[Web4lib] Amazon's Kindle e-book reader

Grace J. Agnew gagnew at rci.rutgers.edu
Tue Nov 20 16:43:38 EST 2007


I also would like to see more of an effort on the part of e-book 
promoters to stratify their markets and take more of a "niche" approach 
than a "one size fits all" approach.  University and college textbooks 
are a niche market that would really benefit from an e-book approach, 
particularly an approach that let a faculty member annotate a reading, 
associate readings and assignments with each chapter, and enabled 
students to share notes and discussion within the e-book.  It would also 
allow students to carry all their textbooks on a single device.  It 
should therefore interface with CMS technologies such as 
WebCT/Blackboard and Sakai.  Textbooks are an expensive and ungainly 
process currently.  E-books could really streamline textbooks and bring 
some of the best aspects of distance education into the physical 
classroom.  And not just for universities, but for K20.

I buy paperback copies of books I love for tub reading.  I have a whole 
shelf of tub reading.  There is no greater pleasure after a rough day 
than a steaming bath, a glass of wine and a book.  I also have an 
idiosyncratic habit of a book for every room. There's the book (usually 
professional reading) waiting for me in the living room, the 
aforementioned tub book, and the book by my bedside that I read until I 
am sleepy and that I can read in the morning to help me wake up and 
focus.  I like to pick up my chosen books in each room, and not carry 
one device around with me.  Perhaps the e-book reader exists to solve 
the room issue but until an e-book solves the tub problem, there is one 
niche market (even if I am a niche of one!) that they won't conquer.

