![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-12988-100x100.png\")
It's really too bad, they're going to end up pricing themselves out of the ebook business. Not that Amazon's any different than anyone else, (I'm looking at you Sony), but ebooks will never really take off until they're priced fairly.
It's really too bad, they're going to end up pricing themselves out of the ebook business. Not that Amazon's any different than anyone else, (I'm looking at you Sony), but ebooks will never really take off until they're priced fairly.
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I almost never spend over $10 on books. Why? I buy used actual books. It is nice getting books from anywhere from 25¢ to $2 most of the time.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-116400-100x100.png\")
@Plates: My fiance and I were just talking about the Kindle the other night. We get a lot of our books through Bookmans, a used book reseller in Arizona (possibly elsewhere). We can also sell our books to them and get store credit, which can then be used to buy other books. I'm not sure anything similar exists for the Kindle. We both decided that the Kindle was a waste of money... but then why is it never in stock? What are we missing?
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@Plates: I agree. The only books I ordinarily buy new are those that don't often come available in used copies and books from my favourite authors that I really do want to read OMGRIGHTNOW when they come out. Otherwise, I can wait for a used copy. Or even go to the library!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-350988-100x100.png\")
@kmw2: Yeah, that's what I do. If it's something I read over and over or really like the author, I buy them but mostly used copies from Amazon, library booksales, Goodwill, garage sales, or a local used bookstore. Plus, I tend to read in the tub with a cup of coffee so, water and something electronic aren't good together.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-21970-100x100.png\")
@Plates: I keep a massive wishlist of books on Amazon, and sync it with Wishradar and set a $4 price point. It can take a while (as in, a year or more) for a used copy of a book to come in at the magic number, but since it requires no work on my part--WishRadar sends you an email alert when a title hits the price point you choose--it's an easy way to find bargains.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-762803-100x100.png\")
How can a copy of a book with no cover at all be priced the same as a hard cover copy? i understand they try to \"value\" it but the hard cover is for show, and paperback for reading.. so shouldn't we treat the digital copy as a version purchased for reading? This will lead to book torrents if they don't already exist.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-133024-100x100.png\")
@Skeetz: oh book torrents already exist. I don't have a kindle, so I never looked into seeing if you can put these types of downloads on your Kindle.
@qwickone: Hmmm wonder what download speeds I could get with some good seeders (lol).. if they work with the kindle or the sony reader i'd actually get one.
@Skeetz:
They do exist but many readers use proprietary formats so they're not as common as other files.
These seems awfully similar to the whole Circuit City Divx fiasco. I'm all for high tech, but if I'm gonna read a book, I'm gonna read a book, not some digital tablet, especially since there is no price advantage.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-131635-100x100.png\")
Considering the price of a Kindle, I think it is a terrible investment. Why pay, what is it, $300+, and it only reads books.
Why not buy an iPod Touch that one could use not only for e-books but also music, video, photos, and web surfing?
The Amazon Kindle seems like an overpriced one-trick pony.
@apronk: I'm also a Kindle owner, and I love mine. There are tens of thousands of books available for Kindle that are absolutely free. Kindle will play music, and has web access. Admittedly, the web access is slow and does a poor job displaying graphics, but for quick lookups its great.
As far as book pricing, if you consider the savings over printing, storing, and shipping physical books, it seems like the electronic edition should be significantly less costly.
@Lorrie Blackburn: Book pricing doesn't play a role in my decision though. I thrive on my public library system and don't typically purchase books anyway.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-550329-100x100.png\")
@apronk: Sony readers play audiobooks, never tried music files. You can also store photos though they display in black and white.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-135039-100x100.png\")
@apronk: if you get a kindle, that's exactly why you do want it. although, the kindle can play mp3s, I like it because it's smaller than a book and it effectively holds as many books as I want. It's also much easier to read, as segador has said.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-470278-100x100.png\")
@apronk: It is pricy, but I absolutely love my Kindle. I have about 50 books on it, and love baing able to take them all with me when I travel, and shop for new ones when I want. Also, the E-ink screen makes the Kindle/Sony reader far better for reading a book than the 2-inch screen on an iPod.
