05-08-2009, 07:07 AM | #1 (permalink) | |
warrior bodhisattva
Super Moderator
Location: East-central Canada
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The new Kindle DX: the iPod of reading materals?
A really quick summary: Quote:
So this is pretty big. Everything this new Kindle can do makes sense, even though it comes with a price ($489). It's incredible that you can access the 3G network at no cost to purchase books and newspapers and access blogs and Wikipedia. It has a built-in dictionary to look up words at anytime, and it now reads PDFs natively (a huge improvement). The larger screen is incredible. This opens the doors to other markets beyond books: newspapers, magazines, textbooks, business documents, etc.
Personally, I'm excited for this kind of device. I'm a bit biased since I work in publishing, but as a techno-geek and reader, it goes beyond that. I really think Amazon is getting it right here. They're helping build a market for electronic reading materials, which is certainly a boon to them. The market seems to be focusing on Kindles, and so now I'm wondering why we're not hearing as much from Sony and the other manufacturers. With this new Kindle design, they certainly have a lot of catching up to do...and I have a feeling the screen (e-ink) technology has much room for improvement. It will be interesting to see the technologies for these devices develop. Is the Kindle becoming the iPod of reading materials?
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot |
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05-08-2009, 07:29 AM | #2 (permalink) |
Kick Ass Kunoichi
Location: Oregon
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I read an article about this in the New York Times the other day. You can see the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/te.../07kindle.html
The part I found interesting was the bit about textbooks on the Kindle. In the NYTimes article, the Government Accountability Office estimated that the average university student in the United States spends about $900/year on textbooks; the textbook industry contends the figure is closer to $650. Based on my experience, I'm going to go with the GAO's number. University textbooks are expensive! Suffice it to say, if the Kindle made them cheaper, I would be all over that in a heartbeat. I'm pleased to hear that three major textbook publishers have already agreed to release texts for the Kindle. I would love to have a Kindle. It certainly wouldn't stop me from buying books; I love the physical feeling of a book. But like the iPod, I like the idea of having lots of books at my fingertips, in a device I can carry around with me.
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05-08-2009, 07:40 AM | #3 (permalink) |
warrior bodhisattva
Super Moderator
Location: East-central Canada
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A quick estimate, snowy: I'd say students could stand to save at least $0.30 to $0.40 for each dollar spent on textbooks if they went electronic. So, an electronic textbook would cost as low as $60 compared to its $100 paper counterpart. This is a conservative estimate. Paper, distribution, and sales make up most of the savings. So...would the $489 price tag on the Kindle make it worth it? Probably...especially for a 4-year degree.
__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot |
05-08-2009, 07:55 AM | #4 (permalink) |
Kick Ass Kunoichi
Location: Oregon
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Yeah, I think so. I can easily spend that much on a single term's textbooks, and I imagine there are students who end up spending more than that. Sure, it's a big initial investment, but I think it's worth the future savings, not having to carry heavy books around, and getting a really cool gadget out of the bargain isn't bad either It also sounds like it has some textbook-friendly features too, with highlighting and annotation. I often have to buy used textbooks, and I hate it when I end up with a book with lots of highlighting. Having a Kindle would allow me to start with a fresh copy and export what I want to. That is very appealing.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
05-10-2009, 09:32 AM | #6 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: In the land of ice and snow.
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I don't think kindles will will see any wide scale textbook adoption until they have color displays. Pretty pictures make complex subjects easier to understand.
That being said, if I could have gotten all my textbooks in kindle form, I totally would have. |
05-10-2009, 04:00 PM | #7 (permalink) |
Getting it.
Super Moderator
Location: Lion City
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I like where this is going and would love to have a Kindle. That said, I can see it being a big pain in the ass for those of us outside of the US. Just as music distribution isn't especially helpful here, I can see the print publishers being just as bad (eg there is no iTunes store here, I have to use my Canadian account to buy music online).
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05-10-2009, 04:20 PM | #8 (permalink) |
Baltimoron
Location: Beeeeeautiful Bel Air, MD
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I have the Kindle 2, and it does everything that the Kindle DX apparently can, except it has a smaller screen. Right now, you're essentially paying $130 for 3.5 diagonal inches of screen.
I love the thing, though, and use it every day both for books and for my daily news"paper". If they can work out some of the technological issues, like touch-screen technology and color e-ink, as well as some of the physical issues with screen sizes for different types of media, this could end up being the next major revolution both in media and in overall computing.
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"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen." --Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun |
05-10-2009, 08:24 PM | #9 (permalink) |
More Than You Expect
Location: Queens
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I don't get it. I picked up an eee pc with a ten inch screen and almost ten hours of battery life (if I were using just to read a book) for $89 less than a Kindle. When fully-featured ultraportables can be had so cheaply, why would anyone shell out for one of those?
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"Porn is a zoo of exotic animals that becomes boring upon ownership." -Nersesian |
05-10-2009, 08:59 PM | #10 (permalink) | |
Baltimoron
Location: Beeeeeautiful Bel Air, MD
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Quote:
Right now, the technology is such that it doesn't do much. However, it does the things that it does really well: display text in a way that mimics real paper while using almost no power (I can hear the Text-to-Speech feature right now laughing at your "ten-hour battery" ), and increasing visibility (especially outdoors) while lowering eyestrain and other issues from the computer monitor screen. It's like the first people who purchased a laptop or an MP3 player.
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"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen." --Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun |
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05-11-2009, 05:14 AM | #12 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: My head.
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I'm with Manic, a great Dell right now at walmart (just got it for my mom for mothers day!!!) is $378. Cool huh?
As for text books, ever since I discovered the internet, I have never paid more than $20 for printing them out.... Gosh, I'm so BAAAAAAD ... |
05-11-2009, 05:28 AM | #13 (permalink) |
warrior bodhisattva
Super Moderator
Location: East-central Canada
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I'm guessing the limitation is that you can't browse on it openly; you can only access the online store and Wikipedia (which is still pretty cool).
__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot |
05-11-2009, 05:39 AM | #14 (permalink) | |
Crazy
Location: Kramerica
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Quote:
Unfortunately for me, that feeling usually results in my spending needless amounts of money on a new gadget
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05-11-2009, 08:18 AM | #15 (permalink) | |
More Than You Expect
Location: Queens
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Quote:
But, to answer the op, I don't see students lining up to shell out 5 bills over one of these.
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"Porn is a zoo of exotic animals that becomes boring upon ownership." -Nersesian Last edited by Manic_Skafe; 05-11-2009 at 11:59 AM.. |
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05-11-2009, 08:58 AM | #16 (permalink) |
Metal and Rock 4 Life
Location: Phoenix
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The ipod of reading materials? That means there will be cheaper, yet better and more feature packed products to buy? :P Sorry, had to.
All in all, I'll never buy it. Rather cool gadget though.
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You bore me.... next. |
05-11-2009, 10:46 AM | #17 (permalink) | |
Friend
Location: New Mexico
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Quote:
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“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly "This is my United States of Whateva!" |
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05-14-2009, 08:15 PM | #18 (permalink) | |
Baltimoron
Location: Beeeeeautiful Bel Air, MD
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Quote:
Honestly, I'm not sure we're that far away between the first-generation e-ink readers and the netbooks and the advanced smartphone/MP3 players.
__________________
"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen." --Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun |
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05-15-2009, 06:26 AM | #19 (permalink) | |
Junkie
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Quote:
Once they have color "ink" and students can easily take exams using them (such as they can with apps like WebCT/Blackboard or Moodle) then I'll be excited. |
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Tags |
big, kindle, reading, step, technology |
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