Amazon releases Kindle - an overpriced eBook reader
So now Amazon has a gadget that is an eBook reader that is suppossed to fix the eBook “problem”. No PC needed, not connection, etc. It piggybacks on Sprints network and downloads stuff wirelessly and most ebooks are $9.99 or less.
AND it is “bargain priced” at $399.
Check out their pages about it. You might feel so cool looking at a cutting edge device that I think is stupid.
Why stupid? Well lots of reasons. Let’s start with eBooks in general.
- Format: they deliver them in a proprietary format that only works on the Kindle. So unlike my dated BOOK which I can lend or sell or trade, this HAS to be read on my Kindle.
- Reading is HARD on a screen : I know this used eInk (or something dumb like that) to make it more book-like, well I have something that is even MORE book like - it is called a BOOK
- People like books: People LIKE books. They like the feel of a cover and the paper, the cover flaps with info the art of “how much more is left” by feeling the number and thickness of pages left
- ebooks are good for 2 things: textbooks and manuals. and the funny part - most people PRINT them out.
And now onto the PRICE!!
- $399!! - I can get a bargain basement laptop for that can do A LOT more, including reading eBooks
- So after my $400 investment, I need to pay $10 a book. So how many real books do I need to buy before the cost balances out?
The big reasons why “book technology” has worked so well for the last 500 years is cost and portability. The problem I have as a whole with digital media (be it music, video, books, etc) is ownership. With the ancient physical media I owned a licensed copy that I can sell, trade, read, or use in any compliant device (cd player/turntable for music - my eyeballs and brain for reading). Until the formats become unlocked from the devices, they will never gain permanent traction. Ask yourself why MP3 is the default choice for sound files? Quality? File size? No - there are other formats that do that better. It is that it is the format that is most portable. Any device that does not play MP3 is doomed (Sony tried this - and the devices failed miserably)
The Nerdworld blog over at time says pretty much the same thing (using much better phrasing)
Scott http://www.scooterchronicles.com
November 20th, 2007I have to agree with you. I don’t see people clambering to get one of these. Only the typical guys that have to have the latest thing to be “cool.”
David http://www.zogworld.com
November 20th, 2007The thing is - it is not new or the latest. eBook readers have been around awhile. Heck, PDA’s have for a while - and typically they are in color.
I just think eBooks are a hard hard sell. Like I said, textbooks and manuals make sense, especially if the costs would come down - say $20 for a Physics text instead of $90. And then you do not have to feel so unbelievably ripped off when the college bookstore is not buying it back because a new edition comes out next year.
Mike http://adventuresofmike.net
November 20th, 2007I was thinking the same thing. eBooks have a hill to climb because, as I remember hearing/reading years ago, people like coming home with square/rectangular objects and putting them on shelves in their dens. Be they LPs, books, DVDs, CDs, etc, there’s something to that theory….