Grace Agnew

Kathryn Silberger wrote:
> One of my first reactions to Kindle was that Bezos should have hired an
> Apple designer.  I feel sort of shallow for reacting that way, but there
> you have it.  You said, "I don't see how I could embrace the Kindle without
> seeing it.  Nor do I see how you can dismiss it without seeing it."  I
> think that may be a problem for Amazon.  Folks won't see it at their local
> electronics store, or at Barnes & Noble.  The only public space where
> Kindle will be used will be airports, planes and trains.  And we know the
> good vibes airports generate.  The price is just high enough that most
> people are going to want to see it and touch it, before parting with their
> money.  Without some physical marketing outlets, I think they may have a
> problem.
>
> Electronic books also take an important social element out of reading.  How
> many people on this list swap paperback leisure reading?  Some books I own,
> but with many books I just visit.  You can't do that with Kindle.
>
> On the plus side, I think its smart not to have any monthly bills attached
> to it.   And the long battery life and variable font sizes are important as
> well.  It certainly was a bold move on the part of Amazon.  I would love it
> if it could boost leisure reading in this country, but I'm skeptical at
> this point.
>
>
> Katy
>
> Kathryn K. Silberger
> Automation Resources Librarian
> James A. Cannavino Library
> Marist College
> 3399 North Road
> Poughkeepsie, NY  12601
> Kathryn.Silberger at marist.edu
> (845) 575-3000 x.2419
>
>
>                                                                            
>              "Richard Wiggins"                                             
>              <richard.wiggins@                                             
>              gmail.com>                                                 To 
>              Sent by:                  "Roy Tennant" <tennantr at oclc.org>   
>              web4lib-bounces at w                                          cc 
>              ebjunction.org            web4lib <web4lib at webjunction.org>   
>                                                                    Subject 
>                                        Re: [Web4lib] Amazon's Kindle       
>              11/20/2007 11:11          e-book reader                       
>              AM                                                            
>                                                                            
>                                                                            
>                                                                            
>                                                                            
>                                                                            
>
>
>
>
> I haven't seen a Kindle so I do not claim that it is the embodiment of the
> sweet spot for the e-book.  I have bought more handheld devices than you've
> bought coffee this month, and most failed to live up to the hype.  But past
> performance is not necessarily an indicator of future failure.
>
>
>
> The price, today, is virtually irrelevant.  It is common for products to
> launch with prices much higher than the eventual street price.  Look at,
> ahem, the iPhone, for example.  It is in Amazon's interest to practically
> give the thing away since they will follow the model of HP toner and
> Gilette
> razor blades ultimately.  (HP makes 1/3 of its revenue on ink.)  Avid
> readers will make up the cost of the device by buying books at less than
> 1/2
> the cost of print editions.
>
> Setting aside the price, if the screen is readable and the battery life
> lives up to the claims, there are a lot of people that would be THRILLED
> to carry around 200 books in a 10 ounce package.
>
> The iPhone is wonderful, marvelous, truly amazing technology.  Several
> friends and colleagues swear by theirs.  Maybe younger eyes will read books
> on them, but the presbyopics among us need more screen space.
>
> /rich
>
> PS --
>
> Geez, Roy, if you want to debate the postscript, fine, but don't lead with
> that rebuttal.    :-)
>
> On Nov 20, 2007 10:24 AM, Roy Tennant <tennantr at oclc.org> wrote:
>
>   
>> It's nice that Jeff Bezos is such a nice guy. That and $3.40 (in
>> California,
>> at least) will buy him a cup of coffee. The question is whether the
>>     
> Kindle
>   
>> has a life. I still think it doesn't.
>>
>> It gets kudos for the display that can be seen in sunlight and long
>> battery
>> life. But I don't think those qualities are enough to overcome that
>>     
> you've
>   
>> just spent $400 on something that only reads books. The device to which I
>> was alluding earlier was not a PC of any kind, but the iPhone. The iPhone
>> makes the Kindle look like last century's technology in a couple key
>>     
> ways.
>   
>> One is simply the "wow" factor. I'm sorry, but I think the Kindle looks
>> dorky. If I'm not the only one, then who is going to want to be seen
>> carrying it around?
>>
>> The other reason is more substantive. First Blackberries and now the
>> iPhone
>> have demonstrated the kind of unification of functions that has been
>> predicted for many years -- you will no longer have a PDA and a phone and
>> a
>> music player and perhaps even a laptop as separate devices -- they would
>> be
>> all one. And the fact that the same amount of money will buy you either a
>> book reading device or a phone and a music player and a web browser and a
>> ...makes the Kindle a complete non-starter in my book (sorry for the
>>     
> pun).
>   
>> And to think folks were complaining about the price of the iPhone.
>> Roy
>>
>>
>> On 11/20/07 6:49 AM, "Richard Wiggins" <richard.wiggins at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> Did anyone listen to Jeff Bezos pitch the product on All Things
>>>       
>> Considered
>>     
>>> last night?  The npr.org Web site is undergoing a serious meltdown
>>>       
> right
>   
>>> now, serving up broken links and content from 2005, but it's worth a
>>> listen.  Bezos gently chided a blogger who dismissed the new device
>>>       
>> based on
>>     
>>> a fuzzy photo in an FCC filing.
>>>
>>> One of the key points he made was that the display technology is a kind
>>>       
>> of
>>     
>>> electronic ink, not like the backlit LCD displays on the $400 laptops
>>>       
>> that
>>     
>>> Roy alludes to.  It uses very little power; it can last a week without
>>> recharge if you're not downloading using the Wi-Fi.
>>>
>>> I think it's useful to think of the history of the PDA.  The Newton was
>>>       
>> a
>>     
>>> disaster; Doonesbury even made fun of its handwriting recognition.
>>>       
>>  Millions
>>     
>>> of us actually tried to learn another form of handwriting when
>>>       
> wrestling
>   
>>> with our Palm Pilots.  It took Treos, Blackberries, and now iPhones for
>>>       
>> the
>>     
>>> PDA to really come into its own.  But it eventually did.
>>>
>>> I think there is no doubt that the purpose-specific e-book will come
>>>       
>> into
>>     
>>> its own as well, and I think people who nay-say it without seeing it,
>>> touching it, feeling it, and using it will someday look foolish.  They
>>>       
>> may
>>     
>>> not look foolish with this attempt, but someday they will.
>>>
>>> The only development that I see derailing that possibility is a Star
>>>       
>> Trek:
>>     
>>> Next Generation level of tablet, weighing the same as the Amazon
>>>       
> device,
>   
>>> using equivalent display technology, costing no more, and as easy to
>>>       
> use
>   
>> for
>>     
>>> the purpose of reading books.
>>>
>>> /rich
>>>
>>> PS -- I am biased here because in 1997 when SLA was in Seattle, Jeff
>>>       
>> Bezos
>>     
>>> spoke at the conference.  A room of 200 librarians interacted with him,
>>>       
>> and
>>     
>>> gave him suggestions.  Unfailingly he said "that's a great idea, let me
>>>       
>> take
>>     
>>> that back" and he seemed to mean it.  Afterwards he consented to an
>>> interview with me.  He spent much more time than a guy who'd already
>>>       
>> been on
>>     
>>> the cover of national magazines needed to, and he arranged for a
>>>       
>> separate
>>     
>>> visit for my wife and me to Amazon HQ.  He is truly a nice guy,
>>>       
> probably
>   
>> the
>>     
>>> nicest CEO you'll ever encounter.  I wish him the best.  See:
>>> http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_5/wiggins/
>>>       
>>  _______________________________________________
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>>
>>     
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-- 

 

________________________________________________________________

Grace Agnew
Associate University Librarian for Digital Library Systems
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Library Technical Services Building
47 Davidson Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854-5603

gagnew at rci.rutgers.edu
PH: (732) 445-5908
FAX: (732) 445-5888



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