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Amazon Expands Kindle To the PC

Posted by timothy on from the begun-this-price-war-has dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Windows users will be able to use a new Kindle Books application to purchase, download and read e-book titles from Amazon's Kindle Store service. The PC application will be offered as a free download and will support Windows 7, Vista and XP systems. The news comes as Amazon is suddenly finding itself with a fresh crop of competitors in the e-book reader market. Earlier this week hardware vendor Spring Design entered the market with its Alex device, while publisher/retailer Barnes and Noble presented an even more serious challenge to Kindle when it unveiled its Nook reader device." Worth noting, if you're in the market for any such device: the base Kindle's price is now down to $259.

4 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'll take the B&N Android reader instead by MrBigInThePants · · Score: 3, Informative

    I totally agree. I don't know what the love affair with amazon is (well, maybe advertising revenue) but I would suggest that they have shown on several counts that their reader is a BIG risk and that other readers are far better. Triply so if you do not live in the US.

    1984 being recalled?
    DRM?
    Not supporting other ebook types so you can purchase where you want?
    Charging a 40% premium in the UK?

    Yeah. You can keep your reader amazon, I am just not that stupid. Even Sony is coming to the table with something better and they INVENTED this game. :)

  2. Re:And the race begins by AeneaTech · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ehh, the Kindle's AZW format is a modified Mobipocket format of which the DRM can be removed by easier methods than you describe! I even have bought Kindle ebooks without owning a Kindle and read them on my iLiad with the DRM removed ofcourse :D

    Do a google search for: mobipocket decoder

    So, the major geek cred must go to the person who wrote that I suppose ;)

  3. They're working on a Mac OS X version by donutello · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to an Amazon spokesperson.

    --
    Mmmm.. Donuts
  4. Re:I'll take the B&N Android reader instead by boilednut · · Score: 3, Informative
    Below are some pros/cons of Nook relative to Kindle.
    Note: I am a very pleased Kindle owner, and I make no pretense of being completely unbiased.

    Pros
    • Android OS.
    • Color Touch Display.
    • Native support for more eBook formats -- including PDF.
    • LendMe feature.
    • Wi-Fi support.
    • Memory expansion to 16GB with MicroSD card.

    Caveats: The LendMe feature will only allow a book to be lent one time only -- for at most two weeks; and, according to some souces (http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/barnes-noble-nook/4505-3508_7-33786175.html), the Wi-Fi connection will only be enabled at the Barnes & Nobles stores.

    Cons

    • No Text-to-Speech feature.
    • No web browser.
    • Substantially reduced battery life.