New Kindle?
Looks like the rumor of a new larger Kindle is true. Amazon just sent us an invitation to a press conference scheduled for Wednesday, May 6 at 10:30am ET. You know what Amazon does at press events? It launches new Kindles!
As noted by Peter Kafka over at All Things Digital, the location of the Amazon event -- Pace University -- is the historic, 19th century HQ to the New York Times which is said to be partnering with Amazon on the larger Kindle. That makes for a perfect symbolic bridge from old to new media. We'll have to wait and see if newspaper subscribers can be lured across.
I was an early Kindle adopter and love my Kindle 2. My only complaint is the lack of electronic versions of a lot of older books I would like to read (example -- various James Clavell novels) but I am hoping this is similar to the early phase of CD's and DVD's when publishers had not yet seen the market or had the time to convert older music and movies to the new media.
EvilRedScandi:
I actually saw a Kindle 2 the other day - they guy on the cardio machine next to me at the gym had one. It still seems to have the problems I've always associated with e-books: you can't fit enough text on the page, and the pages turn too slowly. I love the concept, but I read fast. 400 - 600 WPM is a lazy, relaxed, meandering speed for me and I can crank it up to about 2000 if I really want. So far, the eBook readers just can't keep up.
May 4, 2009, 11:07 amrandomscrub:
It figures. I literally just bought a Kindle 2 (I haven't even opened it yet). I held out for so long because the screen isn't big enough to properly cope with academic papers (I'm a grad student), but I just caved. So now they're going to release one that basically has my name all over it. I hope I can return the one I have and get the newer one!
May 4, 2009, 11:34 amTucker:
I have the 1st gen. Kindle and I still use it all the time. http://www.feedbooks.com has MANY classics available for FREE and they upload quicker than an ipod. Of course they're all by authors who's copyrights have expired (Plato, Voltaire, etc.), but it's better than buying them from amazon.
You can actually publish your own work if you want too. Sign up and you can convert text files to fit on a kindle and everything.
May 5, 2009, 9:48 am