If you want to buy one of those new Kindle devices from Amazon, please do so by clicking this link: Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device
Because then I’ll get a few bucks back for each one you buy. If I read my email right, Amazon is paying bloggers $40 for each one sold. That’s pretty darn cool.
The price to you doesn’t change. But, if you don’t want me to get some money, then visit Amazon’s home page by typing http://www.amazon.com into your browser window.
It’s not the only way I’ll get paid, though.
If you buy a Kindle and you buy my blog. It looks like I get 30% of that fee.
Anyway, thanks Amazon for all the cash! (I’ll need it, cause I just bought my own — it will be here tomorrow).
Scobleizer 
Sorry Robert, but I haven’t yet seen a reason to buy that Kindle. Why would anyone need that?
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Sorry Robert, but I haven’t yet seen a reason to buy that Kindle. Why would anyone need that?
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Georg: I’ll have mine tomorrow and will give you first look at why or why not? Fair?
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Georg: I’ll have mine tomorrow and will give you first look at why or why not? Fair?
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I would like to buy one, but no PDF support is not cool. It would be great for reading articles that are scanned in or you download from academic journals. If Amazon supports that feature in the future, I am sold.
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I would like to buy one, but no PDF support is not cool. It would be great for reading articles that are scanned in or you download from academic journals. If Amazon supports that feature in the future, I am sold.
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Who would Kid themselves with a Kindle if they can buy a multifunctional Tablet PC and do all the things that can be done using kindle.
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Who would Kid themselves with a Kindle if they can buy a multifunctional Tablet PC and do all the things that can be done using kindle.
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Nithin: I had a Tablet PC. I didn’t realize the battery could last 30 hours on one of those or that I could read the screen in bright sunlight or that I could buy one for $400 (my last Tablet PC cost about $2,000).
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Nithin: I had a Tablet PC. I didn’t realize the battery could last 30 hours on one of those or that I could read the screen in bright sunlight or that I could buy one for $400 (my last Tablet PC cost about $2,000).
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@ Robert: I’ll be looking forward for the video.
By the way: My videoblog (just some videos on YouTube) is called by my friends “Scoble-Show im Kleinen” (German for the small Scobleshow) 🙂
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@ Robert: I’ll be looking forward for the video.
By the way: My videoblog (just some videos on YouTube) is called by my friends “Scoble-Show im Kleinen” (German for the small Scobleshow) 🙂
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So, I pay $400 for a Kindle. Then I have to pay another $10 for an ebook to download onto it. And I can also pay to download blogs. And it doesn’t do anything else, which doesn’t matter because it doesn’t have wifi.
Or, alternatively, I could just buy BOOKS and read blogs on my laptop for free. And do lots of other stuff, too.
This thing makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. Which probably explains why the entire world will go crazy for them and wonder how they lived without one for so long.
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So, I pay $400 for a Kindle. Then I have to pay another $10 for an ebook to download onto it. And I can also pay to download blogs. And it doesn’t do anything else, which doesn’t matter because it doesn’t have wifi.
Or, alternatively, I could just buy BOOKS and read blogs on my laptop for free. And do lots of other stuff, too.
This thing makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. Which probably explains why the entire world will go crazy for them and wonder how they lived without one for so long.
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The only drawback I see so far is cost. For example a lot of the books I read come from the library. If I had a Kindle I’d have to pay $9.99 for every book I read on it. This could add up quickly for heavy readers like me. I’ve read 4 or 5 books this month already.
Of course if my local library had a means of letting me download books to my Kindle . . .
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The only drawback I see so far is cost. For example a lot of the books I read come from the library. If I had a Kindle I’d have to pay $9.99 for every book I read on it. This could add up quickly for heavy readers like me. I’ve read 4 or 5 books this month already.
Of course if my local library had a means of letting me download books to my Kindle . . .
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It looks cool – but it is a bit ugly and way overpriced. I already listen to the audio of most books, wirelessly synced with my Zune2 when I need it. The documents I need to carry live on my Treo700w.
Yes, the screen looks great, and I would use one… but only if it cost a lot less or they leased it to me.
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It looks cool – but it is a bit ugly and way overpriced. I already listen to the audio of most books, wirelessly synced with my Zune2 when I need it. The documents I need to carry live on my Treo700w.
Yes, the screen looks great, and I would use one… but only if it cost a lot less or they leased it to me.
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John: last I checked a hard cover book costs about $30 to buy at the store. So, at some point this thing starts paying for itself if you’re a heavy reader. Not to mention that I don’t have space at home for more books.
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John: last I checked a hard cover book costs about $30 to buy at the store. So, at some point this thing starts paying for itself if you’re a heavy reader. Not to mention that I don’t have space at home for more books.
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Engadget says it supports PDF, but that’s the only source I’ve seen that talks about PDF support. Is it true that it does not support PDF?
