Amazon releases free beta of Kindle for Mac eBook reading software

Is this US-only? Pls note the internet is available in other territories now.

Too little, too late!

I'm shocked it doesn't have a full screen mode. WTH? It's neat though how it fills your page with text no matter the page or font size... which it how it avoids scrolling. Very cool. I guess that's what defines it as an eBook app... as opposed to just a PDF reader or whatever. I just wish it had full screen and also... adjustable margins. The text is VERY tight to the top and bottom of the page. Looks wrong.

Intel only. Jeepers, even the Nook e-reader can run on PPC-- so can Stanza and Tofu. This is just pathetic.

I suppose only in the US

If you click the link to the page it says that book availability may vary for non-US customer but that's the only information I saw on regional restrictions of any kind.

"Amazon's fledgling eBook business???"

Seriously, who writes this crap?

Amazon is THE EBOOK STORE. What about it is "fledgling?"

-Clive

I was so excited that I could this App for my PowerBook because reading on the iPhone does get a little stale eventually. I was also hoping to put this on my Parents (Late 80s) G5 so they could look at some of the old classics they read in their youth without trying to get some of these out of print books from the Library. But the shock of it all to see the not allowed image across the App when I went to install it, boy was I bummed. Let's hope they reconsider and make it PPC compatible as well as letting it use the great text recognition software of OS X to allow the book to be read to those elderly who are vision impaired. I do love it on my iPhone and even use it to read some of those old classics to Mom when out visiting so PLEASE Amazon consider that market who cannot afford your Kindle or to upgrade their old computer.

We need to nip this one in the bud. Kill Amazon dead!

1. The Store should be in the app.

2. The prices are 2X too expensive.

3. I'm convinced digital book files should be "FAR" cheaper than paper books. Because they are so quick and simple to get and cheap to produce, they should be cheap and instant. Even if publishers made half the money they do on them people would buy a lot more, and they'd end up making even more money than they do currently.

The idea of digital books being priced next to the same price a real books is a joke. DId I say it was a joke. Pricing books in this way is only going to encourage stealing of digital books. These publishers literally have no clue.

And that goes for iBooks too.

Hear, hear. Say no to competition.............?


+1 on #3.

YEA BABY YEA!!

Explains why the prices for e-books have suddenly gone up.

Before, the Kindle model was, buy the expensive hardware and get cheap content.

Now Apple, Amazon and publishers have gotten together to set a new model, to free content from hardware and allow it on any device, but it costs more.

So Apple will be doing the same thing, allowing the iBookStore and it's content to run on Mac's and most likely PC's too to keep Microsoft out.


My predictions are Apple is most likely going to make the e-book content more eye candy-ish to capture the upper end of the market and Amazon is going to take the rest of the bare bones market who are happy with just text on a page for a lower price.


By the way, if your deciding to buy a hard copy of a book or anything else. Check out FindersCheapers and enter the full product code.

If your looking for REAL textbooks (like the one's used in college courses) in e-book form, check out CourseSmart. One can rent textbooks at a fraction of the selling price and can read less than 20% and get a refund if one doesn't like it.

Beta will not run on my intel iMac!

Please note that UK licensing issues are not the same as US licensing issues. But you knew that.

Well I've noticed that to read all the books I want electronically I needed the Amazon app, but also the Stanza app and the Barnes and Noble app.
One store hasn't gotten in done for me.
So I welcome any all for my Mac, iPod touch and my iPad.

I'm convinced digital book files should be "FAR" cheaper than paper books. Because they are so quick and simple to get and cheap to produce, they should be cheap and instant. Even if publishers made half the money they do on them people would buy a lot more, and they'd end up making even more money than they do currently.

If that could be backed up with hard evidence, it would be a pretty strong case. However, the common thinking about e-books fixates on how "easy" is to produce them, ergo it should be as cheap as possible. But this almost always ignores the complexities of how the publishing industry works*: just how "cheap" is an author, his agent, his publisher, the book designer, the graphic artist, etc., willing to sell a product and not make some money off it? While I understand the sentiment, I've not heard of an author who is willing to sell his work at a cutthroat price with the expectation this will lead to more booksales. If that author is wildly successful with that tactic, one could amost guarantee his follow-up will *not* be so cheap.

(*And I don't know how this industry works either, but I would venture to guess there's more involved in creating an e-book than doing a "Save as...." option.)

