Amazon unveils 9.7-inch Kindle DX with focus on education - Page 6

this could possibly open the door to free internet. if companies like Amazon decide to provide their own service for their websites. then more companies will follow suit. then advertising takes over and buys band width as well. could be very good and very bad at the same time.

i'm probably beating a dead horse, but the article has nothing remotely to do with apple. yeah i hate to be that guy sometimes.

you are right about the price. this this should cost $50 or less. Then people would feel so weird about taking it with them if it were easily replaceable. although i disagree with you about size and convenience. i think Amazon has it right about content. this device should geared towards the big institutions, not the consumer market. I think that's why everyone is so negative about this device.

it's really starting to bother me that everyone on this forum is so negative about something that is going to revolutionize institutions and significantly change how kids learn. I don't think it's Amazon's intent to compete with Apple or smart phones or netbooks. I think it's quite obvious that Amazon is turning it's nose up at things like the iphone. Although, i do think they're crazy if they think students and low-income school kids will be able to afford this without a subsidy. especially if the publishing companies are going to take advantage of the non-used books they can sell for this device.

I know folks that haven't ditched their Sony or iRex for a Kindle. Also Apple's model provided for one leg of the ecosystem to offer decent value ($0.99 songs and no need to buy the whole album).

Amazon wants to make money on both device and content. That's fine but not nearly as likely to catch on.


http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/03/02...chable-screen/

For $399 I can live with Linux. I can always look for Reed somewhere.

I'd pay a lot more for OSX (Touch or Mac).

Not at $500 a copy. And frankly they are a latecomer to eBooks who's primary problems are price and that eInk is still just "okay" in comparison to paper. Neither of which the Kindle addresses and the sales volumes are still too low for massive investment into eInk technology to improve quickly.

You can with a slate or a convertible. even ignoring the other netbook (not out yet and ARM) there's the Gigabyte m912. A tad pricey but certainly shows that a netbook can be designed to do what you want on the Metro.

Uh, what makes you think that? The success of the iPhone and iPod Touch?

The Kindle may not be the best choice today, because of price and lack of content, but there will probably be more and more specialised devices in the future when they have access to more content and are much more affordable. Then we will have less use for general-purpose computers.

It's 4 GB, 700 MB is system. :-)

Sorry you are pissed. I apologize for the tone of my response. However, this is pure supposition on your part - no basis in truth - just your bias about a device you see no need for.


Nice to know we agree - I don't forensically review past posts, I just happened to disagree with your points in this thread. Sorry.


I know a few people with one - I meant "of the people I know, every one who has one loves it" I'm sure you knew that or were just too pissed to consider that meaning. I don't have one since am not much of a book reader.


Great - just not in the posts I read. You are pissy aren't you?


It's pretty obvious. I don't think it will converge with iPhones as you seemed to suggest, and it will eventually with laptops etc. but not in any timeframe which would invalidate the Kindle hardware today.


I know when you get criticized it is easy to slip into pedantry to try to get back. I was mostly calling BS on your idea that the iPhone was a comparable/replacement platform for the Kindle and hence it wasn't necessary. On the rest, I'm glad we agree. CTFD dude.

we are of a mind here.

Hehe very nice

You must have eye problems, or you can't use your computer for more than a short while either.

Millions of people are apparently reading books on the iPhone/itouch, as Apple has sold a lot more books for them than Amazon and Sony together have sold books for their products.

I get tired about hearing the nonsense. It's no worse reading a book on an iPhone than on a Kindle. In the brightest light the Kindle is much better, in dimmer light, or no light, the iPhone is much better, or the only way to do it.

If you can't figure out how to adjust the background, typeface, and typeface size to suit you on the iPhone, I suggest that you learn.

When the two are put side by side, I can adjust my iPhone, on most reading programs, to look almost EXACTLY the same as the Kindle's screen.

Forget this silliness about backlighting vs front reflection. We can't tell the difference. The eye doesn't know where the light is coming from. It all has to do with the brightness and contrast. The fact that the iPhone screen can be made much brighter and contrastier than the Kindle screen is the difference. If you want a grey background, just set it to that. If you want a tan one, do that.

I really doubt that some people here who say how bad it is to read on an iPhone have actually done so, or have done so without bothering to figure out how to adjust the screen, which is easy to do.

