[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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