Amazon launches e-book reader
There's a good writeup here in Newsweek's Nov. 26 issue about the launch of Amazon's Kindle e-book reader device.Amazon prices Kindle editions of New York Times best sellers and new releases in hardback at $9.99. The first chapter of almost any book is available as a free sample. The Kindle is not just for books. Via the Amazon store, you can subscribe to newspapers (the Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Le Monde) and magazines (The Atlantic). When issues go to press, the virtual publications are automatically beamed into your Kindle.Excuse me, but who's going to pay $399 to read a book? That's a heck of a value proposition for you: Spend $399 so you can read a $20 book for only $9.99. On a crummy little computer.
Another interesting nugget in the Newsweek story is that Amazon honcho Jeff Bezos' wife is a novelist. Wow, talk about having connections in the book business. Doesn't look like it's helped her sales much, though.
posted by Steve Weber at 11/18/2007
7 Comments:
People with software for Amazon listings-- the kind that automatically makes theirs the lowest price, is hurting everyone, including themselves. If two people rae using that software and list the same $100.00 book-- well, that book can go for practically nothing. The parties would be better off selling at Ebay. Meanwhile, my livlihood takes another beating. For example, I listed a book for $75, made the product description with a picture, and one month later there are two people with this software driving the book down to $25.00. PLEASE PEOPLE, use your heads, don't use this software or you will drive all of us out of business.
I... don't think that's the software he's talking about here. We can whine about re-pricers but the truth is, that's the nature of the business in which you decided to try and make money, so deal with it. Adapt.
As for the "Kindle," you're right. No one is going to pay $399 for that piece of garbage. And I'm not just some old crumudgeon bookseller whose afraid of the future. If people could read books on their iPod, that might make a difference. But seriously, that thing looks like something out of Tron. Maybe the 4 people who actually purchased a Zune will get a Kindle, too. I'm trembling...
Update: Amazon now has a product page for Kindle along with a slick video. Looks like the gadget is getting hammered by customer reviews.
I doubt that many of those negative reviewers have actually used the Kindle, but I think it's pretty easy to criticize it sight unseen. The price is absurd. For $399 it should be able to take phone calls and make coffee.
$399 are you nuts?
Here's an idea, Amazon: Give away the reader for free. The razor blade business model has a chance. Otherwise we'll get along just fine growing beards and being illiterate.
Is it Water Proof? Will it break when I fall asleep in bed and roll over it?
AN OLD POSTING OF MINE FROM 12/1998
http://www.nacs.org/news/072998-nielsen.asp
E-Books Get No Respect From Web Use Expert
7/29/98
A leading expert on consumer usability of web sites and online media design believes that the concept of electronic books is flawed.
Jakob Nielsen, author/editor of eight books on web design and usability (including three best-sellers) and former Sun Microsystems engineer, thinks that simply loading entire print-oriented books into a portable device is "a bad idea."
A number of companies, including SoftBook Press, NuvoMedia, Everybook, and Librius, have announced plans to put e-books on the market by the end of the year. The CEOs of all four companies will be discussing this new product and its impact on traditional bookselling at ConTEXT, the Conference on Textbooks and Technology, in February.
However, in the biweekly "Alertbox" column on his UseIt web site, Nielsen writes that electronic books are really just tablet computers trying to reproduce the experience of a paper book—and that's not good, in his view. "Electronic text should not mimic the old medium and its linear ways," he says. "Page turning remains a bad interface…we need to improve on the past, not simply match it."
Nielsen thinks that electronic books can't succeed because writers and designers are locked into the traditional book concept in which the reader simply follows one page after another. E-books should include interaction, hypertext linking, navigation, search, and connections to online services, according to Nielsen. In short, they should act like web sites.
But e-books will be handy in two applications, he says: for distribution of backlist or customized book titles on demand, and for downloading spoken-word audio in lieu of using audiobooks.
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Sound Off!
Harry W (Bookateria@Verizon.net) 12/8/1998 8:53:30 AM
From CyberBooks
by Ben Bova
(Former editor Omni Magazine)
Tor Publishing, 1989
"Now wait a minute," said Ralph Malzone, "You mean no paper.."
"No paper!" Carl exulted. "You don't have to chop down trees and make paper and haul tons of the stuff to the printing presses and then haul the printed books to the stores. You make electrons and photons intead of paper. It's cheap and efficient."
For a long time Ralph said nothing. Then he sighed heavily. "You're saying that a publisher won't need printers, paper, ink, wholsalers, route salesmen, district managers, truck drivers-not even booksellers?"
"The whole thing can be done electronically." Carl enthused. "Shop for books by TV. Buy them over the phone. Transmit them anywhere on Earth almost instantaneously, straight to the consumer."
Malzone glanced around the shadows of the room uneasily. In a near whisper he told Carl, "Jesus Christ, kid, you're going to get both of us killed."
Harry W 12/8/1998 8:37:19 AM
At one time Art and music was the domain of a 'priviledged class'. Technology has made food clothingand shelter accessible to all allowing a greater creative expression for more individuals. Web Publishing has done more for the dissemination of information than the printing press. Still with the fragility of electricity, a continuance of the 'oral tradition' of storytelling done in the voice of the actual authors is what I woul like to see added to future living books.
Joyce L.8/6/1998 5:31:38 PM
As someone who loves books, I don't believe "electronic books" can ever really replace the very visceral pleasure of turning a paper page in a good book. The delight in one's fingertips brushing the surface of paper, whether smooth or rough, is something that I will never trade for an LCD screen. The only way I can imagine supporting the "E book" is if it cuts down on the price of books in the long run. Unfortunately, paper books have become increasingly expensive, sadly placing many classic titles out of reach for many. If the E-book enables a wider audience to read more books, then the E-book is a step in the right direction.
Mark L. 8/3/1998 5:38:27 PM
Electronic Books will become a part of our everyday life.Portability and functionality will be key elements.The licensing of intellectual property will be the determining factor of the Electronic Book's success in my opinion. Cost will become a non issue just like a calculator or inexpensive television.
Anita J. 7/29/1998 5:49:29 PM
EveryBook is an interesting concept. It may have specific applications for medical & scientific technical manuals that are frequently updated. This may not be the exact time place for electronic books, but I do fell that we will see them in some form in the not-too-distant future.
While I think Amazon as a company has made some smart moves in the last year, this is pure folly. They should be promoting this as a niche product, not like the Segway. I think it is arrogant to imply that this is the invention will replace the book. No one will take this to the beach, or ride on a New York City subway with this monster in hand. If this product captures 1/10 of 1% of the market, they should consider themselves lucky.
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