They should have done this on day 1 of the issue: offer users a legitimate copy and move their annotations. I’d like to say this didn’t bother me, but it did, and it definitely made me re-think the complete lockdown Amazon has.
It’s also one reason that I like reading on my iPhone. I can get books from Amazon, B&N, and other sources. I hope publishers will wake up and stop fighting for years as music publishers did. I don’t see the iTunes store losing a ton of sales because of the lack of DRM on their product.
If you offer books from multiple stores, in a format that multiple readers can use, you will speed adoption of the product, and possibly spur sales of books.
Ever since my Kindle broke, I've been reading on my iTouch for the most part. I've been using both the Kindle iPhone app and the Barnes and Noble app and while they are different (Kindle notes, BN notes) , they both have a few quirks and I can't say one is amazingly better than the other. I do like the fact that Barnes and Noble allows me to read on the PC as well as the iTouch, and I have used my PC a couple times when I've had the laptop and not my iTouch.
I've been debating what to do about my reading habits. I have made a few trips to the library in the last month to get books for the kids (and encourage them to read), and gotten myself a few books as well. I like reading paper, but it's inconvenient for me. I find myself without that paper book as I move through a busy life. So I definitely like the idea of ebooks myself. But am I ready for a dedicated reader?
I do think that the Kindle works amazingly better than an LCD screen. It is easier on the eyes, and it lasts much longer. Right now I need to be sure I have power handy for the iTouch or I'll drain it within a day. That can be a problem on long flights, and if I go back to the UK, I'll need a power solution. The Sony reader (saw one in Wal-Mart), works on the same principle, but they have less selection than either B&N or Amazon. I'm sure that might change at some point, but what I'd like to do is see these items decoupled. I think Amazon is making a mistake by not supporting other devices, and the same with Barnes and Noble, though B&N did say they'll support the ePub format.
I've purchased books from both amazon and B&N, and right now the platform is more important to me. Being able to buy anytime, anyplace, is a killer feature. So much so that I'm considering actually moving to an iPhone from my Google G1 just so I can converge onto one device. If I can get books from multiple sources on the iPhone, listen to music, and have a phone, that's winning me over. Sure my Google phone can play music, but it's nowhere near as convenient as iTunes. It has AmazonMP3, but I love having all my music easily found on iTunes.
Overall, however, the big thing I've noticed is that the content is what matters. When I read a story I like, I get lost in the story, ignoring the medium. Whether it's an iPhone, Kindle, or paper book, the story draws me in and I enjoy it.
I downloaded the Barnes and Noble eReader application the day I heard about it and synced up my iTouch immediately. I was curious to see how it compared to the Kindle application, especially across devices.
The install from iTunes is seemless. I "purchased" it from the app store (it's free) and then it appeared on my iTouch after syncing. It asked for my Barnes and Noble account information, and once I put it in, I immediately had a few books downloaded to the device: Dracula, Last of the Mohicans, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, and Sense and Sensibility. It also has a copy of the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
I tried a bunch of things on this device, and so I'll run through some comments on how things work as well as some comparisons with the Kindle application.
Buying books online, or getting samples, is easy, and about the same as the Kindle application. Both applications launch a browser that connects from the iTouch. You can also use a PC to purchase books. There is less of a selection from Barnes and Noble, but it's a good selection for me.
Buying requires that you set up a default credit card and then it’s a click and a confirmation.
The ordering in the Kindle application was always set for me to show the most recent read book at the top. This worked well as I often read a couple books at a time and keeping the most recent ones first was great. There were also author/title sorts.
The B&N app does it by download date, which is a pain for me. While typically my most recent book might be downloaded, there are times I'll buy 2-3 books and start reading one. Not having the most recently accessed book at the top is a pain to me. Not sure if it matters to others.
There is no sync. I have my “library” on multiple devices and there is no synchronization between them. At first I thought this was a big deal, but the more I think about it, perhaps not. If my wife and I share an account, and I think we should, then I don’t want her progress impacting mine. We share books in real life, but we might have separate dog ears or bookmarks in there.