While I would also like books to be much, much cheaper, that's almost certainly not going to happen. At the volumes we're talking about, the marginal cost of making a book is negligible. Yes, they have to be shipped and stored and all that, and that costs money, but it costs far, far less money than you're probably thinking.

Publishing isn't the kind of business where people are getting stinkin' rich. There are authors out there who make a very nice living, yes, but they're the ones who sell hundreds of millions of books over decades. Generally speaking, publishing is a pretty thin-margin business.


It's nice to say that, but it doesn't add up. First of all, the reading devices are so obscure as to be basically non-existent. Second, there are considerable costs associated with producing a digital version of a book anyway, because the tools for doing so suck compared to what are highly evolved computerized book-publishing tools. Finally, nobody knows yet just what the impact of shrinkage would be on a large digital book market. The impact of shrinkage on the retail actual-book market is understood; books disappear from warehouses and book stores and all that. But nobody knows yet whether digital book piracy will be two percent of gross sales, or twenty percent, or what. It's a big unknown.


No, the idea of digital books being priced the same as real books is entirely consistent with the fact that what you're buying is the words, not the atoms.


You know what? This really pisses me off. Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but this whole "Your product costs more than I think is appropriate so I am going to steal it" attitude is bullshit. If something costs more than you want to pay, don't buy it. Buy something else instead, or just don't spend that money at all. That's how the system is supposed to work. If people refuse to buy something on a huge scale because of price, the price will either come down, or that product will disappear from the market. That's how market forces work. If you just go out and steal the product, the company that makes it has no incentive to lower the pricing. You're just contributing to their shrinkage, and increasing their cost of doing business.

People who think "It's too much money, I'll just steal it" aren't just morally bankrupt. They're also completely wrong-headed.

I think there is a mistaken idea that just because it's digital it's cheaper. The only part of the process that is reduced is the print quantity. The writer, editor, proof readers, Cover designer and Marketing to promote the book's release are all still the same costs as they were for a analog only version of the book. In fact they probably increased as the book is now marketed in both formats.

Sure you can argue that your saving money on printing and distribution. But the print costs on 2 million books is actually less per book than the print costs for 1 million books. So while the over all bill is less each book costs more.

In a world where there are no printed books and only ebooks, then you could see significant cost reductions. But honestly maintaining a dual system (both print and digital) is, in the beginning, going to be more expensive than doing one or the other. More people are involved in creating the finished product and marketing it.

People who argue against eBooks being cheaper or either a blind idiot fanboy, a publisher or a fool.

Right. Cause nobody who disagrees with you could possibly be a reasonable human being, or have a legitimate point. That's just impossible.

Working great so far. This is a godsend for me. I'm in school in a third world country with no bookstores literally in the middle of nowhere. At least I can read books now on my Macbook.
Wish they had made it 64 bit though.

I can't get it to work with VoiceOver! All Alex can see is an empty scroll area. Can't interact with it.

Can't interact with text at all!!!

No search???

Lame.

Amen, glad I am not the only one saying this, it seems there a few intelligent people around. Ebooks should be given free too with every paper copy you buy. Absolutely no reason why these people should want you to pay double to have your paperback and an e version to read occasionally on your device, or to easily transport on trips.

Sorry, but they are marketing the same book, no extra costs for marketing an e version. It might not be overwhelimingly cheaper to create an ebook but it is cheaper by a good margin. Ebooks free with every printed book should be the norm, wait, correction, should already have been the norm.

If these clowns at amazon think I am not going to be using my libraries and bookcases at home, and just get a few bytes to store away on a device, and not have the physical item to leave on the coffee table they are seriously deluded. Too bad for them, because I am going to be downloading any pdf circulating on the net for free. Instead they could be offering an e copy with every book they sell and incite me to buy even more books, than the many I buy already. Nothing beats reading from a the printed paper yet, and for any time in the foreseeable future, no dog ears, to item to hand over to your friend o make a nice library at home, no pages to leaf through, nothing to turn into a nice gift to somebody. They can drm the shit out of the ebooks for all I care, but they have to offer them free with the print book. Period.

An action designed to slow the move from the Kindle to the iPad. Good luck with that. eBay will be full of used Kindles by year's end.

Uh, duh. So you can't copy and distribute the content naturally.

