Amazon Kindle Endorsed By Oprah

Oprah Winfrey enthused about the Amazon Kindle on her show today — it's her "new favorite thing" — and had Jeff Bezos on to announce a $50-off offer good till Nov. 1. A plug on Oprah is ordinarily a sign that a product has crossed over into the mainstream. But her show's audience has been slipping lately, and it's unclear how many cash-strapped citizens will be willing to part with $309 (after the special offer) for a new techno-gadget, for which they then have to shell out more money for DRM-encrusted content.

Re:"DRM-encrusted content" is optional

[Nyeerrmm]

No, the Kindle is fairly single purpose device so its doubtful that it will. When it converts a PDF it reflows it and stores it as text, rather than simply displaying it as a bitmap; this isn't so much a failure in the software as some would make it out to be, but simply that the screen isn't big enough to make it useful. If that's what you're interested in, I think the iRex iLiad (or however its capitalized) is the best bet, even though it is more expensive.

No drm requirement

[vanyel]

for which they then have to shell out more money for DRM-encrusted content.

Nonsense. There are a ton of drm free books out there. I subscribe to Analog magazine for example, and get more drm-free books than I have time to read from fictionwise.com. If something is released only in crippled formats, then that's their loss, as it means I read one of the many other things on my list instead, or, if I *really* want to read it, as happened recently, I buy used paper. That's only happened once though, and I've been ebooking now for about 3 years (albeit my Treo and Sony Reader, but I know the Kindle supports drm free formats too).

Re:"DRM-encrusted content" is optional

[vux984]

Does it support non-English texts? If I want to read a PDF with heavy use of diacritics, or even completely different alphabets, will those display correctly on Kindle?

I know there are french and spanish books available for Kindle, so it will support at least basic stuff like c-cedilla, n-tilde, circumflexes, accents, umlauts, thorn, etc. I read somewhere the first version only supports latin-1, but that later versions allow some sort of font embedding...

I also couldn't say whether any current existing pdf-kindle software will be able to take advantage of that though... and I wouldn't put high hopes on doing an asian or arabic language on it.

Temperamental Christians

[Anonymous Coward]

I read the article on why Oprah's ratings have been dropping, and I find them extremely disturbing. Why do people have to be Christian in order for American's to think that their show is any good?

I have a Kindle

[SupremoMan]

It's great. No need to rage about DRM, most of the files I have on it are not from Amazon. Though I'm sure they would like to fix that. You can basically email yourself any text file and it's there.

Another great feature is the wireless internet, which is now free (through the sprint network I believe), though I doubt it will stay that way forever. But while it lasts I enjoy looking at web pages while traveling on the train for free. It does fairly decent job of converting most pages.

Re:Saw one for the first time

[Anonymous Coward]

The books you buy from Amazon are associated with your account and can be re-downloaded at any time. Anything you generate or convert yourself can be stored on a removable Micro-SD device (not included). The battery is replaceable, but I have no idea how much it costs, or what the availability will be in the future. Basically you're covered unless / until Amazon goes away.

Re:"DRM-encrusted content" is optional

[davester666]

Yes, you can embed the font in the PDF. However, you need to license the font for distribution from the font designer. This may not be particularly cheap and/or easy to do.

Re:Saw one for the first time

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw part of the Oprah show. According to the guy they had talking about them, once you have purchased a book from the Amazon Kindle store, you can delete it from your device (to free up space) and then re-download it again whenever you want. They did not talk about what will happen if/when Amazon goes out of business.

where Kindle is failing to deliver on its promise

[TheMCP]

I liked what Amazon had to say about the Kindle when it came out; that they recognized that DRM limited what you could do with your content, so the tradeoff they were trying to make was that if you were willing to live with DRM, you could get your ebooks at a discount price. I can live with that idea. You want to make it worth my while to put up with the inconveniences of DRM? Okay.

