The Kindle and its ilk may be taking the newspaper and book worlds by storm, but they’re not going to revolutionise the way we read magazines anytime soon: the screens, formatting and lack of interactivity just aren’t up to the task.
Kindle
The Kindle in Australia: the good, the bad and the crippling
Stubborn Mule is one the Australians who snapped up a Kindle as soon as it became available on our shores. It may be a whizz-bang bit of tech, but there are some pretty significant limitations placed on the Aussie version. So is it worth it?
Arrr! Prepare ye landlubbers for book piracy
With the arrival of the Kindle around the world, the publishing industry is preparing for an onslaught of black-market e-books, as people share them illegally online. Will it be the mp3 wars all over again?
E-paper: the real “Kindle Killer”
Everyone (and by “everyone”, we mean “geeks and the media”) is fixated on what the Next Big Thing in e-readers will be. But what if e-readers aren’t the Next Big Thing at all? Check out e-paper, which allows hi-res, full-colour imagery.
The Kindle won’t kill libraries
Aussie Publishers may be worried the predicted surge in e-reader sales will damage the book industry, but news from the States shows libraries needn’t share their concerns, with “digital lending” booming in public libraries.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Why is the media so unKindle?
Crikey readers give some Kindle love, suggest Ruddock climbs back in his coffin, raise spew-rious questions about choking on vomit, and defend Sand Gropers: they’re not all luddites and nanny-staters — just most of them.
2010: year of the e-reader
The world’s media pundits are predicting a huge Christmas boom in sales of e-readers — spurred by the release of the new Kindle. Will 2010 become known as the year the book died?
Book industry has to accept the Kindle: it may be a bumpy ride
Australian publishers may not like it, but e-books are not going away. And with the launch of the Kindle in Australia, the industry’s going to have to adapt.
Kindle not the book’s iPod moment
The release of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader in Australia has impatient early adopters crying “about time”. But don’t get too excited, says Matthia Dempsey: you may not actually be able to read anything on it.
Bye-bye Borders: the Kindle finally comes to Australia
Amazon’s heavily-hyped e-reader, the Kindle, has finally released an international version and will be available in Australia this month. Why would you want one? Imagine buying, downloading and reading a new-release book, without getting out of bed. Exactly.
Publisher: e-readers will kill books
CEO of French publishing group Hachette Livre, Arnaud Nourry, says digital books could kill off the market for print editions, with retailers selling electronic titles at a loss to keep prices so low, hardback books can’t compete.
Sony unveils its Kindle killer
Sony has unveiled its new e-reader, hoping to regain back some of the market from Amazon’s Kindle. It costs more, but has a touch screen and supports a more open book format. Yet Apple’s mythical iTablet — which hasn’t been made yet — is still being touted as the real potential threat. Poor Sony.
Reading by Kindle light
Will Amazon’s Kindle — and other e-readers of its ilk — spell the death of books and newspapers? WH Chong weighs in.
A news revolution in the palm of your hand
The iPhone has meant I no longer need to buy a newspaper for anything at all, says Alan Kohler, and the launch of Apple’s much-hyped new tablet computer — the iPad — may put Steve Jobs’ name alongside Johannes Gutenberg, John Walter and Giambattista Bodoni as a news revolutionary.
Australian newspapers reject Amazon’s Kindle
Tens of thousands of Americans now read their news via Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, but as Australian newspaper publishers gear up to deliver their content digitally, both Fairfax and News say they’re looking at other brands and models, with Sony and Apple;s products now more likely contenders.
Once upon a time, books had pages and fonts
Are e-readers — like the Kindle — really the future of reading? For Nicholson Baker, words in “greenish, sickly… postmortem gray” on a screen just aren’t the same.
Doubleplusungood: Amazon goes Orwellian on e-readers
Amazon has been deleting e-books directly from Kindle e-readers, with hundreds of Kindle owners making the bitterly ironic discovery that their paid-for copies of 1984 and Animal Farm had disappeared. At least they experienced a good taste of the plot…
The newspaper still beats the Kindle
E-readers may have some price advantages over newspapers in the US, but they lack what print newspapers such a perfect delivery vehicle for news: graphic design.
If only newspapers were an iPhone app
The incredible success of iPhone apps has demonstrated the biggest tragedy of newspapers: their failure to find a viable micropayments system, writes Alan Kohler.
TechCrunch set to build e-reader prototype
Step aside Kindle and Cool-er, TechCrunch is creating their very own e-reader.
Cool-er v Kindle: the e-reader battle
The techno-battle is on for e-readers, the gadget tipped to replace books and newspapers, with the Brit’s Cool-er chumping the Yankee Kindle in price — but what about quality?
Is the Kindle hurting book stores?
Barnes & Noble — America’s largest book chain — announced a first-quarter loss of $2.69 million. Is Kindle guilty?
Can a $489 electronic tablet really save newspapers?
Instead of trying to persuade consumers to adapt to an expensive, awkward gizmo, newspapers should spend money on interactive formats people already use.
Farewell to the paper page…
The digital revolution can squeeze the text of dozens of books into a little box, though you do not experience the sensual anticipation of turning a paper page, and it is dangerous to read in the bath.
