Please note that these are workarounds that reduce the frequency, not remove the problem. The real solution is for Amazon to release an update that fixes the underlying issue - which Amazon seems to be in the process of doing.

Should you return your Kindle 3?

No, all signs point to a software issue that’s fixable and Amazon is already working on a fix and testing it. Two users left comments that they have the new firmware for testing, one left a photo showing the new firmware version, and another user was told by Amazon customer service that a fix would be out in 10 days.

Additionally, Amazon is offering a free replacement Kindle 3 if you’re running into freezing issues.

If you’re thinking about getting the Kindle 3 please note that this Kindle 3 freezing issue isn’t happening for everyone - From the responses on the Kindle forum it seems that there are more Kindle 3 owners not experiencing the Kindle 3 freezing issue than there are Kindle 3 owners experiencing it.

Keep in mind Mike deMaria’s advice -

To those of you who are second guessing your purchase/being sad/etc –> DON’T BE (smile) All that is most likely wrong is a bug that can be found and fixed without you doing much – other than connecting to Whispernet Via 3G or WiFi when the fix is released.

Should it have been caught before shipment? Maybe. But I do know from all my experience on the other side of things (being the programmer), sometimes bugs like these escape even the best testing. It happens.

A fix should be out soon and even in the rare case it’s an unfixable problem you can get a free replacement Kindle 3.

Possible firmware upgrade on the way to fix Kindle 3 Freezing Issues

Here’s a comment from BobLenx -

Hey gang, I got an email back from Amazon support today – good news I think. The email was as follows:

“I have heard back from the development team on our issue. It appears this problem will be addressed in an upcoming software update for the Kindle which will be sent wirelessly to you in approximately ten days or so.

In the meantime for a temporary fix you can slide the power button to the right for about 15 seconds to reset the Kindle.”

That would certainly be a good thing. Hopefully, that’s a reliable customer service representative.

K. Scarpelli even wrote to say the new firmware is being testing on his Kindle -

Good news people. I just received a call from tech support about a half hour ago and they pushed the new firmware to my Kindle. I’m running 3.0.1 (525120101).

That’s really good news. He’s even put up a picture and it clearly shows he has a different firmware version. Another user, CLS10, also got the new firmware.

In the meantime let’s figure out how to minimize Kindle 3 freezing.

What seems to work best to minimize Kindle 3 Freezing?

Here’s a rough list of things that seem to decrease the probability of restarts and freezing -

1. A hard reset (hold down power button for 15 to 20 seconds) seems to often fix the issue. The reset via the settings page isn’t effective – you have to use the power switch reset.
2. Let Kindle 3 charge for 3 to 6 hours before using it.  
3. Don’t download hundreds of books at the same time.  
4. If you’ve just downloaded books and they’re indexing (Kindle is preparing them for searches) don’t do lots of intensive things. If possible even hold off for a few hours and let Kindle index. Do a search for ‘xqwe’ and it’ll show a list of books (if any) that haven’t been indexed – Wait for that list to go to zero.
5. Don’t visit lots of complex websites one after the other. The web browser seems to be causing a lot of crashes so if you can avoid it that’d be best.
6. Don’t load up lots of PDFs from strange places. If you’re having problems with PDFs delete a few of them and then try reading the remaining PDFs.
7. Don’t add tons and tons of highlights quickly.
8. WiFi might play a part so if you have the option of either work with 3G. Using 3G solved the freezing issue for some Kindle 3 owners.
9. Importing Collections is causing a problem often enough that it might not be a bad idea to hold off on it for a bit.

Some users are taking up Amazon Customer Service’s offer of a replacement Kindle. Will update this post if they report back that the replacement fixes the issues – since lots of people aren’t seeing the freezing there’s a high chance the replacement Kindle 3 will be free of the freezing issue.

Kindle 3 Freezing – Possible Causes

Let’s look at the various situations which seem to cause freezing or reboots. We’ll also look at what people found worked. Most of these are from the official kindle forum.

Freezing right in the beginning -

• It’s recommended to let your Kindle 3 charge for 3 hours before using it. There are claims that if you don’t do this it’s likely to cause more crashing – No idea whether these claims are valid but it certainly doesn’t hurt to let Kindle 3 charge fully.

Freezing and Restarts when Indexing a large number of books -

• For some people the problems occur only when they are downloading/adding a lot of books at once. This suggests it might be an indexing issue.
• The solution here is to not load up lots and lots of books at once.

Freezing and restarts when doing things very quickly one after the other -

1. If you go into the photo viewer and do lots of changes at the same time sometimes the Kindle 3 freezes.
2. The solution for this would be to not change settings multiple times in rapid succession.

For some people Every Word is causing problems – Well, Kindle Apps do freeze up on Kindle 3 and didn’t on Kindle 2. Kindle Apps presumably take up a lot of memory and processing power so if the crashing is related to processor overload or Kindle running out of free memory it would make sense that games crash more often.

Freezing and restarting due to WiFi -

1. Quite a few people have had freezing when they were using WiFi. 
2. A few people have had freezing disappear when they stopped using WiFi. It probably means the WiFi feature’s code is doing whatever causes the freezing more often than other features’ code.  

It seems more and more likely that there’s a single bug underlying all these freezing problems.

A common thread of a Memory Leak or a Processor Overload

If you look at all the things that might be causing freezing and restarts it seems that whenever you do memory intensive or processor intensive tasks on the Kindle 3 it crashes or freezes. We get errors more frequently when -

1. Indexing lots of books.
2. Doing lots of changes one after the other.
3. Loading complex websites in a row.
4. Loading lots of PDFs.
5. Highlighting frequently.

It definitely suggests that either there is a memory leak or the processor is getting overloaded and is unable to cope.

Here’s a comment from Mike that suggests the same thing -

Being the good programmer that I am, to me it appears we are all having a memory leak issue.

The other day I could see things getting slower and slower until finally the K3 locked up and needed a hard reset. It would also explain the random reboots if something is eating program space.

A memory leak would make the most sense as it would be something that just gradually builds up and then suddenly when you do something that needs additional memory - it causes a crash. A problem related to a memory leak would also be be triggered more frequently when doing memory intensive tasks like web browsing or loading PDFs – which is exactly what we’re seeing.

the PDF restart issue 

There’s a particular, rare bug that causes a Kindle 3 restart every single time you open a PDF. There are two things found to work for this -

1. This is sometimes fixed by a hard reset of the Kindle. Slide and hold the power switch for 15 seconds.
2. Another solution is to delete a few of the PDFs you have. This suggests certain PDFs might be causing an issue or that PDFs aren’t cleared out from the memory properly until they are deleted. If PDFs aren’t properly removed from memory it would make sense that all PDFs cause a restart - PDFs and the PDF reader probably need a lot of memory and the PDFs left behind in memory would reduce available memory and the PDF reader wouldn’t have enough memory to load.