As I think about it, the only good way for this to work is to have the ability to manually sync the book location up. Which means that every device would upload its progress periodically and then you’d get a list of devices on your account and locations, and you’d have to select one. Might be a nice future enhancement.
The readers are similar, but the more I’ve used the B&N reader, the more I think it needs work. In the Kindle reader I can swipe my finger right to left to turn a page, a gesture similar to turning a real page. I can go both ways, and that’s the default BN behavior. However the Kindle allows me to also touch the edge of the page on either side to change pages. The BN reader allows that, but I have to change the settings. I can select
It’s nice to be able to set this, but I’d like to be able to have a choice as I’m reading. There are times that I get tired of the swipe, and would like to touch. Changing the settings seems intrusive.
One of the reasons I get tired is that I prefer tapping. However tapping the page in BN reader works fine for turning pages. But if I want to get to the settings, and I have a few times, the tapping keeps turning pages. Normally in both readers tapping the center of the screen brings up the menu. Handy for changing books. I finally learned that I can swipe up or down to get the menu in the BN reader, but I keep forgetting. Very annoying.
On the other hand, their swipe seems to require a bigger swipe than the Kindle reader. I don’t know how you program these apps, but they definitely react differently on the same device.
The BN reader has many more options, from everything like colors and fonts to automatic scrolling, a search feature, line spacing, justification, even a quick day/night setting to allow you to set two reading modes and switch between them with a single choice.
There are two big things that I think really give the BN reader the edge, despite a few annoying ergonomic things. The first is the ability to select a word and look it up. A dictionary is included with your BN reader for free, and once you’ve accessed it, you can press a word for a second, and the dictionary will open and find the word. I think it’s a light dictionary because there have been quite a few words that weren’t in there, but still it’s nice. One of the things I really appreciated about the Kindle device was being able to look up words. I’d never done that with physical books, just guessing at meanings from context. I often looked up words on the Kindle device, and thought it helped me learn a few things.
I was very disappointed the Kindle on iPhone didn’t have this, and liked that the BN reader had it. What’s more, it will ask you if you want to have it look the word up in the dictionary, in Google, or in Wikipedia. That is really handy, and I think it’s powerful on a PC, iPhone, or Blackberry. Not so great on the iTouch unless you have a wi-fi connection, but still cool. You can also set the reader to automatically look it up with one of those sources instead of asking.
The second thing that I think is amazing is that they give you real page numbers. They might not match the exact page in a paperback or hardback, but that is infinitely more reassuring than the Kindle’s “locations.” The book paginates, which slows the reading when you get started, but after that it’s nice to see page xxx at the top.
And even better is a graphical bar chart at the bottom of the screen that roughly marks chapters and the progress to date. I would love that on the Kindle as I often want to decide how much further I have in a chapter. There’s no good way to do that with the Kindle other than page forward and find out.
There are things I like about both readers, and while I think it’s easier to read on the Kindle app, the BN one’s progress indicator and lookup features make it my preferred reader.
I think both companies could learn from the other app, and I look forward to seeing them ported to other devices.
I have an iTouch, and I recently downloaded the Kindle app to give it a try after I broke my Kindle device. It was kind of a knee jerk reaction since I was in the middle of Team of Rivals, War and Peace, and Wicked Prey at the time. My iTouch is much smaller, as shown below:
This is in the Apple App Store, and it's free, so you download it. Once you run the app, it asks for your Amazon.com account and password and then connects to Amazon. From there I immediately saw a list of "Archived Items" in the Home screen. I clicked it and all of my purchases were listed.
Pressing on Team of Rivals (it's a great book) downloaded that book to my iTouch and I could start reading. The device is intuitive, with a press on either side of the screen or a swipe of the finger across the device will turn a page either way. It's easy, and actually it's fairly unobtrusive. It's not as easy as clicking the buttons on the Kindle, but it's easy to do one handed. Plus it's a small, small device.
I tried the normal black text on which background, which was hard on the eyes. Just too much light coming off the screen. The sephia setting, which is an off brown text wasn't any better, but white text on a black screen worked well. It was easy to read, and didn't bug my eyes. Here's an image of the base screen and the options.
