Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Comments Pan Amazon's "Kindle" E-Book Reader


On Amazon's review page for Kindle,twice as many posts give the new device 1 star v. those who give it 5 stars.

I'm an Amazon stockholder, "Associate" marketplace seller, and author, so in principle I'd like another way to distribute content. From what I've read, this may not be it--at least, not yet. Not only the price point, but the various limits and marketing agreements. Plus, commenters point out it doesn't display PDF files. Software problems. Come on...

What makes Amazon work as a site is that they stock practically everything in print. So why limit Kindle's database to 90,000 books and a few hundred blogs (I assume mine is not one of them)? My guess is that there is no deal with database kings like Google--which owns Blogger plus all those scanned books in public domain. Copyright problems.

So, this seems like it will be of limited use, at least till they work the kinks out. Plus, it looks like a giant PalmPilot. Too big to clip to the belt, and even at 10 ounces, why add weight to carrying a laptop?

I don't know the answer--Amazon did not loan me a test model--but they may have to open the whole concept up a bit to make it work. Consider "Kindle" a Beta version, not a final product, at least for now.