Comments on: A Decade of Ebook Arguments

By: dave

dave — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:12:36 +0000

Chris, I don’t think a few minutes will give you a good feeling for the difference between reflective and transmissive displays. I’ve read full books on plenty of LCD screens and they definitely aren’t as easy on the eyes as the e-ink. I haven’t played with the Kindle but I have fiddled with the Sony version and I really liked the e-ink on that one. I’m assuming although I don’t know for sure that the two displays are pretty comparable.

By: Chris C.

Chris C. — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 03:22:55 +0000

Coincidentally, this afternoon I got my hands on a Kindle for the first time. I’ve been really annoyed that there’s been no way to actually touch one of these things in a brick-and-mortar. Well, this week Sharon’s library got a Kindle 2 to test out, so I while running errands on that side of town I drove over to take a look.

I only spent 5 minutes with it, but I’m quite unimpressed. Sure, it’s nice and thin and light, but WOW that e-ink is unimpressive. Really, grey on grey? Screen is too small. What is with that jarring reverse video flash during page turns?

MEH.

By: Rob G

Rob G — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:52:02 +0000

sigh…

http://i.gizmodo.com/5170131/amazon-threatens-legal-action-against-those-increasing-the-kindles-usefulness

By: dave

dave — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:19:01 +0000

David Nygren, I still don’t understand why it is your place to decide that other people’s contractual relationships should be null and void. As best I can tell, the most the publisher ever keeps in the paper book world is 50%, and this is when they have the enormous costs of printing the book ahead of time and then accepting returns of them from bookstores. Why isn’t getting 40% of transactions that requires no money risked by them considered by you to be fantastic?

As for the other point, I was personally begging publishers to get involved in this marketplace 11 years ago. What I saw first hand were a few enlightened forward looking publishers, and a whole lot of dilly-dallying, obstruction, half-assed attempts that existed only so they could say “We tried ebooks and they don’t work.” If Amazon has finally found a way to build a viable ebook marketplace and make the recalcitrant publishers play ball, then more power to them. I will not shed a tear for the publishers, who could have gotten in front of this 10 years ago and didn’t (other than very notable Baen Books, whose ebook business rocks the house).

What right do you have to say that the failure of the publishers to build viable marketplaces is somehow the moral responsibility of Kindle consumers? I call bullshit. To tell me I’m morally culpable by wanting a Kindle is ridiculous, more so considering I was up close and personal watching these business failures looooong time ago. Please forgive me if I find it hard to take your very silly point seriously.

To reiterate my point one more time succinctly: My company was trying to talk publishers in to the type of marketplace you want 11 years ago and they generally said no. That’s not Amazon’s problem and it’s not mine.

By: dave

dave — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:07:24 +0000

Mur, thanks for the comment. Like I said in the post, Playing For Keeps is one I’d have much rather read on the Kindle than the pile of loose printouts that were spilling everywhere. In 41+ years, I have never once read any book in the bath which is why I don’t understand why this is such an important point to the detractors. I don’t want to be getting my pages of any book all wet, regardless. As you point out, a Palm or Kindle in a plastic bag is usable whereas a paperback in a bag is not. Thanks for the input!

By: David Nygren

David Nygren — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:04:08 +0000

Dave, I’m not trying to get up in your grill. Just trying to have a conversation about something we both seem to find interesting. I don’t pretend to understand every facet of the argument here. Trying to learn more through give and take.

Amazon’s 55% for print is also too high, though at least there they are doing a good job of managing a physical inventory. The advent of ebooks I see as an opportunity to put the profit power back into the hands of those who deserve it: the authors and the publishers (those responsible for the creation of the content). That won’t happen if we have one mega-middleman for ebooks as we do for print books.

By: Mur

Mur — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:19:07 +0000

Love this post. And I love my Kindle very much. It was a gift, and I don’t know if I would have bought one myself, but I’m a new convert. Love nearly evertyhing about it.

Two points about the bath- if you drop a paperback in the tub, you’ve got a fat, damaged book at best, and you’re out ~$10 at worst. You drop your Kindle in the tub, you’re out $300.

Secondly, A gallon-sized ziptop bag protects the Kindle just fine in the tub.

By: dave

dave — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:43:24 +0000

David Nygren, Amazon keeps 55% of the cover of paper books. Do you have a problem with that and use loaded language like "extortionate" for the core of their business? It's basically the same price structure that has you worked into a tizzy on the Kindle. I understand I probably can't get Kindle books off the device (although I strongly suspect and hope that there will one day be a crack) and I will figure that into the calculus of what I'm willing to pay for any given book. And yes, I can purchase books from Fictionwise, Baen, free books from Gutenberg, etc. I really don't understand why you are up in my grill about this, especially when the basics of your moral argument are predicated on easily verifiable facts you haven't bothered to find out. Like I pointed out in both the post and comments, I have over a hundred different books and stories I bought from Fictionwise that I can put on a Kindle. Unless and until you stop contradicting basic facts, you come off like a crank.

By: Ken Kennedy

Ken Kennedy — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:45:34 +0000

Dave and Ken…requested both books. I’m 2/3 of the way through Caryatids (Sterling’s newest) on mine now, and LOVING it. I leave the wireless off unless I’m using it, and at this rate it will indeed last for weeks. Sweet. I’ve already got almost 2 dozen CC and out-of-copyright works on there, courtesy of feedbooks.