This will probably also be fixed by the new firmware. It’s good to know there’s a possible Kindle 3 freezing fix being tested and everyone will soon get back to enjoying the Kindle 3.

1. Cybil Disobedience by Cybil Shepherd and Aimee Lee Ball. 
   

   ‘How I survived beauty pageants, Elvis, sex, Bruce Willis, lies, marriage, motherhood, Hollywood, and the irrepressible urge to say what you think.’

   From wholesome beauty queen to saucy cover girl, from heartbreaking movie star (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, TAXI DRIVER) to one of television’s most loved comediennes (MOONLIGHTING, CYBILL), Cybill Shepherd is renowned as sassy, shocking and sexy. In CYBILL DISOBEDIENCE, she opens her heart with the wit and honesty of a star who’s seen and knows it all.  

Then we have two $1 Kindle book deals -

1. A Woman named Smith by Marie Conway Oemler. Rated 5 stars on 4 reviews and just $1.
   

   Sophronisba Smith, known as Sophy, inherits a large mansion, Hynds House, from her great-aunt-by-marriage, Sophronisba Scarlett. She and her closest friend, Alicia Gaines, decide to move into the house.

   The house, they learn from the servants, who rejoice in the names Mary Magdalen and Queen of Sheeba, has a reputation for being haunted by an ancestor of the great-aunt who disappeared in mysterious circumstances. And, there is rumour of the family fortune being hidden somewhere within the house.

2. Texas Tangle by Leah Braemel is rated 4 stars on 3 reviews and priced at $1.
   

   Thanks to her cheating ex-husband and her thieving brother, all horse breeder Nikki Kimball has left is a bruised heart, an overdrawn bank account and an empty home. When sex-on-legs Dillon Barnett and his brooding foster-brother Brett Anderson start showing more than just neighborly attention, Nikki is intrigued…and a little gun-shy.

   Dillon and Brett have a history; back in high school, the two friends fought a bitter battle over Nikki.  

Next, we have a few good indie books –  

1. Reunion by J. L. Penn is not $1 (it’s $3) but it’s very well rated with 4.5 stars on 32 reviews.
   

   Meet Jessica Stratford, a level-headed girl next door with an enviable life of professional and marital success … well, except for that one little uncharacteristically impetuous detail that changes everything. When a friend talks Jessica into finally embracing the digital age, Jessica’s life slowly turns upside down.

   You see, Jessica finds her old high school crush on Facebook. In fact, she finds him quite attractive even after twenty years. A simple hello seems harmless enough until he suggests that they meet for lunch. Of course, lunch is … just lunch. Then harmless lunch becomes harmless text messages, late night chats, and dinners.

2. IVRRAC by Peter Robert Jordan sounds really interesting. It’s $2.99.
   

   Simon, a convicted serial killer of the rich, undergoes treatment at a fledgling private criminal rehabilitation firm, IVRRAC. Simon is then sent to the alpine village of Trentsworth, a town full of rich socialite women, to ascertain whether he is cured of his murderous impulses or not.

   “One mistake, one tiny error in that psych report, the treatment won’t hold and that will spell disaster. Suicide, massacre or most likely both! I’ll stay with him and watch events carefully, but I won’t be held responsible.” – Alistair Wall

3. Finding Margo by Susanne O’Leary is rated 5 stars on 7 reviews. It’s also $2.99.
   

   When Margo misreads the map while travelling through France, her husband Alan flies into a rage. Tired of his constant bad moods, Margo walks out on him in the middle of the motorway, into the French contryside. She hitches a lift with a woman truck driver and what follow are adventures and romance far beyond her wildest dreams.. Will Alan find her before she finds herself?

Finally, we get some free books from outside the Kindle Store -

1. Manual of Style from the University of Chicago. It’s only readable in Adobe Digital Editions or using an app that allows DRMed ePub.
   

   The Chicago Manual of Style has evolved to become the definitive reference work for writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers.

2. Harper Collins has The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett and United States of Americana by Kurt B. Reighley available to read online for free. Click on the ‘Full Access’ tab to get to the books.
3. Suvudu Free Library has two free short stories - The Literomancer by Ken Liu and The Precedent by Sean McMullen.

The ‘Free Bestsellers List to Paid Bestsellers List’ Trick

Once a book goes from free to paid it automatically gets a slot in the Top 100 Paid Bestsellers list. 

It seems that when a free offer ends Amazon takes some of the ‘purchases’ made when the book was free and uses those to assign the book a spot in the top 10-20 spots on the Paid Bestsellers list.

This becomes especially interesting when you see a book be offered free for a few days, then become paid, and magically show up at #15 in the paid bestsellers list. It gets a ton of free publicity and more sales as a result. So, in addition to the free marketing due to it being a free offer, it gets the added bonus of being a pretend Paid Bestseller.

Perhaps Amazon shouldn’t be counting free downloads of a book when compiling the paid bestsellers list.

First, let’s jump into what we mean by middle-men and how they’re different from enablers.

Enablers vs Middle-men (aka Stealers)

Let’s start with a rather simplistic model -

1. Author. 
2. Enablers or Middle-men. 
3. Reader.

Anything that comes between the author and reader is an enabler if it provides a valuable service for a reasonable or low price. It’s a middle-man if it provides a service but overcharges or if it creates the illusion that a service it provides is necessary and inserts it in between the author and the reader.

Here are a few examples -

1. Publisher asking for 20% to 25% – Enabler.
2. Publisher giving 25% – Middle-man/Stealer.
3. Platform asking for 10% to 30% – Enabler.
4. Platform asking for 50% – Stealer/middle-man.
5. Agent asking for 10% to 15% and handling ebooks – Enabler.

Any company that is an enabler is tempted to become a stealer. The more its power, the less the competition, the more naive the customers (readers and authors) – the higher the temptation for an enabler to paint itself as an ‘infinitely valuable’ middle-man that is more important than readers and more important than authors.

Scribd’s latest move shows it’s got a middle-man mentality

Initially Scribd was trying to make money by showing ads next to free documents. This is a bit of a middle-man thing to do – what differentiates it as a middle-man strategy is that the people creating and putting up documents weren’t getting any share of the money.

The argument/justification was that it was paying for server costs. That’s a nonsense argument since the company exists to make profit and trying to pretend it’s ‘just covering the costs’ and not trying to make money from other people’s free documents is hypocrisy. It’s fine to make money as long as the enabler/middle-man makes sure authors make money too - It shouldn’t try to steal their work under the guise of giving them publicity or covering server costs.

Now, Scribd has gone even further into middle-man/stealer territory by asking readers to start a paid subscription to download free documents - a paid subscription whose proceeds are not shared with the authors and other people who have put up their documents.

At Teleread Paul Biba covers author Lynn Viehl’s unmasking of this rather creepy move -

It’s been brought to my attention that Scribd.com has begun charging people to download my free e-books hosted on their site.