Amazon had copies of all my purchases, and selecting any of them downloaded the content to my iTouch. For a trip I had recently, I downloaded 5 of my old books, a couple that I wanted to re-read, and a couple kids books that I thought my daughter might read. They came right down over my wi-fi connection in a minute or two.
When I went to the Amazon site, my account now showed a new option for samples. As shown below, I had a send to "Steve's iTouch," the name I'd given my device.
I sent a few samples from the website and the process was as flawless as with the Kindle. I didn't need to sync with my computer. I could hit the "refresh" button from my home screen and the samples appeared.
Purchasing books was simple as well. On the home screen there's a "Get Books" button in the upper right that opens the Safari browser to Amazon's Kindle store. It's the mobile version of the store, so it loads fast, but it's optimized to work easily and let me look at recommendations, or search for books. I picked Finger Lickin' Fifteen and it immediately downloaded to the device.
I've been using this app for a few weeks, and have read 4 or 5 books on it. The reading experience is nice, and it has worked well for me. I've read during the day, in bed at night, and it's easy to use. The accelerometer is used, so if you turn the iTouch sideways the text rotates. I've tried both ways, and landscape is nice for two handed reading (sitting down), but portrait is better overall for me. Since you can accidentally lean the device too far when reading, there's a lock button in the lower right corner to prevent the text from rotating. I've used that often.
A few times I've been in the car or outside and that's where the Kindle device shines. If you've tried to read your iPod or cell phone in bright sunlight you know it doesn't always work well. I was sitting by the pool one day and it was impossible to read. I've done that with the Kindle device and it's as usable in bright sunlight as a paperback.
The other thing that stood out to me was battery life. While using the iTouch for just reading (no music/video), I could get a couple of good days of reading out of it. But barely. I had to charge it pretty much daily. Since I run with an iPod as well, this isn't as big a deal as I thought it would be, but it's something to be aware of. I'm not sure how well the iTouch would last on a trip. I've easily read multiple books, across 4 or 5 days on the Kindle device without charging it. I rarely had the wireless on, so that helped, but it's something to think about.
I like this application, and it works well for me. It definitely means that I can delay the purchase of a new Kindle for awhile as I try this. It also means that I realize that the thing I love most of all is the Kindle platform.
It surpasses the device itself, which I really liked, but the platform is something I love. Being able to access content almost anywhere, buy books as I want them without needing a trip to the bookstore, is amazing. I've still wandered in the bookstore a few times over the last few months, spending some money on kids books to support the stores. I'd be sorry to see brick-and-mortar bookstores disappear and I like walking around. I really wish that Amazon would open the platform and allow me to buy a book in Barnes and Noble as well and get it onto the Kindle. Or that publishers would allow a download a the store.
I searched for a Kindle app on Android for my Google G1 phone, but there isn't one. I think because Amazon is worried about Google Books. However the Amazon platform, delivering content easily from their store, is a huge win, and would grow their market share quite a bit. I'd like to see this application ported to the PC, OS X, *Nix, as well as the various cell phone OSes.
Would everyone read on their devices? Maybe, maybe not, but I know that the porting can't be that hard and I'd like to be able to access some books on my PC (like technical ones). I'd like to be able to read if I only had my cell phone, or just my laptop. It's not a great way to read, but it works for short periods. Or in a pinch.
There have been so many reports and debates about the Kindle debacle in the news. I saw an interesting one on Slate and responded with this comment:
"Some interesting comments, and while I think Amazon made a huge mistake here, I think there is an important thing to note here.
Artists deserve to be paid, if they want to be. Whether this is a book, music, a movie, software, etc. If they set a price, whether you want to call it piracy or theft, it's a criminal act to take their work for your own use. I think copyright is ridiculous, and as an author, I think the original 14+14 years was plenty.
In this case, ultimately Amazon did the right thing, but the wrong way. They did not await a court decision, which is what should have happened. In that case, a recall would be warranted. Read the laws on stolen property. Police can come into your house and repossess things. They just won't for a CD, but they will for a car. In the case of books which are sold (it has happened), a recall is issued, but often people don't comply, and the police haven't enforced it because of resources.
