Archive for November, 2007
Amazon Kindle versus Paper, the leading DRM free book format
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007
Amazon launched its attempt to bring books to the digital realm with Kindle, a new eBook reader, this week.
Heralding Kindle as its Apple iPod, Amazon forgot the timeless lessons from the digital music revolution: proprietary, restricted formats with a single vendor lock in are A Bad Thing. The forgetfulness is rather ironic because the Amazon MP3 store does everything right that iTunes Store does wrong.
If you’re in the market for eBooks, I recommend the cheaper and more capable Sony E-reader that can display any text file or PDF (the predominate eBook format).
| Amazon Kindle | Paper | |
|---|---|---|
| Initiation | $400 + price of book | Price of book |
| Book selection | Limited: 90,000 | High: definitive format for “book” |
| Newspaper selection | 11 newspapers for subscription fee | High: definitive format for “newspaper”, free or small fee |
| Lending | You can’t. | Common practice amongst friends and libraries |
| Resale | You can’t. | Easy resale through sites like Amazon Marketplace. Price varies based on demand. |
| Reproduction | You can’t. | Personal duplication, reproduction for archival purposes, and transfer to different media formats allowed by law. |
| Computer interface | USB for Kindle transfer only. Other text documents may be transferred and converted to Kindle format through email for 10 cents each. | Scannable. Post-it notes can be added for no additional fee. |
| Readability on a deserted island | None after two days regardless of care | Thousands of years with proper care |
| Alternative uses | frisbee | door stop, fuel for heating, biodegradable for compost |
Lather Liberally
Thursday, November 1st, 2007
Mourning the re-election of Bush three years ago, I assisted Scrubya in launching its online store tonight. You can now buy hand made, vegetable based soaps online while contributing to organizations trying to undo the damage of “Dubya”. The soaps make great gifts for the politically frustrated in your life.
