Marcon Ho! And Kindle stuff

[catsittingstill]

On a more cheerful note, I'm going to Marcon.  I'm looking forward to it, especially since I had to miss FKO.

I'm planning to bring my Kindle, so people can try one if they like (no buying books on it --- at least, no buying without paying me back! :-). 

The mimmoths are fighting about whose turn it is to go.  I may end up taking them all. 

And I heard from an old acquaintance again recently.  That was surprisingly nice.  I think I should make more of an effort to keep in touch.

And finally, there was a thread on MobileRead about what Kindle owners would like to see added to their Kindles.  I'm going to e-mail mine to the Kindle-feedback folks, but I thought I'd post it here first, and see what people think:

---------------------------------------------------------------
Wishlist for Kindle

First off, this is a long wishlist, and it might give people the impression that I dislike my Kindle a lot.  This is not true; I really like my Kindle.

A) Software changes
1)    User configurable folders, or something that acts like folders, in the Home Screen view
2)    Amazon Kindle books without DRM, or with only Social DRM, from those publishers who agree, and clear marking of such DRM-free or Socially DRMed books
3)    A way for even non-Kindle owners to give Kindle books as gifts, and a way for Kindle owners and would-be-owners to add Kindle books to their wishlists
4)    A way to loan Kindle books (presumably by using the Whispernet to delete or disable a book on the owner's Kindle, and download it to a specified Kindle for a period of time set by the original owner, then remove it.  A nominal fee for this service seems reasonable, since it would use Whispernet.)
5)    Kindle books that will display on devices other than Kindles.  Amazon will sell more Kindle books this way—and I would like to be able to recommend some of my favorites to other people.
6)    For the Kindle to handle more formats (e-pub  pops to mind) and even other (sigh) DRM formats.  Amazon will sell more Kindles if it doesn't mean that people already into e-books have to throw out their e-book collections.  And I would like to have a shot at some e-books that aren't available from Amazon yet.
7)    More reliable PDF conversion.  I know you're working on it, and I think that's a good thing; keep it up.
8)    Amazon's Kindle store should not recommend books I already own in paper to me on the Kindle.  I love my Kindle, but I'm not going to buy those books all over again, and they're crowding out recommendations of things I might actually buy.
9)    A more stable web browser would be nice.
10)    I would like to see scientific journal articles available for the Kindle for a moderate price.  Maybe some sort of  moderately priced monthly subscription to a database, and / or  a moderate per page or per article charge?
11)     More college textbooks available for Kindle.
12)     Native support for .rtf files on the Kindle, or automatic mail-in conversion of .rtf files.

B) Hardware changes
1)    a touchscreen, with handwriting recognition (making the keyboard  and the page turning buttons unnecessary).
2)    a larger screen, perhaps even big enough to display 8 1/2 by 11 pdfs at or near full size.  Combined with the ability to display pdfs natively, this could be a big boon to a scholar (imagine searchable, annotateable, pdfs of articles in your field (swoon)).  And combined with 1, you might not even have to increase the size of the device all that much, since you could reclaim the keyboard real estate.

C) corporate negotiations (and hardware  changes)
1) I would like the Kindle to work worldwide  (or at least in Europe).  I have friends and family in Europe that I would like to introduce to the Kindle.

Comments

[almeda.livejournal.com]

In re 2, 4, 5, and 6: it is my understanding Amazon has no intention ever to let Kindle books be taken off Kindles (except through deletion), because one of the big features of Kindles, to them, is the total lack of a secondary market: all Kindle books MUST be bought new, and MUST be bought from Amazon.

Basically, Kindles are intended to be only attached to Amazon, not to any computer or upload/download device privately owned by an individual, because if the latter, Amazon gets no money.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

it is my understanding Amazon has no intention ever to let Kindle books be taken off Kindles

Do you remember where you saw this? I don't recall seeing it; I'd appreciate your help finding what I've missed.

In any case, they're asking for my feedback as a Kindle user, so I'm giving it to them. It is possible that they won't choose to take my suggestions, but the more customers they hear them from, the more likely it is that they'll consider them.

And if they don't, well, I bought my Kindle knowing that they'd made no promises in that regard. I think it would be better for Amazon for their Kindles to play nicely with more formats and for their stories to play on more e-book readers, because I think they could sell both more Kindles and more stories that way, but my heart is not set on it.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

It was in an interview with some Well-Known Technology Guy who, aside from whatever else Charlie Rose was interviewing him about, also spoke up about his Kindle and how much he loved it, despite its shortcomings (as he saw them). Some time ago. Shortly after they came out, really.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Was it this interview? Bezos himself?