To get around my copyright and the free distribution notice I’ve placed in each e-book, they are using an archive subscription scam to make their money (this also neatly avoids them having to pay me any royalties on the profits they make).

Evidently all the money they’ve been raking in from the Google ads they’ve posted on my e-book pages hasn’t been enough for them.

Sites like Hacker News have also discussed this and a lot of people think it’s a rather scammy move.

There’s an opt-out – However, it’s rather wrong to claim that an opt-out is enough. If the default behavior is to enroll authors’ documents into the subscription service and not pay authors anything then it’s stealing.

Hiding behind ‘it covers server costs’ or ‘there’s an opt out’ is weak. This is so bad and dishonest that won’t compare it with anything Publishers do – Publishers are only guilty of over-charging plus they share book revenue with authors. Scribd’s move is a revoltingly scummy move – authors get zero percent of the money they help generate.

This is the perfect example of how middle-men will try to steal from Authors and Readers

Scribd is doing us all a service by using such a weak argument and being so bad at being evil. If a company were very efficient they would make enough money from ads against free books, not pay authors whose books were generating the money, and enjoy the profits.

Scribd isn’t competent enough so it has to resort to a ‘subscription’ service. It’s also not smart enough to offer authors a small 15% cut by default with the option to opt-out if they don’t like the cut. By not giving authors anything they’re exposing the fact that they’re stealing from authors.

It’s an important lesson for authors – If someone can profit from your work and exploit you they will.

There are always middle-men or people trying to be middle-men

There is a continuum of approaches - Starting from people who will help others selflessly to those who will exploit others heartlessly. We aren’t making any judgements here since they are all strategies – We’re simply pointing out that there will always be people who try to steal value.

Authors and Readers have to be aware that there will always be people like Scribd – that charge readers for stuff that is free under the guise of ‘server costs’ and don’t share the money generated with authors. It’s the latter part that is particularly painful since Scribd is doing nothing except providing hosting for the authors’ work and instead of a 10% or 30% cut it wants to keep all 100%.

Add on the fact that Scribd hosts a lot of pirated books and things look even worse. There, again, they have an ‘opt-out’ of sorts – They’ll remove any pirated works you report but don’t really proactively fight piracy.

It’s up to us to not let middle-men steal from us. They’ll always hide under excuses and try to trick us if we let them.

How can Readers and Authors avoid the middle-men?

We’re at a stage with ebooks where we have three working models -

1. Authors self-publish and get 70% while the platform (also the device creator) gets 30%. 
2. Authors publish via an agent or via a new Publishing upstart and get 55% while platform gets 30% and agent/upstart gets 15%.
3. Authors publish via Publishers and get 25% to 50% while Platform gets 30% and Publishers gets rest.

The first two are ideal models and the third is ideal if Authors get 50%.

• Any model that offers Authors less than 50% is likely to be a scam.
• If a model doesn’t provide the value a platform does (including a device to read on) and still wants 30% then it’s likely to be a scam.
• If a model doesn’t provide the value a platform does and doesn’t help authors like Publishers/Agents do and still wants 50% then it’s likely to be a scam too.

As long as we avoid new middle-men like Scribd that pretend server costs take up 100% (or even 25%) of book revenues we will be fine. We also need to be wary of free models that claim they’ll make enough money from ads to sustain books and authors.

The Myth of Sustainable Free Books supported by Advertising

As readers we’re tempted to believe that we can magically pay nothing, click a few ads once in a while, and get books for free – it’s an illusion. Advertising isn’t enough to sustain books and it’s going to affect authors and books in the long run. That, in turn, will affect us readers.

Scribd has shown that free doesn’t work – It pays nothing for all the documents that are uploaded and it pays nothing to authors. Still it can’t make a profit.

If a company comes in and claims that not only can it make a profit from books it can also pay authors you have to wonder what magical potion it has - How can it generate so much profit when Scribd can’t even be profitable?

If you look under its marketing/PR cover you’ll notice that its model doesn’t guarantee authors anything but guarantees the company itself profits and power. Then you know it’s just our good old middle-man/stealer in a new guise. Publishing is in flux and we have the inefficient Publishers that want 75% of ebook revenue, the efficient Platforms that want 30%, and all the stealers that either want 100% or want a share disproportionate to the value they provide.

How much of a threat to the Kindle 3 are the new Sony Readers? What impact will the $99 Aluratek eReader have on the eReader wars?

Let’s dive into the specifics and see what impact these changes might have on the  eReader Wars.

Kindle 3, eReader Wars – Borders selling $99 eReader

Borders has reduced the prices of two eReaders – Aluratek Libre is now $99 and Kobo eReader is now $129. All the talk of us seeing $99 eReaders by end 2010 seemed presumptuous until a few months ago. Today, we already have $99 eReaders.

The Aluratek Libre at $99 puts some pricing pressure on Kindle WiFi but not much since Aluratek’s eReader isn’t very good. The Kobo at $129 isn’t really a factor since Kindle WiFi is much, much better than the Kobo eReader.

A few months ago the Kobo eReader at $149 was the first eReader from a big/well-funded company to break the $150 price barrier and there was talk of it stealing away market share from the Kindle. It’s a reflection of how quickly things are changing that today, even at $129, it’s an after-thought. The Nook WiFi at $149 and Kindle WiFi at $139 are much better options.

Not having a competitive eReader is the least of Borders’ problems.

A World without Borders?

Borders is really struggling. For Q2, 2010 it had a loss of $46.7 million and NY Times chronicles Borders’ dismal state -

1. In the last  3 years Borders has reduced its store count by almost half. This includes exiting the UK.
2. It raised capital in Q2, 2010 by selling $25 million worth of shares to a cigarette executive who became the largest shareholder. 
3. It sold its Paperchase chain for $31 million.
4. It still has debt of $262.1 million.
5. Sales at Borders stores open at least a year fell 6.8% in Q2, 2010.

Its share price also took a hit – falling 4.5%. Basically, Borders doesn’t look like it’s going to survive – It is hardly in a position to mount a serious threat on the eReader market. With the $149 Kobo Reader and the Aluratek Libre it was trying to corner up the lower end of the market but Kindle WiFi has destroyed that opportunity.

The lower prices of the Kobo and Aluratek eReaders don’t change the fact that they aren’t very good – they couldn’t even compete with Kindle 2. Put them up against the Kindle WiFi and the new Sony Readers and they are terribly inadequate.

Kindle 3, eReader Wars – Sony releases pricier eReaders

Sony seems to have given up on trying to beat the Kindle 3 and seems focused on creating the perfect product for a market that only exists in its imagination. It talks a lot about how it couldn’t afford to put WiFi into its $179 Sony 350 and its $229 Sony 650 without taking a moment to wonder how Amazon and B&N managed to produce WiFi capable eReaders at sub $150 prices.

