Comments on: Book industry has to accept the Kindle: it may be a bumpy ride

By: wayne robinson

wayne robinson — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:14:25 +0000

I have had a Kindle for almost 4 months, and I couldn’t be happier with it. It’s easier to read a book on a Kindle than in the printed form (paperback or hardcover). It’s no problem reading the print, and anyway, the print size is easily increased (unlike with printed books).

By: Carlos Medina

Carlos Medina — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:37:14 +0000

The whole point is that in publishing there’s now lots of alternatives, and just like with the web there are heaps of legal and ‘illegal’ downloads options, lots of formats, browsers, screen sizes and more, to fit each need and taste. And soon likely to be many more.

When you add great maturing movements/technologies like the Gutenberg Project’s efforts [try http://gutenberg.net.au ], MIT’s Open CourseWare efforts [try http://ocw.mit.edu ], Creative Commons [try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons ], Copy Left [ try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft ], and most of all Wikipedia, you realise that the horse has bolted and the world has already moved with it.

Personally I quite liked a couple of programs I have tried on my iPhone: “Classics” and “Free Books”. With these I got Mark Twain and Carroll to help me through a few trips and a killer 14 hrs flight.

But there are more on the way! A quick search of “books” on the iTunes apps store brings up FIFTEEN programs.

“Wattpad” even claims to have all the classics and free instant access to over 100,000 titles and that it “works on most phones from Nokia, Apple, BlackBerry, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG, HTC, O2, Sagem, Alcatel, Sharp, Toshiba, BenQ-Siemens, Panasonic, Pantech, VK Mobile and others. Over 1,000 phone models supported.” Check them out here: http://www.wattpad.com/download

So it’s more like, “the Book industry has to accept a whole ecosystem of reading devices and programs: it may be a bumpy ride”.

It’s just not as catchy.

By: Grant Doyle

Grant Doyle — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:29:08 +0000

I’m currently an exchange student at the University of Amsterdam (Research Masters in Literary Studies). You might have seen my two recent Crikey contributions (Letter from … Amsterdam and Brussels?).
Anyway, I lugged a load of books from Sydney with me, as you can imagine. Then I’ve had to scour bookshops, both here and in London, for additional material.
However, one of my fellow exchange students from America had most of the required readings on his Kindle. And more. We were all jealous.
Sure, this is a specific anecdote, but I borrowed his Kindle for a weekend of just of pure reading pleasure and it was an absolute delight to behold and use. The convenience and access and scope it offers will surpass most of the justified criticisms and limitations, even in Australia with our archaic parallel restrictions.
I’ve pre-ordered mine already.

By: John McKinley

John McKinley — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:38:16 +0000

Kindle the best of the book readers? I think not, try the Sony 505 or 300.
I have four ebook readers (for different reasons) and have been watching the waffle about ebook readers in the Australian press for eighteen months, mostly by journalists who have absolutely no idea.

“but you might still have problems legally downloading the book you want, partly because of parallel importation restrictions and partly because the local industry has yet to embrace the e-book”

I have no trouble legally buying fiction and nonfiction including the latest publications in ebook format Sony, Mobipocket, and ePub, from UK the US and Australia usually at prices well below the paperback editions, let alone hardback.

As far as the Kindle itself is concerned it is clumsy and not as sleek or functional as most others available on the market, particularly the Sony range or the Bookeen. The Iliad is pretty good too but has size , price and battery limitations

By: Linda Finlay

Linda Finlay — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:13:14 +0000

The ‘post a comment’ section is not working for me so I will do it here. I have been looking forward to Kindle or similar being available for two reasons. Firstly, about one third of the weight of my luggage when travelling is taken up by books, so that will be a big advantage for me. Secondly, because of tender and swollen finger and hand joints, I often find it quite difficult to hold a book whilst reading. The Kindle, or similar, being quite light, will make a big difference for me. I still love the touch and feel of real books, and am sure that owning a Kindle will not stop me buying books as well.

By: Jeff Richards

Jeff Richards — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:01:15 +0000

The Kindle will replace the book in your bag. I would have thought that an academic like Ann Kirschner would have a book and an iphone in her bag. The iphone is a 3.5” inch display, too small for serious reading. The Kindle is a 6 inch display… just (only just) big enough for serious reading. Moreover, the Kindle is advantaged by the fact that it has no backlight. Backlight, like in computer screens, makes reading uncomfortable. The Kindle also focuses your mind on reading, instead of playing with iphone apps (while pretending you are reading).

A more important question is: Will Crikey be available on Kindle or will The Australian / Fairfax etc. beat you to that post?