A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
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A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
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November 21, 2007Kindle: A Promising StartIn case you've been under a rock and hadn't heard, Amazon's introducing a new ebook reader, called Kindle. It's not a bad start. They've been smart enough to wait until e-paper. And that's not all. Of course, an early question for me was, when will Churchill be available on the Kindle? The answer is, right now. Well, they have WWII, but not WWI or History of the English-Speaking People. They don't have the book I'm rereading right now (The Misplaced Legion, by Harry Turtledove), but they do have a bunch of other Turtledove. Most of the prices seem to be around the paperback level, even the Churchill, which simply isn't availble in paper. Not bad. From the ad:
Amazon tracks each Kindle-owner's online library, so the device's limit of 200 books doesn't have to limit you so much. Of course, you would have to shell out $400 for a reader and buy everything you wanted on it. A little pricey for somebody with a big book collection already. One day I'll have to work out the math for if Kindle can ever be cheaper than buying books AND shelves. And needing a somewhat bigger house to store them. But it probably would make sense for somebody who hasn't had a chance to build up a collection yet. One thing I find disturbing is that the only free thing being talked about so far is Wikipedia. If you're shelling out $400 up-front, why shouldn't you be able to take advantage of Project Gutenberg or the Web for free? It's not like the Kindle's at loss-leader prices. Also, because it's strictly proprietary, Kindle owners are at risk. If Amazon loses so much money that they stop supporting it, or if Amazon sells out or folds, or loses its touch, the device will be alot less useful. And it doesn't look like their (strictly for-pay) blog arrangements will include Centerfield yet. Posted by Jon Kay at November 21, 2007 12:59 AMComments
I had a "gimme" Palm Pilot that I used for a few years before the battery died, and some Churchill was available as free e-texts. Posted by: Tully at November 21, 2007 08:30 PMOne can never have enough Churchill. I've been checking out KIndle, and despite its flaws, it looks promising. The $400 price tag is a bit steep though, and I certainly agree that more features should come pre-loaded. How about $50 in free books? Paying for blogs is silly, in my view. Keeping an eye out, though. Posted by: Rafique Tucker at November 21, 2007 10:10 PMHmm..... On second thought, two bucks per blog isn't so bad. They do need to expand the list though. Posted by: Rafique Tucker at November 21, 2007 10:23 PM |
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