Try this OCR, free. You can also take screen shots (command shift 3 or 4). Guess you could set up a script to automate it or use Quickkeys. Like a window to ask how many pages and hit run, page all the text on one document, add needed returns after each result, etc.

Enterprise version does more at once and it's priced good too.

http://solutions.weblite.ca/pdfocrx/

Or what? You're going on a crime spree? How is that any different, legally or morally, from telling the guy behind the counter at the deli that he'd better give you a free pickle with your sandwich or else you're going to hop over the counter and take one by force?

Never mind, don't bother; I'll give you the answer: It isn't. And if I thought for one second that you were even slightly serious, I'd be concerned that you might not just be selfish and arrogant, but dangerously sociopathic. Instead, I'll just assume for the sake of my sanity that you're just another blowhard with a Web browser.

Guys, seriously. Pause for a moment and think. You're totally free to say "Gosh, I wish they'd give me a pickle with my sandwich." You're even free to say, "Since you won't give me a free pickle with my sandwich, I'll go to another deli that will." Heck, you can even pass around a petition to try to make free pickles with every sandwich mandatory by law if you really want to invest the time.

But you absolutely cannot take the pickle just because you've decided you're entitled to it. Whether you buy a sandwich or not, those are not your pickles, man. This is, like, day one of kindergarten stuff.

Analogy fail. It's like buying a sandwich, but only being able to eat it in the deli. You bought the freaking sandwich. Why shouldn't you be able to eat it in the park outside?

And was it not you arguing that you were buying "the words, not the atoms?" If that's true, you should be able read those words via the method of your choosing.

It's called fair use, and it's what makes, ripping your music, backing up your DVDs and pretty much any picture on Wikipedia possible.

-Clive

Duh! I suspected it would be hard to highlight text. But VoiceOver can't "see" anything. Therefore, a blind or low vision person is not going to be able to use it. Bummer!

Regarding point #3... This is where publishers can include interactive content to add value. If done properly, e-books may actually be perceived as more desirable than their static cousins.

What if every e-book also entitled you to additional content that would be impossible in a printed version? For example, one on one interviews with the author, or "passes" to special online events, or unlockable individualized content (maybe even things I cannot imagine at this point)?

VoiceOver can't read pictures of text either.

A blind or low vision person would be better off using Audiobooks or have someone convert the text graphic files to text so it can be read out loud.

Funny - got an Amazon e-mail this morning pushing free downloads of Kindle for iPhone/iPod touch and ... Kindle for PC. No mention of Kindle for Mac, but when I clicked on "Kindle for PC" and downloaded it detected a Mac. Amazon asked if I wanted to download the Kindle for Mac app.

Did so and installed it on a 13" MacBook, then downloaded "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving - long out of copyright and an Amazon freebie. Readability seems pretty good. Lots of font size selections and the book can be toggled to full screen. Just a couple weird lines of coding appeared on the title page.

My wife is still planning to buy an iPad and probably use Apple's iBook app. It'll be interesting to compare Kindle and iBook on the iPad, but I'm happy to see greater choice in the marketplace.

Separately, as for those who would try to rip some author's copyrighted product, Apple's adage of "Don't Steal Music" should be extended to "Don't Steal Books." But if you're a thief and you have no scruples about depriving creative talent of compensation for their labor, you'll probably find a way to rip off ebooks. A little less risky than going into a bookstore and trying to stuff hard copies in your jacket or down your pants, don't you think?

Space and weight are assets from my perspective. Even without added features, I would pay equal price (to a paperback, not a hardcover) just to save that space. I switched from CD's to iTunes when the dropped DRM from their music for that very reason (despite the lower quality sound, my ears aren't great anyway). I will do the same for movies once digital copies are attractive enough and the same for books if I like the experience on the iPad (I won't buy a standalone reader at this point in time).

I place a pretty high value on space (and weight if I have to move my collection).

Thanks Clive, couldn't have said it better myself.


Look let's not split hairs here. You know what I am talking about. I love books, I read books, and I love books as items with everything that entails. I wouldn't mind if I didn't get a "feature rich" issue of a book (or rather an interactive bundle or whatever that might be) with my print book, or a dvd, but since I am buying the book I want a barebones e copy too, give it to me for an extra $1-$2 even and I won't whine.