@Segador: true, iPod Touch is 3.5 diagonal compared to 6 for the Kindle.
It's cool if folks prefer the Kindle. But for myself, I could not justify the purchase.
Commodities are up people. Gold, silver, copper, orange juice concentrate, pork bellies and even those
pesky expensive electrons that are used to send the \"book\" to your Kindle. Why just the other day I had to pay over a penny for a bundle of 3 trillion electrons.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-307161-100x100.png\")
@Blueskylaw: Considering there are 1.5 trillion electrons per kilowatt-hour, I'd say you're getting a good deal. :)
/science geek
This just reaffirms my opinion that you've got to be a grade-A sucker to buy one of these devices.
@cmdrsass: ... or you intend to read free ebooks.
The Baen \"Webscription\" site ([www.webscription.net]) is well worth a look, especially if you're into science fiction.
Most of the books seem to be priced around the $6 mark, which isn't too bad. The entire Baen Free Library collection is on there, too (about 100 books IIRC).
Certainly better than what Waterstones are offering over here for the Sony Reader... £25 for the ebook, £12 for the hardback, £4 for the paperback. WTF?
I should probably have mentioned the complete and utter lack of DRM too... Insofar as you can copy it onto as many devices as you like, and conversely if you manage to lose your laptop, Kindle or whatever, it's easy enough to re-download the books onto a new one.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-87429-100x100.png\")
I don't have a kindle, but when I can buy used books for $2-$6 a few months after they come out, and actually have a physical copy I can read later, or trade into the used book store for credit....personally, a kindle book would need to be $3-$6 for me to consider it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-397120-100x100.png\")
@Saboth: Ditto. The Kindle's been tempting me, but until I can get an e-book for less than a new paperback (used bookstores are non-existent in my area, and I buy books on impulse most of the time, and second-hand stores typically only have trashy romance novels), I'll pass. Especially with that $300 initial cost.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-545648-100x100.png\")
@Brain.wav: If you've got the internet, you've got access to used bookstores.
[amazon.com] = marketplace sellers. (Shipping is always $4 for books, $3 or so for cds.)
[powells.com] - Portland, OR. Used & new books.
[strandbooks.com] - NYC. Used & new books.
[abebooks.com] = database of used booksellers.
[alibris.com] = database of used booksellers.
[half.com] - subsidiary of ebay, lots of used books.
@Saboth:
Especially since they save so much on printing, full color covers, distribution, stocking, etc.
Kind of like how you download CDs on the internet, and for some reason they are still $11-$12, and you can go buy an actual CD for the same price...shouldn't the downloads be more like $6-$8, since they don't have to press the CDs, ship them, etc?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-210047-100x100.png\")
@Saboth:
They don't save as much on stocking and distribution as you'd think. You'd think servers and databases would be vastly less expensive and/or risky compared to brick-and-mortar stores, but they're quite costly.
@ADismalScience:
Storing an electronic version is something that they are doing now anyways. As far as servers, Amazon is doing that for them. So where's the cost to the publisher? Yes, there is a cost to Amazon, and yes we expect them to make a certain amount off the book, but it's the PUBLISHERS, who are setting a list price (to get their 40% or whatever it is), and then amazon bases it's charge off of that. Since the publishers are setting the digital price the same as the hardcover price usually (and at the lowest the paperback price), when they aren't the ones actually incurring the costs, it makes sense that consumers are a little irritated.
I actually just discovered that I can get almost all audiobooks and a lot of PDF, etc.... from a website affiliated with my library. My particular site is www.mymediamall.net They have new releases, etc... and it's 100% free. I was stunned at the selection. These can be burned to CD's just like Audible. I'm sure for those not in Illinois, there are similar sites. Just check the \"references\" link on your libraries' website.
I find it amazing, the audacity of these publishers. You see with a regular book there is the cost of paper, printing, and then distrubution. In addition there are storage costs. An ebook's file size is small and costs virtually nothing to store or transmit.
I also find that we consumers have walked into a trap with digital content. Unlike the Books, DVDs/VHS, and CDs of the past, we can't sell products we don't need any longer yet we still pay close the same price for something with less rights.
