Thursday, March 05, 2009

Kindle Me This, Lou Man

Really geeked about the Kindle ap for the iPhone. I just bought the Kindle version of The Graveyard Book as a way to check it out. Personally, I will probably still do most of my reading with Stanza, but that's because most of my reading is manuscripts - not finished books - and Stanza makes it really, really easy to upload Word documents. But if I were a big consumer of other publisher's books, Kindle for iPhone would probably be my preferred reader. Anyway, I'll report back when I've read a book on it.

Meanwhile, my good friend Stephenson just bought a Kindle 2. He sends me this screenshot, which warmed up my morning:

And did you hear that B&N just bought Fictionwise?

13 comments:

Christian Berntsen said...

Yeah, I got excited about this when I read the news yesterday. I have Stanza as well, but the Kindle itself is something I've wanted for a while, I'm just not currently able to buy. This works for me as an alternate.

I downloaded the app to my iPhone yesterday but haven't purchased anything yet. I will probably dive into this soon as I am downsizing the material objects in my life and have been slowly switching over to a more digital way of viewing the world. I still love physical books, but at the moment they do not always work well with my life.

I haven't had a chance to check out for myself yet so I was wondering if you could enlighten as to which, if any, Pry books are available for the Kindle right now? Thanks.

Lou Anders said...

None yet. Coming soon!

Lou Anders said...

I should ad that I love physical books too, but like the idea of Kindle for iPhone editions to carry on planes and such.

Jeff C said...

I was pretty geeked about it too (and wrote a long rambling blog post about it).

While I don't love the DRM associated with the Kindle files, I do love the potential impact on ebook sales. Plus the fact that Amazon sells new releases for 9.99.

I usually buy books in 2 formats: hc (or tpb) and mppbb. The first for long shelf-life, and the latter for portability. I could easily see me replacing my mmpb secondary purchase with a Kindle format instead. A hardcover and a digital version sounds like a good combo to me.

I'm still waiting to see when/if review galleys are made available via digital format. Doesn't seem like there is a big push for such a thing, for security reasons I guess?

Finally...hope they add more usability features to the iPhone Kindle app, as it is pretty darn basic at the moment.

Lou Anders said...

I agree totally about Hardcover plus Kindle. I wonder if there would be a way to bundle that at a discount? I'd totally be there.

Since I don't own a Kindle, I'm curious how I back up or store my ebook purchases, and yes, I see the Kindle ap growing after this (fairly silent) release.

Jeff C said...

I hadn't thought of that, but yeah, if Amazon were to ever bundle hardcovers and kindle editions, I too would be all over it.

Lou Anders said...

I'm a big fan of Yep Roc records (for a lot of reasons, including the way they've built a brand by snatching up respectable, older midlist musicians like Nick Lowe and Robyn Hitchcock as clout-by-association while bringing out new alternative talent).

They make the digital download available the instant you buy the CD, DRM free and held forever for you.

Rene Sears said...

I just got the Kindle 2. So far, I love it. Amazon backs up the ebooks you buy through them so that they're always available to you, should you delete them off your device or wish to switch devices. I imagine there would be a problem if you wanted to read them on a non-Amazon reader.

I have a bunch of other books I've gotten elsewhere & had no problem converting them for the Kindle. I just save them on a flash drive. I haven't tried converting a Word document, but all the PDFs I've done have looked good.

Now if only they'll get the Amazon app for the G1, I'll be ecstatic. I hear amazon syncs the devices so you can stop reading on your phone and pick up at the same place on your Kindle, which is just cool.

Rene Sears said...

I should add, with regards to yesterday's gorgeous post, there are some books I'll still buy a hard copy for the beautiful cover.

Neil Richard said...

I have a ton of free PDF books that I'd love to read, but the Kindle is still outside my price range. So I wait for a cheap alternative.

As for B&N buying Fictionwise, I think they are slowly ramping up to buy Borders. BAMM will wait in the wings and keep their standings strong, but they won't cave like Borders will. Just a prediction, but one I truly believe in.

Lou Anders said...

Rene - if the Kindle for iPhone ap upgrades to a way to read non-Kindle documents (PDFs, Word doc) on it, that would be awesome. I'm sure it will at some point.

TK42ONE - you really think B&N will buy Borders? I see them cherry picking some key retail spaces, maybe, but the whole chain?

BAMM - they need a much better selection.

Neil Richard said...

Lou - It's crazy, it's half-baked, but yes, I think it will happen. Both Borders and B&N have been sliding while BAMM has been gaining. So I think BAMM will hang in there. Borders appears to be sliding worse than B&N, so I'm guessing it'll be like Circuit City vs. Best Buy except there's a buyout involved. Meanwhile BAMM will b like Fry's and hang in there as the third wheel.

Lou Anders said...

Interesting, I really don't see B&N buying Borders, but you can come back and tell me "I told you so" when they do!

As to BAMM, I don't hear as much about how the economy is affecting them. I would like to see them hire a dedicated genre buyer though (they have one person for the entire "fiction" category, and as a result, things often get skipped.)