Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

A few really good posts recently so thought it was time for some kindle link love -

1. J. A. Konrath weighs in on whether ebooks should be cheap with a few real gems -
   

   What we actually have isn’t a situation where ebooks cost as much as print books. It’s a situation where publishers must charge the same for ebooks as they do with print books if they want to keep their infrastructures intact.

   The rules of supply and demand don’t work in a digital world, because the supply is unlimited. You don’t fight piracy with weapons. You fight piracy with cost and convenience.

   I offered my ebooks on Scribd 15 days ago, at the same price they are available for on Kindle, less than $2 each.
   In 15 days, I’ve sold zero books. Compare this to over a hundred books a day I sell on Amazon.
   Scribd is not the future of epublishing.

2. Time Magazine talks about Librarians Vs Google. A good thing that more and more people are realizing that giving the rights for all orphan works to one company is not a good idea - 
   

   The library community recalls with horror the pricing fiasco that occurred when industry consolidation left academic journals largely in the hands of five publishing companies. The firms hiked subscription prices 227% over a 14-year period, between 1986 and 2002, forcing cash-strapped libraries to drop many subscriptions, according to Van Orsdel. “The chance of the price being driven up in a similar way (in the Google deal) is really very real,” she says.

3. RAND Publishing commits to lower priced $9.95 ebooks.  “Our costs are lower and we want to pass on the savings” – Wow! Guess that means publishers claiming savings of only 10% are either incompetent or want us to pay for overhead of physical books.
4. Tor, building on the success of selling their own books online, has started the Tor Store that features books from various publishers. There are mostly paperbacks and hardcovers -
   

   Tor now has a Store

5. Joe Wikert points out that Amazon isn’t really using the Kindle’s ‘sophisticated computer’ and ’3G wireless radio’ as well as they could. A bit harsh? Not really. A ’sophisticated computer’ ought to support folders, shouldn’t it?
6. The Detroit Free Press newspaper and Foreign Affairs magazine are now available in the Kindle Store.
7. Teleread point you to a $179 JetBook ECTACTO reader at NewEgg.
8. Finally, Jan at Kindle Reader lists some new historical novels for the kindle.

Thoughts on J. A. Konrath’s Article

Actually disagree with him that the Kindle and Kindle Edition books are too expensive. He can point to Betamax all he likes. Apple is a much better example and it clearly shows that one company making things easy for customers can take over a market.

Amazon has done a few BIG things –  

1. WhisperNet and the 60 second downloads. 
2. A non-subscription model. This is good for customers even though they don’t get it.
3. The $9.99 price point. Amazon are taking a loss on kindle edition books to ensure this. 
4. Created a market for ereaders and ebooks exists.

This is the first time we’ve ever had ebooks become a real, tangible thing. We’re on the verge of success and the last thing to do would be to turn against the only company that has shown the resolve to get it done.

Google are going to sell books at publisher prices. As are all the other initiatives including sites like Scribd.

You have to give credit where credit is due – Amazon have single handedly created the current status quo. Its about time we picked one company and let it win the war against the current dysfunctional publishing landscape.

Amazon needs just two things to finish things off -

1. Support from us i.e. current and future kindle owners.
2. The maturing of ePaper technology.

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