It’s also got really strange priorities – It seems to be more interested in building a device, selling it, and running away than in earning money from ebook sales. In a sense it’s trying to build TVs and hoping cable companies supply the service and content. The only problem is the cable companies in this market have their own TVs.

The net result is a beautiful eReader (good-looking, good features, touch screen) that doesn’t really have good infrastructure or a good store to back it up. It’s an eReader made by a company that doesn’t really grasp that people are going to read books on the eReader. Sony is trying to provide one part of what the customer is asking for and is hoping the other parts just magically appear.

Is Sony using really smart strategy or deluding itself?

There are three entirely reasonable possibilities -

1. Sony has figured out that it can get a solid #2 or even a #1 spot by selling higher end eReaders with touch screens and selling them all over the world via their retail channels.  
2. Sony has decided it’s just too much work to compete with the Kindle 3 and has given up on the US market.
3. Sony is delusional and it’s convinced itself that the product it has to offer meets the needs of the eReader market perfectly. If you look at Sony 650 and contrast it with Sony 600 the only thing Sony has changed is that the touch screen now doesn’t hurt readability. In almost every other way it’s the same product.

We do have to give credit to Sony for differentiating and managing to release eReaders with touch screens. The lack of WiFi and the high prices are madness - However, the touch screen gives Sony an angle that it might be able to leverage to generate sales despite the high price.  

Kindle 3 to be sold at Staples

Amazon isn’t exactly sitting still and it’s begun to expand the Kindle’s retail presence. Kindle 3 will be sold at Staples stores starting this Fall. Reuters reports on Kindle 3 at Staples -

Staples will start selling the Kindle at its more than 1,500 U.S. stores starting in the autumn, the company said.

It plans to sell the $139 version of the Kindle, the 3G model and the more expensive Kindle DX.

Staples makes a lot of sense as the $139 Kindle WiFi and the $189 Kindle 3 are both good products that meet the needs of businesses looking to cut down on paper and printing costs. Additionally, the prices are low enough to entice some Staples customers into impulse purchases.

5 million Kindles sold?

The Reuters report goes on to talk about Kindle sales estimates -

Forrester Research estimates that Amazon has sold about 5 million Kindles since the product’s launch in 2007, and that Barnes & Noble has sold 1 million Nooks since their introduction last year.

Every day there’s a new Kindle sales estimate – 5 million is one of the higher ones. Keeping Kindle sales figures secret is the gift that keeps giving.

Nook 2 still missing in action

If Nook 2 really is slated to be launched in parallel with B&N’s big in-store push for the Nook (which starts around September 4th/5th) then we might soon find out what B&N has in store for us.

At the moment, Nook 2 is missing and every day readers are picking Kindle 3 and Kindle WiFi over Nook and further increasing Amazon’s lead. It’s hard to understand what’s stopping B&N from announcing Nook 2 and letting readers place preorders.

Google Editions still missing in action

The other mystery is around Google Editions which was supposed to launch in summer 2010. It would make so much sense for Google to team up with one or both of Sony and B&N and with every smaller eReader to take on the Kindle Store.

It already has Android in nearly every non-Kindle eReader and it’s already providing a million public domain books (via Google Books) to nearly every non-Kindle eReader. It might as well add the store. Most eReader makers are desperate and this would be the perfect time to push and promote Google Editions. 

Apple doesn’t announce iPad 2 at today’s Apple Event

There were rumors that an iPad 2 would be announced at today’s Apple iPod event. That didn’t happen and there wasn’t any mention of iPad sales figures either. Perhaps they are being saved for a later conference that would also see the announcement of the iPad 2.

It’s pretty likely that we’ll see the iPad 2 arrive by October/November of 2010. The main question is price - At $350 or higher there is little threat to the Kindle 3 but at $300 or below iPad 2 would start eating up pieces of the eReader market.

There’s still a lot left to be unveiled

Nook 2, iPad 2, and Google Editions are far more important than the over-priced Sony Readers and the irrelevant Aluratek and Kobo eReaders.

Kindle 3 has the eReader market all to itself but that might change any day as Nook 2 is probably going to be released/announced soon. Apple will probably wait till holiday season to make a splash and Google might just be waiting for a certain settlement. Sony has kicked things off and Borders is doing it’s part – However, the real fun has not yet begun.

First, some books for young adults with a Christian theme -

1. Sophie’s World by Nancy Rue. Rated 4.5 stars on 3 reviews. 
   

   Sophie isn’t happy. She’s convinced that her parents, especially her father, don’t love her as much as they love her high-achieving sister; her grades are poor; her classmates think she is weird; and her teachers tell her she daydreams too much (indeed, she does).

   If Jesus could only help her make just one friend . . . Then Fiona, new to the community, arrives on the scene. She is smart and self-assured, but best of all, she shares Sophie’s love of make-believe. Suddenly, Sophie’s life doesn’t seem so bleak.

2. Sophie’s Secret by Nancy Rue. Rated 4.5 stars on 2 reviews.  
   

   Sophie and her friends launch an ‘archaeological expedition’ and make a disturbing discovery. Sophie keeps digging to uncover a shocking family secret. In light of this new revelation, will she ever be able to trust her parents again?

3. Motorcycles, Sushi & One Strange Book by Nancy Rue. Rated 5 stars on 11 reviews. 
   

   Jessie thought her father died before her birth, but after her mother is hospitalized for her bipolar disorder, she realizes that not only is he alive and well but that she is being sent to live with him in Florida.

   As angry as she is to be stripped of her familiar friends and freedoms, Jessie finds safety and structure in Florida, as well as a special book, a contemporary version of the New Testament, that changes her perspective on life.

Next, we get some books for adults –  

1. Catwalk by Melody Carlson. Rated 5 stars on 6 reviews.
   

   Big Apple. Bigger Problems.The success of the Forrester sisters’ On the Runway TV show lands them a hot ticket to Fashion Week in New York City. Paige is determined to garner the attention of New York’s top designers, but her newfound fame threatens to go to her head. Erin wants to help promote the work of some eco-minded designers, but struggles to be taken seriously.

2. Hostile Intent by Michael Walsh. This was free about a year ago and it’s free again today.
   

   Code named Devlin, he exists in the blackest shadows of the United States government–operating off the grid as the NSA’s top agent. He’s their most lethal weapon-and their most secret.

   But someone is trying to draw him out into the open by putting America’s citizens in the crosshairs–and they will continue the slaughter until they get what they want.

3. The Pearl at the Gate by Anya Delvay, Anya Richards. Rated 5 stars on 2 reviews.
   

   For her transgression, she will pay-with screams of forbidden pleasure. After a lifetime of hard work, Captain Roake Barbenoir finally has all he has ever wanted. Wealth, social position, and the epitome of an ideal wife, the beautiful and well-born Jenesta.