Ultimately I think Amazon failed, and broke trust because they
a) acted as judge and enforced
b) did not properly inform consumers
c) did not give them a choice. They sell legal copies. They could have informed consumers this was an issue and they'd like to either refund, or replace with a real copy (at Amazon expense), or wait for a court order, at which point they'd have to just remove the content.
I'm not sure how I want the world to work here. It fundamentally scares me that a court could repossess something I've paid for because I purchased stolen property. However the moral fiber of my character says that I shouldn't be condoning, or supporting the fencing of illegal works, if I can. "
I've read so many articles and discussions about this issue over the last week, and it's amazing to me how differently so many people view this. There seem to be 3 camps on this issue that I've seen.
I fall into the second camp. This was a result of pirated works, and having them is a criminal issue. The issue of Amazon and DRM, and their actions is a problem, but the end result is that they should not have been selling these works.
What if this happens with Windows software? It has, and often because of the scale, the pirate can't make restitution to their customers, who would have to then purchase legal copies of Windows. The same thing happens with music, DVDs, etc.
What's scary about the Amazon story is that we have a wired platform, where essentially the seller has a semi-permanent connection to the consumer, and can affect the terms of sale, post-sale. Meaning that they can not only recall the product, but they can make changes to the content you purchased.
In most cases this would be nice, getting "patches" that fixed your software, corrected typos, etc. But that convenience also means that they can later censor your content as well if the language weren't deemed to be appropriate.
Imagine that happening with a movie you'd purchased, what if a scene were deleted because of some objectionable content? What if your software were changed, err, never mind, that happens now.
There is tremendous power and efficiency from having a vendor of some sort be able to automatically push services to you and update their product, but there's also a serious danger for abuse as well.
How would I want this to work? I have no idea, but I think we have some fundamental issues that we need to work through over time, and some laws to govern how this can be handled. I'm not sure that I trust any particular business to do the right thing.
I’m not a fan of Blackberry devices. Actually that’s not true, I really dislike them. They’re not intuitive, and I’ve never liked the form factors. Perhaps that changes as they move towards things like the Storm, but for now I’m avoiding them.
However they are popular, and my wife loves hers. So when I saw Barnes and Noble had a e-reader application for the Blackberry, I decided to try it. While we were having lunch today, I asked her to download it and see what it looked like. She did, and we connected to my account at Barnes & Noble.
Once there, the free books from B&N showed up, along with samples that I’d sent to my iTouch and samples I’d ordered from the PC application on my laptop.
A few comments. The Blackberry application seems much less refined than the iPhone/PC versions. It wasn’t as smooth to read, and the paging down sometimes paused the device. I wasn’t happy with the default font, but when we picked “font settings” from the menu, the screen went blank and the application seemed to go out to lunch. The screen was also small, and not really as easy to read to me.
In this case, the device got in the way.
My wife didn’t like it either, but she wasn’t thrilled with the iTouch or even the Kindle. She liked to pick up a book and just get back to her spot, but I think that’s somewhat because she doesn’t read much and the change was somewhat drastic for her. She used my Kindle a lot last year, but was annoyed when I read a book in between her sessions and she had to find her book again. I agree with that, and it seems these are personal devices.
The Blackberry application, like the others, doesn’t sync up your location among devices. In once sense that’s good since if my wife and I “shared” a book, we wouldn’t want things going back and forth. However if it were just me, and I moved around on devices for some reason, I find that slightly annoying.
I rate this as a poor implementation, but to be fair, the small screen was a bigger deal to me. She has a curve, so I’d like to see this on a Storm.
I saw yesterday that Barnes and Noble released their e-reader for iTouch/iPhone, Blackerrys, Mac, and PCs and at the same time opened up their ebookstore online to more than 700,000 books.
I think it's a great move, and I downloaded it right away. I'll sync up my iTouch and see how it compares to the Kindle reader.
One downside of this device, the formats used by the application aren't compatible with other devices directly, like the Kindle. They do support the epub format, so that's good, but it's disappointing that someone can't move content easily from the Kindle to the B&N application.
I also heard that they will be sending their books to the Plastic Logics reader, which is due to come out later this year.