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Engadget says it supports PDF, but that’s the only source I’ve seen that talks about PDF support. Is it true that it does not support PDF?
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Just curious how much do you get if I subscribe to your blog for $1.99 per month?
Sounds really expensive to subscribe to all my feeds at $2 per month. $2×500= @#!@$! Wait that is a lot. Maybe the need to package several blogs into a group like cable tv wait a minute…
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Just curious how much do you get if I subscribe to your blog for $1.99 per month?
Sounds really expensive to subscribe to all my feeds at $2 per month. $2×500= @#!@$! Wait that is a lot. Maybe the need to package several blogs into a group like cable tv wait a minute…
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Greg: it looks like I get 30% of the fees Amazon collects by selling my feed. So, thats about $.60 per month, I’d guess.
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The Kindle site has all the user guides in PDF. Kind of ironic that it doesn’t support PDF.
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Greg: it looks like I get 30% of the fees Amazon collects by selling my feed. So, thats about $.60 per month, I’d guess.
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The Kindle site has all the user guides in PDF. Kind of ironic that it doesn’t support PDF.
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It’s the exact same price as two XO laptops which are, among other things, better looking ebook readers.
Sorry Robert… the Nigerian kid gets the kickback.
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It’s the exact same price as two XO laptops which are, among other things, better looking ebook readers.
Sorry Robert… the Nigerian kid gets the kickback.
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Wow. For me this device looks really cool! Does anyone now if there are plans for Germany?. I guess it’s hard to make a contract with one of our mobile carriers to allow access to the kindle server.
But 2$ per blog is ridiculous! I don’t understand why! They should charge 2 bucks per month to enable wireless blog subscriptions. That would be cool.
I really hope it will be out in Germany soon.
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Wow. For me this device looks really cool! Does anyone now if there are plans for Germany?. I guess it’s hard to make a contract with one of our mobile carriers to allow access to the kindle server.
But 2$ per blog is ridiculous! I don’t understand why! They should charge 2 bucks per month to enable wireless blog subscriptions. That would be cool.
I really hope it will be out in Germany soon.
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Are they doing a Sony whereby the DRM-encrusted “books” explode after a month?
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Are they doing a Sony whereby the DRM-encrusted “books” explode after a month?
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This stuff is useless. Advantage like reading on the beach under the bright sun – that’s simply ridiculous. This device should provide more than just downloading and displaying text. WIFI, PDF, clickable links inside magazines, blogs, plugin architecture for doc/text codecs.
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I’m still trying to figure out why I should pay $399 for a single-use device, plus another $24 a year for content I can already get for free on hardware that I already own.
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I’m still trying to figure out why I should pay $399 for a single-use device, plus another $24 a year for content I can already get for free on hardware that I already own.
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This stuff is useless. Advantage like reading on the beach under the bright sun – that’s simply ridiculous. This device should provide more than just downloading and displaying text. WIFI, PDF, clickable links inside magazines, blogs, plugin architecture for doc/text codecs.
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Finally, a tech toy that isn’t meant for techies!!!
I couldn’t be happier to read about the Kindle. I was wondering what to get my daughter for Christmas and now I know.
She’s a third year law student and lugs A MOUNTAIN of heavy books to school, which is a 90 minute commute. With all those textbooks, it’s really hard for her to take casual reading material with her, too. This will be perfect!
I think all you geeks are wrong on this one.
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Finally, a tech toy that isn’t meant for techies!!!
I couldn’t be happier to read about the Kindle. I was wondering what to get my daughter for Christmas and now I know.
She’s a third year law student and lugs A MOUNTAIN of heavy books to school, which is a 90 minute commute. With all those textbooks, it’s really hard for her to take casual reading material with her, too. This will be perfect!
I think all you geeks are wrong on this one.
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Useless..But since Amazon are paying you to promote it! i am sure that will here a lot about it:)
Btw – Steve Jobs just announced that the Scobleizer will be getting the new Macbooks before Steven Levy and Walt Mossberg!!! like it should have been in the first place.
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Useless..But since Amazon are paying you to promote it! i am sure that will here a lot about it:)
Btw – Steve Jobs just announced that the Scobleizer will be getting the new Macbooks before Steven Levy and Walt Mossberg!!! like it should have been in the first place.
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Robert, did you order yours through your very own link? 🙂
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Robert, did you order yours through your very own link? 🙂
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I dont get how people compare it to a tablet or an iphone. Has anybody a) seen the size of it which is much bigger than an iphone and b) seen the battery life?!
Markus, you know it will take some time until it will arrive in germany for the simple fact that part of their deal is the way you are able to download content – and you know that this is not available over here the same way.
Now, if there would be a kindle for let’s say 100 dollar only usable via USB, that would be something I would order and ask Robert to bring over in in December. 😉
[btw Robert be careful to not set your Amazon Associates programm to dynamic earning, as such it should cut the bonus to $10 per sold unit ;)]
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I dont get how people compare it to a tablet or an iphone. Has anybody a) seen the size of it which is much bigger than an iphone and b) seen the battery life?!