   Of all his treasures, she is his favorite – a pearl, perfect and pure – and Roake vows never to tarnish her with the dark sexual knowledge he gleaned from a life at sea.

4. The Dangerous Dimension by L. Ron Hubbard. This is a repeat free offer. Rated 4 stars on 4 reviews.
   

   Dr. Henry Mudge undergoes a striking personality change when he discovers a mathematical formula “Equation C” that defines a mysterious negative dimension. He is instantly transported to any location in the solar system by merely thinking of it–even when he doesn’t want to

5. Overcoming Perfectionism: The Key to a Balanced Recovery by Ann W. Smith. Rated 5 stars on 4 reviews.
   

   For nearly 30 years Ann Smith’s clinical focus has been in addictions, family systems and experiential therapy.

   Do you have to be perfect to lead a healthy life? Ann Smith discusses how perfectionism may have benefits but is ultimately an obstacle to quality living as it prevents intimacy and lowers self-esteem. This book offers practical hints to letting go of your superhuman syndrome and being imperfect.

Finally, we have Woot offering a cover with light for the Kindle 2 for just $10. It won’t fit the Kindle 3.

We have now had 27 kindle free books in the first 3 days of this week – It’s marvellous.

Kindle WiFi and Sony 350 are the entry-level eReaders for Amazon and Sony and it’s interesting to see Sony price the Sony 350 at $179 which is $40 more than the $139 Kindle WiFi and just $10 cheaper than the Kindle 3.

Kindle WiFi vs Sony 350 – Areas Sony 350 wins

The Sony 350 gets a lot right and has some solid advantages -

1. Sony 350′s touch screen is a definite advantage. You can’t really argue it’s a super important feature since page turns work fine with buttons but it’s undeniably a cool feature and it makes navigation outside of books easier. It also helps to be able to touch a word for the meaning and to be able to scribble down notes.
2. Sony’s support of ePub, DRMed ePub, and DRMed PDF is pretty important if you’re outside the US or if you want to be able to buy books from other eBook stores (Note: Kindle Store books don’t work on anything other than Kindles and Kindle Apps).
3. Support for DRMed ePub also means Sony 350 supports library books.  
4. Sony 350 weighs just 5.64 ounces (Kindle WiFi weighs 8.5 ounces) and it’s really compact at 5.75″ by 4.12″ by .344″ (Kindle WiFi is 7.5″ x 4.8″ x 0.335″). Please note that part of the difference is because Sony 350 has a 5″ eInk screen while Kindle WiFi has a 6″ screen.
5. There are 10 translation dictionaries.
6. It’s quite pretty and is available in silver and pink. Kindle WiFi is available only in graphite and isn’t quite as striking.

It’s interesting that Sony 350 is missing a few of the Sony 650′s good features - there’s no memory card slot and there don’t seem to be speakers.

Kindle WiFi vs Sony 350 – Areas they tie

Sony 350 and Kindle WiFi are in a tie in numerous areas -

1. They both use eInk Pearl.
2. They both have page turn buttons on both sides.
3. They should have the same readability since the touch Sony 350 uses is infra-red based and no longer a physical layer over the eInk. 
4. They have changeable font sizes.
5. They have in-built dictionaries.

Kindle WiFi and Sony 350 are also both focused on reading and neither is trying to be anything beyond an eReader.

Kindle WiFi vs Sony 350 – Areas Kindle WiFi wins

Kindle WiFi is Kindle 3 with the 3G missing but everything else intact. It has several important advantages over the Sony 350 -

1. It has a 6″ screen which is a more readable size than the Sony 350′s 5″ screen. 
2. It has WiFi. This makes a world of a difference if you have WiFi at home or at the places you work or at your favorite coffee shop.  
3. A $40 price difference. $139 is certainly a more manageable price than $179.  
4. It’s likely that Kindle WiFi will have better PDF support.
5. Kindle WiFi has 4 GB memory of which 3.4 GB is available while Sony 350 has 2 GB memory of which only 1.4 GB is available.
6. Kindle WiFi has 4 weeks of battery life with wireless off and 3 weeks with WiFi on. Sony 350 has two weeks battery life.
7. Kindle WiFi has Text to Speech and the Voice Guide. It’s accessible to blind and low vision readers.
8. Kindle Store is a better store than Sony Reader Store.
9. Kindle WhisperNet provides a lot of benefits like syncing across devices – If you have access to a WiFi network you get all these benefits.

The gap between Kindle WiFi and Sony 350 is quite a bit more than the gap between Kindle 3 and Sony 650.

How important is touch? Is it as important as WiFi?

While there is little doubt Touch is a useful feature and makes navigation easier there is also a lot of hyperbole around the necessity of the feature. Consider this bit of nonsense from the New York Times -

Many a Kindle screen has been sullied by errant fingers before their frustrated owners realized that readers turn the pages of an e-book using buttons on the side of the device.

What are you talking about?

The Kindle 2 had Previous Page and Next Page printed on the buttons and Kindle 3 has direction arrows. That’s enough for most people to figure out they don’t need to touch the screen. Besides, it’s touching the Sony 350′s touch screen that is going to leave smudges.

The article ends with this little ode to replacing buttons and keyboards -

The next generation of screens might not even need a touch. Instead, they will understand the gestures of people standing in front of them and pick up on eye movement and speech.

“The future’s going to be in fusing together several different natural human behaviors — how people point, gesture and coordinate with each other,”

Well, Amazon already has the patent for a gesture based Kindle.

You could actually argue that WiFi is more important than touch. Touch adds a little bit to usability but you’re mostly reading books and there’s not much difference between pressing page turn buttons and swiping the screen. Being able to scribble notes is useful as is freehand drawing. WiFi on the other hand adds a lot when WiFi is available – store browsing, 60 second downloads, Internet browsing (relatively decent browsing using WiFi), WhisperSync.

At best, WiFi beats Touch. At worst, Touch is a little better than WiFi. If you don’t have touch you have to use the cursor to move around (a few extra seconds) or use page turn buttons to turn pages (just as fast). If you don’t have WiFi you have to find a computer to download a book – much more effort and time than finding a WiFi network.

Kindle WiFi vs Sony 350 Closing Thoughts

It’s not surprising that the Kindle WiFi vs Sony 350 comparison ends up being rather similar to our Kindle 3 vs Sony 650 comparison. Sony 350 is missing some of the pluses of the 650 like expandable memory and WiFi is not as convenient as 3G+WiFi – However, the rest of the comparison is almost identical.

Sony 350 clearly wins in - touch capability, support for library books, support for ePub, choice of color, looks, compactness/portability, lower weight.

Kindle WiFi clearly wins in – larger screen size, WiFi, lower price, text to speech, more battery life, accessibility, more memory, better store, better infrastructure.