:(
I was literally stunned and it must have shown on my face because my daughter asked me if I was OK. I had just picked up the pieces of my Kindle off the blacktop of a parking lot, cracked screen and broken case. The screen saver was still on the screen, and I powered on and off a couple times on the chance that the damage was cosmetic, but no luck. It was toast.
What happened? I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I set it on the tire of my wife's truck. We were sitting on the curb, and my daughter wanted me to read a book to her. With people walking nearby, I didn't want to put in on the ground, and I should have put it back in the truck, but I was lazy. We read for about 30 minutes until it was time to go and I stood up, got in the truck, and promptly bumped across the device.
So how do I feel about the device? This was a little over a week ago and I haven't replaced it yet.
Well, I'm upset with myself, but mistakes happen. I've been lucky with most devices outside cell phones, but my wife and kids have destroyed a few iPods and Walkmans over the years as well as damaged a few cars, so in the grand scheme of things this isn't a big deal. Plus it was a $100 device for me since I'd use Amazon Associates money.
I think the value of the device is there for me. I read a lot, about 50 books a year before this, and probably closer to 70 with it. The convenience of keeping those books with me, and being able to get new books anytime (or almost anytime), is very valuable to me. I'm not sure it's $300 valuable, but it's definitely $100 valuable, probably $200 valuable.
However this is an electronic device, and it's a specialty device that's somewhat locked to a vendor, like a cell phone. Personally I think there are a couple things that would make this a better platform.
1. Offer insurance. Even Steve Jobs trying to a sell a new iPod to everyone every year won't work with a $300 iTouch. It might with a $149 Nano or a $80 Shuffle, but not much more than that. $5 a month probably would be something I'd pay, and most people would as well.
2. The device needs a lower cost option, maybe less memory, less features, for around $200. Even the iPod now goes from a $49 1GB shuffle to a $400 32GB iTouch. The Kindle ought to be able to have a smaller screen, no keyboard, no MP3, no Text->speech, less memory for $200-$250, and then keep the Kindle 2 and the DX at the higher end.
3. Grow the platform, I have some thoughts I'm working on for another post.
So will I buy another one?
I think so, but I'm caught in a spot now. For one thing I'm imposing a bit of a penance on myself for doing something stupid. Second, I'm forcing myself to earn more Associates money over time as well as find a way to fund the rest of the cost. I'm not quite ready to make my family finances eat this mistake. Lastly, I think that a new Kindle device is likely in the works. Perhaps by the end of 2009, but almost certainly in 2010, so I'm thinking I might be an early adopter for that version when it comes.
Of course when I see Brian Kelley with his at PASS I might chance my mind and just buy what's out.
What’s the cost of e-books? It’s an interesting question that I have always wondered. I found this account of the cost of books, and it makes sense to me. I think this is about what I expect.
It is somewhat confirmed by this section on CoolerBooks: What aren’t ebooks cheaper? However Coolerbooks, which is selling another eReader (in color) called the Cool-er Reader, isn’t giving a huge discount. Wicked Prey, the new John Sandford novel, sells for $22.36 from Cooler books (in ebook form). If you had their e-reader, you’d get 25% off, or it would cost $16.77. That’s the cost from Amazon for the hardcover.
The Kindle edition is $9.99.
I know Amazon takes a loss on some books, but if they can offer the hardcover for $16, can’t Coolerbooks to better? After all, it’s without the paper cost, which isn’t much, call it $3, but that adds up. It seems to me that perhaps Coolerbooks, who says they’ll never sell at a loss, isn’t necessarily disclosing what level of profit they want.
By my reckoning, the publisher's cost of the book is about $10. So Amazon is at cost, but I'd think that other retailers could sell books in the $12-15 range and make a profit. If not, then perhaps they're not doing a good job.
I was annoyed recently with Amazon offering a book I wanted to buy, brand new from an author, for $14. I wrote them and they responded saying the publisher sets the price. I wrote the author, and got a response back saying Amazon was playing games. Of course the publisher sets the price. At $29.99!!
