rattles all the doors
frick on a stick, yep, that's another macbook flaw, although this one isn't apple's fault - it's seagate's, a batch of bad hard disks. hopefully apple will step up and replace them.
so is it me or is the kindle a solution in need of a problem? i guess i can see wanting to store dozens of books on a single device... when the ipod debuted i marveled at the ability to store a huge chunk of my music collection on something small and portable, but i guess because i don't switch frequently between stuff i read like i do music, it doesn't exactly line up. it'd be perfect for college students, though, imagine bringing that guy into class instead of all your books. or, you know, just use the laptop you already have.
free wireless provided by the vendor, though, is something i can get behind and a trend i hope continues. imagine if sony or nintendo provided similar functionality in their next portable console, or apple / microsoft threw that into their next music player.
are you imagining? you should be.
I can see where Kindle will have its hayday in the education market, but even there it is limited.
The thing about books is the tangible feeling of paper in your hand. Being able to mark a passage, a quote, or place notations in margins is something that textbooks offer over the electronic device.
I can see the textbook publishers moving in this direction seeing as how the data dispersion will mean hefty profits compared to the already ridiculous price gouging they already do.
But for the average consumer, I don't see it flying. Once the novelty wears off, it will go away much like virtual reality.
The media might contain the same content, but the means by which that content is absorbed won't be replaced by a fancy tablet.
I say keep your cheddar and invest it in something much more useful like HD DVD or Blue Ray.
But the merits of those two media devices is a conversation waiting to happen for another time...
hehe, do you remember the virtual reality setups that were at Forest Fair back in the day? those were a trip. i definitely need to pick up one of those rigs on ebay after i get a house...
Prediction: The Kindle won't fly. I've been seeing a lot of "it's the iPod of books!" hype. It's not the iPod of books.
The reason the iPod works is that it looked at the disconnect between how people bought (an entire album) and consumed (only listen to one or two songs per album) and created a complete package that transformed that paradigm. It isn't that the iPod is portable or easy to use or the instant buy and download model (those help), it's that it works seamlessly with iTunes and lets you buy things how you use them.
Kindle, not so much. A better model would be a subscription model. How many people have reread a book they own? A new and better way to approach the idea of a library is what will be the iPod of books.
OR, do what we're doing at my company. Customize the content to the end user. Buying and keeping and all the clutter that goes along with that is a dead model for content.
The included wireless is pretty cool though.
Great thoughts on the Kindle from a famous book designer. Here.