Markus, you know it will take some time until it will arrive in germany for the simple fact that part of their deal is the way you are able to download content – and you know that this is not available over here the same way.
Now, if there would be a kindle for let’s say 100 dollar only usable via USB, that would be something I would order and ask Robert to bring over in in December. 😉
[btw Robert be careful to not set your Amazon Associates programm to dynamic earning, as such it should cut the bonus to $10 per sold unit ;)]
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The Sony Reader is much much better insofar as an eBook device — the new ver. is much improved, and old (still good) is going for a song at Costco’s.
But the Tablets, well, big and heavy, battery-killers, unwieldy, expensive, not to mention MS abandonwared MS Reader, and everything eBookwise, like 3-4 years ago. Don’t pull that line. I believed the promises at the Tablet Launch, and was disappointed and letdown like so many others.
It’s a nice idea, but Amazon seems determined to nickel and dime you, with a feature-lacking device. Amazon hypes it up, caters to bloggers, and gets them all serious affli-link cozy, so it’s gonna have a total idiot-hype push, but then it’s gonna drop off faster than UMPC’s, once more people learn the details and specs.
If you want an real eBook device, get the Sony Reader, and although the Reader lacks in so many ways, it’s still the best on the market. Amazon’s eBook device is just an electronic perpetual revenue stream, not really even a decent gadget.
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The Sony Reader is much much better insofar as an eBook device — the new ver. is much improved, and old (still good) is going for a song at Costco’s.
But the Tablets, well, big and heavy, battery-killers, unwieldy, expensive, not to mention MS abandonwared MS Reader, and everything eBookwise, like 3-4 years ago. Don’t pull that line. I believed the promises at the Tablet Launch, and was disappointed and letdown like so many others.
It’s a nice idea, but Amazon seems determined to nickel and dime you, with a feature-lacking device. Amazon hypes it up, caters to bloggers, and gets them all serious affli-link cozy, so it’s gonna have a total idiot-hype push, but then it’s gonna drop off faster than UMPC’s, once more people learn the details and specs.
If you want an real eBook device, get the Sony Reader, and although the Reader lacks in so many ways, it’s still the best on the market. Amazon’s eBook device is just an electronic perpetual revenue stream, not really even a decent gadget.
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The design looks very primitive with lots of buttons and controls spread everywhere (Havent they learned anything from Apple?). A simple interface with a touch screen would have been much better. I like the concept of being able to buy books wirelessly though.
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The design looks very primitive with lots of buttons and controls spread everywhere (Havent they learned anything from Apple?). A simple interface with a touch screen would have been much better. I like the concept of being able to buy books wirelessly though.
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eBook Devices in a Nutshell
Amazon – High-priced feature-lacking generic device. Only getting traction as Amazon is sponsoring. Scoble (and Dawn, does she EVER think for herself?), and other paid-off supporters.
Reader – More the real electronic reading crowd. Gadgetheads, some more mainstream hook, thanks to Costco dumping, Fry’s Electronics displays and the Sony namesake.
Tablets – Microsoft MVPs, fan site nutters and other vampireish creatures-of-the-night of similar ilk. A promise, not kept.
Nuvomedia, Kolin, Hiebook, Easyread, Cybook Gen3, NUUT – Hard to get, specialty, off-the-boat build quality. Only the most eBook geek of geeks even knows of these.
Franklin eBookman, Hanlin, RCA REB 1100, Handera – Dead, yet never really having been alive.
Pocket PC, Palm, PDA’ers – In their own little universes. Just smile and nod, paying no attention to their tap-tap twiddlings.
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eBook Devices in a Nutshell
Amazon – High-priced feature-lacking generic device. Only getting traction as Amazon is sponsoring. Scoble (and Dawn, does she EVER think for herself?), and other paid-off supporters.
Reader – More the real electronic reading crowd. Gadgetheads, some more mainstream hook, thanks to Costco dumping, Fry’s Electronics displays and the Sony namesake.
Tablets – Microsoft MVPs, fan site nutters and other vampireish creatures-of-the-night of similar ilk. A promise, not kept.
Nuvomedia, Kolin, Hiebook, Easyread, Cybook Gen3, NUUT – Hard to get, specialty, off-the-boat build quality. Only the most eBook geek of geeks even knows of these.
Franklin eBookman, Hanlin, RCA REB 1100, Handera – Dead, yet never really having been alive.
Pocket PC, Palm, PDA’ers – In their own little universes. Just smile and nod, paying no attention to their tap-tap twiddlings.
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Dawn nailed it.
“Finally, a tech toy that isn’t meant for techies!!!”
And wtf, Richard, do you even go to a beach?