The much lower price of the Kindle WiFi might be the decider for a lot of readers. Also, Sony 350 is just $10 cheaper than Kindle 3 which adds on 3G support and free Internet to the Kindle WiFi’s already compelling package. Sony has failed to match Kindle 3 and Nook on price and wireless support and it might have lost the battle before its begun.

Please keep in mind that my experience is limited to the Kindle 3. For Sony 650 have only Sony’s website and the various articles about the Sony 650 as reference – haven’t actually used it or even seen it.

Kindle 3 vs Sony 650 – Areas Sony 650 wins

Well, Sony 650 wins in a few important areas -

1. Sony 650 has a touch screen. You have a choice of using the stylus or an on-screen keyboard and it also supports freehand drawing.
2. Sony supports DRM protected ePub and PDF and unprotected ePub. Kindle doesn’t.  
3. Sony supports library books due to its support for DRMed ePub.
4. Sony 650 is a bit more compact than Kindle 3 (6.625″ by 4.75″ by 0.406″ compared to 7.5″ x 4.8″ x 0.335″) and a bit lighter as well (7.58 oz vs 8.7 oz).
5. Sony 650 has expandable memory via a SD card slot and a Memory Stick Duo slot.  
6. Sony supports AAC format music which Kindle doesn’t (they both support mp3).  
7. There are 10 built-in translation dictionaries.
8. It’s better looking with an aluminium body and a choice of black or red casing.

It’s interesting that Sony 650 doesn’t really add any big killer features other than the eInk Pearl screen. However, it does improve in some ways and ties the Kindle 3 in some important areas.

Kindle 3 vs Sony 650 – Areas they tie

There are quite a few areas in which Kindle 3, Sony 650 tie -

1. They both use eInk and they both use the new eInk Pearl.  
2. They both have a 6″ screen.
3. If Sony’s claims that it has managed to avoid readability problems is correct they both should have about the same screen readability. 
4. They’re both pretty compact and portable though Sony has the advantage in both compactness and weight (Kindle 3 is a little thinner). 
5. Both have changeable font sizes – 6 sizes with Sony 650, 8 with Kindle 3.  
6. Both have quick page turns. Well, Sony 600 did have quick page turns so that should continue with Sony 650 and Kindle 3 does have very quick page turns.
7. Both have built-in dictionaries. 
8. Both have page turn buttons on both sides.

The eInk Pearl screen and the screen readability now being unaffected by touch are both huge additions. They make Sony 650 a very dangerous competitor when combined with the touch capability and the support for ePub and Library Books.

Kindle 3 vs Sony 650 – Areas Kindle 3 Wins

Kindle 3 has a lot of advantages of its own -

1. Much lower prices. Kindle WiFi is just $139 and Kindle 3 is $189 while Sony 350 is $179 and Sony 650 is $229. 
2. Kindle 3 has 3G and WiFi. It’s amazing that Sony are still refusing to add wireless connectivity – It’s like they don’t realize that users having to connect to a PC to download books will be one of the Sony 650′s biggest weaknesses.  
3. Kindle 3 has free Internet and a very serviceable browser.
4. Much better store. Kindle Store has a lot more range than the Sony Reader Store and much better prices (except for Agency Model books).
5. Probably better PDF support. Sony doesn’t mention much about PDFs and if the PDF support in Sony 650 is the same as that in the Sony 600 then Kindle 3 wins here. 
6. Kindle has the option of choosing between three font types and lots of font options like line spacing.
7. Kindle 3 has larger memory at 4GB though Sony’s expandable memory balances that out.
8. Kindle 3 has a physical keyboard if you prefer physical keyboards though the missing number keys limit its usefulness.
9. Kindle 3 has better battery life with wireless off or when using WiFi but not when using 3G.
10. Text to Speech and Voice Guide features make Kindle 3 Accessible. Text to Speech is a valuable feature in general.
11. Better Infrastructure and Kindle Apps – While Sony has said it will have apps for some platforms the Kindle 3 is already supported by Kindle Apps on various platforms and it has WhisperNet. Sony 650 has neither 3G nor WiFi and just can’t compete with Kindle 3, Kindle WhisperNet, and WhisperSync.

It’s beginning to look a bit lop-sided since Sony hasn’t added any killer features other than the eInk Pearl screen. The lack of wireless support in Sony 650 makes it unable to compete with a lot of Kindle 3 advantages like 60 second downloads, WhisperSync, and Free Internet.

Kindle 3 vs Sony 650 – Contrasting Strategies

ZDNet has an article on Sony’s eReader strategy and the strategy sounds a bit weak -

The biggest trade-off here—at least for connected U.S. consumers—is the touch vs. connectivity choice.

“Wi-Fi would have raised the cost when 99 percent of the time spent with an e-reader is focused on just reading,” says Haber. “We invested in the best possible screen experience. That’s where we put our dollars/yen.”

Firstly, there’s no reason to have to choose between touch and wireless – They’re very separate features and can both be added in. One has to do with the screen and the other has to do with connecting to the store.  

Secondly, Sony has some crazy justification that it didn’t want to spend money on WiFi when 99% of a customer’s time is spent reading. That doesn’t make much sense - WiFi chips don’t cost very much or Kindle WiFi wouldn’t be for $139. Getting books easily is nearly as important as reading – Perhaps 90% or more of a customer’s time is spent reading but the WiFi connectivity ensures users can get a book anytime and make impulsive purchases and get and read the book they want to read - as opposed to the books they remembered to load. Plus it’s the only time the customer is spending more money.

Basically, Sony are making it tough for users to give it more money – that’s amazingly bad strategy.

It’s typical Sony - make a great device for reading and then leave the ‘getting books to read’ part to users. They simply don’t get that making things easy for users is a big deal and that 60 second downloads and WhisperNet are one of the main reasons Kindle is thrashing Sony Reader.  

Closing Thoughts on Kindle 3 vs Sony 650

Sony 650 has touch and ePub support and library books – three huge advantages. Instead of capitalizing on those it’s coming in with a $229 price, with no wireless, and with an absolute lack of understanding of the fact that users want things to be easy and simple. It’s disappointing.

With Kindle 3 you get a tremendous amount of benefit due to Kindle 3′s 3G and WiFi support – WhisperSync that syncs your notes and highlights and your place in a book, Free store browsing and 60 second downloads, Free Internet, 3G access in 100+ countries worldwide.  

Add on other Kindle 3 advantages like a better ebook store, the text to speech feature, accessibility, and Kindle Apps and the Kindle 3 becomes a better eReader overall. It may or may not be the better device but it’s a much better service and a much better overall reading experience.

If one or more out of touch, library book support, and ePub support are crucial to you then the Sony 650 is the correct choice.

In every other case the Kindle 3 is a much better choice. The Kindle 3 wins Kindle 3 vs Sony 650 with the Sony 650′s lack of wireless support perhaps the biggest differentiator.

Let’s take a look.

