Kindle research - Comm Tech

Is the Kindle really a good idea? Or is it just a new addition to the mod-con surface of our society?
Is it technological development for good, or for bad?
Or could it ultimately change our lifestyles forever?

The Kindle - released by internet giants Amazon - is the latest must have for the street-wise kind, for those that are constantly on the go and lacking room for a stack of books.
By utilizing new technologies such as "e-ink electronic paper", the Kindle operates as a potential library's worth of reading material, providing a diverse landscape of books straight from one screen. But could all this technological "improvement" force the demise of paper based literature? The eventual consequences might lead to the saddening scene of empty libraries and even more self-induced escapism and anti-socialism. It's not only a knock on effect to us, but to those who really on book production as an industry, and sourcing all the materials that go in to producing any book. We are the people that'll be losing our history, only to see it glossed over in a digital remake.

The rise of the Kindle could also amount in the rise of production in the poorest of factories in the east, where all our gadgets are pieced together.

On the other hand, maybe the Kindle could offer up some benefits? How about the ecologically friendly side? The Kindle could prevent the rising amount of deforestation on a global scale and improve the lives of those that desire the Kindle the most.

Technologically, we're flying very close to the sun as far as our basic resources are concerned. Maybe planet earth isn't capable of providing support for all these obscene priviledges.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/kindle:

salarat

19 December 2010 3:11AM

Yep. Totally. The Kindle is disappointing and doesn't allow for controlled art direction: you get the text, but not the design, and not the mood. There are some brilliant magazines and books out there but their Kindle versions miss the point, because the look and feel aren't included. The iPad allows the creator to control the experience, keep the creative vision, and the reader's experience is enhanced as a result. I don't know why anyone would buy the Kindle as a device: it's a good app on the iPad (and I use it as such for buying text-only books), but it's not worth buying as a piece of hardware.

Heasgarnich

20 December 2010 12:37AM

The thing that always makes me laugh when people enthuse about "reading" a book on an iPad/Kindle is that they claim that it's better than the real thing. No, I'm afraid it's not. Reading a book is more than just scanning words that assemble themselves into a sentence that conveys the thoughts and ideas of the writer. When you read a book, you're physically engaging with a medium that has been around a hell of a lot longer than computers. You can't compare the printed word with the electronic. It's impossible. Oooh, it's backlit. So? When I think it's not bright enough to read I turn on a light. There is nothing comparable in either the Apple store, etc, to going into a bookshop - say, Shakespeare and Co in Paris - and having the smell of old books hit you, or that chemical whiff that comes out of a new textbook, or the texture of paper under your fingertips. There ain't an app for that. iPad and Kindle devotees might claim that they're seeing the way of the future. I doubt that. Yes, you could probably revolutionise the newspaper and magazine markets, but not much else. Ultimately, why waste your time and energy downloading books when you don't even own a physical copy? And besides, who's to say that the format these books come in right now won't change in the next three, five years and you have to potentially replace them or convert them all to the new format? Exactly. With a book, you don't have that worry.
Keep the iPads and Kindles for yourselves. I'd rather actually read a book, rather than scan a facsimile. And besides, when I want to throw a book across the room, at least I'm not running the risk of destroying hundreds of pounds of penis replacement from Mr Jobs, am I?

ramshackled

20 December 2010 9:21AM

So this is the first time publishers have had to worry about keeping up with technology is it? Not like, say, 10 years ago when every magazine in the world started publishing online. This is hardly a new concept, just another example of ipad fever apparently overriding many people's sense of perspective.

proost

20 December 2010 3:07PM

anyone using ipad and kindle for reading are not book readers...
they are fashion/gadget freaks....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/18/amazon_removes_1984_from_kindle/

Follow in the wake of Kindle's success is the Apple iPad.

"i was horrified when the guardian Hay festival, shrine of literature, hosted a demo of electronic books, storing umpteen volumes to access at the touch of a button. I joined the harrumphing curmudgeons. "It'll never catch on," we muttered. why squint at a screen when you can fondle the pages?"
Yours magazine, july 2010

Who's going to lose out if the Kindle takes over?

Illustrators and Designers
Publishers
Book Shops
Libraries
Children
the Elderly

What will book readers lose?

