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Amazon Kindle Endorsed By Oprah

Posted by kdawson on from the you-could-pay-to-read-slashdot dept.

Oprah Winfrey enthused about the Amazon Kindle on her show today — it's her "new favorite thing" — and had Jeff Bezos on to announce a $50-off offer good till Nov. 1. A plug on Oprah is ordinarily a sign that a product has crossed over into the mainstream. But her show's audience has been slipping lately, and it's unclear how many cash-strapped citizens will be willing to part with $309 (after the special offer) for a new techno-gadget, for which they then have to shell out more money for DRM-encrusted content.

14 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Re:"DRM-encrusted content" is optional by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Isn't the point of a PDF that the font is embedded (at least if it's done properly)?

  2. "I have no stake in the Kindle," she said. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bit of a disingenuous statement to make when you have a book club.

  3. How do they do it? by Yiliar · · Score: 5, Insightful
    How does Amazon get their music distribution so right (DRM free, good tools), and their ebook distribution so wrong (DRM laden, attempts to lock ebook sales to kindle)?

    One can only scratch their heads!

    I will continue to use my N810 for ebook reading, and BAEN BOOKS and others for ebooks with no DRM at reasonable prices.

    1. Re:How do they do it? by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How does Amazon get their music distribution so right (DRM free, good tools), and their ebook distribution so wrong (DRM laden, attempts to lock ebook sales to kindle)?
      One can only scratch their heads!

      I will continue to use my N810 for ebook reading, and BAEN BOOKS and others for ebooks with no DRM at reasonable prices.

      Easy, actually.

      Amazon has to sell books. Publishers won't give them books to sell on Kindle unless it's got DRM.

      Let's translate this to the Amazon MP3 store... Amazon goes to labels asking for music, but mentioning it's DRM free. Labels thing it over, realizing the following:
      1) #1 portable music player is an iPod
      2) iTunes Store provides DRM'd music for an iPod
      3) Windows Media DRM does not work on an iPod
      4) Other music stores are limited to the population who doesn't have an iPod
      5) Apple holds all the keys to the iTunes Store.
      6) Apple holds the key to selling DRM'd music for the #1 portable player.
      7) Apple is near the top in music sellers
      8) Apple demands far too much - music at 99 cents, rather than "flexible pricing", other contract terms. (Apple insists on one contract for all labels)
      9) Lack of competition for music sales on iPods means labels either go without selling music on the #1 player, or agree to Apple's draconian contract terms.

      Thus, their only options is to sell Windows Media DRM on the remaining market, or see that Amazon potentially has the size and power to break the grasp that Apple has on music sales for iPods. No other company is large enough nor powerful enough to do this, except Amazon.

      So labels acquiesce to Amazon's DRM free scheme, hoping people will flock from iTunes to Amazon to buy their music. Once this happens, the labels can dictate their terms to Amazon and Apple, not Apple dictating their terms to the labels. If one doesn't want to play ball, sell on the other store (e.g., if Jobs insists on not having flexible pricing, well, walk away, and sell to Amazon since it also works on iPods). Let the stores battle it out in attracting labels.

      The iTunes store has too much power over the labels, and the labels hate when they don't have control. Amazon is the only company large enough to take on Apple, and the only way to do that is get music onto iPods via DRM-free MP3s. It's one of the reasons why the iTunes Store experiment started with "limited Mac market" as a feature!

      There's no equivalent in the book market where the publishers are being squeezed by a book seller, so publishers get to dictate terms.

      The only way the music market can continue to be as good as it is now is if both Apple and Amazon end up powerful enough to force the labels. Else we'll start to see DRM'd music in the Amazon store, and whatever else the labels want (demand-based pricing, etc) on both stores.

    2. Re:How do they do it? by BLKMGK · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I disagree. I do not think they are making much money on the Kindle itself - however I am betting they are making a pretty good penny on the distribution of eBooks. The eBook distribution costs them VERY little even when you factor in the cell data costs - the data transfer for a purchase is minimal! Even if they only make a few bucks per book purchase and lose a little on the reader - possible - they are making a good bit of cash.

      Most folks aren't going to goto the trouble of finding alternate sources of books and converting them (I've done maybe 5) but will purchase many from Amazon, especially with their EASY method of purchase and distribution. I've bought at least 15 books from them for mine and see no end in sight.

