I'll try and keep this brief. I really want to buy a Kindle 2...but I can't. Why? Well it goes like this, I mostly read rather niche science fiction but even when I expand my horizons to look for books that might interest me I still can't find anything in the Kindle store that would begin to justify the expense. Not only that but the Kindle seems to be for our American friends and we Brits have been added as an afterthought. Not encouraging when being asked to part with just over £200!
So why isn't this the end of the conversation? The product clearly isn't up to the task so I should keep my money and be on my merry, however, I haven't seen my floor in a long time and this is because it is covered in books. The thought of a sleek ebook reader that might reacquaint me with my floor is both practical and appeals to my inner ubergeek! I love the look of the thing and want to buy one but with no ebooks of interest what use is it? Amazon claim that their vision is to have every book in print available on it. An admirable aim but is it really achievable? Even now certain books are only available in the States because they are licensed on a country by country basis. Clearly publishers, keen to protect their intellectual property rights, remain unconvinced by this technological marvel.
I'm left with the conclusion that the Kindle 2 is a technology whose time hasn't yet come. It seems my floor and I must be kept apart for the foreseeable future.
So why isn't this the end of the conversation? The product clearly isn't up to the task so I should keep my money and be on my merry, however, I haven't seen my floor in a long time and this is because it is covered in books. The thought of a sleek ebook reader that might reacquaint me with my floor is both practical and appeals to my inner ubergeek! I love the look of the thing and want to buy one but with no ebooks of interest what use is it? Amazon claim that their vision is to have every book in print available on it. An admirable aim but is it really achievable? Even now certain books are only available in the States because they are licensed on a country by country basis. Clearly publishers, keen to protect their intellectual property rights, remain unconvinced by this technological marvel.
I'm left with the conclusion that the Kindle 2 is a technology whose time hasn't yet come. It seems my floor and I must be kept apart for the foreseeable future.
I got an email about the Sony eReader which Borders and Waterstones are flogging and had to say I was tempted. Then I went to see what ebooks were available, assuming, as there were no printing and distribution costs beyond uploading a file to server, they'd be at least half the price of a printed book, right? FAIL. Exactly the same price as the print version. What's the point of that? If music downloads are now £7.99 for an album that retails at £14.99 on CD, surely the publishers have figured out that if they want this here eReader thing to take off, they'd better provide more incentive than not having to cart your library around with you.
ReplyDeleteI was also put off because I'm a huge fan of secondhand books, I'll scour bookshops and Abebooks for days looking for some gem and pretty much the only new books I own have been gifts or bought because the writer wasn't Dan Brown and I figured they could use the cash. No cheapo secondhand option for the eReader. So as into the technology as I am (the concept of e-Ink had me a little too impressed), I don't forsee an eReader or a Kindle in my future until they're secondhand too ;)
I bought a Kindle...I am weak. Oh the shame!
ReplyDeleteyou bought one? but you just admitted that you didn't need one. You confused me! :-s
ReplyDeleteI didn't need one, I wanted one. The marketing gurus rest easily in their satin lined coffins awaiting nightfall so that they may emerge and once more feed upon the blood of the living...or in other words, I am a weak willed puppet with no self control. Was that not clear? :)
ReplyDeleteMy later post reviewing a straight-to-kindle ebook may clear things up a little...sorry for the confusion and thanks for reading.