their cut of the deal and the amount of bandwidth the typical Kindle owner requires. The original relationship was built under download/purchase assumptions that may have shifted over time. I use my Kindle to retrieve all sorts of free content from services like Kindlefeeder, for example. I've also sent countless DOC and PDF files to my Kindle email account to have Amazon convert and load them wirelessly on my device. I might be in the minority, but if not, it's possible that there's a lot more use of Sprint's network than was originally envisioned.

Will Amazon Advance the Ball with Kindle 2.0?

2009-02-01T15:27:00.009-05:00

I guess it's appropriate to ask a question with a football metaphor as I count down the hours till my Steelers play in the Super Bowl. Word is out that Amazon is announcing Kindle 2.0 in NY on 2/9 and I wonder how significant this new version will be. Will Amazon advance the ball with this next generation Kindle?

I'm past the look-and-feel issues. Yeah, the buttons are awkward and the device looks like it came from Coleco in the 1980's. It's not an elegant product and it probably never will be. But rather than fixing the clunkiness I hope they work on two more important issues:

Openness -- This is a big one and has several facets. The Kindle is mostly a closed system that needs opened to maximize future success. Sure, I can email a PDF to my kindle.com account and Amazon will convert it and wirelessly load it to my device, but what about other content formats? EPUB, anyone? The second area of openness has to do with the developer platform. Why in the world won't Amazon open that up to create a Kindle App Store model, similar to the iPhone one? Part of what makes the iPhone experience so enjoyable is the large and growing number of interesting apps for it. You could argue the Kindle doesn't lend itself to as many fun and engaging apps as the iPhone. I disagree. There are loads of apps no one envisioned for the iPhone till the platform was opened and the apps were developed. The same type of innovation would happen on the Kindle...if Amazon would let it.

Innovative Content Models -- $9.99 books are great and Amazon's obviously selling quite a few of them, but what about book clubs, all-you-can-eat and other content pricing models? If I can sign up for an e-content subscription/access model like Safari or Books24x7 on my computer why doesn't Amazon offer something similar for the Kindle?

Please, Amazon, don't just make Kindle 2.0 a modest evolution of Kindle 1.0 where you fix the button placement and not much more. You've had more than a year to study the market, see what customers like/want and make 2.0 irresistable. Don't drop the ball with some lame revision.

P.S. -- I should also mention that it would be unbelievably shortsighted if Amazon were to release Kindle 2.0 without an attractive upgrade option for Kindle 1.0 owners. Current owners were the risk-takers who invested hundreds of dollars for a funny looking limited functionality device. I hope Amazon rewards all these early adopters with a deep discount on version 2.0. I'll probably remain on the sidelines for Kindle 2.0, saving my money for the next iPhone upgrade; others are likely to do the same if Amazon doesn't make it worth their while.

Kindle 2.0?...

2009-01-27T12:50:00.004-05:00

The Silicon Alley Insider says February 9th will be the big announcement day. If this is indeed the launch of Kindle 2.0 I wonder if they'll swap backorders on the current model for the new one. I'm also curious to see if they'll offer some sort of upgrade deal for current owners. I'll remain on the sidelines for that though as I'm focusing more on my iPhone these days.

WANTED: Kindleville Curator

2009-01-25T15:09:00.007-05:00

The Kindleville blog is now over a year old but I've become disappointed with Amazon's lack of advancement and development of the Kindle platform. I was hoping to see new features by now (what's the point of the "Experimental" page if they're never going to enhance or add to it?) as well as some creative new content options (book subscriptions, anyone?).

Then there's the fact that the magazine area has been pretty much left for dead (22 magazines and very few of the big ones). Heck, I even had to go back to BusinessWeek with my tail between my legs and start a new print subscription; I waited and waited but there's still no sign BusinessWeek (or many of the other major rags) will ever make it to the Kindle.

Enough of my whining though. The real reason for this post is to see if there's anyone out there who would like to become the new author of Kindleville. I'm looking for someone who's still passionate about the device and will commit to 3-5 good, solid posts every week. If that's too much to ask from one person maybe there are a few of you out there who could work as a team on it.

My interest in the Kindle is waning but I'd like to see Kindleville live on as a resource for the community. It's still the #1 blog being pushed out by the KindleFeeder service, ranking ahead of such heavyweights as The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Lifehacker, Wired's Top Stories and yes, even Amazon's very own Kindle blog. Plus, if Amazon finally wakes up and delivers something breathtaking with Kindle 2.0 I might just be back...but I'm not holding my breath.

So how about it? Is there anyone out there who'd like to take this on? I'll make it simple. You'd just write the posts, email them to me and I'll make sure they get loaded. You'll earn as much money as I have from the blog...nothing...but it's all about the community and a chance to get more visibility for you and your gift for writing.

If you're interested, send me an email message and I'll hook up with you shortly.

P.S. -- I'm not abandoning the blogosphere. I'm still quite passionate about my Publishing 2020 blog and, perhaps more importantly, I'm about to pour a lot of effort into a brand new blog I'm about to launch for the iPhone. It will be called iBlogiPhone.com and I plan to start working on it later today.

What Would You Think of a Radiohead Experiment on the Kindle?

2009-01-18T15:54:00.002-05:00

This is another one of those rare instances where I'm cross-linking between my own blogs. I just wrote this post on my Publishing 2020 blog but as Kindle owners/fans I'd like to get your input on it too.

If you do have a comment to make, I ask that you write it on the 2020 blog, not here. Thanks!