Re: Amazon's Kindle e-book reader

See also NYT technology blog, Bits:

Enough About Kindle 1.0. What About Kindle 2.0?
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.c
om/2007/11/19/enough-about-kindle-10-what-about-kindle-20/

When people rave about what your product *could* do on the
day of its
release, you have a hype/reality mismatch!

On 11/19/07, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   Newsweek has a cover story about Amazon's Kindle
e-book reader:
>
>   http://www.newsweek.
com/id/70983
>
>   Bernie Sloan
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends inside
Yahoo! Mail. See how.
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4libwebjunction.org
> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
>


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Has anyone mentioned selling these to libraries yet? I'm not
sure
they're set up for it—you can't take the book off it or move
it
between them, can you?

Tim

On 11/19/07, Roy Tennant <tennantroclc.org> wrote:
> Hmmm...let me see...spend $400 on a device where the
only thing I can do is
> read books, or spend the same amount on a different
device where I can read
> books, visit any web site I want, make phone calls,
listen to tunes, etc.
> Hmmm....
>
> Yes, I understand that one requires a service plan and
the other does not
> (although at least $9 for every book you want to read).
But come on. After
> watching the video I thought the interface was actually
kind of annoying,
> again especially in contrast with the iPhone. My advice
to libraries: don't
> rush out and jump on this bandwagon.
> Roy
>
>
> On 11/19/07 5:24 PM, "Tim Spalding"
<timlibrarything.com> wrote:
>
> > See also NYT technology blog, Bits:
> >
> > Enough About Kindle 1.0. What About Kindle 2.0?
> > http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007
/11/19/enough-about-kindle-10-what-about-kin
> > dle-20/
> >
> > When people rave about what your product *could*
do on the day of its
> > release, you have a hype/reality mismatch!
> >
> > On 11/19/07, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>   Newsweek has a cover story about Amazon's
Kindle e-book reader:
> >>
> >>   http://www.newsweek.
com/id/70983
> >>
> >>   Bernie Sloan
> >>
> >>
> >> ---------------------------------
> >> Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends
inside Yahoo! Mail. See how.
> >>
_______________________________________________
> >> Web4lib mailing list
> >> Web4libwebjunction.org
> >> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
> >>
> >
>
> --
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4libwebjunction.org
> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
>


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Hmmm...let me see...spend $400 on a device where the only
thing I can do is
read books, or spend the same amount on a different device
where I can read
books, visit any web site I want, make phone calls, listen
to tunes, etc.
Hmmm....

Yes, I understand that one requires a service plan and the
other does not
(although at least $9 for every book you want to read). But
come on. After
watching the video I thought the interface was actually kind
of annoying,
again especially in contrast with the iPhone. My advice to
libraries: don't
rush out and jump on this bandwagon.
Roy


On 11/19/07 5:24 PM, "Tim Spalding" <timlibrarything.com> wrote:

> See also NYT technology blog, Bits:
> 
> Enough About Kindle 1.0. What About Kindle 2.0?
> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007
/11/19/enough-about-kindle-10-what-about-kin
> dle-20/
> 
> When people rave about what your product *could* do on
the day of its
> release, you have a hype/reality mismatch!
> 
> On 11/19/07, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2yahoo.com> wrote:
>> 
>>   Newsweek has a cover story about Amazon's Kindle
e-book reader:
>> 
>>   http://www.newsweek.
com/id/70983
>> 
>>   Bernie Sloan
>> 
>> 
>> ---------------------------------
>> Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends
inside Yahoo! Mail. See how.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Web4lib mailing list
>> Web4libwebjunction.org
>> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
>> 
> 

-- 


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MPOW is exploring the idea of buying Kindles as a way to
deliver
e-book content to patrons. So, we were interested to see if
the
academic holdings were of sufficient number to make it
worthwhile. Yes
and no. Yes: commercial publishers like Springer, Elsevier,
Wiley,
Taylor and Francis, even Oxford UP. No: society presses
(that I
found). No: e-journals (nor any way to buy individual
articles).

So, factoring in all that's already been said about the
proprietary
nature of this product... probably not. Maybe, with Kindle
2.0 (or
more properly speaking, when there's a way to buy a Kindle
book
without the Kindle).

Also, Amazon was making a PR splash that most of their
content went
for $9.99, but this obviously is not the case for textbooks.
For
example, spotchecking a random science book, "Chemistry
of Pheromones
and Other Semiochemicals II" (part of the Topics in
Current Chemistry
series) is available as a Kindle book for $199.20 vs the
$249.00 that
the hardcover goes for (or the $2.85 + ssh I could get it
for used!).

Plus, no EVDO network in my town yet. I doubt I'll be
planning trips
to Rochester so I can download the new Tom Clancy.



