[Web4lib] Amazon's Kindle e-book reader

[Richard Wiggins]

Roy,

You are kind, and I am not a gentleman, at least not in this regard.  I held
that arrow in my quiver.  :-)

And of course the jury remains out on Google Books and the various
digitization projects that unfolded since our first debate on the subject
of digitizing all the books in a major library -- back in 2001 believe it or
not.

Steve Levy, who wrote the Newsweek piece discussed in this thread, was on
NPR's "Day to Day" and with another guest, a man of letters whose name I did
not catch.  Levy dominated.  Our friend of letters sailed forth with the
dangers of the hyperlink and how it had ruined reading in the land, and
begged for someone to defend the citadel of the book.  He called himself a
Luddite.  He was.

Levy made a simple point.  Computers are 50 years old.  They used to fill
rooms (and I add, they didn't have GUIs).  Within 50 years, e-books will be
a dominant form of reading books.  Whether that's embodied in a specialized
device or a tablet PC of some sort, isn't the point.  The only question is
when, not whether.

Levy pointed out that as an author of 6 books, he wants his readers'
undivided attention.  But whether he achieves that depends on his words, not
on the medium.

As for Leo's argument as to whether special-purpose devices have a place in
this world, good grief, isn't that settled by now?  This year I bought a
combo blender / food processor.  It's a competent blender and weak as food
processor.  Multi-purpose devices are seldom the choice for all purposes.
Cell phone cameras serve social networking needs, not fine photography
desires.

This month I was in Barcelona with three cameras: a 1 megapixel cell phone
camera, and two Canon cameras at about the same megapixel rating, an SD-1000
that is smaller than a pack of cigarettes, and an EOS Rebel XT that is a
digital SLR.

Guess what?  I didn't use the cell camera, because the results are too low
quality.  I left the SLR in the hotel safe, because it's too big to carry
around.  I took over 500 photos with the pocket camera, which has the same
image processor as its cousin D-SLR, and good enough glass for the purpose.
If the device serves a purpose, people will adopt it, and they will use it.


Here's the analogy.  A PDA or iPhone is too small to comfortably read
books.  A laptop is too heavy and too slow to boot and too general purpose
to serve as a pure reading machine.  I won't ever read a book on an iPhone
screen, and youir laptop is slow to boot into your reader app.  Yes, Leo,
color matters, and could be a killer.  Yes, maybe the Kindle is a niche
device.  But it could be a large niche, and it could pave the way to the
real killer e-book readers.

/rich

PS -- Roy, my photos from Barcelona are at:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2086582725

This is the soon to be late and lamented Sony Imagestation site, shutting
down in 73 days due to lack of a business model.  Please feel free to rebut
my arguments, or my photos, as you wish.  :-)

On Nov 20, 2007 11:54 AM, Roy Tennant <tennantr at oclc.org> wrote:

> By the way, since Rich and I seem to be getting into a friendly debate
> again, for those of you keeping score at home the record from the past
> when
> we have disagreed is Richard: 1, Me: 0. We debated at Computers in
> Libraries
> and elsewhere over whether a library such as the Library of Congress would
> or could ever be fully digitized. I took the side that it would not. Sure,
> back then we had no idea that billions of someone else¹s dollars would be
> burning a hole in Google¹s pocket, but nonetheless I was wrong. So keep
> that
> in mind as you choose up sides. I was wrong once and will be wrong again ‹
> it¹s anyone¹s guess as to whether this is one of those times. ;-) In any
> case, I assume you simply absorb all the information and arguments and
> decide for yourself, as is right and proper.
>
> Meanwhile, Richard is too much the gentleman to point out the above facts.
> And I¹ll try to be more gentlemanly next time and not lead with a rebuttal
> to a postscript. ;-)
> Roy
>
>
> On 11/20/07 8:11 AM, "Richard Wiggins" <richard.wiggins at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 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.
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > 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.    :-)
> >
>
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