Dead or Alive, Amazon (re)Kindle(s) Book Reading

Or does it? Already dubbed by its creator reading as a service, Amazon's Jeff Bezos announced the release of a new way to make books go where other content (video, music) has gone before -- the digital route. And in the journey it may well destroy yet another industry.

To the tune of $399, you will be able to buy a new wireless electronic device called Kindle that will hold up to 30 hours of reading on a charge. You'll be able to download your favorite books for $9.99 each for new releases and as little as $1.99 for older inventory, as well as magazine and newspaper subscriptions through the Amazon store.

This puts a whole new spin to the "think before you print" motto. If enough people adopt this new technology, we may be able to save paper -- are we going to read more? For sure we're forever changing the way we read. According to Newsweek cover story Bezos

...hopes [it] will leapfrog over previous attempts at e-readers and become the turning point in a transformation toward Book 2.0. That's shorthand for a revolution (already in progress) that will change the way readers read, writers write and publishers publish.

Apparently a mix of portable library and web browser you'll be able to also receive messages to yet another email account, a Kindle one. Whether this will be the death of print concerns me less than if it will be yet another slow down in reading complete books -- the physical or digital kind. I used to read about 120 books a year and since I started spending more time on screen I read a lot less. Some of the statistics cited in the article give an increase in reading for those who spend more time on screen. Reading an entire book takes time, I say that more and more we read bits and pieces of material.

Seth Godin wrote: "This is a disruptive approach, the sort of thing only a market leader could pull off. It changes the world in a serious way." Yet in his view, it introduces a new problem that millions of eligible customers currently don't have -- a reader. I agree with him on that.

As for the rest of the readers, like me you already have a computer, it could even be a laptop, you probably have a phone that sends and receives data, maybe a BlackBerry, why would you need yet another device to read something you can borrow from a library, a friend or even buy used? The Sony reader also used E Ink technology and failed to spread.

If reading where truly a service, and not a fashion object like the iPod, wouldn't we be able to download the software online onto our existing devices? What's the advantage of owning and carrying another one for this price? Help me out here, maybe I'm not seeing something you are. I agree that we're already reading a lot on screen, that being able to download books and link through them would be great (here's a review by Steven Levy). Book reading has had some form of serious decline probably because we already spend so much time reading a lot of other material. Will the Kindle rekindle book reading?

Comments

[Uwe Hook]

I remember Ad-Tech 8 years ago when one of the sessions was about ebooks and a few panelists proclaimed: 'Books will become relics. By 2005 everybody will have an ebook reader.' It's 2007 and I still think it's not an idea that will take hold. There's something to say about the physical sensation of holding a book in your hand.

[Matt Kern]

Devices like this absolutely have their time and place, but I think the looks kill this one. I hated to do it, but I panned it for this reason on my blog.

[Carolyn Ann]

Oy vay.

Reading as a service, huh? Whatever next? Thinking as an option? (Oh, hang on... :-) )

I can't help but wonder who the audience is, for this odd device. Not book lovers: they love the feel of the pages, as you and Uwe testify. There's nothing - nothing - quite like the pleasure of holding a book. In the tub (where I can be frequently found enjoying either a good Single Malt or beer, and a good book. Like I'd take anything electronic near the tub - it's my time away from all that!)

Maybe Bible Lovers are a natural audience? (No, I'm not being facetious!) Enterprising Qu'ran and Torah readers, too, for that matter? They can look up any phrase without the ingrained knowledge acquired by years of study? Should do well with many Evangelicals... ((sorta) Sorry.)

Personally, I can't imagine the world without books, real live books. Live, because books live, and allow you to live. (Unless you think that... No, this isn't my blog. I'll behave.)

Mr. Bezos has a habit of introducing things a little out of left field; but this time, I think he's bunted, and the pitcher caught it. (In this case, I can't help but wonder if the pitcher has even thrown?) If it was Steve Jobs introducing the device, I'd pause - but Bezos? Nope. It's like that idiotic device Borders introduced with lackluster fanfare, last year, or the year before. Or maybe it was the year before that? Instantly forgettable, because it targeted the people who like the (rather un-ecological) feel of pulped trees between their fingers. I'm one of them. A device like this is a no-brainer. It requires no brains, as it supposes that the experience of reading lies solely in the words.

I can't think of a more confusing idea. Blogs are great - but they're merely an adaptation of the idea of pamphlets. A device that helped create a nation, if I'm not mistaken. (I'm not.) So I'm at a loss as to why Bezos got confused. Books are books. Electronics are electronics. I want to read books (and magazines and newspapers), and blogs and I have little desire that they inhabit the same material of manufacture.

