Dear Jeff Bezos (one-week Kindle review)

you are repeating yourself

Many thanks for the review. I won’t go on about many of the points already covered, but as a librarian I would like to add my voice.
Electronic books blew into the library scene about 10 years ago and as quickly blew out — the problem, bye and large was two fold — content and usability. Presently there are a number of corporations who are marketing e-books to libraries and most of them have there own interface(s).
To go out on a limb, it seems that users, both in public and academic settings are slowly coming to value materials in “e” format. If there was some way for Amazon.com to lease/sell their e-books to libraries it would be great! We in libraries could pick and choose rather than select a pre-selected package from the present suppliers.
One of the challenges/problems facing libraries and their patrons is the interface. People do mention what they are reading to others, there is social contectiving between books and people and ideas. I certainly use Amazon.com to purchase materials for friends. (Matter of fact libraries in the past few years are really into embracing all aspects of Web 2.0). Students need a platform from where they can move text/comments to someplace for further use (including citations would be grand!)
If prices for the Kindle would fall drastically, it could be possible for patrons/libraries to lease/lend the Kindle as a device to desseminate e-format materials.
We are at the threshold and there is some stumbling and tripping over it. Let’s keep ourselves focused ahead, both at the sky and at our feet.

I work for NowNow (if you consider 3 cents an answer “work”, I prefer the term slavery lol) and I keep reading critics’ reviews praising the Kindle and it’s usability. If they saw the questions that come through every day they would better understand, as you do, that most people who buy a Kindle have no idea what they’re doing. And those are only the ones savvy enough to figure out how to use NowNow!

I’ve had mine for two weeks and love it. Is it perfect? No…but as someone interested in reading books and newspapers everyday, it’s a real boon. Although I’m not particularly interested in social networking and all, I realize others are and that the Kindle falls short. The Kindle is softening the ebook beach head and will be the tipping point for ebooks. Somebody else will come along and do it better-or perhaps Kindle 2.0 will nail it.

Sorry to disagree bro
The Kindle solves so many problems for me
I’m willing to overlook its limitations
It’s been a constant companion
since it came two days
after the initial offering sold out
If you don’t like yours
give it to someone who can appreciate it
Personally
No one gets their hands on mine
Any human I would lend it to
would never give it back

Hey try the French ebook, the Cybook. http://www.bookeen.com

It also has crap menu thing but it actually is well thought.

This device is meant to appeal to book readers, not necessarily tech geeks. Why in the world would I want my fingerprints all over the screen I’m trying to read? Reading a book is an inherently private activity; why would I desire social connectivity invading my private time? Sometimes simplicity itself is elegant and just because a device could do more doesn’t mean that it should. Hopefully Amazon won’t complicate this device by adding a plethora of functionality having nothing whatsoever to do with storing and reading books.

One other note….

Steve Jobs has dissed this device as a non-starter and is quoted as saying “people don’t read anymore” as his reasoning for his analysis. Don’t look for Apple to do anything anytime soon in this area.

Now now.. had you taken the time for a little tough-minded thinking.. you might have put the wee device in its cover. Then you would have seen how it’s meant to be used.

a) the angled cut-backs on the right side give you a place for your thumbs on the “book.” .. and suddenly the buttons are in a handy place.

b) the rubberized backing helps hold the device in the cover, and there is a little plastic tab that snaps into the backing to hold it in place.

c) once “clothed” it holds comfortablely in one’s hands — reads and feels like a book.

I’ve handed mine to a half-dozen people, in its cover, and they all say — “oh.. now that makes sense…” “feels like a book…” or “wow!”

It always helps to fully assemble the parts before you start to play with things.

Menus — still suck.. but that’s just software. Easy to fix, n’est pas?

Your morons.

Who the fuck wants to read more than a couple pages on an iphone or read an entire book on a computer. Why dont you learn what a product is actually designed to do before making idiot comments like these.

Why doesnt it browse the web? wahhhhhhhhhh why doesnt it drive my car? wahhhhhhhhhhhh why doesnt it have 2000gb on onboard flash wahhhhhhhhhhhh why doesnt it cost 5 dollars? wahhhhhhhhhhhh

The thing is sold out because, despite being ugly, the function is incredible.

LONG BATTERY LIFE, a display designed for reading, instant access to over 100,000 books, conversion of your existing files. Seriously this is designed for reading not for the year 2040. Comparing this to a cell phone highlights your idiocy.

I haven’t heard much about how we simply do not need yet another proprietary ebook format. I have tried many different ebook “solutions”, and they all suck for a variety of reasons.

What I have settled on is the Haali bookreader for the Pocket PC; it comes from Russia, reads plain txt files, formats them on the fly, automatically bookmarks, extracts text files from within zip archives… the list of neat features goes on.