You're wrong about that. I see that you have tour bias here, and that it's pretty strong.

I understand that after one spends a lot of money on a device they have some feeling that they have to defend that purchase, exp. if it's something so limited in aspect. But you don't understand my position apparently.


Without making some effort to read past posts in the same thread, something that too few people do, you will argue a point that you shouldn't have to respond to at all.


No, I'm not "pissed", just confused at your post. When you explicitly say that "everyone" I know who has one, you are telling us that there are a number of people you know who have one. don't leave it up to us to interpret your meaning, write what you mean.

If you don't have one, then how much have you used one that one of your friends does have. Otherwise, you're just working from hearsay.


Only at people who write poorly thought out posts, and are too lazy to read further back to see what's being said before responding.


This again goes back to reading previous posts. I never once said that the Kindle, or other book reader would converge with the iPhone, though the iPhone is a good reading device now.

All along, I've been saying that book readers would converge with portable computers, possibly netbooks, or other lighter models which we'll see in the next year or two. I've also said that Amazon might evolve the Kindle to become a portable computer when technology allows it.

See why you think I'm being pissy? You get much of what I say wrong, because you're just making unfounded assumptions about it instead of reading it.


I'm stating the facts as they are. You're writing poorly. When you don't do that, then it will be better, dude.

Finally!

I think this is the Kindle that does it for me.
The price is right, too.

melgross: if you're going to come out as the all-knowledgeable guru of everything kindle/amazon/publishing companies/market analysis you'd better stop calling the iPod Touch the iTouch. It's obvious you have a huge ego and i think most of this forum would like you to keep that in check.

It's a short hand, nothing more. Calling it a Touch would work, too, but iTouch is unmistakable. He could refer to it as a Touch but that is getting most obscure as their product named as such and the oft wished for item on these forums is the Mac Touch tablet. We also refer to the family of iPods and iPhones as iDevices for brevity sake.

your attitude on this forum is nonsense...
There is a huge difference from reading something on e-Ink compared to LCD. I just proves to me that you haven't tried it yourself. And, reading an ebook on a LCD 3.5" display vs. a 6" E-Ink very different, I've used both.

Sure you can change the font size and contrast ratio on the iPhone, but there's more to it than that IMHO. Sure that may be my opinion but i don't like my opinion being called "nonsense" this is America in an open forum for crying out loud.

Don't get smarmy. We all call it the iTouch. Some even just call it the Touch. Sometimes we even just say the iT. It's not as though we don't all know what it is. It's just saving some typing. Of course, now that I've had to type all this, I guess it didn't.

I hate to have to tell you, but most people here have big egos. Including you.

If you think that what I say is incorrect, then show some proof of that. That's not hard, is it?

There was nothing in that post that brought up your ire that wasn't either true, or a fair guess about what will happen.

Earlier, you were agreeing with me. Is it just when you don't that you think I have a big ego?

Why don't you just provide your own numbers to contradict my post instead?

That would have been the better route.

I agreed with you on one point maybe others. This isn't about who's right and who's wrong. I take your numbers at face value if you don't sight the source. And it's not even about that either. Just because people have opinions doesn't meant that they're not any more right or wrong than you are. The debate is about treating people ideas with respect and not calling them nonsense, or dismissing other's thoughts because you seem to think you were the first to make any given statement.

Oh please. I have used it as I've said, but I doubt that you have used the iPhone much. If you can't figure out how to do it right, then that's your problem.

If YOU like the I-ink that's fine. I don't want to dissuade you, but you're simply wrong about it being better for everyone else. It's not. The developers of the product have been under massive criticism over the lack of contrast, slow speed, and low grey level support. They try to convince that the shortcomings are actually good.

It's not. It's only better in very bright light. I'm not the only one here to have stated that.

Yes, it is an open forum, and we can say whatever we think is correct, just as you are doing.

But there were a number of studies in past years that showed the so called advantage of reflected light to be incorrect. If I can find one online, I'll post a link later. In fact, in very bright light, paper magazines and books with really white pages are hard to read, though they are much better in dimmer light.

So, IYHO, what are those other factors that you wee alluding to?