Anyway, I blogged this, because I’m getting one, but only after waiting a week to watch the fanboys go nuts. I have a Sony Reader and the features that I wish it had, the Kindle has. So, yeah. Plus, it’s tied to a company that I believe can probably figure out selling books better than the other one. (Amazon vs. Sony)
Also, I’ll bring geek thunder any day of the week. I’m just not entirely retarded about the rest of the universe. Read: not us.
And please stop comparing this to laptops and phones, because it’s not. I hate that the Kindle can’t make margaritas YET ANOTHER DEVICE I NEED IN MY HOUSE ZOMG POOR ME. Seriously. Stop.
So yeah, anyone wanna buy my old Sony Reader? Comes with the Tipping Point installed. Heh.
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Dawn nailed it.
“Finally, a tech toy that isn’t meant for techies!!!”
And wtf, Richard, do you even go to a beach?
Anyway, I blogged this, because I’m getting one, but only after waiting a week to watch the fanboys go nuts. I have a Sony Reader and the features that I wish it had, the Kindle has. So, yeah. Plus, it’s tied to a company that I believe can probably figure out selling books better than the other one. (Amazon vs. Sony)
Also, I’ll bring geek thunder any day of the week. I’m just not entirely retarded about the rest of the universe. Read: not us.
And please stop comparing this to laptops and phones, because it’s not. I hate that the Kindle can’t make margaritas YET ANOTHER DEVICE I NEED IN MY HOUSE ZOMG POOR ME. Seriously. Stop.
So yeah, anyone wanna buy my old Sony Reader? Comes with the Tipping Point installed. Heh.
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Robert, I am surprised you are collecting 60 cents for your blog. I did not know you write this blog for making money. At some point you had a lengthy discussion here that you could make handsome ad money on your blog and donate it to some charity. You finally decided otherwise.
Ad proposal was better on two counts than this and you still did not go with that. In ad proposal your devoted readers were not paying you and the money you would collect from the advertisers would go with some good charity cause.
I am really surprised that you agreed to collect 60 cents per month per subscriber. Well, at least I am not contributing to your little piggy 🙂
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Robert, I am surprised you are collecting 60 cents for your blog. I did not know you write this blog for making money. At some point you had a lengthy discussion here that you could make handsome ad money on your blog and donate it to some charity. You finally decided otherwise.
Ad proposal was better on two counts than this and you still did not go with that. In ad proposal your devoted readers were not paying you and the money you would collect from the advertisers would go with some good charity cause.
I am really surprised that you agreed to collect 60 cents per month per subscriber. Well, at least I am not contributing to your little piggy 🙂
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If yah got a PRS-505, what you asking? If a PRS-500 don’t bother.
What features Amazon has that the Reader lacks? Amazon’s MobiPocket DRM over Sony’s DRM? Wheeeeee…
Amazon is doing an Apple, playing favorites, David Rothman will kill this, scorned as he is, and knowing all the stories.
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If yah got a PRS-505, what you asking? If a PRS-500 don’t bother.
What features Amazon has that the Reader lacks? Amazon’s MobiPocket DRM over Sony’s DRM? Wheeeeee…
Amazon is doing an Apple, playing favorites, David Rothman will kill this, scorned as he is, and knowing all the stories.
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@11 Why are you keeping every book you’ve ever owned? I see the sweetspot for this being storage for textbooks for schools and universities. (Could I electronically sell the book back, though? 😉 )
Beyond that, the experience of reading an actual book cannot be replaced with a device.
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@11 Why are you keeping every book you’ve ever owned? I see the sweetspot for this being storage for textbooks for schools and universities. (Could I electronically sell the book back, though? 😉 )
Beyond that, the experience of reading an actual book cannot be replaced with a device.
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If Amazon doesn’t go .epub it’s dead anyways. And all the publishers are decrying, and Scoble is cheering, so it’s an obvious dead-end.
Bet on Scoble, lose your shirt. Or if play it in reverse, a winning strategy.
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If Amazon doesn’t go .epub it’s dead anyways. And all the publishers are decrying, and Scoble is cheering, so it’s an obvious dead-end.
Bet on Scoble, lose your shirt. Or if play it in reverse, a winning strategy.
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Dang. Way to slow on the draw, Robert – I Prime’d mine overnight the instant it hit their page.
Sorry! 😦
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Dang. Way to slow on the draw, Robert – I Prime’d mine overnight the instant it hit their page.
Sorry! 😦
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Kamal: I didn’t know until today that I’d be getting anything for being on the device. Personally I don’t care either way. I doubt I’ll get more than a few bucks from it.
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Kamal: I didn’t know until today that I’d be getting anything for being on the device. Personally I don’t care either way. I doubt I’ll get more than a few bucks from it.
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BUY YOUR BLOG? Are you telling me Amazon’s going to charge a fee to subscribe to an RSS feed?
That seems crazy to me. Frankly I’m surprised I haven’t seen an angry Scoble rant on the subject. Bloggers have been freely exchanging information with RSS for years and Amazon wants to profit from that?