However, when I started looking at prices to see if the deal had held true, I found that the ebooks I was interested in (at least to start with) all seemed to have either an insignificant discount or no discount. If you want to offer me the DRM encrusted ebook version of a $5.99 paperback as a $2 ebook, great... but don't offer it to me for $5.50, or even for $6.00 . In that case I have no incentive to use the ebook instead of the paper version except convenience, and frankly, convenience isn't worth *that* much to me.

It's rather a pity, too; the hardware is nice. (I've had one on loan for a couple days.)

Re:No drm requirement

[dwreid]

Ok. Just to clear a bit of fog and confusion. Unlike most of the people responding, I own one so I'm not totally full of crap. 1. $309 seems a bit pricey but then the books don't cost as much as paper book. In fact they cost quite a bit less. Most of the books I've purchased have cost less than $3. Some less. That price also pays for lifetime access to the EVDO network which is used to deliver the content within 2 minutes of purchase to the book. Yes you can do some web browsing as well though that's a bit painful given the interface. The device also plays MP3 files for music while you read or audio books. The screen is electronic paper. No backlight. It can be read indoors or in the brightest sun. No problem. So far the price doesn't seem that bad. 2. If you buy books from Amazon they are DRM encoded. If you don't want to buy DRM books, download any of the thousands of free books available online and email them to the Kindle. That's really all there is to it. If you have PDF files then email them to the Kindle. That works too. 3. You can buy additional batteries. 4. A copy of all of your purchases is archived at Amazon and can be downloaded to a replacement device at any time. They can also be shared with anyone in your family with a Kindle on the same account. Finally, you can keep copies on an SD card that slips into the Kindle or on your PC via the USB cable. (which can also be used to load content.) 5. The battery charge lasts about 2 weeks with the radio off and about 3 days with the radio on. 6. It can do full text search across all of your content. 7. It can look up and define words and phrases. 8. You can annote the books. 9. you can clip content for use elsewhere. 10 etc. etc. etc. It's not a bad deal just because Oprah likes it anymore than it is a good deal becasue she likes it. It's just a decent device at a decent price.

DRM Content: its biggest long-term problem

[ThousandStars]

shell out more money for DRM-encrusted content.

Although the price for the Kindle will presumably fall over time, the bigger problem is still the DRM'ed content -- and Oprah is unlikely to change that. I write a book/lit blog and discussed the implications of the Kindle here [wordpress.com] and here [wordpress.com]. It's an impressive technical achievement that lacks--and might lack for a long time--the unrestricted books needed to make it a success.

Re:"DRM-encrusted content" is optional

[macshit]

Does it support non-English texts?

It apparently has little or no support for non-latin scripts, which seems to be one reason it's not released more widely.

I'd be surprised if simple things like diacritics weren't supported though.

I suppose future versions will probably do better, but unfortunately the leaked designs for the kindle v2 suggests they've discarded the "funky-but-comfy" design philosophy for something completely generic.

Re:This E-Book is half the price.

[jofny]

The etext and battery life is the whole point of something like the kindle vs a laptop or pda. The etext is light years easier on the eyes and you can read a kindle for about 4 solid DAYS with the wireless off without recharging. And I dont mean "an hour a day for four days". Unless you are clicking a button, the kindle draws almost no power. (The screen only draws power when it changes content)

Informative? No, incorrect!

[MushMouth]

The question was about english text. I have read Spanish, Swedish, French, and Italian on my Kindle, all of them have characters that are not available in English. I have never used eastern, or cyrillic scripts.

Re:"DRM-encrusted content" is optional

[hclewk]

And with a netbook you can't sit in the park with the sun at your back and still see the screen.

Re:The Oprah show has jumped the shark

[BLKMGK]

Umm except it happens to do that job VERY well indeed. I have read quite a few books on my kindle and find that it is VERY nice to be able to carry around several books at once on it so that as I finish one I can start another. I just finished a business trip in fact and while sitting in the airport to LEAVE for my trip I finished a book, browsed\purchased\downloaded another, and then on the return trip having finished the first book I bought two more while sitting in the airport waiting for my flight.