Not everything is an opinion. There are facts as well. Simply because not everyone knows those facts, or doesn't want to know them if they contradict what they want to think, doesn't make them any less true.

I'm not calling PEOPLE nonsense. But I'm tired of hearing the same old wives tales over and again. Calling something nonsence is very mild. Pehaps you're not here for long, but if you were, you would read far worse things than that.

And you were being pretty petty about the iTouch. Possibly you noticed that?

It's also common courtesy to read back a bit before posting something that strongly contradicts something that's been said. When the poster writes a rambling post that confusing, it doesn't make it any better. When that post also happens to be saying some of the same things, but is still contradicting, then it should be criticized.

"And iPhone is the obvious future of e-book publishing because it has attained the kind of critical mass; the installed base, needed to produce significant sales. There are over 15 million iPhones and ten percent of them already have e-book readers on them. Compare that to the putative numbers for the Kindle and the Sony Reader. Then compare the price and the additional functionality and you see that the market advantage of IPhone will continue to dominate this new market."

One Author's Prospective

Yeah, I'm a member of Jerry's site.

Yeahso? The same is true with my iPhone but I don't complain there. In fact it's more true with the iPhone because the service is MUCH more expensive then the cost of books over 2 years. You don't get anything tangible with the iPhone except airtime. At least with the Kindle the cost of the service + book yields something tangible.


I never said it was just about rez. For one the iPhone has a smaller-make that MUCH smaller-screen. Anybody with a brain can see thathave you ever even seen the Kindle in person?


You HAVE to pinch and squeeze if you need to see something that has a poorly chosen typeface (like half the Web sites out there). A paperback is around 5-6 inches, about the same size as the Kindle. You'll spend a LOT more time pinching and squeezing and scrolling on the iPhone then the Kindle. Yes its a little slow but not that slow, but that's a lot better the scrolling every 10 seconds.


What a dumbass comment. I don't really care what you think, especially since you seem to just want to deride anybody that doesn't agree, based on your other posts here.



But I can read a book for several hours without an problem. You really haven't used the iPhone for this. I've read for as long as 4 hours a day on the phone, and it was still working fine.[/QUOTE]
You cannot read a book for several hours on my iPhone. Mine is already dying, and I know several other people whose batteries have noticeably started to die more quickly. I took it to the Apple store, and they admitted this will happen over time. Last time I watched a movie on my phone for 2 hours, it was at 50% when the movie finished (not to mention my eyes felt like they were going to explode). If I leave my iPhone unplugged overnight, which happens when I'm on the road and don't want to carry around my cable, its battery is at 60% or so. And like I said it's not that it will die after reading a book for 4 hours, I just don't want it to die in the middle of an important phone conversationsome of us actually use our iPhone as a phone so when you drain 40-50% of the battery just "reading" on it, that limits the amount of time you can spend on the phone.

Yikes! Amazon wants 70% from newspapers.

•

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419...terms-onerous/

"Yeah...so?" What kind of response is that?

the AT&T 3G srvice is like all other high speed data services. It doesn't limit you to anything. The Kindle's isn't even a real service. It's just a store link. It seems nice that you are getting it, but it's minimal at best.

Don't make that comparison, it doesn't exist.

If you add the cost of the "tangible" service you're getting, books, then it costs far more for what you are getting, because that's all you are getting. Once you finish reading the book, then what? You can't lend it to someone without lending the entire device. You can't sell it, because you're not allowed to. You can't even give it away without giving the entire Kindle away with it. So what great value is that? I can buy the same books at Barnes & Noble for much less.

By the way, an electronic book isn't tangible property because you don't own it.


Another person who doesn't bother to read posts.


You were talking about reading books, not surfing the web, which you can't do with the Kindle anyway.

The Kindle is much slower when reading books, which, again, is what you were talking about, and so was I.


You're talking about being a dumbass?

Some of you Kindle people think you've found the perfect device, and that you're special because of it. Get over it.



