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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.

6 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. "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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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
  4. 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