The new Kimble EReader by Amazon

[SesameStreet]

It is a little pricey at $400 right now, but with time the price will come down as all new electronics do. Amazon is pushing many of their regular paperback books for upload to the Kimble at much cheaper prices. My E-Book publisher has uploaded several ( but not all) of my E-Books to Amazon.Com for download on the Kimble.

How do you all see this new larger and yet lightweight EReader affecting the sale and popularity of books in E-Format?

Dare I hope that it will perhaps increase sales for those of us who have been published in E-Format?

Would you buy one now or wait to see how the price adjusts?

 

[impressive]

As just an ebook reader, I like Sony's better. However, I like the subscription-based options (newspapers, magazines) on the Kindle.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

What I read indicated the price starts at $8.99 for the E-books. I saw the same price listed on AMAZON when I was compiling my Christmas Wish List. As you say, there may be cheaper copies.

My problem with the scheme is the price. Authors traditionally get shit for their work. I assume the tradition continues with E-books. So I imagine AMAZON wants 50% of the sales price, and the publisher gets most of the rest. I mean, there is almost no cost involved in E-books.

Jeff Bezos tried PRINT ON DEMAND a while back. The payment scheme fucked the writers. And I'm guessing he then got hot for E-books.

But for $400 plus the cost of the E-book, I'm sticking with real books for a while.

 

[Lisa Denton]

I was interested in this in that I like to read myself to sleep, my desktop monitor would be rather bulky in bed, so I had been looking around at different models of these mostly as readers, hoping that as the technology takes off the price, as well as size, weight and other factors would improve.

It looks like a lot of peoples were liking it, waiting for it:
"As reported on Engadget, Amazon's Kindle e-book reader has sold out. Charlie Rose's interview with Jeff Bezos reveals that the Kindle sold out within just 5-1/2 hours of going on sale. Amazon hasn't revealed how many it had in stock at launch, so it may just be that they didn't anticipate early demand. A check of the Kindle's product page shows that more will be rolling out starting December 3rd."

Maybe they just didn't anticipate demand, and the new supply will be in shortly. Anyways I did like this one part that I read:
"Email your Word documents and pictures (.JPG, .GIF, .BMP, .PNG) to Kindle for easy on-the-go viewing."

Anyway there is much more info including a video showing size, weight, and all other stuffs here:

http://amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=329252801&pf_rd_i=507846

 

[Stella_Omega]

I could buy 200 used paperbacks for that money!

 

[Belegon]

I'll buy an e-book reader eventually... not ready yet.

 

[Stella_Omega]

This is the new Record Company, making bucks by selling technology.
I'd rather give my money to the authors.

 

[Belegon]

This is the new Record Company, making bucks by selling technology.
I'd rather give my money to the authors.

*devils advocate mode*

Ah, but USED paperbacks won't get anything back to the authors at all...

 

[Stella_Omega]

*devils advocate mode*

Ah, but USED paperbacks won't get anything back to the authors at all...

Yes. very true, dammit.
On the other hand, neither does that $400 bucks give anything to the authors-- I have to buy their books for that. And I'd do that anyway, without an e-reader...

 

[impressive]

Yes. very true, dammit.
On the other hand, neither does that $400 bucks give anything to the authors-- I have to buy their books for that. And I'd do that anyway, without an e-reader...

I like the "e" for environmental. Have always hated newsprint. I'd be happy never to see another traditional newspaper. It's an archaic means of providing news, IMO.

ETA: And it's Kindle, not Kimble.

 

[Belegon]

Yes. very true, dammit.
On the other hand, neither does that $400 bucks give anything to the authors-- I have to buy their books for that. And I'd do that anyway, without an e-reader...

To me, the disturbing thing about Sony and Amazon and their eReader products is the potential for exploitative or discriminatory actions behind the scenes. Sony originally wanted to use only their proprietary format... and the cost to convert into their format was prohibitive for small publishers.

 

[Stella_Omega]

To me, the disturbing thing about Sony and Amazon and their eReader products is the potential for exploitative or discriminatory actions behind the scenes. Sony originally wanted to use only their proprietary format... and the cost to convert into their format was prohibitive for small publishers.

I remember back in the '80's-- Sony was the Good Guys.

 

[Belegon]

I remember back in the '80's-- Sony was the Good Guys.