On 11/19/07, Roy Tennant <tennantroclc.org> wrote:
> Hmmm...let me see...spend $400 on a device where the
only thing I can do is
> read books, or spend the same amount on a different
device where I can read
> books, visit any web site I want, make phone calls,
listen to tunes, etc.
> Hmmm....
>
> Yes, I understand that one requires a service plan and
the other does not
> (although at least $9 for every book you want to read).
But come on. After
> watching the video I thought the interface was actually
kind of annoying,
> again especially in contrast with the iPhone. My advice
to libraries: don't
> rush out and jump on this bandwagon.
> Roy
>
>
> On 11/19/07 5:24 PM, "Tim Spalding"
<timlibrarything.com> wrote:
>
> > See also NYT technology blog, Bits:
> >
> > Enough About Kindle 1.0. What About Kindle 2.0?
> >
> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007
/11/19/enough-about-kindle-10-what-about-kin
> > dle-20/
> >
> > When people rave about what your product *could*
do on the day of its
> > release, you have a hype/reality mismatch!
> >
> > On 11/19/07, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>   Newsweek has a cover story about Amazon's
Kindle e-book reader:
> >>
> >>   http://www.newsweek.
com/id/70983
> >>
> >>   Bernie Sloan
> >>
> >>
> >> ---------------------------------
> >> Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends
inside Yahoo! Mail. See
> how.
> >>
_______________________________________________
> >> Web4lib mailing list
> >> Web4libwebjunction.org
> >> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
> >>
> >
>
> --
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4libwebjunction.org
> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
>
_______________________________________________
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Web4libwebjunction.org
http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/

On 11/20/07, Andrew Mutch <amutchwaterford.lib.mi.us>
wrote:
>E-book readers keep coming up short both as technology
and as a business model
>because they are trying to replace a product that works
with one that
doesn't work as
>well. We all know that the best product doesn't always
win out. But outside of
>technophiles who want to digitize their entire libraries
and carry
them around with
>them wherever they go, how many users in the consumer
market will
this appeal to? I'm
>not going to say that there's no place for something
like the Kindle
Reader. But as
>it has been, I think it's a very niche product.

Just as you wouldn't buy an iPod and compare it with a
45-rpm record,
you can't buy an e-book reader (Kindle or otherwise) and
compare it to
a book. You compare it, instead, to your collection.

What makes e-book readers attractive (besides the pure
geekiness of
them) is the fact that I can carry 200 books as easily as
one, Heck,
why stop there... with SD cards, I can carry thousands of
e-books with
me. And I do.*

Also, referring back the to idea of a common e-book format.
I call it "html".

Tom

* Palm Tungsten T3, at least for now. With its rapidly
diminishing
battery life, I need to either upgrade or replace the
battery pack.
That, far more than its limited readability in sunlight, has
been the
real annoyance I've had with it as an e-book reader.
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Hello Tom,

Monday, November 26, 2007, 2:17:18 PM, you wrote:

> What makes e-book readers attractive (besides the pure
geekiness of
> them) is the fact that I can carry 200 books as easily
as one, Heck,
> why stop there... with SD cards, I can carry thousands
of e-books with
> me. And I do.*

My question is WHY anyone would want to carry hundreds or
thousdands
of books with them at a time.  When I travel I always have a
couple of
books and several magazines (and more if a long trip), but I
can't see
any reason to have a hundred books with me.

Any easy explanation, other than the possibility that you
were doing
dissertation research and all of the sources you needed were
on your
kindle? (as if!!)

-- 
Best regards,
 Dan                            mailto:danriverofdata.com

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> My question is WHY anyone would want to carry hundreds
or thousands
> of books with them at a time.  When I travel I always
have a 
> couple of
> books and several magazines (and more if a long trip),
but I can't 
see
> any reason to have a hundred books with me.

This is a little off topic, but I have about 25 audio books
on my 
ipod. Since it's a Nano with several gigs of storage, I
could easily 
have 100. I rarely listen to any of them, but it's nice to
have them 
in my purse if I get stuck in a waiting room. Much easier
than 
carrying even one book around in paper.

One of my acquaintances has an ipod that he uses to hold his
family 
photos and videos. He carries it everywhere and has been
known to whip 
it out and show total strangers the video of his daughter's
birthday 
party or photos from his son's school play.

Jean Hewlett


----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Lester <danriverofdata.com>
Date: Monday, November 26, 2007 2:28 pm
Subject: Re[2]: [Web4lib] Amazon's Kindle e-book reader
To: Tom Keays <tomkeaysgmail.com>
Cc: Web4Lib <web4libwebjunction.org>

> Hello Tom,
> 
> Monday, November 26, 2007, 2:17:18 PM, you wrote:
> 
> > What makes e-book readers attractive (besides the
pure geekiness of
> > them) is the fact that I can carry 200 books as
easily as one, 
Heck,
> > why stop there... with SD cards, I can carry
thousands of e-
> books with
> > me. And I do.*
> 
> My question is WHY anyone would want to carry hundreds
or thousdands
> of books with them at a time.  When I travel I always
have a 
> couple of
> books and several magazines (and more if a long trip),
but I can't 
see
> any reason to have a hundred books with me.
> 
> Any easy explanation, other than the possibility that
you were doing
> dissertation research and all of the sources you needed
were on your
> kindle? (as if!!)
> 
> -- 
> Best regards,
> Dan                            mailto:danriverofdata.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4libwebjunction.org
> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
> 
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I have had several students this semester approach me about
why can
they not have all their textbooks (this semester and past
semesters)
electronically so that they will always be with them when
they need
them.