      Certainly if someone wants to compete with Amazon for this market they can but they will have to make it cheap enough that folks won't mind having to use USB to transfer the books or Amazon's PDF service. Right now, for books, Amazon is kicking butt - I but music from them too actually. With music I might want it on more than one device but eBooks? I only have the one Kindle right now....

      --
      Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
  4. Apple iPhone Endorsed By Oprah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    How this would have been written if it were about the iPhone:

    Oprah Winfrey enthused about the iPhone on her show today â" it's her "new favorite thing" â" and had Steve Jobs on to announce a $50-off offer good till Nov. 1. A plug on Oprah is a sure sign that a product has crossed over into becoming the greatest thing ever made. Her show's audience has been brilliant lately, and it's clear that even cash-strapped citizens will be willing to part with $399 (after the special offer) for a new techno-gadget, for which they then have to shell out more money for DRM-encrusted content.

  5. Tagged: So what? by Starteck81 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To those who tagged this "so what?" I would like to pose a question in response. Have you seen what happens to products that get endorsed by Oprah?!?!

    They become over night best sellers, most of the time. She has a cult like following that will buy up most anything she recommends. This is why it's interesting. We will now see if something that has failed to take off for quite a number of years will now do so, just because a pop icon gave it the thumbs up.

    --
    "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed H
    1. Re:Tagged: So what? by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To those who tagged this "so what?" I would like to pose a question in response. Have you seen what happens to products that get endorsed by Oprah?!?!

      It's things like this that make me wonder how the tagging system works. I see some tags that would get an Overrated mod if they'd been submitted as a post.

      --
      Drill baby drill - on Mars
  6. I want to know if Oprah warned the audience... by MattW · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Did Oprah warn her faithful viewers that if Amazon ever abandons the kindle or the content, that there's a good chance all their "book collection" will be gone forever?

    I still have books I bought 20 years ago. Who could possibly be confident your kindle and all those books would be working 20 years from now when DRM schemes are dropping like flies. Can you imagine what's going to happen when studios stop wanting to produce the "old" DVDs?

    1. Re:I want to know if Oprah warned the audience... by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Since it can be used to read non DRM'es stuff, what's the point?

      At least you can back it up offsite. What happens to your books if your house burns down?

      Gee, it's like everything has a disadvantage of some kind~

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  7. Re:"DRM-encrusted content" is optional by Threni · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I nearly got a Kindle - then I noticed it wasn't out in the UK, and you had to fuck about with emails or something to put books on it. Then I checked out the Sony one, but it's a complete pile or slow, flickery toss. Finally, I discovered that for £250 - just £50 more than the black and white Sony shite I could get a 1gig netbook with a 120 gig drive and stick Ubuntu on it (it came with some bollocks retro crippled fedora distro or other) and I've not looked back. The Acer Aspire One is not much larger than the ebook readers but not only does ebook reading better (zoom in/out easily, colour screen, multiple formats, displays any language fonts etc) but anything else a modern PC does. These book readers are not going to take off at their current price, what with the competition and the credit crunch etc.

  8. Re:"DRM-encrusted content" is optional by mikesd81 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Don't the netbook and the kindle try to reach to 2 different markets? A kindle is great for traveling and reading on the bus or plane or train or whatever and small to use to keep a reference book open when working on something in the field or whatever. The netbook is still a laptop, still much more bulky than the kindle, and can't be used or traveled with the same ease.

    --
    That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
  9. Kindle = Cool? by DesScorp · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm as much of a gadget freak as anyone, but I'm old school about books. I like the tactile pleasure of actually having pages in my hand. I spend enough damned time on electronic screens during the day. I want to relax when I read a book. I couldn't stand to read anything but short texts on an electronic device. Give me a musty old library or a book store any day.

    --
    Life is hard, and the world is cruel
  10. What would Gutenberg say? by ErrolU · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As an editor and writer who saw his first published story set in hot metal, I marvel at Amazon's Kindle reader and its role in the future of the "printed" word.

    I'm thrilled to see Oprah endorse Kindle!

    No traditional book can offer the interactive platform I've created for the Kindle edition of my novel Brazil or open the door to actively sharing the magic that goes into the making of a monumental novel.

    I've linked the e-text to an online guide with 200 images and illustrations, providing an indispensable companion on a fictional journey through five hundred years of Brazilian history. Plus my working notes and the journal kept on a 20,000-kilometer trek across that vast country.

    You can see the guide at my website: http://www.erroluys.com/

    Were Gutenberg here to see the Kindle, he would have one word to say: "Bravo!"