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BUY YOUR BLOG? Are you telling me Amazon’s going to charge a fee to subscribe to an RSS feed?
That seems crazy to me. Frankly I’m surprised I haven’t seen an angry Scoble rant on the subject. Bloggers have been freely exchanging information with RSS for years and Amazon wants to profit from that?
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Robert….
John: last I checked a hard cover book costs about $30 to buy at the store. So, at some point this thing starts paying for itself if you’re a heavy reader. Not to mention that I don’t have space at home for more books.
I can’t begin to count the number of ways you are off the mark. But I’ll try.
I purchase a hardcover book for $30 and I own it forever. My cost for a device that helps me read it? $0. Sure, if you compare it to the $10 for a digital copy you then set the breakeven point to be about $20 * 20 = $400, or 20 books. But now we’re talking about the real issue I have….
YOu say you don’t have space to store those 20 books? I’ll reply by asking – what happens to you when you misplace that $400 device? I guess you’re back to what happened when your Mac blue-screened…. unless you baked up those purchases you made, you are SOL.
I think I’ll stick to my physical library that you apparently have no room for.
Now we get to my honest issue with digital books. And, frankly, nothing about Kindle changes this one iota – my reading style. I like to dog-ear my pages. Love to turn back a few chapters in a novel to re-read something that I didn’t catch the first time. And when going through a textbook? I usually keep several bookmarks and write notes in the liner.
I still haven’t found a way to do this in any manner I like with an eBook.
Bottom line Robert? There’s a reason that Tablet PCs haven’t taken off yet. Pretty much the same reason why eBooks haven’t either. They haven’t hit the sweet spot of the non-technical masses. Which brings me to Dawn….
Finally, a tech toy that isn’t meant for techies!!!
I couldn’t be happier to read about the Kindle. I was wondering what to get my daughter for Christmas and now I know.
She’s a third year law student and lugs A MOUNTAIN of heavy books to school, which is a 90 minute commute. With all those textbooks, it’s really hard for her to take casual reading material with her, too. This will be perfect!
First off Dawn, Merry Christmas to you and your daughter. Hopefully you aren’t offended over my non-PC wishes. I’m wording my wishes this way because you mentioned Christmas very specifically instead of saying “holidays”. If this was offensive, then I wish you and your daughter a Happy Holiday Season. 🙂
Please, let us all know how your daughter likes – or comes to learn the allbacks of your present to her. I hope she’ somewhat technically inclined… because that 50 button keyboard looks way more complicated than my style I have with physical books to turn pages and set bookmarks.
Now I know you aren’t buying this for her schoolbooks – and much of my dislike of eBooks are more geared for those. So let’s focus on “casual reading material” as you put it. And please, let’s also consider that non-techie crowd you believe this will totally appeal to.
First off, let’s hope her casual reading material is available. I hear-tell that books go out of print. I know this for a fact, as many of my favorite authors from the 1970s have paperbacks I own that I simply cannot replace.
Oh, you say Amazon does have those out-of=print books in eBook format? I’m pretty sure Google was doing something like that 2 years ago and was really getting flak over it.
But okay, she buys that latest hot novel by Dan Brown as an eBook and loves it. In fact, she wants to read more by him. Oh, damn. To do that she’s stuck with three choices…. (1) Buy yet another eBook at $10 each. (2) Buy the physical copy at a bookstore (or Amazon) for $10 paperback or $20 hardcopy. (3) Check out a copy from the library for free.
Remember Dawn, we’re talking non-techies here. My 86 year old mom who last Saturday needed my help to purchase more minutes for her cell phone online because she could figure out how to put in a promotion code – and STILL was confused because a Windows GMA (I think that’s right) popped up telling her that she needs to upgrade to the latest XP support pack.
I’m pretty sure my mom would laugh her butt off – or simply shut me down – if I tried to explain to her how GREAT this 50 button keyboard eBook player ($400 + $10 per book) is over her simply, uh, borrowing a book from the library.
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Robert….
John: last I checked a hard cover book costs about $30 to buy at the store. So, at some point this thing starts paying for itself if you’re a heavy reader. Not to mention that I don’t have space at home for more books.
I can’t begin to count the number of ways you are off the mark. But I’ll try.
I purchase a hardcover book for $30 and I own it forever. My cost for a device that helps me read it? $0. Sure, if you compare it to the $10 for a digital copy you then set the breakeven point to be about $20 * 20 = $400, or 20 books. But now we’re talking about the real issue I have….
YOu say you don’t have space to store those 20 books? I’ll reply by asking – what happens to you when you misplace that $400 device? I guess you’re back to what happened when your Mac blue-screened…. unless you baked up those purchases you made, you are SOL.
I think I’ll stick to my physical library that you apparently have no room for.
Now we get to my honest issue with digital books. And, frankly, nothing about Kindle changes this one iota – my reading style. I like to dog-ear my pages. Love to turn back a few chapters in a novel to re-read something that I didn’t catch the first time. And when going through a textbook? I usually keep several bookmarks and write notes in the liner.