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I don't think so. I seem to recall the interviewee bringing it up in the middle of a big long talk about DRM, just sort of throwing in an 'I love my Kindle, but ...' thing that Charlie clearly wasn't expecting, but shifted around to ask questions about that specific example.

Some software company dude, but I'm not big on software company dudes so I didn't recognize him. He had glasses. :->

I remember the Bezos interview, too (I think I saw them air out of order, because it was on several weeks after the other one, to me, as well as being on the other PBS station), but he didn't go into DRM at all, he was all sales-pitchy.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I'll see if I can find both, then. Thanks!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Alas, I will have to go to Carson Newman to look at this; it's video. But thanks for checking it out for me.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

[old business]

Charlie Rose is worth the bother--as someone who interviews a wide range of interesting people he's about the only thing on television. We decided a few years back that high-speed internet was no longer a luxury for us; it was too important to pay work and now, again, academic work.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Not that interview, but relevant

[almeda.livejournal.com]

A few people out in the blogosphere who got the same basic info I did, some with more footnotes than I have:

http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/1097
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/19/the-future-of-reading

This one tells you how to get non-AZW books onto your kindle, sort of:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hacks/kindle-drm-hacked-that-was-easy-333415.php

Re: Not that interview, but relevant

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

This is interesting enough that I may make it a post in the next couple of days. Thanks for pointing these out.

[mdlbear]

Amazon seems to be exhibiting an unfortunate desire to become a publisher as well as a retailer; you can also see this in their recent decision to require that print-on-demand books be printed by Amazon.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I had heard about the POD stuff. I'm wondering how that is going to play out.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

They're being sued, though I don't know whether the suit has a chance. Amazon.com and Jeff Bezos have a not-so-good rep locally, for being aggressively anti-union (amazon.com actually gave out anti-union t-shirts in the UK), and not contributing, as far as can be told, to any Seattle-area arts groups. Feet of clay, feet of clay.

[occams_pyramid]

Re B2 and C1 - it will need to allow for International (A4) as well as US size.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I think A4 and 8 1/2 X 11 differ from each other by only a few millimeters, so I would expect that something that could display one could display the other.

[occams_pyramid]

They're about the same size but different proportions. Not much difference, but should be allowed for. It has been known for US applications to ignore A4.

[mdlbear]

A4 is narrower and longer. Doesn't matter as long as the rendering software scales the image to the page, but often it doesn't and you lose stuff. This is especially true for page-image formats like postscript and PDF, of course.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Which is the shaggy brown one? Thag?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Yes, Thag is the orange-and-black one, which I guess would look brown at a distance. He's not purple or grey, anyway :-)

[patoadam]

I got a Kindle as a present a couple of weeks ago and I'm still deciding whether I like it. I definitely prefer reading on my Kindle to reading on my computer; it motivates me to read public-domain books that I otherwise would not read. But I don't know if I prefer the Kindle to paper books.

To date I have only downloaded free books. The first time I want a copyrighted book that is available for the Kindle, will I buy a paper copy or a Kindle copy? Will I get rid of my paper copies of books that are free on the Kindle such as Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, and Gulliver's Travels?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

If you're worried about DRM be sure to check whether the books you want are available in unsecured Mobipocket (or .txt) from another source. You may have a third choice.

The Kindle books that keep tempting me are the science ones, which I can get for 10$ (only not all of them, so I have to remember to *look* at the price before downloading :-). I'm pretty sure I can't get these from other sources without DRM, though it would be a good idea to check.

I take the DRM-free books when I can get them; I feel confident I'll probably be able to display them on *something* if the Kindle doesn't work out.

Regarding the Kindle vs paper books--I like paper books' better contrast and more cheerfully white pages. I like the fact that I can loan paper books, or take them to a used bookstore. I don't actually *do* those things all that much, but I like the fact that I *can*. I like Kindle books small size and light weight, their searchability, and the fact that Kindle keeps a file for each one with all my highlighting and notes in order. I like that I can get lots of free Kindle books, and that even ones I buy are usually cheaper than they would be in paper.

I read a paper book the other day and it felt funny. Kind of the wrong shape. I got over it after a few pages, but still :-).