OK, so Apple’s iPad and upcoming foray into eBooks aside, let’s consider the Kindle. I’m an avid reader. I read practically anything, fiction and non-fiction both. I read just for fun…not just for school or for work. I’m also a published author. In short, I love books.
However, there are three reasons I won’t buy a Kindle. Or even any other eBook reader.
Reason #1: I have thousands of dollars invested in printed books. Some I no longer read, others I keep around for nostalgia and glance at occasionally, and others I refer to frequently. There is no way to convert this significant investment in printed books into some sort of eBook format. I feel this is a key flaw in the eBook business model which touts convenience. Sure, it is convenient, but only for books you buy after you buy the reader. For the thousands of dollars you already have invested, tough. What are your options then? Recycling? Sharing or trading? The point of a book is to have access to knowledge. Either you keep the physical copy around so you have it for later, or you get rid of it. If you get rid of it, you “lose” that knowledge.
Reason #2: There’s no option to get a book’s Kindle version later, for a discounted (or even free) price. Let’s say I want to buy a book, but the publisher hasn’t released it for the Kindle yet. No problem…as I pointed out above, if it is a book I want, I have no problem buying the hard copy, reading it, and storing it on my shelf. However, I’d probably be a lot more inclined to buy the book in the first place, especially for those books that are more “that sounds like a good read” vs. “I definitely want to read this” books, if I was offered a future Kindle version for a discounted price or better yet, free. Something like “Not available on Kindle, but buy now for $14.99 and we’ll ship if for free and when it does become available on the Kindle, you’ll get the Kindle version for just $1.99.”
Reason #3: This is more of a deficiency in Amazon’s web site than a problem with the Kindle. I have a fairly sizable wishlist with books as the overwhelming majority of items. Scrolling through my wish list, there’s absolutely no indication whatsoever whether any of the books are available on the Kindle. Why not? If I was looking through my wish list, and saw that 60% of the books were available on the Kindle, I might seriously consider buying one and getting the books that way. Further, there should be options on my wish list, like “Purchase all books from your wish list that are available on Kindle”. It is this type of library management that Amazon is lacking. Something like iTunes gets it, though. I can log in, and iTunes will tell me that X number of songs I purchased earlier are available at a higher bit rate and without DRM, with a “one-click” option to upgrade all of them. I don’t see this at Amazon.
The Kindle is a great idea. It just seems to me that Amazon is seriously missing some opportunities for better marketing tie-ins and web site integration with the product.
Apple announced the iPad today, their version of the tablet computer. It looks awesome. Starting at $499 for 16GB and WiFi only, going up to $849 for 64GB w/ WiFi + 3G cellular support. 10 hour battery life. I think I am in love. I was going to buy a Kindle, but now I won’t. I realize they are apples to oranges, the point is that a Kindle DX is $400 and it is just for books and grayscale. Who wouldn’t spend another $100 to get a computing platform with a full color touch screen? I’ll probably sell my MacBook Pro, too, and buy an iMac. iPad + iMac + smartphone (Android, iPhone, etc) sounds like the perfect mix to me. Heck, get a decent headset and use Skype and you don’t need the smartphone.
You have to wonder what other companies are doing when Apple consistently is first to market with pretty amazing technology. Yes, other companies get some cool stuff out (Archos media players, Nokia tablets) but Apple is the only company that consistenly gets the whole experience out first and integrates it into a person’s life. That’s the key right there…they get the technology out and the user doesn’t worry about it: it just works.
It only took 5.5 years (roughly), but I finally got an actual royalty check for The Definitive Guide to Linux Network Programming (Expert’s Voice). Yippee! I always wondered if they would actually come after me for my advance which was spent long ago (a man has needs after all!). Now I don’t have to worry. On to the next book for all my fans!
So last night I decided to jump into MW2 for a bit. I was close to getting promoted and wanted to wind down before going to sleep. Anyway, I got my level up, and as I was logging off I noticed that MSFT was advertising last.fm as a service for Live Gold members. Sure enough, you can get last.fm streams on your Xbox now for free. Very, very cool. Ever since giving up my cable TV service, I’ve wondered about how to get some music streams into the house. The iPod is fine and all, but sometimes you want a different playlist, or want someone else to make the choices. I had almost settled on a Sirius or XM system for the home when I saw the last.fm blurb. Now I don’t need to spend any money. Thanks, MSFT!
Got my DJ Hero game today. It is pretty cool, the carry case builds out to a table with legs and everything to hold the controller. I played it for awhile on beginner, it was boring. I tried it on medium and I sucked. I tried it on easy and I still kinda sucked but a lot less than medium so I guess I will stay with easy for now. Look out, DJ in da house! LOL
I upgraded my iPod Touch to 2.0 today. I am in heaven. The first app I downloaded from the App Store was Remote. I absolutely LOVE being able to control my iTunes Library over WiFi using my iPod Touch. And for FREE no less. So now I can be anywhere in my house and switch tunes whenever I want without having to be where my computer is. And I don’t need to run wires or deal with crazy hacked up smart home or X10 setups, either. So simple…LOVE it! There are a lot of Apple haters out there…that’s a shame, because Apple simply gets it. There’s no other way to say it…if you ask me, they are the only true IT company around. They do the whole thing, soup to nuts, they do it well, and they make it seamless. It took me all of 10 seconds to get Remote working and playing anything in my Library. There’s no way that would have happened on Windows, from any vendor, and certainly wouldn’t happen with Linux.
Recently, Microsoft has signed agreements with Xandros, Novell, and Linspire aimed at protecting users of those Linux distributions from damages related to unspecified patents. Microsoft claims that Linux infringes on 235 of their patents but RedHat and Canonical (the commercial backer of Ubuntu) are not buying it.
RedHat stated that their position remains unchanged, according to ZDNet Australia. Mark Shuttleworth, the man behind Canonical, posted a comprehensive explanation of his position and opinion of these agreements. In short, Shuttleworth believes that Microsoft is no friend to Linux or free software and takes the time to explain why. He sums up the recent agreements with Microsoft as “trinkets in exchange for air kisses”. Ouch!!
I’ve been crazy busy at work. This is good, I’d rather be busy than bored, but it has kept me from thinking about posting. A few things I’ve been working on: trying to figure out which would be better for some sites I’m building, Cake (PHP framework) or Django (python framework). I have security and (potential) scaling issues with PHP, but I have administration and learning curve issues with Django, so I’m not sure what to do. Another major problem for me is the apparent dearth of Django-friendly webhosts. At least with PHP, you can pretty much use it anywhere.
I checked out Ron Paul’s website the other day. Very, very interesting. I loved his track record, especially the part about never having voted to raise taxes, never voted for an unbalanced budget, and having voted against the Patriot Act. All big pluses in my book! Maybe I’ll vote for him…I’m definitely not voting Democrat or Republican no matter who gets nominated.
. Yippee! I always wondered if they would actually come after me for my advance which was spent long ago (a man has needs after all!). Now I don’t have to worry. On to the next book for all my fans! 
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