@LJKelley:
In the end, it boils down to this: Do you want to pay more money for a copy that is physical, cheap, used for centuries, can be traded and resold, or one that is the same price if not higher, is digital, and cannot be sold/resold?
I'm sticking with real books. If they start to offer ALL of their books for .99c, I'll consider a kindel. Until then, it's just a fancy piece of technology for people who don't the concept of value.
@LJKelley: Having worked for a publisher, the costs for paper, printing, binding and shipping of the books we put out were usually around 10% of the total cost of producing the book. Most of the costs were paying quality editors, doing good design, etc., and those costs don't go away when you do an electronic version. Printing costs are a much smaller part of the overall expense of a book than most seem to think.
@Funklord: I don't disagree with this, but I find it fascinating that every price hike of the last 15+ years has been attributed to the rising cost of physically publishing books, and now suddenly the only message I hear from publishers is that physical publication is a small fraction of the cost. First we were told printing costs were skyrocketing, now we're being told they're negligible. I get the sense that there's a lot of massaging of the truth happening here as publishers spin the facts to suit their financial goals.
Are we to assume that they're passing that 10% savings on to us, then? Should we receive any additional savings for being deprived of the ability to transfer our purchases to another person, or the ability to read them on other devices?
I'm not asking you in particular for answers, but I think these things need to be worked out. Right now I think Amazon is forcing publishers to price far lower than they want (and I'm not sure Amazon is being fair on the profit splitting, either), and publishers are being unrealistic about the value of a heavily-DRM-handicapped digital copy.
(Unrelated rant: if publishers had jumped at the chance to innovate in this space before Amazon did, they wouldn't have ceded so much control to one giant retailer. As in other industries *cough* autos *cough*, lack of innovation = lost opportunities.)
@LJKelley:
I also find that we consumers have walked into a trap with digital content. Unlike the Books, DVDs/VHS, and CDs of the past, we can't sell products we don't need any longer yet we still pay close the same price for something with less rights.
You have made an excellent point. What if you drop the Kindle? Oooops, there goes 100 books valued at $1000.00
Hard drive crashes? There goes 5000 songs.
iPod gets stolen? Sorry again.
And for those who say you should have a backup, how many people actually back up their music if they don't even do their hard drive?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-2352-100x100.png\")
I believe the Kindle keeps a adtabase of all of the purchases you have made and allows you to re-download them if your Kindle breaks or is Lost.
This is the same crap that's been going on with the Sony store. My wife has had a PRS-500 since the day it came out and we've purchased over 200 books E-books through the store. You would expect to save a couple dollars on each book (and it seemed like it was going that way at first) but lately the prices have risen to the point where a lot are more expensive than the paperback versions.
Great job Sony - lets make sure we turn the E-books into another memory stick. Is retardation a requirement to run one of Sony's entertainment units?
This is the same thing that was done with EZ Pass.
First you got a discount off the cash fee when you used it, then the discount was taken away, now they charge you a monthly fee.
ATM's were also meant to save the bank money by eliminating tellers, now there are a CASH COW.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-321187-100x100.png\")
Someone is going to have to explain why the Kindle is ever economical, \"heavy reader\" or no. $10 a pop for e-books on a proprietary platform? I guess if you are one of those people who only buys first-edition hardbacks and you're running out of room in your apartment, okay, but otherwise the math just doesn't make sense. Is there a 'used book' market where you can re-sell your ebooks?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-537475-100x100.png\")
@mythago: I used to cling to my books like they were made of gold...and then I got smart and realized that my collection of books wasn't worth the grief over moving them everytime I moved into a new place, or moving them whenever I needed more space for books. I donated a lot of them to the library, which made me very happy considering I spend a lot of time getting books from the library, and it's a public project I really support.
@mythago: Some people just like having/collecting books. I rarely resell my books so it's not a big deal for me.
Doesn't the Kindle have some sort of DRM?
I'd love to buy an e-book reader, but until they make a good one that will read PDFs (and display color, I'm not sure if the Kindle will do that) I'm rather hesitant.
Or I could just be wrong.
@Divals: Sony reader will display pdf's and a whole list of formats, though the screen is black and white.