WRT the “reading vs. collecting” meme…I totally grok that, Dave. I collect certain authors, and I’d want their stuff as a physical object, but otherwise, I’m fine with the ebook. And with comics, for example, I’m a off-and-on reader, but I’ve never been much of a collector. If I could get ecomics discounted (even just b&w), or via some Netflix-like model, they would make MUCH more money from me. *shrug*

By: David Nygren

David Nygren — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:02:26 +0000

But can you put a DRM-ed ebook purchased from Amazon on a device other than the Kindle? And can you circumvent Amazon’s 60% cut by purchasing a new ebook for the Kindle directly from the publisher or author, or from someplace with a more reasonable royalty rate?

From Fictionwise site:

“FAQ: Why Doesn’t Fictionwise Sell All Titles for Kindle?

A: We would love to, but Amazon.com has made a business decision that keeps any other eBook retailer from selling Secure eBooks that require DRM encryption for Kindle. Unless Amazon changes this policy, we can offer our Multiformat eBooks but not our Secure eBooks for Kindle.”

I’m not saying the Kindle wouldn’t have some benefits for YOU, but think of the larger implications of aiding and abetting Amazon’s quest for ebook domination.

By: dave

dave — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:51:33 +0000

Joe, I have 168 items in my Fictionwise bookshelf, 0 of them are protected. Swing and a miss aka PISSINESS FAIL!

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:45:34 +0000

If the author thinks that the Mobipocket books he purchased from Fictionwise are going to work on his Kindle, then he’s in for an unpleasant surprise. If his Mobipocket books are protected with DRM (and the vast majority are), then they aren’t going to work on the Kindle at all.

By: dave

dave — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:58:56 +0000

Ken, done. You quid has been pro quoed.

David Nygren, What you say only makes sense if it were impossible to put anything but Amazon purchased books on there, which is not the case. If I can put Project Gutenberg books or books I have purchased from Fictionwise on the device, what you say does not hold. You are in exactly the same boat as people calling the iPod a “closed platform” when you can fill it with things you have received via different means. That’s not what closed means.

By: David Nygren

David Nygren — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:43:44 +0000

Before buying a Kindle, consider the negative impact that Amazon’s/Kindle’s success could have on the success of ebooks overall. With its proprietary format, Amazon wants to dominate ebook distribution as much as it currently dominates print book distribution. As a for-profit business, this is certainly their rightful aim. But why would you want to contribute to the success of a company that:

1. Takes a 60+% royalty for ebooks it did not help to create and for which it has no physical inventory to manage or distribute

2. Does not guarantee purchasers of Kindle ebooks lifetime, perpetual ownership of those books

You’d be buying more than just the device. You be buying this business model.

Ebooks, yes.

Amazon’s extortionate Kindle model, no.

By: Ken Nelson

Ken Nelson — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:23:18 +0000

Clicked. Requested.

Your cost; boost this Andy Beyer volume, for the pony player wannabe in me:

http://www.amazon.com/Beyer-Speed-Strategies-Racetrack-Betting/dp/0618871721/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235953315&sr=1-1

-k-

By: dave

dave — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:49:16 +0000

So let’s do a swarm. I picked the Colin Moshman Sit N Go strategy book as a good one. I went and followed the “Tell the publisher you want a Kindle version” link. Publicize this and tell your friends, and maybe we can get some traction. I see from the Two Plus Two forums that Mason Malmuth is tentatively willing to release some books and see how it goes. Unfortunately, he wants to put out some 20 year old books which are probably not going to sell as well as the newer Harrington books and then that will be used as evidence that there is no reason to jump in. I’ve seen this same dynamic over and over and over again.

Here’s the link to the Moshman book. Please request this as a Kindle book and let’s see where that goes.

By: Ken Nelson

Ken Nelson — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:41:16 +0000

@James:
If it’s any consolation, books on horse racing are in exactly the same league as your poker books: garish and flashy. If Andy Beyer’s stuff were on a Kindle, I’d be one happy guy.

-k-

By: James Slusher

James Slusher — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:39:34 +0000

I wish I had all of my poker books on a Kindle. I am one of those people who reads tons of non-fiction and very little fiction and have almost zero book fetish. In fact I find the form of the books themselves cumbersome and unwieldy.

Poker books don’t look good. They don’t make a bookcase look better, in fact it is just the opposite. They are brightly colored and cheesy things and I have the urge to hide them. I love the content, however, and if I could divorce the content from the form of them (a Kindle), I would love it.

By: Rob G

Rob G — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:30:11 +0000

Dave,

Here are some resources I have used :

http://ireaderreview.com/2008/01/19/free-books-for-the-amazon-kindle/

http://kindlereader.blogspot.com/2009/02/kindle-freebies-new-kindle-resource.html

By: Ken Nelson

Ken Nelson — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:23:43 +0000

Well said.

I look forward to your upcoming citizenship in Kindlesville, and to your sharing any views/tips/tricks/hacks that you come across.

I’ve had mine less than a week; it rocks!

-k-