The cover story this week in Newsweek is all about a new electronic book device coming soon from Amazon.
The article talks a lot about how the designers have overcome many of the technical problems that cause the failure of earlier e-book projects.
A reading device must be sharp and durable, Bezos says, and with the use of E Ink, a breakthrough technology of several years ago that mimes the clarity of a printed book, the Kindle’s six-inch screen posts readable pages. The battery has to last for a while, he adds, since there’s nothing sadder than a book you can’t read because of electile dysfunction. (The Kindle gets as many as 30 hours of reading on a charge, and recharges in two hours.)
But then comes the features that your mom’s copy of “Gone With the Wind” can’t match. E-book devices like the Kindle allow you to change the font size: aging baby boomers will appreciate that every book can instantly be a large-type edition. The handheld device can also hold several shelves’ worth of books: 200 of them onboard, hundreds more on a memory card and a limitless amount in virtual library stacks maintained by Amazon. Also, the Kindle allows you to search within the book for a phrase or name.
However, when you boil it all down, this is still a single purpose device.
If anything, the world wide explosion of multi-use portable phone/music player/camera/internet device/whatever-you-can-think-of devices demonstrates that most people want the electronics they carry to multitask.
This unit also includes wi-fi based on a broadband standard used by some cell phone networks so it has some connectivity. But will it be able to go beyond black and white text?
The internet these days is far more than text. Can it do video, animation, interactivity?
Possibly this is the electronic textbook that’s been predicted for as long as I can remember. Certainly the $399 price tag is less than a backpack full of high school books.
Although, as always, the content providers are the big stumbling blocks to wide-spread, inexpensive, electronic distribution of books. Anyone ready for open source textbooks?
Of course, it’s possible I’m asking too much.
Maybe the smart folks at Amazon are right and people really want a light-weight device that will do nothing more than replace multiple books, magazines, and newspapers.
But to me it’s not obvious that people will embrace this latest iteration of the e-book.
Tim, I agree with your assessment. Why spend $399 on THAT proprietary, locked down eBook–and you know it will be if Amazon is involved selling PDFs in electronic format–when you can get an Asus Eee or XO at an equivalent or lower cost?
Miguel
Hi Tim,
I understand your point. Two “alternate” views:
First I am already use a single-use device (a book) for reading, so I don’t see this as being a huge issue except for those who really want it all. We already carry books, laptops, PDAs, iPods, cell phones, etc. The one device for everything is still not there. (And think what would happen if that one device breaks!)
Second, the swiss-army-knife problem kicks in here – a single device that does lots of things, none of them as well as device dedicated to that task. (Ever try using the screwdriver on your Swiss Army knife?) I’d rather carry two devices that both do an excellent job, than one that does a poor job of both.
Interesting problem!
Doug
I love the concept of ebook readers, but it’s still got to get better. I’m thinking we’ll need devices that are 8.5×11 with very high resolution digital paper, and the price will have to be such that you can afford to have several of them sitting on your desk. I’m picturing something like 8.5×11 digital photo frames with hard-to-scratch display surfaces.
Unfortunately, the good stuff won’t come until this early adopter stuff shows there’s a market, and the early adopter stuff is so rarely usable/affordable that it’s going to be a while. : (