I still haven’t found a way to do this in any manner I like with an eBook.
Bottom line Robert? There’s a reason that Tablet PCs haven’t taken off yet. Pretty much the same reason why eBooks haven’t either. They haven’t hit the sweet spot of the non-technical masses. Which brings me to Dawn….
Finally, a tech toy that isn’t meant for techies!!!
I couldn’t be happier to read about the Kindle. I was wondering what to get my daughter for Christmas and now I know.
She’s a third year law student and lugs A MOUNTAIN of heavy books to school, which is a 90 minute commute. With all those textbooks, it’s really hard for her to take casual reading material with her, too. This will be perfect!
First off Dawn, Merry Christmas to you and your daughter. Hopefully you aren’t offended over my non-PC wishes. I’m wording my wishes this way because you mentioned Christmas very specifically instead of saying “holidays”. If this was offensive, then I wish you and your daughter a Happy Holiday Season. 🙂
Please, let us all know how your daughter likes – or comes to learn the allbacks of your present to her. I hope she’ somewhat technically inclined… because that 50 button keyboard looks way more complicated than my style I have with physical books to turn pages and set bookmarks.
Now I know you aren’t buying this for her schoolbooks – and much of my dislike of eBooks are more geared for those. So let’s focus on “casual reading material” as you put it. And please, let’s also consider that non-techie crowd you believe this will totally appeal to.
First off, let’s hope her casual reading material is available. I hear-tell that books go out of print. I know this for a fact, as many of my favorite authors from the 1970s have paperbacks I own that I simply cannot replace.
Oh, you say Amazon does have those out-of=print books in eBook format? I’m pretty sure Google was doing something like that 2 years ago and was really getting flak over it.
But okay, she buys that latest hot novel by Dan Brown as an eBook and loves it. In fact, she wants to read more by him. Oh, damn. To do that she’s stuck with three choices…. (1) Buy yet another eBook at $10 each. (2) Buy the physical copy at a bookstore (or Amazon) for $10 paperback or $20 hardcopy. (3) Check out a copy from the library for free.
Remember Dawn, we’re talking non-techies here. My 86 year old mom who last Saturday needed my help to purchase more minutes for her cell phone online because she could figure out how to put in a promotion code – and STILL was confused because a Windows GMA (I think that’s right) popped up telling her that she needs to upgrade to the latest XP support pack.
I’m pretty sure my mom would laugh her butt off – or simply shut me down – if I tried to explain to her how GREAT this 50 button keyboard eBook player ($400 + $10 per book) is over her simply, uh, borrowing a book from the library.
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how can I add my comic strip blog to Amazon’s list of blogs supported?
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how can I add my comic strip blog to Amazon’s list of blogs supported?
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“Amazon – High-priced feature-lacking generic device. Only getting traction as Amazon is sponsoring. Scoble (and Dawn, does she EVER think for herself?), and other paid-off supporters.”
What the heck is that supposed to mean? I’ve never been paid off to say anything for anybody. And if you knew anything about me at all, you’d know that I always think for myself and am not afraid to say what I think, like the fact that you’re a boring, tiresome troll.
DaveD, if you think only techies can use keyboards, then I hope you’re not a techie yourself, because I can’t imagine who would be desperate enough to hire you, and I’d have to worry about your ability to buy food and find shelter.
As for $10 books…when you’ve been paying $200 to $300 for each textbook, $10 looks like a steal.
She’ll be able to carry several books at once, plus magazines and newspapers and blogs. She can search for passages, for names; she can look things up…
I only wish somebody was buying me one for Christmas.
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“Amazon – High-priced feature-lacking generic device. Only getting traction as Amazon is sponsoring. Scoble (and Dawn, does she EVER think for herself?), and other paid-off supporters.”
What the heck is that supposed to mean? I’ve never been paid off to say anything for anybody. And if you knew anything about me at all, you’d know that I always think for myself and am not afraid to say what I think, like the fact that you’re a boring, tiresome troll.
DaveD, if you think only techies can use keyboards, then I hope you’re not a techie yourself, because I can’t imagine who would be desperate enough to hire you, and I’d have to worry about your ability to buy food and find shelter.
As for $10 books…when you’ve been paying $200 to $300 for each textbook, $10 looks like a steal.
She’ll be able to carry several books at once, plus magazines and newspapers and blogs. She can search for passages, for names; she can look things up…
I only wish somebody was buying me one for Christmas.
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@don Draper, in the Netherlands a school is currently testing this setup and they seem enthusiastic. Though the device they are using is more advanced (and expensive) then the Kindle (it also provides note taking and has a bigger screen)
I like the concept of the whispernet, but I wonder how they will handle international roaming (as that tends to get rather expensive). Luckily Robert will be able to test it when visiting France.
