Kindle is the new backpack
By Chris Gaylord | 08.26.08
There are several rumors bouncing around the web that Amazon is putting the final touches on a new model of its Kindle ebook reader. The target audience: students.
Just as college kids played a huge role in the success of the iPod – and many iDerivatives – Amazon is banking on them ditching hardcovers and adopting E Ink textbooks. At least that’s what the “confirmed” reports say.
The new line of Kindle “is significantly thinner, has a better screen, is more stylish, and includes fixes to some of the user interface annoyance with the first version,” says Business Week’s Peter Burrows. He compared this college-bound Kindle to Apple’s purse-friendly iPod Mini – take the bulky original and shave it down to something a teen-age girl would proudly bear.
The rumors differ over whether the new model is due out in September or October. (Either way, Amazon would seem to miss the back-to-school shopping sprees.) They also don’t get into whether the redesigned gadget will be marketed as a way to read Stephenie Meyer or science homework.
Horizons has talked a lot about etextbooks before (here and here), but this product news arrived the same day I learned about CourseSmart. The website was “founded and supported by five higher education textbook publishers” and now boasts that it offers one third of the all textbooks expected to sell more than 200 copies. Not a bad statistic. And CourseSmart lets you login to your library from any computer.
Both forms of e-textbook (on your PC or on your Kindle) offer similar savings over the paper editions. CourseSmart claims students will save 50 percent on their digital copies. Both are searchable – something I wish I had in college. But, of course, neither kind of e-textbook can be returned to the store for cash when the class is over. CourseSmart argues that most students are disappointed with the payback on returns anyway.
Since many college students already have laptops, I’m not sure I’d bother buying a $350 Kindle to do what CourseSmart and my portable PC can already do. But, if Amazon whips up marketing like Apple does, a Kindle could peek out of every purse on campus by Spring semester.
Also check out:
Back-to-school laptop report card
From the Monitor’s book blog: Expensive college textbooks
Comments
2. Dave | 08.28.08
To purchase items there is a fee, such as buying the NY Times, otherwise there is no monthly fee.
Why the Kindle is soooooo great? Instant access to over 150,000 reading materials at reduced costs(new hardcovers cost $9.99, softback cost ~$3 - $5) Additionally it includes an experimental web browser (with no monthly fee)
If you travel or are weight and space conscious then the Kindle is a great device. I have never met someone who likes reading eBooks on a PC or a Palm Pilot(do they even still sell Palms? seems so 1990s)
Reading on the Kindle with an E Ink ePaper display is easy on the eyes, unlike an LCD (used in PC or Palms) which you should not look at for more than 1 hour without a 15 min break. Transmissive displays (LCD) use a backlight, think looking into a flash light for a long time and you’ll see why you should have a rest for your eyes every hour. Whereas the Kindle is just like reading a paper / pulp based book as it uses white and black paint. No moving parts or scan rate like an LCD. Bottom line the kindle is very convient if you travel alot or don’t want your back to break from the 30 lbs of text books. Also it is searchable, built in dictionary, and web access to access wikipedia.
3. Larry | 08.28.08
I travel frequently with at least one laptop. I also used to travel with several books. Now I have a Kindle. It’s much easier on the eyes than a laptop screen, and it’s much lighter than a stack of books. You handle it a lot like you would a book - you can hold it one hand, you can read it while laying down, you can read it out of doors. You can’t do those things with a laptop. It also doesn’t heat up like a laptop. And navigating between pages on the Kindle is a lot simpler than using a mouse or keyboard on a laptop. And while you can read text on an iPhone (or a Palm), you spend more time navigating and scrolling than you do actually reading. Not so on the Kindle. Like a printed book, the artifact itself sort of ‘disappears’ once you get in the flow of reading. Perfect for reading long works of text.
4. MGF | 08.30.08
I’ve had a Kindle for a few months and I love it. I was reminded of one
of its nice features last night as I was reading a hardbound book….
the pages only flip when you want them to. I’m sitting there eating
a sandwich and trying to read, while the book keeps trying to
re-close itself as books are wont to do.
With the Kindle, I just bop the “next page” bar and it stays put.
With a page bar on each side, I can hit it with whatever hand is free,
or my elbow if I have both hands full (large sandwich). It works well
for reading while walking too, and the battery life is phenomenal.
With the wireless turned off I went ten days on a trip with only one
bar down, reading several hours a day. I can turn the wireless link
on if I need something, but generally I use it like a book with content
I’ve pre-loaded over USB. There’s so much space between the internal
memory and a 2GB card that I can stick anything that looks vaguely
interesting in there without worrying about running out of room.
If I could get a full letter-size display Kindle I’d buy one,
particularly if it supported PDF files natively. I have a lot of PDF
datasheets for electronic components (seems to be the global standard
these days) and I’d love to have them stored on a Kindle where I could
refer to them without having to print dead-tree versions.
For trips, it sure beats bringing the dozen or so paperbacks I used to
haul along for light reading and idle moments.
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1. Daniel | 08.27.08
I’ve been an avid reader of ebooks for over four years now. I still read and purchase paper and hardbacks too, especially if the content is something I want to reference or enjoy again at a later date. I have read several reviews of the Kindle and cannot understand why someone would spend over $300 for a device that has limited uses (mainly a bookreader) and requires a monthly fee $2.00. I understand if you want to expand it the cost goes up.
I read my ebooks on my laptop or palm pilot I can do multiple things with either, and do.
So again tell me why the Kindle is soooo great? Am I missing somethig in the reviews I’ve read?