The Newest Kindle

I know there's a thread about this product, or one that touches on this product, but here is the latest version; Kindle 2.0

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/technology/personaltech/24pogue.html?_r=1

 

if readers won't pay for newspaper web site subscription, why would they par for this?

 

That's my hope. It was mentioned on another thread (from another story) that the NY Times could buy each subscriber a new Kindle and it would be cheaper than printing a year's work of subscriptions.

 

The future. This and micropayments. Sign me up.

 

Authors Guild president Roy Blount Jr. on how the new Kindle rips off authors:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/opinion/25blount.html?_r=1

 

It's going to be a huge, drawn-out fight. Audiobooks are a gigantic business. I spend close to 100K per year on them for my library. We have reps from several different companies coming in to fight over our money all the time. Forgot to ask the last one what she thought of Kindle 2. But we will be hearing much more about this.

 

I'm in the camp that you should be allowed to do what you want with content that you buy for personal use. I've ripped DVD's to use on my iPod or laptop, ripped CD's or converted my clips to PDF's. The text-to-speech function is just an extension of that concept.

Blount Jr. should have a beef with publishers with regard to royalties. It's not the role of Amazon to dictate the terms of author's royalties. It's up to those companies who sell their content to Amazon to do so.

 

The New York Times really covers the hell out of the Kindle and Kindle advancements.
It's almost like they have a vested interest...

 

The royalty problem, I think, is that the book contracts/royalties existed before the kindle, so there's no provision for these rights.

I've received several contract amendments from publishers on old books, related to ebooks and other electronic stuff, I'm afraid to sign any of them. The technology is developing faster than our understanding of what it means to us as authors.

Either way, though, I have to believe that unless you have a huge bestseller, these percentages are going to be fairly inconsequential.

 

Like I said, they NYT is better off giving each subscriber a Kindle instead of a printed issue each day. I wouldn't be surprised if they're waiting for a better Kindle and working on an agreement to start offering that as an option when you renew or subscribe for the first time.

 

My problem with the Kindle is that e-ink isn't mature enough (i.e. color) and the Sprint's EVDO coverage is lackluster outside of cities. I can't get EVDO at my house through Sprint, but Verizon claims to have EVDO coverage in my town.

 

Bumping this with news that Apple may make its push into the market (and probably obliterate the Kindle).

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/kindle-vs-apple/