Kindle 3′s Biggest Competitor – Nook 2

The Nook 2 showed up at the FCC several weeks ago. Around the same time B&N announced that its grand strategy to fight Kindle 3 was to create small Nook stores modeled on the Apple Store design within B&N bookstores. That strategy doesn’t make sense unless there’s a new improved Nook to sell.

It seems that early in September we’ll see the Nook 2 launch in parallel with these new Nook Stores and perhaps that’ll be enough to stop the Kindle 3 from taking over the eReader market.

My money’s on Nook 2 arriving with – eInk Pearl Screen, a better version of the LendMe feature, far less bugs, better integration between LCD touchscreen and eInk screen. It would be a surprise if it had one or more of – touch screen, text to speech, accessibility. It would also be a surprise if B&N started selling it outside the US.

Kindle 3′s Touch screen Competitor – Sony 650

The rumors about the Sony 650 are much stronger since we’ve seen Sony Insider reveal a lot of details including -

1. Touch layer that goes below eInk and thus doesn’t impede readability.
2. Strong hints that eInk Pearl is involved.
3. The new Sony Reader 650 is supposed to be very thin (less than 10 mm) and very compact.
4. It’s supposed to have WiFi and there are even a few rumors of 3G connectivity.
5. There’s talk of a new user interface and a few people have suggested Android is involved.

If Sony 650 can pull all this off then its existing strengths (library books, ePub, compactness, good looks, touch) will combine with new strengths (better readability, eInk Pearl screen, WiFi, better user interface) to make a very impressive eReader.

Sony’s store and infrastructure will still be lacking but it might have a surprise trump card there as Google Editions is supposed to launch soon (rumors say October) and might be integrated into Sony 650.

Big in Russia Competitor – Pocketbook

At MobileRead they’ve found images of the new generation of PocketBook eReaders. It seems there are five versions -

1. Pocketbook 602 which has a Kindle 2 style aluminium back,  speakers at the bottom, page turn buttons on one side, and a circular navigator/5-way.
2. Pocketbook Pro 603 which has 3G, comes with a stylus which indicates a touch screen and possible handwriting support, and looks pretty similar to the 602.
3. Pocketbook 902 which is a 10″ screen version of the 602.
4. Pocketbook Pro 903 which seems to be a 10″ version of the 603.
5. Pocketbook IQ which looks a lot like an iPad and has a TFT color screen. It’s probably the best looking of the bunch.  

These are all being made by FoxConn which also manufactures Kindle 3, iPad, Nook, and iPhone.

Here are some very interesting details courtesy IgorSK -

• The software for the 902, 903, 602, and 603 models is based on Linux and is Open Source. The Pocketbook IQ runs Android 2.0.
• There’s text to speech with 4 languages pre-installed and another 28 possible. 
• There’s an accelerometer. 
• It supports ePub and PDF with DRM and 14 other formats. 
• Dictionaries for 20 languages.
• Support for adding notes.
• Folders with sub-Folders.
• There might be PC apps to support the eReaders. Perhaps they mean something like Kindle for PC.
• All models have 2 GB memory.
• All models have WiFi while two (603 and 903) also have 3G.
• The 603 and 903 have Wacom touchscreens.

It’s interesting that they’ve made it so that absolutely any apps or software can be installed on top of the existing OS. There’s also a comment saying that Pocketbook is selling over 50,000 eReaders a month and that it’s the leading eReader in Russia.

The models are supposed to be available in November 2010. There are some comments at Mobile Read that Pocketbook doesn’t support ePub and PDF well and that there are often text formatting errors.

In terms of price the claim is that prices might be 450 Euro for the Pocketbook 903, 400 Euro for the Pocketbook 902, and under 300 Euro for the Pocket book 603. That’s way more expensive than Kindle 3 and Kindle DX 2.

Lots of complaints on the supposed prices and, in my opinion, if those really are the prices it kills the PocketBook’s chances of doing damage in the US eReader market.

‘It’ll arrive some day’ Competitor – the mythical Android Tablet

Not exactly an eReader but considered a Kindle 3 rival nonetheless.

The great hope was Adam which would use the magical Pixel Qi screen with Android. Supporting Flash seems to have killed Adam’s chances of arriving early and perhaps Apple really is right about Flash not being worth the trouble.  

A seemingly endless number of Android Tablets have been announced but none have seemed to materialize.

1. Will there be any by Christmas? Probably.
2. Will any of those be really good? Unlikely.
3. Will any threaten the Kindle 3? Not really.

All in all the Android Tablet is a very interesting threat – It’s the perfect competitor in that it forces you to improve and be wary and prepared and then it never shows up.

Very good Android Tablets are probably not going to arrive until early 2011. It’s possible that Kindle for Android becomes the reading app of choice for Android Tablets though Google Editions will be a major threat.

Flexible, color screen ‘sounds too good to be true’ competitors powered by LG Display

LG Display has been talking about having color eReader screens and flexible eReader screens for so long it’s threatening to take over Plastic Logic’s title of ‘Under-deliverer of the Year’. Now it’s saying that it has 9.7″ color eReader screens arriving by end 2010 and that there will also be 19″ flexible eReader screens.

Let’s get this straight – They can’t deliver a 6″ color or 6″ flexible screen but want to deliver a 9.7″ color screen and a 19″ flexible screen. That sounds a lot like Plastic Logic’s ‘We’re going to make a $649 business eReader’ strategy.

If you have a millions of eReaders a year market for 6″ screen eReaders (perhaps tens of millions of eReaders a year by 2011) and an unknown market for 19″ screen eReaders why would you concentrate on the latter? Have they even tested what carrying around a 19″ screen eReader feels like? Is it flexible enough to bend like a newspaper?

The Role of Google Editions

Google Editions constantly lurks in the background. Google’s partnerships with Sony and B&N mean that both Nook 2 and Sony 650 will probably end up with Android Operating systems and direct connections to Google Editions by end of 2010.

It will make for a really interesting contest -

1. Amazon Customer Service + Trust  Vs B&N plus Google trust and B&N customer service.
2. Kindle Store vs Google Editions plus B&N ebook store.
3. Kindle infrastructure vs Perhaps Google Cloud.
4. Kindle 3 vs Nook 2, Sony 650.
5. Kindle App Store (perhaps) vs Android App Store.
6. Kindle’s own OS vs Android.
7. Amazon.com shopping traffic vs Google.com search traffic.  

At a time when Kindle 3 looks unbeatable it’s interesting that the biggest competitor might not be another eReader but Google. Nook 2 and Sony 650 are unlikely to be impressive enough to both beat Kindle 3 and overcome Amazon’s store and infrastructure advantage – However, Google and Google Editions might be effective counters to Kindle Store and WhisperNet and it would turn the 2010 holiday season into a 2-way or 3-way contest.

The Kindle 3 will see some really solid competition soon and its biggest competitor is going to be Google.