@Divals: You do not want the Kindle, then:
- it has DRM
- b/w display only (color digital ink displays are a few years off)
- will display PDFs, but not 100% accurately every time
- pricing scheme is obviously still being worked out, and may end up being overpriced
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-8966-100x100.png\")
The promise of the ebook falls short once again. The Kindle and others of its kind have had one major failing that a book never had. Losing it at the airport is a big dent in the pocketbook.
Amazon just announced that they will only support Kindle-exclusive formatting, no PDFs.
Vertical integration is a tempting business to be in, but as somewhat with Sony, and to a great extent with Apple have all limited their sales base to those who buy into the brand exclusively.
@Jeangenie:
Just announced it? They've stated that from the start. They don't support PDFs. It doesn't mean that they ban you from (quite easily) converting them and popping them on anyway.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-390449-100x100.png\")
So is it amazon that is raising the prices or the publisher? My Guess is the publisher but that doesnt let amazon off the hook.
Shame on Amazon for making grandiose promises but not ensuring they can meet them. The needed to set up an E-book deal with the publisher's the likes of Apples -Itunes(all mp3's 99 cents=all ebooks $9.99)
Shame on the publishers for once again just not getting it and killing a golden goose before it can even begin laying eggs(aka too greedy too fast).
E-books is still something people aren't sold on so you can't raise prices on it and generate bad press. This is their big shot with oprah and amazon pushing it. If it blow's up then publishers are stuck with print, and just ask any newspaper how the print industry is doing.
You want free/cheap books that don't permanently take up your space and have no digital rights management? Go to your public library!
@diasdiem: I am all about the public library. Like pecan pi said above, they have a very wide selection of items and if that particular library doesn't have something in stock, you can reserve it using Inter-library Loan from the comfort of your home and have it delivered to the library of your choice, usually within a day or two. I know that some people like to actually own the physical item, but if you don't and you ever need to move, you'd be amazed at how few boxes you have to pack up when you own only the books that mean something to you. I've saved thousands of dollars by using the library.
@MissPeacock: I can access my account at my library online, too. That makes it convienent so if I'm home and see something about a book I want to read, I log in, reserve it and then just wait for it to come in. I check out 10 - 12 books every few weeks. I still have three bookcases full of books, though. Obviously, from my screen name and all this, I read a lot.
@diasdiem: Definitely. The library is one of the most ignored resources one can have. They have bestsellers, they have audiobooks, they have DVDs and CDs. And now you can get online to your library's website to manage your account to put books on hold, request new books the library doesn't have yet, and if you're savvy - find the bestsellers you want that are coming out in the next week and put a hold on them so you're the first in line to read them.
I just love my public library. It has almost every book I want to read. Last time I bought a novel was years ago.
I would only buy an e-book if it was about 30-40% cheaper then a paperback
Just make sure you don't pay all of that money for a book that's out of copyright. Once the copyright expires, it enters the public domain, and can be obtained from Project Gutenberg for free.http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
Book publishers are no different than record companies.
Greedy publishers want to pave their driveways with gold.
Inkjet printer manufacturers are worse. They are like a drug dealer.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-332708-100x100.png\")
Same old same old....
Oh it will be wonderful! CDs will be so much cheaper!
Oh it will be wonderful! MP3s will be so much cheaper!
Oh it will be wonderful! E-books will be so much cheaper!
I've heard it all before. I'll hear it again, I'm sure. THIS is precisely why I didn't buy a Kindle. I knew it had to be coming.
The Kindle isn't priced for economy, though. It's prices like a \"premium product.\" That's what bothers me most about it - it's being positioned as some sort of aspirational luxury item. Is that really right in an age when free content seems around every corner of the internet?
I was this close to buying one for my wife this Christmas, but this makes me glad I relented; a big part of my equation was the relative cost/space savings. We easily spend $1500 a year on books.
As a Kindle owner, I bought it not caring about their $9.99 promise, because I knew I'd likely never spend even that much (not including scholarly books). I will NOT buy an ebook that is more or as expensive as a paperback regardless of the type of book. Amazon and the publishers needs to get a clue. Kindle books should be discounted twice. One, because everyone is saving money on production, storage, and shipping. And two, because of the drm. Not only are we not allowed to sell or lend our license to someone, but if Amazon decides the ebook business is no longer profitable, we FORFEIT our purchases. Because I can almost guarantee, neither Amazon or the publishers will be offering us paper books to make up for our losses.