With the Kindle I'm now pretty much always reading at least one if not more books constantly! I read many books before but frankly ran out of shelf space, found it a hassle to carry more than one, and paid MORE than I do now if buying new plus I had to get off my ass to go get them! the Kindle may be a one trick pony but it's pretty good at what it does.

P.S. You know it can be used to browse the WEB right? Play MP3?

Re:Kindle = Cool?

[BLKMGK]

The screen isn't like a standard LCD. If there's enough light to read a book then there's plenty of light to use the Kindle. It's nothing like reading off of a laptop screen in my extensive experience with the device. Battery life, with the modem OFF, rocks too and swapping the battery isn't a big deal.

Re:How do they do it?

[BLKMGK]

You're ASSuming that $ony would accept such a partnership. the Sony reader is pretty darned nice and looks great but the selection for it sucks ass. the Kindle on the other hand looks a little crappy but functions VERY well and has a MASSIVE selection of content and a terrific distribution system. The DRM also doesn't get in your way. You know the Kindle doesn't use WiFi right? And that Apple makes WAY more off of iPod hardware than music sales? As I recall they don't make all that much at all off of iTunes - anyone got links?

I have a PSP too and while I like it okay for movies I'd draw the line at eBooks and prefer the Kindle by far. The screen is simply too small and folks I know who bump the font WAY up on the Kindle wouldn't be able to get hardly any text on a PSP screen. Same with the iPhone, I do not see myself reading books on that anytime soon - especially since I also own a Kindle. The Kindle is really pretty good at what it does - sux ass as a WEB browser though, I've yet to try it's MP3 capabilities either.

Re:Costs

[BLKMGK]

Actually, if the paperback cover price is $10 then expect to pay maybe $6.99 with Kindle - max. The most expensive book I've bought so far on my Kindle was $9.99 and cheapest was maybe $2. they discount off the cover price pretty good, especially if you look at hardcover prices for new books. It's only when you look at tech manuals or perhaps some sort of texbook thing that you begin to see much higher prices. $9.99 is pretty much the most you will see ofr normal books you'd find off a bookstand rack.

Re:The Oprah show has jumped the shark

[ceoyoyo]

Oprah jumped the shark when she started pushing the Kindle?

I don't know if Oprah ever helped anyone, but she's a master of scaring the hell out of innocent people with things like useless scare shows about the horrible bacteria that's EVERYWHERE!

Re:"DRM-encrusted content" is optional

[deimtee]

I can with my OLPC. :)

Re:Saw one for the first time

[DoctorPepper]

The replacement batteries for the Kindle cost $20 U.S. from the Amazon Kindle store.

As for the usefulness of the Kindle, my wife and I bought one each for an early Christmas present this year. We have had them for a bit over a month now (yep, very early Christmas), and we both love them. Yes, the content you get from Amazon.com is DRM'd, which sucks, but like one of the parent posters stated, what you buy stays on your account, and can be re-downloaded. In fact, my wife and I share an account, and thus can share books.

Also, I've downloaded and used the Mobi-Pocket free ebook conversion tool, and have made two ebooks for the Kindle, one from a PDF, and one from a very large HTML file. Both worked flawlessly.

Would I buy a Kindle again? I most certainly would. Right now I have almost a dozen books (including the two I made), and four magazines, all tucked away in that small, highly readable device. The battery life is quite good, as long as you leave the wireless turned off. I'm getting just over a week on a charge, and I'm a fairly heavy reader.

The only down-side to the Kindle (besides the DRM'd content) would be that Amazon.com makes it too easy to purchase books, magazines and news papers. In a feeding frenzy, I had purchased seven books the very first day the Kindles arrived! When the credit card bill came in, I received a very stern talking-to from the better half! ;-)