The tradition and art of book production - the physical form of the book.
The excitement of picking up a book and physically purchasing it.
The simplest things, like flicking over the pages.
A lack of connection with the author.
Sentimental value?
Braile copies

But many people are justifing the world of the Kindle, with comments such as:

"It’s quite possible to still love “real” books and benefit from the portability and interactivity offered by an eBook reader like Kindle. They’re not mutually exclusive. Books I plan to share with others or that do not adapt well to the eBook medium (like coffee table books and those with complex illustrations and graphics) I will still buy in “dead tree” format. Books I intend to read and reference and that I’d like to always have with me in a highly readable and accessible format I’ll buy on the Kindle. Best of both worlds."

http://www.slate.com/id/2212320/ :

"If the Kindle succeeds on its current terms, and all signs suggest it'll be a blockbuster, Amazon will make a bundle. But everyone else with a stake in a vibrant book industry—authors, publishers, libraries, chain bookstores, indie bookstores, and, not least, readers—stands to lose out."

" To understand why, consider how simple it is to buy books on your Kindle. You press a button to take you to Amazon's store, type in a title or author, and press Buy. In 10 seconds, the book's yours. Everything is automated: When you buy the Kindle, Amazon pre-syncs your reader with your account info, so there's no need to type in a credit card number or billing address."

"Everyone is worried that Amazon will end up becoming to books what Apple is to music," Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, told me. (Aiken's group has criticized the Kindle's text-to-speech feature, which automatically creates a kind of audio book from an e-book; the guild says that Amazon should compensate authors for reading their books aloud. But that's another argument for another time.)"

"And even if the publishing industry isn't devastated when a single bookstore takes over the e-book world, the marketplace for books will be diminished. Amazon stands as proof of how innovative retail practices can transform an industry; over the last decade and a half, the company revolutionized the book market with innovations like customer reviews, collaborative filtering, one-click shopping, and unbeatable customer service. It launched all these services to stay ahead of its rivals. But what will happen when it has no rivals?"

Videos:

This video demonstrates the various functions of the Kindle, also displaying the improvements since it's predecessors.

I'am beginning to question whether as humans, technology is draining our sense of HUMANITY.

This is another "Stuff Magazine" review - this time for the older e-book, the Kindle 2. I've found from both reports that the main emphasis is on form, as opposed to function. The presenters seem to prefer walking us through how "well designed" the Kindle is, in the start of the video. This may hint at how everyone is presumed to be image concious, and almost scared not to have the latest "must have". Is that proof of how we're controlled or is it just me being paranoid?

Statistics (taken from http://thoughtsofawannabelibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/those-christmas-kindle-statistics/)

"On Christmas Day, for the first time ever, customers purchased more Kindle books than physical books. The Kindle Store now includes over 390,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases."

The idea of digital books outselling REAL books scares me.

It seems impossible to pinpoint how many ebooks have been sold in the last two to three years, with this qoute from the blog: "Anyway, in truth, the only way we will really get to the bottom of the strength of the current ebook market would be for all ebook reader manufacturers to come clean about how many readers they have sold as well as for retailers to detail the sales of ebooks.  It is only through transparent statistics such as this that we will really know where the ebook market is."

I stumbled upon this online article from The Guardian on how Kindle sales, for the first time, have overtaken the traditional hardback book.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/28/amazon-ebook-kindle-sales-surge

"Spare a thought for the humble hardback this Christmas. It seems the traditional giftwrapped tome is being trumped by downloads, after Amazon customers bought more e-books than printed books for the first time on Christmas Day.

As people rushed to fill their freshly unwrapped e-readers – one of the top-selling gadgets this festive season – the online retailer said sales at its electronic book store quickly overtook orders for physical books. Its own e-reader, the Kindle, is now the most popular gift in Amazon's history.

Amazon's shares rose sharply today after it updated investors on a strong Christmas performance. On its peak day, 14 December, the retailer said customers ordered more than 9.5m items worldwide, the equivalent of a record-breaking 110 items a second."

"Although Amazon has repeatedly trumpeted "record-breaking" Kindle sales, it has refused to say exactly how many have been sold since the 2007 launch.

Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst with Collins Stewart in New York who has tracked the Kindle's performance, believes that across both models – the paperback-sized Kindle 2 and larger DX – Amazon may be on target to have sold a little over 500,000 units by the end of the year."

When purchasing a book from Amazon, you are essentially only renting the book. This is down to the fact you cannot resell a book, and it is stored on your personal library of digital books, as opposed to permanently existing on the machine itself.