The idea didn't last long. The market spoke and Sony listened.

Remember, with e-books it is always best to buy directly from the publisher whenever possible. More $ gets to the authors that way.

 

[neonlyte]

It's not the 'real thing', but it is a step toward it.

The breakthrough comes when the 'readers' are free (i.e. tied to contract like a phone) and it does all the things iPhone does to compensate for having to lug the thing around.

I quite like the idea of a vertically hinged iPhone that opens like a book with screens on each page. [(c) iBook - Nov 2007]

 

[trysail]

The whole idea of electronic books ( ) was born of the mind of the devil in hell.

A book is tangible and tactile; it is meant to be held and fondled. Pages should be turned by hand. Maps and illustrations, be they printed on endpapers or sections, can only be easily referenced when a book is printed on paper and bound 'tween covers. The same is true of notes, bibliographies and indices. Only with a book can unknown words be underlined, highlighted or bookmarked (literally!) Annotations can only be made on paper. Place-saving corners can only be turned with printed pages.

Electronic books are an insult to the soul of humanity and the natural order of the universe. They are the devil incarnate.

 

[Stella_Omega]

The whole idea of electronic books ( ) was born of the mind of the devil in hell.

A book is tangible and tactile; it is meant to be held and fondled. Pages should be turned by hand. Maps and illustrations, be they printed on endpapers or sections, can only be easily referenced when a book is printed on paper and bound 'tween covers. The same is true of notes, bibliographies and indices. Only with a book can unknown words be underlined, highlighted or bookmarked (literally!) Annotations can only be made on paper. Place-saving corners can only be turned with printed pages.

Electronic books are an insult to the soul of humanity and the natural order of the universe. They are the devil incarnate.


[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B]

I wouldn't go quite that far, but-- yeah.

And old ebooks don't smell good, either.

 

[rgraham666]

The whole idea of electronic books ( ) was born of the mind of the devil in hell.

A book is tangible and tactile; it is meant to be held and fondled. Pages should be turned by hand. Maps and illustrations, be they printed on endpapers or sections, can only be easily referenced when a book is printed on paper and bound 'tween covers. The same is true of notes, bibliographies and indices. Only with a book can unknown words be underlined, highlighted or bookmarked (literally!) Annotations can only be made on paper. Place-saving corners can only be turned with printed pages.

Electronic books are an insult to the soul of humanity and the natural order of the universe. They are the devil incarnate.

Hmm. A lot of people set the same thing about the printing press, that the only way to reproduce works was by copying by hand, with fancy gold leaf illumination.

I wouldn't be surprised that some people in Sumer were upset with that new-fangled technology, incising cuneiform onto clay tablets.

As far as the Kindel goes, it's too expensive. And it's Amazon's way of trying to lock people into a particular file format. So screw 'em.

 

[trysail]

Hmm. A lot of people set the same thing about the printing press, that the only way to reproduce works was by copying by hand, with fancy gold leaf illumination.

I wouldn't be surprised that some people in Sumer were upset with that new-fangled technology, incising cuneiform onto clay tablets.

As was said of my father, "He is a native Baltimorean and is, therefore, against all progress."

 

[Lisa Denton]

The whole idea of electronic books ( ) was born of the mind of the devil in hell.

A book is tangible and tactile; it is meant to be held and fondled. Pages should be turned by hand. Maps and illustrations, be they printed on endpapers or sections, can only be easily referenced when a book is printed on paper and bound 'tween covers. The same is true of notes, bibliographies and indices. Only with a book can unknown words be underlined, highlighted or bookmarked (literally!) Annotations can only be made on paper. Place-saving corners can only be turned with printed pages.

Electronic books are an insult to the soul of humanity and the natural order of the universe. They are the devil incarnate.

I agree totally with what you say about books, but not about e-books.

There is room, and a need for both. One will not do away with the other. My bookshelf is lined with my favorites all easily accessible, and also torn up with pages hangin out and some taped together. That will never change, the only change is that more will be added to it, and I will still fondly enjoy reading them again and again, trying to hold them together, and wondering what is says under that ketchup stain, or was that strawberry jelly, I forget.

E-books are easily accessible, and if one more child learns to love reading due in part to that accessibility, then god bless e-books. That child may grow up and have a bookcase filled with natty, smelly, torn up real books just like us. And occasionally read an e-book.