There is no DRM, no special formatting, so that any document that can be converted to plain ascii text can be added to your library. Zip files make a marvellous way of organizing your library and avoiding cluttering up your device with thousands of txt files. They also take up far less space by being compressed.

Best of all: it’s free.

when i read the first few lines of this blog entry, i thought it was all a joke…then as i read more…i felt compelled to respond to this even though i don’t even own a Kindle (yet).

Based on a thorough research on what Kindle is supposed to do, here is a list that i came up with:

1. offer the convenience of carrying a lot of books with you and read it anytime anyplace
2. offer the convenience of instantly buying your books anytime, anywhere.
3. provide a reading experience as you’re reading a real book.
4. do 1 to 3 with as little power consumption as possible.

Now, witht those facts at hand, let’s do a point-by-point rebuttal on your complaints

1. Ability to buy paper goods. I can see why Amazon did this (they’re trying to push the Kindle, after all) and frankly, I’m not sure a Kindle user would mind…that said, it’s not something that can be corrected with a future software/firmware.
2. Useability sucks. That’s debatable, but i’ll give you that.
3. Complaining about menus. WTH? Do you mind sharing whatever you’re smoking there? You know why Amazon used soft menus instead of mapping everything on a key? One word: FLEXIBILITY. If Amazon decides to add more features to the Kindle, how the heck are they going to do this if they already mapped all the buttons? I mean, Jeezus.

So you made a little clarification that you’re poking fun on the MS UI designers pre-Windows 95. Again, I’d love to see what custom version of Windows or Microsoft software you have installed on your computer…because the one I have STILL HAVE MENUS. even Office 2007 still has it–granted that they’re now CONTEXT-SENSITIVE menus…they’re still menues.

And what the heck are you talking about XBoxes and Zune not having menus? REALLY now? The XBox Dashboard has a chock full of menus…and looking at Zune demos…OH LOOKS! MOAR MENUS.
4. Again. I can see why Amazon did not do this in version 1.0. Heck, I can almost bet that they had this. You know why? Look no further: Zune song sharing. Yeah, it’s a great concept, but nobody would hardly use it. So why build an intricate business model just to support that?
5. No social network. Are you serious? I want to read a book i use this device. if I want to know what the others are reading, I’ll use my laptop or–check this out–call them on the phone! Not all people have the need to stalk someone else 24/7. What’s next? Instant Messaging so you can chat with your friends about the books you’re reading? Please.
6. Touch screen. Now this is the most stupefying complaint. You did not ask for a color screen or a grayscale with more than 4 shades of gray…you asked for a touch screen. Good Lord. Did you even bother to read and understand how e-Ink works? Here’s a clue: it doesn’t use power when displaying text; it only uses power when re-drawing text…now imagine, adding Touch Screen at that that dog-slow refresh rate…are you getting it now? Gawd, for somebody who consider himself a geek, you missed this one BIG TIME.

In conclusion, not only that you missed the point of the Kindle, you missed by several miles.

You bought it because “you’re a geek?” it’s like voting for McCain by virtue os just being a Republican. NO! you bought it because you happen to be a dude with too much money and bought this thing so you can trash it. “geeks” will not write this travesty.

oh and by the way, that little video you made is UNWATCHABLE; if others thought it was funny, to me you come across as very obnoxious. i could not get past the 37th time you said “whoever designed this piece of cr@p should be fired.” I have a tip for you: when talking in front of a web cam, stay at least a few feet away! holy crap you were almost kissing your web cam lens (any GEEK knows that)…because, you know, you’re not exactly easy on the eyes.

You are a douchebag. And I presume you are one of those who trashed the early PDAs and converged phone devices….

ABSOLUTELY – I cannot believe that Amazon did not give the Kindle the ability to buy from their website? I must be mistaken. Surely you can buy Amazon products from your Kindle. You are reading your book… you get to the end of it, you decide you should order your mother a pair of shoes you saw on Amazon. Bada bing – the tool is already in your hand – you don’t forget and end up having to buy her something locally and Amazon cops a sale.
Also – I’m not much of one for communities – but I understand that this coming decade is predicted to be the decade of online communities – that being said Amazon should have some functionality in that area so that they are not left behind. Would probably be profitable for them to start their own KINDLE COMMUNITY>

It’s supposed to be a reading device, not an internet device. If you want an internet device, buy an iphone.

your comments on the usability, however, no touch-screen, and holdingit while you read, were helpful.

