Just as
expected, Amazon announced the second-generation Kindle ebook reader with the exclusive Stephen King novel UR today -- the page actually went live during the press event. The new version will still cost $359, but it's much thinner than the angular original -- in fact, it's thinner than an iPhone at just .36 inches. Arguably the biggest new feature is Read to Me, which can read any content on the device back to you in a decent-sounding computerized voice, but there's also seven times more storage, a sharper 16-level e-ink display that turns pages 20 percent faster, 25 percent longer battery life, and a new five-way joystick that improves navigation. Amazon's Whispernet service is also getting a feature bump, adding in Whispersync bookmarking -- if you start reading a book on one Kindle, you can pick up again on any other Kindle automatically. Sadly, it's still only available in white -- the pink Kindle here is just a one-off made to promote UR. Video after the break.
A few more informations:
- Amazon is still working on international release, but has nothing to announce at this time, and wouldn't even confirm a launch this year.
- Battery is non-removable.
- There will be no Kindle 2-exclusive content, and some of the software improvements will be pushed to the original Kindle -- Whispersync is a shoe-in, text-to-speech is a no.
We spent some time playing with the Kindle 2 hands-on -- check it out
right here!
posted February 9th 2009 12:20PM
Still too expensive.
So have they bothered to make it able to read PDF's yet? Until they do, they can blow.
Do you understand the foundation of the PDF format? PDF, by nature, is page based, not 'flowing script'...if you zoom in on a PDF document, what happens? You have to scroll up and down and back and forth to see the whole thing.
The Kindle doesn't do page by page...it does flowing text. If you go to a larger font, you get fewer words on the screen...you don't scroll around to see the whole page.
So...to read a PDF, you use a free utility to convert it to Kindle-readable format, then load it on to the Kindle, and there you are...I've done this several times with free ebooks and academic papers...piece of cake.
Not Kindle related, but am I the only to see a really uncanny similarity between King's book cover UR and the famed Detroit colective Underground Resistance? Check it out yourself on google image : Underground resistance
Why do so many people say that $300-400 is so terribly expensive for an e-book reader? How much do your bookshelves cost? Don't forget the cost-per-square-foot of your rent or mortgage!
Now, do those shelves hold 1500 books at once? Can you easily take them with you when you're traveling? Do they make it easy for you to buy a new book? Do they make book content less expensive for you?
Look, there's lots of reasons to decide whether a Kindle - or any e-book reader - is a good choice or not. But a few hundred dollars in cost is just not that unreasonable, considering what you get for it. I'm more worried about things like:
What if Amazon goes out of business or discontinues the Kindle system? Will I be able to get the books off the Kindle before the device wears out, or will I lose my whole library?
Can I lend a book to a friend without having to give them my whole Kindle? Can I re-sell a book I didn't enjoy? If I can't do these first-sale items, then book content will have to get quite a bit cheaper before I can justify the trade-off.
Why do so many people say that $300-400 is so terribly expensive for an e-book reader? How much do your bookshelves cost? Don't forget the cost-per-square-foot of your rent or mortgage!
***Yes, a cogent argument. But I cut the square footage used by my books when I realized I could stack them, back in '06.
Now, do those shelves hold 1500 books at once? Can you easily take them with you when you're traveling? Do they make it easy for you to buy a new book? Do they make book content less expensive for you?
***No, my bookshelves just sit there, like an old friend, mutely holding my library for perusal. And no, I've never taken my bookshelves with me anywhere, not even on vacation.
Look, there's lots of reasons to decide whether a Kindle - or any e-book reader - is a good choice or not. But a few hundred dollars in cost is just not that unreasonable, considering what you get for it. I'm more worried about things like:
****Actually, it is a good choice for some. But not many.
What if Amazon goes out of business or discontinues the Kindle system? Will I be able to get the books off the Kindle before the device wears out, or will I lose my whole library?
***Do what any American does, and sue. Sue randomly. Sue 'em all, short and tall.
Can I lend a book to a friend without having to give them my whole Kindle? Can I re-sell a book I didn't enjoy? If I can't do these first-sale items, then book content will have to get quite a bit cheaper before I can justify the trade-off.
***I sincerely doubt you can lend a book, nor re-sell. Common sense indicates they would not allow that.
Don't forget to add costs for replacing the internal non-removable battery of the Kindle once it can no longer hold suitable charge after a few hundred charges.
My hat's off to the designers for this genius bit of engineering. Who needs removable batteries?
I literally cannot F***ING BELIEVE that they didn't do a UK version. I've wanted this thing since Kindle 1. I would argue that the market for extended reading and associated tech is massively greater here, by percentage, than many other countries. I am astounded. I've been telling people (who have gotten really excited at the idea) about how they could download the Times every day onto their device and read it on the train/bus/subway.
Rubbish.
true, you can get the mobipocket creator to
convert the PDF's to kindle readable, but the
files it creates are kinda useless.
I tried one of my Cisco docs that I use as
reference since it has a bazillion command line
commands and explanations. The table of contents
was removed, and it smashed 4 to 8 pages to
one page of text. It took a 1100 page doc and
morphed it down to 28 or so, that was nuts.
The doc was kinda worthless at that point, as keeping
track of various page references was not possible.
I tried many different PDF's and still had the same
result. Unless there's a setting with in, that wasn't
presented to me when I looked to make changes..
