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Amazon's Ebook The Future of Reading?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the only-if-it-ever-gets-released dept.

theodp writes "With a seven-page cover story on The Future of Reading, Newsweek confirms all those rumors of Amazon's imminent introduction an affordable ebook. Kindle, which is named to evoke the crackling ignition of knowledge, has the dimensions of a paperback, weighs 10.3 oz., and uses E Ink technology on a 6-inch screen powered by a battery that gets up to 30 hours from a 2-hour charge. Kindle's real breakthrough is its EVDO-like wireless connectivity, which allows it to work anywhere, not just at Wi-Fi hotspots. More than 88,000 titles will be on sale at the Kindle store at launch, with NYT best sellers priced at $9.99."

3 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I wonder by Neeth · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am thirty five years old. The thing is, once you start reading you forget that you are reading from an electronic device. The important thing is that modern ebooks use the electronic paper technology, so it is not back lit. You have to use normal light to be able to read your ebook. But what a joy it is to be actually able to read in broad daylight!

    --
    Yes, I am the one with the legendary sig.
  2. Ebook Copyrights by Danathar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The ONE reason I don't buy ebooks anymore is due to copyrights.

    With a book it's quite LEGAL for me to loan what I've purchased to somebody else. With most ebooks I can't. They usually are locked up with DRM as well. The publishers want to treat ebooks like traditional software (in regards to copyright). You can't just check out an ebook at the library free of charge (usually) and you can bet the publishers would like it to stay that way as they generally hate libraries.

    The liberal copyright restrictions on books when it comes to loaning them to somebody else is very important.

  3. Surely by goldcd · · Score: 3, Interesting

    they should just hand Kindles out to people on planes.
    Something new and fun to play with. Get to use it for a few hours to see if you like it - and offering a plane trip with an onboard library of a few hundred thousand books deinitely ranks above half a dozen crappy blockbusters.
    More importantly, you can seed the market by letting travellers pay to walk off the plane with their new Kindle and their half-read book.
    (Jeff, you owe me if you run with this)