This was a best selling author, fairly successful, and I heard that he has no input into the price of the book. Based on some reading I've been doing of author blogs, this seems right, but it also seems that no one wants to really talk about it. I think they are concerned about their relationships with publishers, and perhaps they are happy with the arrangement.
I don't know if I'll ever get anything published, but I am tempted to just find a good editor and go it alone. I might not make any money, but I would like to have the control to charge what I think are fair prices.
I ran across a story about the new Kindle blog publishing features. It was called “How the Kindle Now Lets You Steal this Blog” It talks about how anyone can enter a feed for a blog, enter their information and start getting paid. In the example shown, someone entered the TechCruch blog with their information, but using TechCrunch content.
Yikes!
One of the great things about the Internet is that it makes everyone a publisher, but this also means that people can publish content that isn’t their own. I fight this battle regularly with SQLServerCentral as we find people using our content on their sites. Not just linking to us and running our headlines, but actually copying our content to their site. I probably have to send a notice every few months to someone to take down content.
As much as I like to see content shared, I like the aggregations that people put together (the whole purpose behind Database Weekly), and I see value there, I also see issues with ownership and rights that need to be resolved.
In my view, linking is OK, quoting < 1 paragraph IF you add a comment is OK, using 10-30 sec of audio/video IF you include a comment, is OK.
Copying someone else's content and republishing it for your own profit is not.
I sent this to their customer service, but it highlights a problem with the Kindle process.
I have a Kindle, and I love it. I make it a point to show it off to others that ask as I travel around and speak at various technology events.
HOWEVER.
Recently I went to look at a new novel from Eric Child and saw the hardback was $17 and the Kindle version was $14. That's not much of a difference, and to some extent I consider this a breach of the advertising that Amazon made saying that New York Times bestsellers, and most books would be $9.99 new. For me, and you can see I buy a lot of books, that was part of the purchase decision.
I won't buy this book, nor any others that cost more than $9.99 if they are books normally listed in hardcover at $29.99. And I will very much let people know that ask me about whether the Kindle is a good thing that the economics are making less sense all the time. I will pay more for technical books that often list for $59 or $69, but there needs to be a discount from publishers. The cost of the book, as well as the risk of inventory, is so much lower, a discount is needed.
I will contact the publisher, but please stop selling books above $9.99 that don't list above $29. It hinders adoption of a fantastic platform you've given.
I'd also encourage you to find a better way to make the Kindle more affordable. $350 severely limits your audience. If you could sell them for $150 with an agreement to buy xxx books over the next year, it would make a huge difference in adoption.
We want to continue to encourage people to read and the Kindle can do that, but it needs to be more affordable.
Steve Jones
I haven’t written about the Kindle lately, but I have noticed some news and I found it interesting.
First I saw recently that a new, large format screen might be coming out soon. This is interesting, and it definitely goes for a different market than the original. And it likely doesn’t include me.
I do like the idea of a flexible membrane, and it would be nice at times to not be concerned about the glass screen of my Kindle cracking. However the large screen I think gets in the way more often than not if you’re not in your house.
If it can do wireless delivery, and it has some protection from liquids (think early morning coffee), then I think it’s a good idea, and it might get more people interested in e-reading.
I have enjoyed my Kindle, and over the last few months I’ve read:
There might be a few more, but these are the ones I’ve gone through this year for sure. I’ve purchased a few books, though I haven’t had much luck in getting publishers to send me Kindle versions of tech books. I also started War and Peace as my “classic” novel.
I still am working on 4 books at a time. I tend to read them as:
I try to read a chapter of each and then switch. It tends to keep me moving through dryer content. I will admit to sometimes reading 2 or 3 chapters of the fiction books at times.
I also saw a note that most Kindle users are old, which makes sense. Most people I know my age or younger tend to watch more interactive media instead of reading. Older people still lean towards reading, as a gross generalization. It’s also an expensive device, at $350, and while I think I save some $$, it’s more the convenience for me. to date I have purchased over 100 books in less than a year, and many of these for under $9.99. They were new books, typically in the $15-20 range for me, so I think I’ve saved money, plus I’ve carried along dozens of books as a travel. The convenience is great.