That said, I've only bought one book (roughly four dollars) from Amazon since I've had the Kindle (about 6 months). Everything else I've read are free books from amazon, feedbooks, and manybooks, as well as journal articles for my profession. This has made the kindle worth it. Books, I'm not sure I'll read over and over again, I'll get from the library. Books I want from my collection, I'll consider for my kindle, IF they are considerably cheaper than the paperback.
I agree, there are way too many great authors out there hungry for a chance of discovery through Kindle, willing to price their works at much less than the $9.99 level. I have some mainstream favorites, but I will NOT pay more than paperback prices for any of them. The elite authors for these publishers are going to find their audiences with new favorites if they let publishers push avid readers away with their greed. They are begging for a illegal market to serve us. I would prefer to support authors, but I'm sure I will find some way to rationalize it.
FEEDBOOKS.COM They even have an RSS feed, a Kindle friendly web page. -AND- since the Kindle includes a web browser in the EVDO network (included free) you can navigate to the webpage, download the book (either print or audio version) and enjoy your new titles in seconds. Why pay Amazon for what you can get for free?
@LeahBehemoth: And for blogs you want to subscribe to, try kindlefeeder.com. Much, much cheaper (as in, free) than paying for blogs via the Amazon store.
People actually buy books for their Kindles? If the prices were more reasonable, I'm sure I'd buy more (instead of convert \"free\" PDF's)
Actually, Google is your friend. Free downloads are out there but you really have to look hard to find the current stuff. In other words, check the publishing date. Most of the free stuff is pretty old*... but authors -are- recognizing that free doesn't mean bad and they sometimes *desire* to get the material out there at any cost. Let the public decide if they wish to pay for it, not the authors publisher.
* the standards are there like: Mein Kampf, HG Wells stories, ancient (19th century) cookboks, stuff that's been published many times....
Price gouging? Really? It's a book, not gasoline. If the price is not right, don't buy it. You're in the driver's seat here. Publishers don't care about people whining on Consumerist. They care about lost sales.
Oh yeah, about Mein Kampf: If you've never read it, try it.
Ask yourself the question: where have I seen this kind of stuff before?
There was a lot of social engineering done by the socialist party at the time, including a lot of the same kind of things that took place with our -former- administration. You know, rallies with foaming at the mouth supporters heckling and fighting any protesters, moving protesters to far away \"zones\"
aresting protesters, (or beating the crap out of them), lots of social engineering by the Nazi Party.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-387761-100x100.png\")
I was telling people for the past year not to buy one. I was calling these things the Kindling, and as it turns out, people are getting burned.
Why would anyone buy books that are locked into one single device? Cripes, this makes DRM look honest. And it's not just the inflated prices - who wants to carry around three or four electronic devices when you can carry just one?
Fer crying out loud, you can read books on PDAs and computers just as easily, and the Japanese have/had a phenomenon of comics that could be read, panel by panel, on cell phones.
Once again, novelty meets naivety and price gauging turns into price gouging.
@P_Smith:
\"Fer crying out loud, you can read books on PDAs and computers just as easily\"
If you had ever read off of a device with e-ink technology, you'd understand that this is not true at all. I have never been able to stand reading on my phone or my computer. The glare and the discomfort of being stuck in certain positions to read, are too much for me to read more than a page or two.
I would support $10+ e-book prices if it meant a higher percentage of revenue went to the author.
But somehow I doubt this happens.
I wonder how many books from that 30% are under the categories Nonfiction and Computer/Internet. Both of them have a large % of books over the marker which to me makes sense. A lot of non-fiction books cost more then fiction ones same as computer books which can be well over 50 bucks a shot. I want to know if they are messing up the average.
I wouldn't pay more for the digital copy of any book then what a new paperback version would cost though.
I use my ebook reader when I'm traveling, that way I can bring a few different books with me with minimal impact on what I have to carry. I didn't buy it for economical reasons, I got it because of the convenience.