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@don Draper, in the Netherlands a school is currently testing this setup and they seem enthusiastic. Though the device they are using is more advanced (and expensive) then the Kindle (it also provides note taking and has a bigger screen)
I like the concept of the whispernet, but I wonder how they will handle international roaming (as that tends to get rather expensive). Luckily Robert will be able to test it when visiting France.
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But how could they make it so ugly??? Geez. Just when it was ok to use your gadgets among normal (read: non-geeks) people. The iPod, iPhone, Sony-Ericsson, Nokia, even Zune.
But this?
I had a car track back in the 70s, made by cheap plastic. The Kindle looks like some spare part for that, something that is made to support the loop of the track or a start pad. Butt ugly.
Make it look nice, remove the lame format and I’ll consider it.
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But how could they make it so ugly??? Geez. Just when it was ok to use your gadgets among normal (read: non-geeks) people. The iPod, iPhone, Sony-Ericsson, Nokia, even Zune.
But this?
I had a car track back in the 70s, made by cheap plastic. The Kindle looks like some spare part for that, something that is made to support the loop of the track or a start pad. Butt ugly.
Make it look nice, remove the lame format and I’ll consider it.
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“If I had a Kindle I’d have to pay $9.99 for every book I read on it.”
Can we PLEASE get our facts straight? The $9.99 is not for EVERY book – the prices start way below that, I’m fairly certain they run higher too (yup: $1,079.96)
Oh and those $9.99 books have cover prices of over $20.
And until one has had one in one’s hands and actually used it it will be almost impossible to form a valid judgement – especially as it will probably work well for some and less well for others.
Me, I don’t even get to make a decision ‘cos I don’t live in the right place though I do read a LOT of books.
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“If I had a Kindle I’d have to pay $9.99 for every book I read on it.”
Can we PLEASE get our facts straight? The $9.99 is not for EVERY book – the prices start way below that, I’m fairly certain they run higher too (yup: $1,079.96)
Oh and those $9.99 books have cover prices of over $20.
And until one has had one in one’s hands and actually used it it will be almost impossible to form a valid judgement – especially as it will probably work well for some and less well for others.
Me, I don’t even get to make a decision ‘cos I don’t live in the right place though I do read a LOT of books.
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I’m guessing the RSS-fee bizarreness is a way to pay for the EVDO use, as I’m assuming the carriers that are hosting Whispernet aren’t giving away this bandwidth away for free. Still, things like this need to be explained for people who haven’t grown very accustomed something normally provided free of charge. Damn I hope google wins the 700 mhz auction …..
If only those feed-aggregator things that funnel all your favourite posts into a single feed would work, then one could essentially have all their favourite feeds provided for a reasonable connection fee.
Amazon trying to make money from this blog service, instead of a cost-recovery basis was a big PR mistake IMO. Too bad, this device (fugly or not) has such promise. We are ready for ebooks to gain serious marketshare.
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I’m guessing the RSS-fee bizarreness is a way to pay for the EVDO use, as I’m assuming the carriers that are hosting Whispernet aren’t giving away this bandwidth away for free. Still, things like this need to be explained for people who haven’t grown very accustomed something normally provided free of charge. Damn I hope google wins the 700 mhz auction …..
If only those feed-aggregator things that funnel all your favourite posts into a single feed would work, then one could essentially have all their favourite feeds provided for a reasonable connection fee.
Amazon trying to make money from this blog service, instead of a cost-recovery basis was a big PR mistake IMO. Too bad, this device (fugly or not) has such promise. We are ready for ebooks to gain serious marketshare.
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Hi Robert, couple of questions here. How come you will have it tomorrow? Amazon says it’ll be available on the 29th, you have some special deal? If it is the latter… Could you find out if this thing works outside the US? can you download books with some sort of roaming? Can you download the books with a PC?
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Hi Robert, couple of questions here. How come you will have it tomorrow? Amazon says it’ll be available on the 29th, you have some special deal? If it is the latter… Could you find out if this thing works outside the US? can you download books with some sort of roaming? Can you download the books with a PC?
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To transfer your own documents to Kindle, you need to use Amazon’s service, and pay for the document conversion.
The display doesn’t have colours. Who’s going to read a magazine in shades of gray?
And the design really is uninspiring.
Somehow the device looks like something from the beginning of the 90s… Like “Buy this for your kitchen – it holds thousands of recipes”…
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To transfer your own documents to Kindle, you need to use Amazon’s service, and pay for the document conversion.
The display doesn’t have colours. Who’s going to read a magazine in shades of gray?
And the design really is uninspiring.
Somehow the device looks like something from the beginning of the 90s… Like “Buy this for your kitchen – it holds thousands of recipes”…
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Like you say … Amazon is Great !!!
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Like you say … Amazon is Great !!!
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2 Years from now inside Amazon…
“Hey – revenue from those kindle things has really died off… What can we do about it?”