But ask me to pay double for both the print book (that I 'll eventually be forced to scan myself to have in any portable device should I wish to) and the ebook, and then you have very angry and resentful customer. And of course imho rightfully so. Cause these guys are saying, hey do you prefer the kindle version? No I don't f. prefer the kindle version, I want the print book sent to me AND the kindle version to use with your ebook reader that i paid good money to get in the first place. It's the same damn content, at least charge a minimum of storage fees.

The publishing business is trying to pull a fast one, they envision themselves as the record business trying to sell the same content on tapes, then vinil, then cds, then mp3s, doubling, and tripling on the profit.

Hey I am buying the print book but what If I go on a trip, won't I like to have the chance to read it on a portable device? Ok then, let me pay double the price for essentially the same file, that they have on their servers (it's not as if they have to scan every book). I hope this strategy will fail eventually.

Great app for those of us not yet ready to bail on our Kindles for the giant iTouch... err... I mean iPad. Seriously though $829 is too much for the only one I would want (64gb + 3g). And I think Mr. Jobs was pushing it when he dogged on netbooks at the iPad announcement. We'll see how close to netbook functionality you can get with an iPad. To me its sort of like comparing an Apple TV to a Mac Mini.

I think some of you are confusing multiple issues. One issue is Amazon's supposed "rip-off" of customers by charging them [here fill in amount that is more than you think Amazon should charge ] for ebooks, and presumably the same ripoff by all other sellers of ebooks for [more than what you think their price should be]. A second, admittedly somewhat related, BUT DIFFERENT issue is having to pay for both a hardcopy and an ecopy of the same book.

Two things on the price issue. First, although when ebooks first become somewhat popular I too expected them to be vastly cheaper than hardcopy books, because, hey, I no longer need THE BOOK, much less the costs associated with printing, warehousing, and shipping it. However, after reflection, I came to the same mindset as that Tomfoolery expressed in his thoughtful 03-18-2010, 12:05 PM post. He is dead on, on all aspects. In particular, folks who think that ebooks should be "vastly" cheaper fail to consider the cost structure of the underlying products, and the impact a massive price drop would have on most authors and the overall business of providing good books to the masses. See, e.g.:

http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2010/01...le-via-amazon/ (in particular the query "$9.99 is really expensive, you suck. eBooks should never cost this much" and the immediately following discussion)
http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/201803.html
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight...48.html#396969

Second thought on pricing issues. From a personal standpoint I find the belief that, if the seller is charging more than you want to pay, screw them, I will go download it for free on the internet, revolting. People right, edit, proofread, market, illustrate, etc. etc. books for their living. When you steal one (and it is theft - you are taking the fruits of the labor of multiple people and refusing to pay them for it), you not only harm them, you also harm all the other authors, etc. whose work is supported by the better selling works. The profits from hits such as The Da Vinci Code allows publishers to publish unknown or simply less well-selling authors. Stop claiming that because something costs you the equiv of several Starbucks or a movie or two that gives you the right to steal it for free.

The other issue - different from the flat out "how much should ebooks cost" point - raised by myapplelove and Clive above, is a good one though - why should you have to pay twice for both a hardcopy and an ecopy? Sure, it makes sense to pay twice if you want two actual hardcopies - but what is the additional cost of an ecopy over a hardcopy? (Well, actually, there is the cost of converting the file to .lit, and Kindle, etc. formats and re-proofing it, but that cost presumably isn't huge.) In fact, Amazon's whispersync, which automatically syncs your books over your Kindle, iPhone and computer, allowing you to read the same book from each, certainly cuts against the idea of having to pay separately for each different reading experience. I've thought for a while that purchasers of hardcopies from Amazon should have the ability to also purchase an ecopy, for a vastly discounted price. E.g., if I buy a new hardback on Amazon for $23.99, I should have the opportunity to also get a Kindle version for another, say, $3.00. If I buy a paperback for $10.99, I should be able to also get a Kindle version for another $2.00. To me, that is a win for everyone. Authors/publishers/Amazon get a (hardcopy) book sold, and they also get a few bonus extra dollars - which if this approach is a hit will really add up. Customers win, because they can get ancillary Kindle versions for the price of a cup of coffee. And I suspect far more people will check out and appreciate ebooks at that pricing.

Are you rooting for Amazon or the customer? Cause the customer wants eBooks to cost less, considering they cost less.