Re: Amazon to debut Kindle e-book reader

> 2. Amazon to debut Kindle e-book reader
>     Posted by: "auwg" auwg-/[email protected] auwg
>     Date: Fri Nov 16, 2007 1:42 pm ((PST))
>
> http://www.news.com/Amazon-to-debut-Kindle-e-book-reader-Monday/ 
> 2100-1025_3-6218\
> 828.html?tag=nefd.lede
>
> Definitely no thrill here.
> High price ($400 or so) and likely proprietary formats, as usual.
> Hope this isn't an attempt to recreate Gemstar's failed ebook biz  
> plan.
> Ed Howdershelt - Abintra Press

No point in speculating when we'll all know in a day or so. But since  
you brought it up...

_You're probably right_ but a man can dream, can't he?

Amazon's new .mp3 store is very good: open format, priced right, DRM  
free. Not as large a selection as the iTune store's DRMed titles, but  
compared to iTunes Plus, the selection is much larger and the price  
is lower.

So Amazon "gets it" with respect to online music sales, and since  
they started out in the book business, and were a major participant  
in the failed Gemstar/Adobe/Microsoft eBook business and probably  
noticed that they didn't sell of those eBooks, I can at least hope  
they "get it" with respect to eBooks.

The very fact that it's even tied to a device is troublesome, though.

By the way, I ordered an XO under the One Laptop Per Child's "Give  
One, Get One" program. When I got to work, a software engineering  
colleague mentioned that he had ordered one, too. The significance is  
that to the best of my recollection, neither of us had ever said a  
single word to the other about it, i.e. these were completely  
independent decisions. I have no clue whether the XO will be of any  
use whatsoever to a middle-class adult living in a developed country,  
but the easiest way to resolve my curiosity about it was to order  
one. I'm hoping it will be fun.

What makes this tangentially on-topic is that one of the things I'm  
curious about is whether it will do as an eBook reader. There's  
nothing about it that would make it much more suitable than any other  
small laptop, but... 200 dpi monochrome, 1200 x 900 pixels, three  
pounds, rugged... 


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