For every day reading I stick to regular books which I get from used book swapping sites, used book stores, and I dream one day of having a local public library that doesn't suck.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-370347-100x100.png\")
Something tells me that the authors -- those actually creating the content -- aren't getting a higher share of that inflated e-book price despite the lower overhead.
The publishing industry, much as the music industry, seems shamefully resistant to making use of new technology, instead of opposing it and alienating their customers at every turn.
Jeez, the kindle is more than the Acer Aspire One? Who the heck would buy this thing instead of a netbook?
It just because the publishers have to factor in the higher cost of the paper it doesn't buy, and the printing it doesn't do. These costs can add up. I am old enough to remember when paper back books sold for .35 and hardcover books sold for the price of present day paperbacks. I don't mean to imply that the e books should be that cheep but please find a happy median.
Who is stupid enough to buy a Kindle anyway?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-628034-100x100.png\")
This is why I never bought a kindle. It was never the price of the device though. I was always bothered that I can't lend or even give away my digital copy of a book for the Kindle. That point aside it shows how greedy and sad book publishers have become now that they charge more for something the consumer can only do less with. Putting DRM on the books already violated the sprit of book ownership and the sharing of literature. If I buy a book and my wife wants to read it she doesn't go buy another copy I give it to her when I'm done. I guess if we had two Kindles we could trade them but that would be ridiculous and impractical for having paid close to $700 to read books you can't give away or sell. However that example is the exact reason why publishers are charing more for the Kindle copy: because you were willing to buy a $350 book reading device they know you're good for it. That doesn't make it right and it is pure greed. My advice don't bitch about it just stop buying their books.
Currently I use Stanza for Mac and the iPhone it's a free service and software that utilizes files from many public domain sites and pay sites. Overall I have been disappointed in the DRM free offerings and I have been looking into scanning my own eBooks. I feel that if I buy an ebook I have the right to treat it as a hardcopy. DRM is a loophole that publisher's and Amazon are using to hinder consumer rights. Frankly I am tired of toting books around so if it isn't available in a DRM free format I simply don't buy it. While new DRM-free ebooks are hard to find for purchase there are plenty of free public-domain books available.
I used to trade books in at used book stores but I've never sold any of my books ever. So the idea that book lovers would be on the internet mass distributing copies of \"The Outliers\" and that the majority of readers would take the stolen product is comical. The book reading community at large would police itself and iTunes has proven that if a legitimate copy of something is available at a FAIR price most people will buy it. I would love to own a dedicated ebook device but there are none on the market that meet my requirements.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-659387-100x100.png\")
Hah ill take my audiobook torrents for the iphone for the win. And the readers for the iphone are so good. Pictures and all. Even some with animation. Ipod touch/iphone with a good appstore reader + torrents = the win. Like. For sure.
I've recently come to understand that all those people who say they -hate- the Kindle, well..., they don't own one. They give all kind of reasons for not buying one:
No fancy internet browser...uh wait, Kindle can do that.
No ability to play music.... sorry Kindle does that too.
No ability to do wifi...wrong AGAIN. Kindle has a built in EVDO wireless modem.... and the EVDO connection is free. Take that, netbook!
About the only thing the Kindle can't do is color video. No Youtube. Awwwww, what a shame that someone would call the lack of video a deal breaker.
Guess how popular the Kindle is?
So popular in fact, that there's at least FIVE other brands out there, including Sony, all pushing their versions. So far, Kindle rules the roost...
I don't have a problem with the e-book being $9.99 when the hardcover comes out. But my question is, when the paperback edition becomes available, will we still pay the $9.99 for the Kindle e-book?
Since receiving my Kindle, the number of books I have read has increased dramatically, mainly because the e-books are less expensive so I can purchase more of them for the same money. However, if I can get a mass market paperback at the bookstore for $7.99, why would I pay $9.99 for the Kindle version?
In answer to all those who commented to use your public library, that is a very valid comment; however not everyone has a good public library system in their town (we do not) so purchasing books, in that case, is the only solution for an avid reader.
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Shopping for a new bestseller the other day, I was stoked to find it available on my Kindle, until I saw the price- $15.99. as a B&N member, I could walk in and pay that for the hardcover edition. I was left wondering what did happen to the promised $9.99 pricepoint.