You cannot read a book for several hours on my iPhone. Mine is already dying, and I know several other people whose batteries have noticeably started to die more quickly. I took it to the Apple store, and they admitted this will happen over time. Last time I watched a movie on my phone for 2 hours, it was at 50% when the movie finished (not to mention my eyes felt like they were going to explode). If I leave my iPhone unplugged overnight, which happens when I'm on the road and don't want to carry around my cable, its battery is at 60% or so. And like I said it's not that it will die after reading a book for 4 hours, I just don't want it to die in the middle of an important phone conversation…some of us actually use our iPhone as a phone so when you drain 40-50% of the battery just "reading" on it, that limits the amount of time you can spend on the phone.[/QUOTE]



You see wiseguy, now you're telling me what I haven't done. not so different, is it?

I've read several dozen books on my iPhone, and I've read for several hours at a time. But I don't read for five hours straight. The longest has been four hours, and yes, it works very well for that amount of time. I just turn WiFi off since it isn't being used anyway, and the screen isn't at the highest brightness. It's just fine.

I always plug all my electronic devices in every night. It's no big deal. It only takes about 90 minutes to recharge.

We all use our devices differently. I don't spend several hours talking on the phone every day. Nor do I read from it for several hours each day. I still buy books. I just bought four a couple of days ago. This is just another method to do what I've been doing since I was a kid.

Someday, when all books, magazines, etc are available on digital devices, that will change. But now, most books are not, esp. new ones.

melgross,

Just a personal observation, take it for what it's worth (which is practically nothing).

I've been following this thread out of personal amusement just to see the logic used in the debate. Sometimes it seems like Spock vs. Spongebob Squarepants. I would surmise that most people here (including myself) don't really care as much about the topic at hand as they do the debate itself. Who really cares that deeply about any gadget? Whether we admit it or not, most of these lengthy threads exist because we enjoy the challenge of mental sparring—a verbal chess game.

So far, I personally see nothing you've said to be logically incorrect (my opinion). The frustration level of those you've been "arguing" with has steadily risen. The debate between two opinionated people (everyone here including myself is opinionated by nature—that's why we bother to post) in which one party bases their case on fact and reason, and the other on fact and emotion, will continue possibly until either party's fingers begin to bleed.

I think it's human nature for people who base their decision making on emotion to have more of themselves invested in their opinion then people who base their decision making process in the absence of emotion. I can only guess this is because the former is internalizing the debate, while the latter is concentrating on the external. By the way, there is nothing wrong with buying something based on emotion (unless the purchase is somehow harmful). It's no sin to buy something you can afford with the reason you want it simply being "you feel like it."

In short, it's difficult to have a rational debate based on emotion vs. reason—I doubt this is news to you (you seem to be in the "reason" category).

Save your breath (or more accurately your fingers), it's a fools errand. Unless of course, you simply enjoy the challenge.

as long as kindle has been out i have never seen anyone using it, never, people read books or from their iphone
can you imagine trying to use this thing on the beach?
people want a convergence device, now if kindle could be used as a phone but
this is a solution looking for a problem

so what are the demographics of this thing, what problem is it really solving, making better, define its market target
how is it to improve the experience of reading
and for that price why not a cheapo netbook, or just carry a paperback

now, if several newspapers subsidized this and auto loaded todays newspaper then maybe i could see a sliver of light for this thing
for me its like those preloaded memory cards with music oh yea "slotradio",

This thing seems to big to be even practical

___________________

If it's 70% then Hearst will never buy in and will be a competitor. Geez, talk about overreaching BEFORE you have a lock on the market.

"I get 30 percent and they get the right to license my content to any portable device—not just ones made by Amazon? That, to me, is not a model. Maybe what Plastic Logic comes up with or what Hearst comes up with, might provide a good model but today Kindles are less than 1 percent penetration in the U.S. market."

Way to open the door for Apple who makes money selling devices and not content so would be happy to go 70-30 in the newpaper's favor.

University of Missouri is implementing a soft requirement for students to get either an iPhone or iPod Touch. I wonder when universities will require students to get Kindles.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1405...?lsrc=rss_main

University of Missouri is implementing a soft requirement for students to get either an iPhone or iPod Touch. I wonder when universities will require students to get Kindles.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1405...?lsrc=rss_main

Actually it does have a lot to do about Apple.

Everybody knows that the Apple tablet is coming and it is interesting to try to speculate what it might be like based on the kindle dx and the effects that devices like these will have on other things such as network technology and media sources.
As well as, what the Apple product will be like based on the hardware specs of the kindle and how an Apple device will most likely trounce the kindle with superior specs.

