Despite my best efforts to stay away from the dedicated e-reader market, Amazon has piqued my interest with the international edition of the Kindle 2. Back when it was a US exclusive, I could turn up my nose and say “I wasn’t interested anyways”. But now that it’s just a few mouse clicks (and a few hundred dollars) away, now I have to come to terms with the fact that I may actually want one. I’m slowly coming to terms with the fact that the Kindle is undeniably interesting, the problem is that for everything it does well, there are a few fatal flaws that are keeping my credit card firmly in my pocket for now.
The Good
Amazon does some things exceptionally well with the Kindle that make it a very enticing prospect for a fence-sitter like me. Building on these strengths makes a lot of sense to continue to grow their market.
Design
Amazon nailed the industrial design of the Kindle 2. Thin and sleek, light and easy to hold. These are key issues for an e-reader as they are currently targeted at replacing the reading experience of books which tend to have many, if not all of the above characteristics.
Easy to use
By using e-ink technology in the Kindle, Amazon makes e-reading easy on the eyes. This is a key issue in the age of constant eye-strain caused by LCD screens. They also make buying e-books drop-dead simple by having the Amazon store available wirelessly at all times.
Books are cheap
By making many e-books (including most bestsellers) available for much less than the physical books, Amazon creates a great value proposition for buying the kindle. The kinds of people who would buy a kindle are likely heavy readers ($400 price tag for 1 book a year? Please!). Over time, assuming they keep the kindle for long enough, buyers can save more than the cost of the kindle in book savings alone.
The Bad
Everything doesn’t come up roses though; there are a few key problems that make the Kindle not quite ready for prime-time in my eyes.
Lock-In
Amazon is the only company that makes books for the Kindle, and books bought for the Kindle don’t work on any other devices. Sure, Apple pulled this off with iTunes for years, but in the end even they agreed that that was the wrong business model. For media like books, music, and movies, being able to use them independent of a specific device is absolutely key. Other e-reader companies seem to agree with this point, and are making hardware that reads from a common, standard format.
Ownership
This particular issue is bigger than Amazon, bigger than e-books, and applies to electronic Media in general. As a rule, companies make the point that electronic media is licensed and not owned. In practice this means that I can’t (legally) lend or sell my e-books the way I can with my physical ones. Sure the individual books are cheaper, but if everyone in my family has to buy a copy to read them, where are the savings? I can share a book I buy from the store with anyone I want, and even sell it later. How will e-books make up for that lost right?
Conclusion
Overall the Amazon Kindle is probably the best e-reader currently on the market, and is a really compelling e-reading device, but being locked to Amazon for all eternity, and being restricted by confusing licenses and artificial restrictions means that for now I’ll stick with good ‘ol ink and dead trees.
Category technology Tags ebook, ereader
Ink and dead trees, my FAVOURITE! Hey, there’s a novelty in the class – nothing like cracking a good book spine or folding a corner.