My kids enjoy it as well. I purchased Marley at karate one night for my 7 year old to read (along with The Jungle Book and a few others as samples), and my 10 year old will grab it to read some of the sci-fi that’s loaded on there. Things that wouldn’t be possible if I were carrying my current book or two around.
I also have found the battery life to be excellent. I read most days, but I plug it in only every 4th or 5th day with no issues.
I’m not sure how I feel about Amazon invoking the DCMA clause to prevent other e-books from being read on the Kindle. On one hand I think that if encryption on other books is being cracked to put them on the Kindle, that’s an issue for other e-book vendors, not Amazon.
However if this is to prevent Barnes and Nobles from selling e-books that can be read on the Kindle, I think that’s a mistake. In that case, Amazon isn’t pushing the e-reader as a platform, they’re pushing it as a service.
I can already get books from Mobipocket, or the Gutenberg project, or any number of other places and convert them on my PC, load them on the Kindle, and never pay Amazon for that privilege.
I think most customers that get a Kindle, will do so to buy books conveniently from Amazon. Lots of people won’t worry about saving $.50 to drive to a bookstore to get other books. Or bother going to another web site, downloading the book, connecting the Kindle, etc. It’s way more convenient to use Whispernet to grab books. I’ve done it both ways, and the convenience factor wins out for me 90% of the time.
Trying to get that last 10% of sales, or some similar percentage, will do more damage to the Amazon reputation than just allowing this to take place and pushing out more, and better, content from Amazon.com.
Kind of funny. I saw this on Twitter the other day from @DanNunan and then someone sent it to me today.
I still like my Kindle more than books, mostly because I can carry so many around. I’ll also note that I get lost in the stories and the Kindle, or paper, disappears. I just read.
Not sure how it will do when I head to the beach, but I’ll let you know.
I like being able to view samples on my Kindle. It's one of the very neat features of the Kindle experience, kind of like spending 10 minutes in a bookstore reading the first chapter or so of a book. The advantage to me, however, is that I don't have to be at the bookstore.
Don't get me wrong, I like being at the bookstore, I appreciate the art of the covers, and there's something soothing about just browsing through a store, looking at what might be new. It's a much different experience than seeing the books listed on Amazon, and in many ways I prefer it.
But I often hear about books from people, and I don't necessarily remember those when I get to the bookstore. That's where the Kindle is outstanding.
As an example, I wrote an editorial on Trust a few weeks ago and someone responded with a recommendation for The Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey. At the time I was busy working along, answering posts, scheduling content, etc. and I didn't have time to read the sample that Amazon puts online, but I did have time to flip to Amazon and do the search for the book. Once I got there, I selected the Kindle edition, and I ended up with a page like this one:
On the right hand side, there's the "Try it Free" sample button, which I clicked, and it marked this book as a sample to send to my Kindle. The next time I turned the Wireless on my Kindle, which is something I do periodically, the sample downloaded to the device and appeared in my TOC.
I've done this with tons of books, and probably ended up buying 20-30% of them once I'd finished the sample.
What's convenient is that I can grab a series of sample and then read them when I have time. They drop into my list of books and I'll scan one when I have a few moments or I'm looking for something to read. That could be while traveling, waiting for the kids at the bus stop, or in bed at night. It's very convenient and I love that.
The downside of the samples is that each publisher appears to be building their own samples, or perhaps Amazon is just pushing out the first xx pages of content (or bytes). I'm not sure which, but the result is that the quality of samples varies greatly.
Most give me a chapter or two of the book, some have the copyright/title page/dedication/etc. in them, some don't. I got one sample for a kid's book for my daughter that was a title, copyright, and one page, so perhaps this was xx% of the book.
For the book above, however, I ended up with about 12 or 14 pages of quotes from various people that loved the book. It's the kind of stuff that's usually on the back of the book, a reference from various well known sources. That's OK, but between that, the title page, the introduction by Stephen Covey's father, the TOC, I got 3 pages of the forward by the author and that was it. I have no way of judging this book now.
I still might buy it, and likely if I think of it, I'll try to read a chapter the next time I hit Barnes and Noble, but this sample really turned me off.
