Amazon releases Kindle, a new wireless electronic book reader
Image: Amazon
The blogosphere is buzzing about Amazon’s new Kindle device, a new kind of WiFi electronic book-reader. Instead of earlier eBook devices, its screen depicts reading material that looks like the printed page. Unlike Palm devices, there is no need to sync with a host computer. New material can be purchased and downloaded in under a minute, and many books cost around $10. The site claims that it is lighter in weight than many books.
To quote Amazon’s Kindle information page, here are some of the features:
- Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper.
- Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing.
- Wireless connectivity enables you to shop the Kindle Store directly from your Kindle—whether you’re in the back of a taxi, at the airport, or in bed.
- Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute.
- More than 88,000 books available, including 100 of 112 current New York Times® Best Sellers.
- New York Times® Best Sellers and all New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise.
- Free book samples. Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.
- Top U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post; top magazines including TIME, Atlantic Monthly, and Forbes—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
- Top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland; Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and The Irish Times.
- More than 250 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics, including BoingBoing, Slashdot, TechCrunch, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, The Onion, Michelle Malkin, and The Huffington Post.
- Lighter and thinner than a typical paperback; weighs only 10.3 ounces.
- Holds over 200 titles.
- Long battery life. Leave wireless on and recharge approximately every other day. Turn wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging. Fully recharges in 2 hours.
- Unlike WiFi, Kindle utilizes the same high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones—so you never have to locate a hotspot.
- No monthly wireless bills, service plans, or commitments—we take care of the wireless delivery so you can simply click, buy, and read.
- Includes free wireless access to the planet’s most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia—Wikipedia.org.
- Email your Word documents and pictures (.JPG, .GIF, .BMP, .PNG) to Kindle for easy on-the-go viewing.
It will be interesting to see if this $299 device takes off or goes the way of the Segway (cool idea, but not implemented on a large scale). Oh, and if you happen to read this and work for Amazon, I bet I’m not the only librarian who’d like a chance to take this device for a spin.
Join the Conversation
Has anyone seen this device? Anybody know if Kindle will be on display at Midwinter?
What makes a book a book? Does this device “count”?
December 5th, 2007 at 9:08 am
As much as I love digital gadgets, I just could never get used to curling up with one of these in my hands instead of a book.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Hi, Terrie! (Terrie and I were in grad school together!)
I was just sitting down to write my reply — which is that my gut instinct is that I wasn’t likely to curl up with it either — when I realized that I was curled up bed with my laptop. Maybe I need to give this curling-up-with-Kindle idea another chance … so c’mon, Amazon, how about sending us school library media specialists some to try out at school (or in our cozy beds)?