Amazon Kindle versus Paper, the leading DRM free book format
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 |
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 at 15:56 and is tagged media, technology. 
November 27th, 2007 at 19:41
i would suggest that obsolete digital devices have far more alternative uses than simply becoming a frisbee. how about “coaster” or “discussion piece 10 years into the future” or “a good laugh”.
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:57
bwahahaha to you Ryan
I miss you both so much!