I already have a Palm PDA. Plucker book reading software is free. There are lots of books available for free via Project Gutenberg that are in plucker format. Plucker can also convert any digitized text for viewing on a PDA. My PDA also has Adobe Acrobat which means that document converted to .pdf can be viewed as well.

The sole advantage of the Amazon appliance is the wireless anywhere capability for downloading. I need a wi-fi hot spot, it just needs cellular coverage.

Bezos had a good idea. It’s just too expensive right now.

JayHaw, imagine reading a book on a 50 inch screen painted on your bathroom wall!

When that technology comes out, I will do all 4 walls and the floor and ceiling in my spare bedroom.

HOLODECK, anyone?

:)))

Reminds me of something I saw on Star Trek once.

bnelson44 on November 20, 2007 at 5:53 PM

Yeah, the iCorder, right?

Oh, and $1.99 /blog? Are they effin’ nutz? Rather than illustrate how poorly conceived that revenue idea is, I’ll just ask two questions:

one – Did MM and these other bloggers sign individual agreements with Amazon to supply content for their new gizmo?

two – regardless of the answer to the above, does Amazon understand the copyright and fair use implications of using a blog feed containing the excerpted copyright protected works of others who are not receiving any revenue from that $1.99/month stream?

Can you say, pay me to supply tips for and post comments on your blog? I knew that you could.

No offense MM/Allah/et all, we do luv ya – just have a look at what this move would imply. But to know my posts here, my tips sent to Allah, and my support for BushMcChimpyMcHalliburton indirectly puts cash into the pocket of Amazon? I don’t think that’s gonna happen…

(yes, I know we’ve got blogads that do exactly the same, but we know they’re there, and we can choose whether or not to shop via that link)

So? I this something our favorite bloggers have signed on to already? Or is Amazon about to be served with the Mother of All class actions?

1) Drop the download-a-book-anywhere system for a standard WiFi connection and let it surf the net; set up an iTunes like site for downloading. (Hot Spots are everywhere these days and the tradeoff could drop the price significantly)
2) Color, color, color!
3) Replace all the rollers and depressible switches with an iPod style touch system to increase durability (I would break this thing in a heartbeat!)
4) Give it the ability for audio playback and mp3/mp4 download capability
5) Two words: open source

The technology for these changes is not only extant, but so readily available that you could probably drop the price on the damn thing by at least $100 (although with iPod functionality they could better justify a $400 price tag). Right now, it’s priced way too high for your average reader (especially with the I- could- break- that- thing- by- sneezing- on- it issue). If you made the price of the books slightly higher (say a flat rate of $9.99 for anything over 100 pages), you could drop it even more. It’s a great idea and one who’s time has come, but this is the wrong vehicle for it.

Mark Jaquith on November 20, 2007 at 8:06 PM

What he said. All print media is going this way. In a much better form factor (yeah this is ugly – think your entire newspaper as one page) / open system (to address sharing media).

If ipods were only locked to itunes – you would’ve hacked it. ;)

Don’t like it. Looking at a digital device long enough makes my eyes hurt. I still prefer hardbacks and paperbacks.

That’s the whole appeal here. It’s more like looking at a newspaper than at an iPhone. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make for good ad copy, sort of like “It’s got a great user interface!” didn’t when the iPod first came out. But it’s what caused the iPod to be a hit. If they got the other parts right, the newspaper-like-ness might would be what would make this a hit. If.

Bigger than an iPhone or a blackberry but thinner and more elegant than a laptop, it’s ideal for portable Web surfing. Does it have that capability? Dear reader, it does.

Erm, no it doesn’t. You get to pay to read a small subset of blogs. $1.99 per month, per blog. Oh, and you get Wikipedia.

The technology is cool. But the “rent-a-blog” approach sucks and DRM-laden overpriced underfeatured books are a bomb. Why the hell would I pay $10.00 for a book that I can’t lend to a friend, and that could be made obsolete overnight? John Gruber had a cool idea: get a free electronic “Kindle” format ebook for every physical book you buy (or have ever bought) on Amazon. Or just open it up and give people the books in a format they know will have longevity, and allow third party content in.

If iPods could only play music bought from iTunes, it would have been a commercial failure.

Wasn’t this ebook idea tried a few years ago…and it never sold well? And it kinda defeats the purpose of showing off that hefty, hard-read book title and cover to strangers..they won’t know what you’re reading.

The other thing they advertise is the ability to read “blogs”, where by “blogs” they seem to mean one of 250 pre-selected weblogs. Update: And you have to pay a few bucks a month to read them. So, uh, Kindle lets you pay money for something you can read for free everywhere else.

(emphasis added is mine)

Don’t like it much to begin with. But this kind of kills that whole free EVDO network thing…

JayHaw, imagine reading a book on a 50 inch screen painted on your bathroom wall!

Even used to buy and download a few e-books from Amazon every couple of months, until they quit carrying them and sent you to another website that I didn’t particularly care for.

Also downloaded hundreds of free ‘public domain’ books from a couple of other sites.

My Cowon Personal Media player will also let you read books (although, admittedly, you have to convert them from the more common formats with their included software) as well as sore thousands of videos and tunes… All for less than $250

Then I bought a Samsung Q1 that is a little bit bigger than a paperback but smaller than a hardback. Yet it will pretty much do everything that a mid-range laptop or desktop computer will do. These UMPCs are really falling in price, so, that alone makes it senseless to buy this new gadget.

I predict that this incarnation of an e-book reader will be just about as big a success as every other one that has been attempted before.

If you can’t watch porn on it, what’s the point?

Out of the mouths of pervs…ewww!

2) I use my selection of books (Including All of Ann Coulter’s bestsellers) as a decoration in the living room of my house.

And that’s why the shelf space is never an issue. Books are also decorative, showing others who you are and possibly how intelligent you are.

I got my degree in literature. I’m pretty sure the note included with my diploma mentioned orders to build a small library in my home.

Kindle Availability
Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is temporarily sold out. Because we ship Kindles on a first-come, first-served basis, please ORDER NOW to reserve your place in line. See availability messaging above for estimated in-stock date.

PDF problem? No problem…

The most common complaint seems to be lack of PDF support. Yeah, pretty dumb. But easily handled. The Kindle supports MOBI files. It took me five minutes on Google to find the Mobi site, download their desktop software, and convert a PDF file to Mobi. Problem solved.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2Z81QTXUJ0WIW/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp

Most of my recreational reading for the last six years has been done on my old iPaq PDA. The screen is bright, the memory size is scalable and replaceable. I control the media. It has a calculator…and an Excel spreadsheet for that matter. I’ve already paid for it.

I really need to see the product before I dismiss the image quality, but I think this is going to go away in three years unless the content gets free. It has too much Amazon in it.