1. Sharp Vocab: Building Better Vocabulary Skills. It’s a bit worrying they’d use ‘Vocab’ in the title of a book teaching vocabulary. Anyways, it’s rated 5 stars on 1 review.
   

   A 12-question diagnostic quiz to show readers where they need the most help.
   A variety of practice exercises with detailed answer explanations for every topic.
   A 30-question recognition and recall practice set that includes material from the entire chapter, (and a few questions that cover material from the previous chapters) to once again reinforce what the reader has learned on a larger scale.

2. Sharp Writing: Building Better Writing Skills. Shouldn’t this be named ‘Sharp Writ’ if we’re going with the willy-nilly cutting words down to size rule.
   

   Sharp Writing is a compact guide with all the information you need to increase your grasp of language and boost your writing skills using Kaplan’s easy-to-follow Building Block Method

3. Kaplan Portable GMAT.
   

   Essential information about the test structure and scoring
   Exclusive score-raising tips and strategies
   Focused practice for each components of the test
   Targeted review of each question type

4. Kaplan PMBR Finals: Constitutional Law Core Concepts and Key Questions. Rated 4.5 stars on 2 reviews.
   

   Kaplan PMBR combines the unparalleled experience of the world test prep leader with the expertise of the #1 Multistate Bar Exam review company to provide industry-leading, focused preparation. Featuring outstanding materials and a student-focused approach, Kaplan PMBR helps guide students through each class, midterm, and final exam throughout law school.

5. Kaplan PMBR: Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE). Two undecipherable acronyms in one title – Wow!
   

   Substantive outlines
   Model Rules of Professional Responsibility
   Model Code of Judicial Conduct
   ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility
   Practice questions with detailed answer explanations

6. Kaplan SAT Score-Raising Dictionary. Rated 5 stars on 5 reviews.
   

   1,000 frequently tested SAT words, including their definition, pronunciation and part of speech
   Helpful sentences to illustrate the proper use of each word
   Catchy mnemonic devices that help make words memorable
   Lots of fun illustrations throughout

7. Kaplan Portable GRE Exam.
   

   Kaplan Portable GRE Exam features:

   Essential information about the test structure and scoring
   Exclusive score-raising tips and strategies
   Focused practice for each components of the test
   Targeted review of each question type

8. Kaplan ACT Strategies for Super Busy Students. This one is rated 4 stars on 2 reviews and covers 15 simple steps to tackle the ACT. 
   

   Kaplan’s exclusive, time-saving strategies
   1 Full-length practice test with complete answer explanations
   Targeted review and realistic practice for the Math, English, Reading, and Science sections of the ACT
   Preparation for the optional writing component
   Stress management tips

9. Kaplan CCRN: Certification for Adult, Pediatric, and Neonatal Critical Care Nurses.
   

   An in-depth look at all topics covered on the exam, from Cardiovascular to Renal to Gastroenterology and more
   Two full-length practice tests—one in the book, one online
   Detailed answer explanations
   Tips on tackling the computer-based test format
   Complete review of Professional Caring and Ethical Practice in the Synergy Model

That makes it 8+2+9 equal to 19 free books in 2 days.

1. Bake Sale Murder by Leslie Meier. It’s rated 4.5 stars on 10 reviews.
   

   In Meier’s disjointed 13th Lucy Stone mystery (after 2005′s New Year’s Eve Murder), the Tinker’s Cove, Maine, newspaper reporter has a whole subdivision of peculiar neighbors around her once peaceful farmhouse, and anonymous letters are arriving at her office.

   The unknown penman alleges that the new football coach, Buck Burkhart, is condoning unsavory behavior by the high school’s senior football players toward the junior players and the cheerleaders, one of whom is Lucy’s daughter, Sara.

2. Demonfire by Kate Douglas. Seems to be a mix of romance, adventure, and the paranormal.
   

   Eddy is a no-nonsense reporter who leaves stories of alien races to her father and scoffs at such notions as the town statue coming to life. Until said statue attacks her home.

   According tothe mysterious Dax, demons are crossing over to Earth, determined to disrupt the balance between it, Abyss, and Eden, and to destroy them all. Eddy and Dax know they can’t stop this catastrophe on their own, and luckily for them, alien races aren’t merely the stuff of fairy tales after all.

6 books on Monday and 2 today – quite nice.

Modifying my Kindle 3 Review with the caveat of Freezing

One of the things no Kindle reviewer seems to have picked up on is the fact that the Kindle 3, for some people including me, freezes more than the Kindle 2 does.

Not quite sure how to describe it but there’s a freezing/crashing problem with the Kindle 3. It’s not common enough or frequent enough (if your Kindle 3 has it) to be a deal breaker but it’s noticeable enough to be a bother.

Updated my Kindle 3 Review to include a reference to the sporadic freezing.

Here are a few of the situations that lead to freezing or a crash/restart (also including a bug in there that might be related) -

1. Certain websites, especially complex ones, lead to a crash or freezing (freezing usually). This is somewhat rare.  
2. Certain websites lead to the url bar being left behind as an artifact on the screen – you can see it on the Kindle home page. This is pretty rare.
3. PDF files sometimes freeze the Kindle 3. Am also getting this strange bug where any PDF crashes the Kindle 3. Have only heard of one other case of it so it’s probably an edge case bug picked up due to opening up all types of PDFs and testing them. 
4. There have been days when it didn’t crash (mostly days focused on reading) and days when it crashed multiple times (mostly testing days focused on browser and PDFs). 
5. It crashed once when testing photos for manga on Kindle 3. There’s one menu item that is clickable though there’s nothing there and either that or all the changing of options caused the crash.  

It’s enough days and haven’t loaded very many books on to the review unit so am reasonably confident this is not a ‘first few days’ bug or indexing bug and is in fact a software error (perhaps related to WiFi or to handling very complex tasks) that needs to be fixed in the next update.

Here’s a thread at the official kindle forum trying to figure out what the culprit for Kindle 3 crashes is. Well, it’s releasing a ton of great features in one release which guarantees there will be some issues. It’s the nature of software and as long as Amazon fixes it in the next upgrade it’s not a deal killer or even a big negative.

Note: Most of the crashes have happened when testing out really complex websites and strange PDFs. There also seems to be a thread of using WiFi though some people are seeing crashes on 3G too. So you might not run into the freezing/crashes - However, do let us know if you’re seeing crashes too so we can ascertain whether this is a common complaint.

It’s not like the freezing on the Nook (which was more frequent and was accompanied by bugs and sluggishness) – However, it’s big enough to warrant a downgrade in my Kindle 3 review score from 8.9/10 to 8.7/10. If it’s not fixed in the next release would probably drop the review score down to 8.5 because it really should be a Priority Zero fix. Kindle 2 didn’t see crashes/freezing and Kindle 3 shouldn’t either.