Amazon Kindle: More of the Same (DRM)

The jury is split on the Kindle, Amazon’s big foray into the digital media world.

At face value, Amazon looks to be in the perfect place to create an iPod/iTunes revolution in the digital print media world, where so much failure has come before.

To me, the design looks pretty cool, but I haven’t yet fooled with an actual device to get a sense of the software and display.

The biggest hurdle for digital book devices has been the need for a computer, which Bezos has neatly sidestepped by building in cellular connectivity, like the EVDO cards people use (like me) in their laptops. This means that books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs (yes blogs) can be downloaded to the device at basically any point in time. The wireless capability can also be turned off to conserve battery life, which seems pretty robust.

Others argue that the device is badly designed, and others that the effort to charge for blogs — $0.99 per month per blog — is a step back from web norms:

[from First Look: Amazon’s Kindle Reader: The Gap Between Description and The Device by Joseph Weisenthal]

Bottom line: Although Amazon’s been working on this for awhile, this is very much a first-generation product. It’s not going to revolutionize the industry overnight, though it sounds like Amazon is going to take this business seriously and continue to invest in it. It seems safe to guess that in a couple years, the top-of-the-line Kindle will be a much-improved product. The concept is definitely sound. Bezos’ speech had most of the audience pretty enthusiastic about the device—the problem is the gap between the description and the device itself. With some improvements to the display and a more intuitive navigation system, it could become an attractive product, even at the price.

[from www.twitter.com/gapingvoid by Hugh MacCleod]

$0.99 for a month subscription to a blog on an Amazon Kindle. Losers. Assholes.

Techcrunch’s Erick Schonfeld seems interested in the possibilities of books that are written with being digital in mind:

[from Kindle: First Impressions]

The fact that it has a functioning Web browser, though, means that you can follow links in the feeds you subscribe to. More importantly, it opens up the world of linking to book authors. Now books can have links, and not just for citations. Authors who take advantage of the electronic book format will start to include hyperlinks for curious readers to follow, and books could become more tightly interwoven with the culture of the Web in general. Reading a book will no longer need to end with the final chapter. Rather, it could literally open up a whole world of information on the Web, just as blog posts or online news article do today.

A remaining hurdle in the business model is the finances:

[from Amazon Reading Device Doesn’t Need Computer by Saul Hansell]

“The big challenge, of course, is that it is still relatively expensive,” he added. “You have to be a very committed book person to get a repay on that investment.”

The publishers themselves are concerned about return on investment; most have been spending a great deal to digitize their libraries for electronic readers, with little to show for it so far.

“If it does contribute to the many millions of dollars we have invested as an industry, that’s great,” Mr. Young said.

Amazon and the publishers declined to discuss the specifics of their financial arrangements. But several publishing executives said the industry practice was to sell an electronic version of a hardcover with a list price of $27 for about $20. While deals vary, the wholesale price of a $20 e-book is about $10, and most retailers have been selling them for about $16. The publishers said Amazon was paying about the same wholesale price as Sony and other e-book vendors.

By offering best sellers for $9.99, Amazon is leaving no profit margin, and it will have the expense of paying Sprint for the data transmission. Amazon says it hopes to make money on older titles that have better profit margins.

A truly grand experiment. I wish I had been able to attend the press conference, so I could have made off with a Kindle to fool with.

I did travel off to the Kindle site at Amazon, after being alerted by the nice folks at Federated Media Publishing that /Message is included in the list of 308 now available for download there:

I personally don’t expect that blogs will make any money on the device, especially since the Kindle can browse the web directly. But, unlike Hugh, I don’t think Bezos is an asshole for trying to make a nickel out of easily downloading blogs onto the device. On the other hand, its a different story if he starts trying to block access to the blogs he’s selling.

No one is blowing the green, green, green trumpet here, but at least with regard to newspapers and magazines the Kindle could lead to very significant ecological impacts, if and when Kindles become as ubiquitous as iPods are. And if not this device, then someone’s. We should be eager for such an advance to work, if only for the sake of Mother Earth.

On a purely personal note: I am tired of waiting for the damn New York Times to be delivered, anyway, since I get up a lot earlier than the newspaper delivery guys do in either of my neighborhoods. So for the sake of the planet and to avoid having to wait for my delivery guy to get to my place at 7:30am here in Reston VA, I should probably get one. Maybe I can weasel one from Amazon: I am one of their authors, after all.