I have tons of PDF's that I've collected/purchased over
the years, as well as use from various vendors I deal
with at work. It would be nice to have a reader that
could support PDF's naively where I could keep the
ones I use most often in one place.
PDF is not a very good format for ebooks since it is a static representation of a printed page (usually 8.5x11 or A4). There is no intelligence to how the data is represented so that it can be reformatted for a different presentation. It makes it very hard to convert complex documents when you can't even tell which line of text goes with another. (Simple PDF documents that are really just text convert fine and should have been in a better format anyway.)
To display a full size pdf on a small screen with 800x600 resolution, you have to transform the document. You can do that "natively" like the Sony 505 does or you can do it offline like the Kindle does. People with the Sony often complain about how long the documents take to open as they have to be converted to a reflowable format each time. The way it is done with Kindle, you do the reformatting once and get it over with.
We are going to need some further evolution in either ebook readers or PDF documents before we can easily read complex documents on a device as small as the Kindle. You could get an Illiad with a larger screen but then would find it much less mobile.
The big selling point that makes the $359 price tag even out is if you're a student. Undergrad textbooks for 300/400 level classes are going for exactly that, between $300 and $400 each. Factor in that the professors are deliberately changing books every semester to get the most bleeding edge info and that means you can't sell your book at your campus, so DRM on the books is a moot issue. The fact that your book goes in the recycle bin unless you want to keep it for reference makes ebooks better. Buying two college textbooks in Kindle format at an assumed savings of 50%+ off the paper book price and the Kindle pays for itself after one semester if you're a half-time student. There's also the convenience factor of not having to carry around 20lbs of books in a backpack. So you buy the kindle for school and it "pays for itself", then in your spare time you use it for leisure reading. Since I work full time and go to school part time, I'm going to talk to my CPA about deducting the cost of the Kindle from my taxes since I'm deducting the cost of my textbooks now and the initial purchase of the kindle should save the IRS some money since it will allow me to buy less expensive textbooks.
Sorry, but I am disappointed.
My iPhone can do the same things as Kindle, along with the fact that it is synced to the world's popular music and APP store, the iTunes store.
Sorry, but I am not interested in Kindle, and I am waiting for Apple to start selling "Advanced Audiobooks", the Audiobooks with also words, so you can follow along with the audio while you read. (which Apple is making, and patenting, should be released this September)
Somehow I knew some apple fanboy would try to claim something better. I expected a mac book pro, though, not the i-phone.
It's nice I supposed, but there's just something about reading from a "real" book... and I can't see any
justification on spending $350+ for this and then spending more for each book... My wife really wants
one, but all I can see that as is the gift that keeps on costing... Jeez, just buy used books off Amazon
for $1 each or go to the library... I'm all for technology, but sometimes it's not always the way to go IMHO...
Thousands and thousands of books out of copyright or distributed for free available for the Kindle, and prices are generally lower than in the bookstore, unless you buy used.
Having my hundreds-of-books library not taking up shelf space in the house is very nice, and having multiple books with me on travel without the bulk is nice. Even if not on travel, just sitting at the coffee shop, if I feel like reading history instead of sci-fi, or the WSJ instead of a mystery, I can, without carrying them all with me.
Being able to search my library for a phrase when I can't remember which book it came from...
Sitting in class in my most recent MS degree program, the professor was talking about a book that, although he didn't require it, he said we should all have it available...by the time he finished talking about it, I had purchased and downloaded it on my Kindle, at much lower price than the university store (or the big brick and mortar stores).
Im all the move from paper to electronic simply cause its save trees. I know its not very high in public priorities but I fell its going forward.
Of course nothing can replace holding a good book but im sure in the future we will see a lots of new devices, more attractive and more efficient.
I was reading this article that mentioned that they were considering designing a Kindle primarily for students/academics.
Does anyone know if this is the same one?
It's in the background section of this article:
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/technology/2009/feb/Amazon-to-Unveil-Kindle-2-0.html
Looks like I'll be selling my Kindle :(
I'll give you 5 bucks if you throw in shipping and few books.
OK - now seriously, how tough would it have been to add 802.11b/g into this thing. I mean seriously, one additional 50 cent component and this thing becomes truly international. Whispernet is great for people who only hang out in the US, but some of us might actually like to read books while we travel (duh?).
How about engadget making a side by side comparison between the big ebooks readers?
I really want to know which one to buy... the Sony prs-505?
All UR Base...
The PR shot of the guy holding it nicely demonstrates they should offer it in a darker version too, white just doesn't always work.
I love eBooks, and I'm glad that Amazon's position as a major entity is calling attention to eBooks. However, Amazon's proprietary format is a HUGE problem. I don't want to be locked into buying eBooks from only one source, and I want to be able to read my eBooks wherever I am - including on my desktop at work. I used my sister's Kindle for a few weeks last year, and was unimpressed. There are great alternatives out there - I currently use the Cybook, which is lighter, more attractive, cheaper, and I can buy eBooks from a variety of sources (more about the Cybook). The Kindle, while frequently touted as a "huge leap forward", really exemplifies why so many people are hesitant to try eBooks.
still not impressed. come back at $199 with a bigger screen & better resolution.
I will not buy any e-book related thing until they get rid of all this DRM crap. The way it is now you have to rebuy your entire library every new competing device you buy, and you can't lend your books or even let anyone else read them, like you can with phisical books. For 0 dolars you can get an better product.