There is room for both.

JMO

 

[Lone_Quixote]

[slightly off topic]

With the plethora of new technological assists for contemporary publishers, one would suppose that the sighting of typographical errors in modern books would be as scarce as unicorns (not to mention their bait). This, however, is not the case, even in expensive hardcover editions.

Most of the ebooks that I have encountered are even worse than their hard copy counterparts. Were they programs rather than manuscripts, they would, of necessity, have to be advertised as beta copies.

So long as this condition continues, I will not be in the market for any ebook reader which does not include a feature to allow for the permanent correction of spelling and typographical errors.

[/slightly off topic]

 

[SesameStreet]

Thanks for all of the input. I think that E-Book readers are the future of reading and publishing. Today's young people are hooked on X_Box 360 and it's games. That thing costs around $400 and the games run around $50 each. When Atari came out with their original gaming system twenty years ago at a price of $50 would you have believed that someday people would be standing in line to pay $400 for a gameing system? I think the same thing will happen with E-Books and E-readers. For the XBox generation reading on an EReader will feel more natural than holding a regular book in their hands.

As for the money paid to the current E-Book Authors my publisher has uploaded all of my E-Books for use on the Kindle and I will receive the same pay for those sales as I do for any sale offsite of the Publisher's Site. Most of my E-Books are bought at Mobipocket or Fictionwise anyway so there is no loss of revenue for me.

One feature of the Kindle that I really like is that you can download a book to it as soon as it becomes available in hardback. I seldom buy hardbacks because of the cost. They usually run around $25. So I have to wait for a year at least until they come out in paperback. With the Kindle I can buy and upload a newly released hardback for $10 and not have to wait that year. That feature is very appealing to me.

I have treated myself and ordered a Kindel for my Christmas present to myself.

 

[3113]

Yes. very true, dammit.
On the other hand, neither does that $400 bucks give anything to the authors-- I have to buy their books for that. And I'd do that anyway, without an e-reader...

Actually, a more salient point: if the battery dies on your e-reader, the book is gone. No more reading till you get it working again. A book on the other hand....

That said, on the positive side, such a devise would take up a lot less room on the shelf than 200 books. But I agree that the price will have to drop a lot before it's really going to be viable.

And my guess, given that multi-media is way more popular than books, is that Apple and other computer companies (phone companies?) will come out with a paperback book-sized tablet that give it all to you at a cheaper price before Amazon or Sony's readers can make any headway in the market. The iPod touch, which allows you to surf the web, watch movies/tv downloads and listen to music is already on its way to being that and it's $300.

 

[Pure]

i haven't held one of these in my hand or used it, but i suspect the prob is like that of a Word (.doc) file. Essentially you scroll, up and down. It's a pain to look back a few pages, since the pages are only numbers.

you can't flip easily.

 

[3113]

you can't flip easily.

Which brings us back to the iPod Touch. The touch technology could allow a reader to "Flip" pages as it allows a user to now "flip" through pictures. With the iPod Touch or iPhone you just flick your finger across the glass and go to the next picture. Same could be true with reading a book IF Apple or someone else decided to put that technology to that purpose. Flick the finger, and the page turns.

That said, if Amazon (or someone else) got smart and handed out such tablets to kids in school for reading their textbooks, teaching them at a young age that this was the way to read books, then the idea of "flipping" through pages would vanish. WE book readers feel uncomfortable if we can't flip through pages. But if kids grow up without pages, just reading continuously (sic), with a device that remembers where you were (and why not? unlike a book, you need not lose your place), then page numbering and flipping pages becomes moot.

Which isn't to say that I think the Kimble as it is will succeed. It's neither fish nor fowl. What will work is something that is (1) Multi-media, (2) Has a built-in search engine so readers can seek out favorite passages, pictures, quotes, etc. and (3) Uses touch technology to scroll through "pages."

This device is too limited and, I'm guessing, not natural or easy enough when it comes to the user interface. And I'm also not too sure how happy readers will be when ads start to pop up on their reading pages--and you can pretty much bet they will, eventually.

 

[rgraham666]

When I was out with friends two weekends ago, one of them had an iPod Touch.

Damn, was it cool.

I could easily see a larger model being well suited for reading e-books.