I can also think of various professions that may travel from
customer
to customer, or use multiple office locations where having
their
handbooks, manuals, encyclopedias in an electronic form
(that does not
require Internet access) would be beneficial.

Brian Gray
mindspiralgmail.com

On Nov 26, 2007 5:28 PM, Dan Lester <danriverofdata.com> wrote:
> My question is WHY anyone would want to carry hundreds
or thousdands
> of books with them at a time.  When I travel I always
have a couple of
> books and several magazines (and more if a long trip),
but I can't see
> any reason to have a hundred books with me.
>
> Any easy explanation, other than the possibility that
you were doing
> dissertation research and all of the sources you needed
were on your
> kindle? (as if!!)
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Hi Dan,

It isn't so much the wanting to carry them. The fact that I
_can_ is
just a bonus. It is the notion of e-book reader as a
library.

Granted, the wall of books on the living room bookshelf is
NOT going
to go away any time soon for me, but I see that e-book
readers are the
functional equivalent. If I want to browse my books --
physical or
electronic -- to decide what to read next, I first have to
have access
to my collection. With e-books, it doesn't matter if I'm on
the road
or at home. With print, I better have decided before I leave
the
house. Plus, with e-books, I can be reading several books at
a time
and there's no weight penalty.

I still buy print books. Sometimes I have both a print copy
and an
electronic copy -- it depends on the book. But we're in a
transition
period -- partly because so much about what constitutes a
"good"
e-book (gui, readability, browsability, etc) hasn't been
resolved --
or at least isn't implemented fully or consistently -- on
the various
devices.

But... whatever. I'm already a convert. If you're not, then
you're
not, and this email won't convince you otherwise.

Tom

PS. Certain types of books still don't work for me on my
Palm. The
dinky 480x320 screen utterly fails if there are graphics or
tables.
I've looked at the Sony Librie and I suspect that (except
for
materials that require hi-res color), that it would
satisfice. The
Kindle, even with a lower quality grayscale, would probably
be ok too.

Some blogger made a comment that he thought the One Laptop
Per Child
device might make an ideal e-book reader. It has a medium
size, full
color screen that can be lowered to eInk type resolution for
power
consumption savings.


On Nov 26, 2007 5:28 PM, Dan Lester <danriverofdata.com> wrote:
> Hello Tom,
>
> Monday, November 26, 2007, 2:17:18 PM, you wrote:
>
> > What makes e-book readers attractive (besides the
pure geekiness of
> > them) is the fact that I can carry 200 books as
easily as one, Heck,
> > why stop there... with SD cards, I can carry
thousands of e-books with
> > me. And I do.*
>
> My question is WHY anyone would want to carry hundreds
or thousdands
> of books with them at a time.  When I travel I always
have a couple of
> books and several magazines (and more if a long trip),
but I can't see
> any reason to have a hundred books with me.
>
> Any easy explanation, other than the possibility that
you were doing
> dissertation research and all of the sources you needed
were on your
> kindle? (as if!!)
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
>  Dan                            mailto:danriverofdata.com
>
>
_______________________________________________
Web4lib mailing list
Web4libwebjunction.org
http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/

Hello NORMA,

Monday, November 26, 2007, 3:57:38 PM, you wrote:

> This is a little off topic, but I have about 25 audio
books on my 
> ipod. Since it's a Nano with several gigs of storage, I
could easily 
> have 100. I rarely listen to any of them, but it's nice
to have them 
> in my purse if I get stuck in a waiting room. Much
easier than 
> carrying even one book around in paper.

Understand that, but it isn't reading.  Personally, I'm not
a fan of
audio books, but that may be because of my life pattern.  My
commute
is ten minutes, not enough to keep going on a book.  Long
trips would
theoretically be ideal, but the narration puts me to sleep,
unlike the
music on the ipod.  I've have listened to an audio book or
two on my
Shuffle while running or walking. But the 80gb ipod stays in
the car,
whichever one I'm driving that day.

Oh, yes, each car also always has a couple of
"recreational reading"
magazines in it too.

> One of my acquaintances has an ipod that he uses to
hold his family 
> photos and videos. He carries it everywhere and has
been known to whip
> it out and show total strangers the video of his
daughter's birthday 
> party or photos from his son's school play.

Good grief.  I have pix on my laptop, which is always with
me (home,
work, traveling) but don't do that...which reminds me too
much of "the
olden days" when neighbors and friends would drag out
the slide
projector and give you hours of stuff.

Yes, we may be getting too far off topic, so I'll quit
before the pain
on my hands starts from the slapping.

But of course this is library materials and the web that
this all
relates to....


-- 
Best regards,
 Dan                            mailto:danriverofdata.com

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