If I had the wit to be more scathing, I would, but as I don't, this will have to suffice.

Carolyn Ann

[Cam Beck]

Besides being able to download the software onto existing devices, I'd like the audio version delivered at the same time. I can't read while I'm driving (and I have a long commute), but I still like to be able to use books as a reference. This is difficult when all I have is the audio version.

My options currently are to buy one or the other, or both. The first two don't meet my lifestyle needs, and the last is too expensive.

[Carolyn Ann]

I got that little niggle that says "I forgot something". I did: Four hundred clams for that?!?

I had a whole speech prepared (I know you're not surprised...), but I'll limit myself to:
And it ain't even pretty.

Four hundred clams? What a rip off.

Carolyn Ann :-)

[Valeria Maltoni]

We are book lovers, aren't we?

@Uwe -- If I go back further I can remember promises that did not materialize from way back. A book is a souvenir, Seth said it best.

@Matt -- it's not only a matter of looks, it's also about usability. The whole design is poor. What about audio? Many people I know prefer to listen to the book for various reasons -- maybe they have poor sight, or maybe they don't have time to sit down with a book but do to listen to it.

@Carolyn Ann -- I can remember all the books I've read when I used to take my weekly home SPA treatment. Nice oils and scents, a hot tub, music in the very background, and a good book. And I do like to put pen to paper, to make annotations in my own hand writing in the margins. With a pencil, mind you. As Matt said above here, if we're reinventing reading, why make the darn thing look half book/half keyboard when clearly it isn't either?

@Cam -- right on. Why not engage the author or an actor as they already do to offer special editions, etc. Why stop at so little innovation?

[William Tully]

I still don't see where I underline, circle, and box key information with my fountain pen..

Where do I scribble quick notes of sudden grander comprehension which will later serve as reminders of a different time and place when I "re-discover" the book on my shelf years later?

"A coffee stain on a book page will always have more meaning than a coffee stain on a keyboard." - William Tully.ca

[Richard Becker]

Well, I can only hope we're not hastening the pace that books are forgotten. William is right; even if you don't mark up or dog ear the pages.

There is something more personal about paper when it comes to books. It's hard to image a world without them. Frankly, I wouldn't want to.

Best,
Rich

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Tully -- I use a number 2 pencil, I'm gentle with books. All the same, I need to use them, make my mark. What Bezos seems to suggest with this new product is that we co-author on the get go. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I do like to react and interact with what someone else has written, but not all reactions and learning need to be done in public. Are books the last private haven?

@Rich -- I used to love walking into bookstores and "cartolerie" those places where they still sell school supplies. I'm talking the corner retail store, not the big mega center. The scent of paper and all those colored covers -- so many stories. I don't look at my RSS reader the same way ;-)

[Chris Baskind]

I suspect future generations of readers -- assuming there are any -- will be less sentimental about the sensuality of paper and binding than we are.

This conversation suggests what it must have been like when stinky, unreliable cars began replacing horses. Where is the tack -- the dignity of horse-drawn transportation? Has no one any respect for brass and leather and fine horseflesh?

Books never completely replaced oral tradition or handwriting, and I doubt "real" books will ever fully disappear. But ideas never stay locked in one media. The next Gutenburg will be along shortly, thank you.

I hope it's not this particular device, though. I've no problem with the idea of a wired reader. Smartphone screens are probably too small to be used as books, and laptops are still too big and expensive.

But I *refuse* to invest in a locked system like Kindle. First, it's tied to a single vendor. If Amazon goes away or just gets tired of its offering, your "electronic bookshelf" is padlocked. It will go away as soon as the device fails.

Second, books have always been shared. It's assumed. Not only is Kindle's content locked in iPod-like DRM, it can't be moved off the device. It gets worse: I believe Kindle's Terms of Service explicitly forbids sharing your purchased, downloaded texts in any way. You own nothing.

There's more. The screen is small and ugly, and nobody wants to manage yet another email address. Why won't this device browse the web? Does Amazon really think I'll pay two bucks to subscribe a website we already get for free?

I think a widely adoptable ebook would be based on open formats. You'd be able to move texts between your reader and desktop, and some reasonable provision would be made for non-commercial, small-scale sharing -- as we now do with real books.

Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe people will ante up $400 to lock themselves into a data jail.

Try harder, Amazon.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Interestingly enough, that's what my great grandmother said about steam cars when she was young. She was born in 1889.

And yes, ideas overlap. But I am with you on your assessment of why this device is not a good alternative for now -- then again, they did manage to sell the same water you get for free on tap ;-)