Amazon Kindle for PC available 'soonish'
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Oct 22nd 2009 7:39PM
posted Oct 22nd 2009 7:39PM
No, Amazon wasn't kidding when it said it would be moving the Kindle onto devices besides, well, the Kindle. Sure, the iPhone was a no-brainer (never mind the eye strain) but guess who's next? That's right -- your ever lovin' PC will be getting its own free reader app. How soon? You'll have to hit the read link and sign up as a beta tester to find out. Are you prepared to sync your digital e-book purchases to yet another device? View notes and highlights marked on your Kindle and Kindle DX? Zoom and pinch text and turn pages with the swipe of your finger (granted you are a Windows 7 touchscreen user)? Sure you are. Are you ready to skip the Kindle altogether and simply buy books on your lappie? Well, we're guessing that Amazon isn't too worried about that eventuality. That reminds us, we've been meaning to pick up a copy of Knife Music. We'll tell you if it lives up to the hype.
[Via CNET]
[Via CNET]
so the book deleter's want access to my PC now? sorry.
LOL, judging by your writing, you weren't their target customer anyway. :P
So...official Kindle emulator?
cool/finally,
I use my Kindle for a lot of school work and it will be one less gadget that I have to haul to class, just to have reference materials available.
This works for me, even at work I could grab a few minutes of Dan Brown et al here and there without being obvious about it.
Funny how everybody shited on Ballmer for saying this two weeks ago: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE5974OZ20091008
Those aren't the same thing at all. If the PC were the best Amazon would have released a PC reader first and never bothered with the Kindle.
makes sense for students who can simply carry a digital copy of their text books, but I still have trouble reading long documents on a screen ...
Excellent! A new closed DRM-based eBook format! I think I'll stick with pdf.
What's the different between a kindle book and an ebook book?
You can only read a Kindle book on a Kindle, or approved device.
I'm wondering that as well. I never understood the Kindle. I've been reading e-books on my Windows Mobile phone for the past five years. I don't see why people buy a massive dedicated reader when they can use the device that's always in their pocket already.
Hopefully there will be an Android version soon... and maybe Maemo and Ubuntu as well.
Great to see that all the limitations Amazon put in place on Kindle and its DRM books have nothing to do with real software/hardware/legal limitations and were just made up (at the expense of consumers). All you have to do is wait for other devices to start offering functionality like this and then all of sudden the impossible becomes possible.
What limitations? You've always been able to view Kindle books on up to 6 devices at a time and they've had a Kindle reader app for iPhone for months.
Amazon is about selling books and ebooks. The Kindle is just one way that Amazon intends those books to be consumed. Obviously they have been working on apps for a while now if they are prepared to release this soon.
So with this you could grab a cheapo tablet PC from Ebay and roll your own Kindle (minus the battery life and GSM)
Also minus the daylight readability, near 180° viewing angle, and, for some people at least, ease on the eyes.
On the plus side it could read Kindle books along with practically every other ebook format in existence.
What? No Mac love from Amazon? Boo.
@Tagbert
My bad, forgot how useful that is for people who own 6 Kindles (or iPhones).
Or you could get the Nook where you can loan an ebook once for up to 14 days. I guess after that, its used up.
It is very useful for my Kindle 2, my wife's Kindle, my father's Kindle, and all our iPhones.
BlackBerry love, please!
I have a blackberry!
Well the iphone reader is very good I have to say, thought I would not use it, but I do. So when barnes and noble announced their ebook reader and I saw they would do 14 day lending, I thought why not try it.
Well it's not nearly as convenient! For each book you get from BN you have to unlock it on the iphone by entering your entire credit card number. What a pain, and the book was free anyway.
So I must hand it to amazon and probably using the pc reader will be quite good. I do still hate the ebook pricing for what you get (same price as paperback, can't give the book to someone else like a physical). But it looks like bn will finally push some competition now.
Well, I, for one, am happy. I'll be able to read my kindle library in the dark while my wife's sleeping.
As to the pricing, it's all up to the publishers. The $10 for a new (hardcover) book and $6 for an older (paperback) title pricing would make a nice standard... but some publishers feel the need to try and squeeze out a few extra bucks. In any case, it's all better than the pre-Kindle e-book pricing, where pretty much every title cost more than a hardback copy.
I'm still confused as to why publishers think the Kindle robot voice reader has to be disabled on their titles... do they think audiobook sales will be affected?
Amazon is shooting itself in the foot by not forcing people to go buy a Kindle.
I don't think so. True, they make money with every Kindle sold. However, the Kindle is a means to an end-- to sell books. This isn't too far off from Apple with the iPod. Sure they love selling hardware, but they're also selling songs, apps, etc. While Apple makes an incredibly small percentage off every song sold, they make it up with volume.
I'm betting the Amazon percentage per book is much greater than songs for Apple.
Video of the app at windows 7 launch:
http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/0cb5c40c-8ed9-433e-876c-56f110304506?vp_evt=eref&vp_video=Kindle%20for%20PC%20Demo%20on%20Windows%207
too little too late, step your game up amazon!
So will this be something that EXACTLY duplicates the functionality of a PDF reader? No, thanks.
But, can you use the Kindle's 'basic web' feature to download this software and use it on a Kindle?
What the hell point would there be in that?
It is very useful for my Kindle 2, my wife's Kindle, my father's Kindle, and all our iPhones.
Now I can look like I'm working while I'm actually finishing the book I started at home on my Kindle!
Good idea. Sign me up!