Plus a whole bunch of stuff that we haven't even considered yet.

I agree with that. All of us base opinions on emotion as well as logic. The degree to which the balance is weighted is where we differ often.

As I've said, I have nothing against the kindle as it stands now.

i thought of a unique use of this large kindle
music during a concert, have a BT button to change music sheets easier than paper and the conductor can BT it to each member

It would have to be bigger than that. This is only 9.7" diagonal. An 8/5 x 11 sheet of paper is almost 14" diagonal.


It might not be bright enough for many venues.

I am old enough to remember the very same question that f00fighters has asked when computers were first introduced. Now we find it very difficult to be without them. Computer monitors were once b&w and we paid $$$$. I suspect for college people to really buy them, the Kindle would have to go to a color format. On the other hand, thinking how difficult it was to haul around my college text books all over campus, I might gladly trade that experience for a gadget that weighs very little comparatively. Also, textbooks cost around $150-200 these days. Take 3 courses and we are talking $600. If one can pay around $50-75 for the books and buy the Kindle. It would easily pay for itself for the rest of one's college curriculum. I think the college demographic will be the best market for this gadget if the book price is reasonable.

One of the reasons for the high price is that you can connect to download books at any time, much like an aircard that costs around $65-70 per month for a laptop to be versatile. I thank amazon for not offering, yet another electronic gadget, we have to pay a monthly fee for data!

I am a 48 y/o female. Yes, I will be buying one. I'm an avid reader and also buy many self-help books. It would be nice to have them all in one place that could be easily referred to with a few clicks and where I could annotate and highlight. I really have a hard time writing and highlighting in my bound books.

I've been seeing, not just in your post, but everywhere, a lot of ifs involved with this being useful.

There is too much we don't yet know on the textbook front. While most of the main textbook companies have supposedly signed on, just a relatively few of their books will be available. not enough for the broad student population thought to be targets for this device. We also don't know the pricing of most textbooks. The companies have pointedly avoided answering that question so far.

What happens to any notes taken on this? Are they lost if the device is broken or lost (stolen)?

As far as the "free" 3g service, well, it's just a conduit to their store. not much of a service at all. And don't think you're not paying for it. You are. It's subsumed in the price of their offerings.

Wow, that would be great. Plus, you could get rid of all those big clunky music stands and have ones with a smaller footprint. On the other hand, what if there was a technical problem?

There were a lot of "ifs" with the first computers too. The first ones just blinked at you. It wasn't until software companies wrote useful code for the non-programmers that the computer became useful. The rest, as they say, is history. New technology always has the unknown factor. In reading historical accounts of the landline telephone, it was not embraced either. Adults could not understand why they needed a telephone, same with computers, same with insert any new technology. However, like any new technological device, the teenage generation always finds a use for it.

Of course, you are paying for the 3G service in other ways. However, if you don't buy you don't pay, which was really my point about thanking amazon for not having a subscription based platform. If it only goes to amazon, that's okay by me, that is where the books can be bought. No different than Microsoft cornering the market by making PC makers put their software on their machines.

As far as the textbook companies, the companies that have signed on have 60% of the market share. I was looking at a few of my textbooks on my bookshelf and all 5 of them would have been offered. You are correct, no one has mentioned the price. I can assure you if it's not reasonable, students won't buy. It would be in the best interest, however, for publishers to play nice. As it stands now, the hierarchy of purchasing textbooks is that students buy 1st edition books for $$$. Then the book goes down the line for many semesters without any more money going to authors, publishers, etc. With the Kindle, one would have to purchase the book every time.

Let's say a textbook is used for 4 years including summer courses-theoretically, 16 semesters. Currently, the price for a hardbound book is $200 with the authors and publishers only getting their cut one time, we'll say 5%, $10. By offering it through Kindle at a price of $40 and receiving 5% for 16 semesters, their share would be $32. The publishers could even make a deal with the colleges such as, if 60% of your books are from us, we will underwrite the costs of a Kindle for each student. So you see, the possibilities are endless with education.

As for annotations, I'm guessing you would lose them. Perhaps that would be something for the Kindle developers to address in Kindle 3 along with a color monitor!