“Launch a new version with little or no backward compatibility and start selling new books ONLY in the new format… Better yet! Sell the new version as a ‘slimline’ or ‘palm held’ and cut away the ability to read the old ones unless you upload them from an old kindle! People will have to buy a new one to read new books but they won’t be able to read old books unless they still have an old one!”
“Wow! Dude! You’re a genius!”
If anyone thinks this is unrealistic – go have a look at what it takes to play a PS1 game on a PSP… You have to own a PS3! Scary but true!
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2 Years from now inside Amazon…
“Hey – revenue from those kindle things has really died off… What can we do about it?”
“Launch a new version with little or no backward compatibility and start selling new books ONLY in the new format… Better yet! Sell the new version as a ‘slimline’ or ‘palm held’ and cut away the ability to read the old ones unless you upload them from an old kindle! People will have to buy a new one to read new books but they won’t be able to read old books unless they still have an old one!”
“Wow! Dude! You’re a genius!”
If anyone thinks this is unrealistic – go have a look at what it takes to play a PS1 game on a PSP… You have to own a PS3! Scary but true!
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Alfredo: It’s available now on the Amazon Web site. I just ordered it by clicking on the link in this post.
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Alfredo: It’s available now on the Amazon Web site. I just ordered it by clicking on the link in this post.
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I’m SHOCKED and disappointed in you true geeks out there… especially the ones complaining about having to pay a monthly subscription fee for each RSS feed you want to subscribe to (and use via the Kindle)…
There’s a much cheaper alternative to Amazon’s blog subscription fees…
Create a simple script (host on your server somewhere) that pulls new posts from all the RSS feeds you want — even if it’s 100,000 of them. Have the script take that data, arrange it anyway you want, and create a Word document. Then have the script automatically email this document to the email address of your Kindle — Amazon’s system will process the doc and ‘beam’ it to your Kindle automatically at a cost of 10 cents.
If you set the script to check all your favorite RSS feeds ONCE per day (and update your Kindle then) it’s a great total $3.00 per month. If you want it to update twice a day, it would be $6.00 a month. Again, this could be for 1,000+ RSS feeds. *OR* you could have your Kindle update only every other day… that would reduce the cost to a mere $1.50 a month.
If there’s a will, there’s a way.
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I’m SHOCKED and disappointed in you true geeks out there… especially the ones complaining about having to pay a monthly subscription fee for each RSS feed you want to subscribe to (and use via the Kindle)…
There’s a much cheaper alternative to Amazon’s blog subscription fees…
Create a simple script (host on your server somewhere) that pulls new posts from all the RSS feeds you want — even if it’s 100,000 of them. Have the script take that data, arrange it anyway you want, and create a Word document. Then have the script automatically email this document to the email address of your Kindle — Amazon’s system will process the doc and ‘beam’ it to your Kindle automatically at a cost of 10 cents.
If you set the script to check all your favorite RSS feeds ONCE per day (and update your Kindle then) it’s a great total $3.00 per month. If you want it to update twice a day, it would be $6.00 a month. Again, this could be for 1,000+ RSS feeds. *OR* you could have your Kindle update only every other day… that would reduce the cost to a mere $1.50 a month.
If there’s a will, there’s a way.
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I like your honesty with your post !
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I like your honesty with your post !
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You guys questioning whether this thing is worth 400 bones need to calm down. This device is catered to the rich, like most tech, and they can very easily afford it. You guys act like newcomers to this blog. This blog is about two things:
1. Web services that are free, but mainly attractive to tech geeks.
2. Electronic gadgets targeted at those with high disposable income.
This blog isn’t about the common Joe, so don’t complain about coverage of items that aren’t targeted to the common Joe.
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You guys questioning whether this thing is worth 400 bones need to calm down. This device is catered to the rich, like most tech, and they can very easily afford it. You guys act like newcomers to this blog. This blog is about two things:
1. Web services that are free, but mainly attractive to tech geeks.
2. Electronic gadgets targeted at those with high disposable income.
This blog isn’t about the common Joe, so don’t complain about coverage of items that aren’t targeted to the common Joe.
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Nathaniel, I’m totally with you. It’s a product for which there is a less expensive alternative: a book.
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Nathaniel, I’m totally with you. It’s a product for which there is a less expensive alternative: a book.
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You can read different format files on a Kindle, but according to Amazon:
“PDF conversion is experimental. The experimental category represents the features we are working on to enhance the Kindle experience even further. You can email your PDFs wirelessly to your Kindle. Due to PDF’s fixed layout format, some complex PDF files might not format correctly on your Kindle.”
see http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200140600
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You can read different format files on a Kindle, but according to Amazon:
“PDF conversion is experimental. The experimental category represents the features we are working on to enhance the Kindle experience even further. You can email your PDFs wirelessly to your Kindle. Due to PDF’s fixed layout format, some complex PDF files might not format correctly on your Kindle.”
see http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200140600
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