You forgot one thing- as of yet, it has failed miserably at ushering in a new era of world peace. And wouldn’t it be great if it could make your breakfast? Okay, anyway, I have a Kindle and I’m very satisfied with it. I’m watching the video and commenting as I go along:

1. Are you absolutely sure? Because as soon as I went into the Experimental Web Browser, the first bookmark was Amazon. Clicked on it and managed to get all the way up to “Checkout” with an item in maybe a minute in a half. Didn’t have any desire to actually buy it, so I stopped there, but still, I think it would have let me buy the item. Why have Amazon as a pre-existing bookmark if not?

2. I actually like the page turn on the side reminiscent-of-book design. I hope you could get used to holding it differently after a week. But I can definitely see where you’re coming from, even though I rarely inadvertantly turn the page after four months of ownership. However, this is what that piece of pleather that came in the box is for- the Kindle cover. This particular problem disappears when it’s in the cover. You also don’t feel “this piece of crap on the back” this way.

3. Menus? This issue is simply something the target customer is not going to care about. It takes me maybe ten seconds total to open the menu, close it, and scroll once up, once down. That’s okay for me. And the average user, again, is simply an avid book reader, not a tech geek. No one’s going to mind the menu.

4. It’s the difference between able to “gift” from a selection of maybe 75,000 books and being able to just buy exclusively for yourself from a selection of 115,000 books. Do you know how many publishers would get cold feet if they heard Amazon wanted to let people share/give books? Amazon has to create a no-risk enviornment for them as long as the reward is relative. Once (if ever) the Kindle is established as a powerful force, I’m sure you’ll be seeing some new gifting, etc. features, since publishers will want their books on Kindle, rather than Amazon wanting the publishers. In the meantime, if the person in question is trutworthy, you can have them registered to your account, send the book to Amazon, and have them retrieve the book from Amazon (up to 6 Kindles on one account.)

5. Amazon is advertising this as a new way to buy and interact with books. It IS a new way to buy and interact with books. There is a notable difference between shopping for and downloading a book in two minutes wirelessly and making a 45 min. trip to Barnes&Noble, spending an hour in there, and making the return trip. Plus the “sample” system. I think your wife is in the minority. Most book readers would at least be interested in the Kindle.

6. Why no touchscreen? I’m sure this was considered, and no one wants to wipe fingerprints off a book every time they turn a page, and no one wants to put up with fingerprints all over the screen. Come to think of it, why not go to the next level and have direct brain-to-device interaction? You have to not think of it as relative to the iPod Touch, which seems to be the main source of all of your criticisms.

7. You realize that changing font sizes makes fixed page numbers impossibe? It’s a sacrifice, and I’m sure you could get used to 4 digit location numbers. Not much of a difference to me either way, but…

8. Yes, most blogs suck… so don’t buy them. But I get the NY Times Latest News (and Amazon Daily- only good thing about it is it’s free), and it’s really quite convenient.

9. I don’t see the problem with newspapers. You can see what’s on the front page, you can see what’s on each section, and you can easily skip from story to story. And no ads. I like the Kindle Philadelphia Inquirer much better than the print version, personally, and it’s much more usable (can skip over entire chunks of stories and no ads to get in the way.)

10. Yeah, keyboard does suck, but it’s not unbearable.

11. A box is the best you’ll get for a highlight when you have an e-ink screen.

Good work, and good news! Thank you Robert.

No social networking? Hey Jeff, get your head out of Twitter.

I want something to read books. Lots and lots of books. I probably read more novels a year. I read them. I don’t annotate in them. I don’t go on Twitter every 5 seconds and tell people what I’m reading. If I recommend someone a book I say to them “hey, this was a great book, you should read it”. I don’t lend them the book or give it to them, I just say “it’s a good book”. That’s it. I’m not a fricken library. If they want to read the book, let them buy it themselves.

I’m interested in READING books. This seems to be the perfect device to get. I can buy books for cheap, get them, read them and then move on to the next book. I don’t read PDF documents…I’ve seen a few, but mainly their a pain in the ass. I’m not reading scientific journals, I read books. If I read a blog or a web-page, I do it on my computer. I don’t want to read a blog or a web-page on my book. When I’m reading a book I’m reading a book.

Also, why in the HELL would we want a fricken idiotic social networking thing on a book reader? STOP TRYING TO MAKE THIS THING SOMETHING THAT IT ISN’T. Keep it simple. Buy books, download them wirelessly anywhere and read them. That’s it. That’s all I want. Don’t want a messenger. Don’t want to watch movies or play music or chat with my friends or anything like that. It’s a book reader. They should just stick to that.

You’re geeks, you want all the latest bells and whistles on everything. You’re thankfully in a very small minority as people that I’ve physically seen test out the Kindle want one. Plain and simple. They’re not geeks, they like the screen, they like that you can buy books for cheap (last I checked, I couldn’t go into Barnes and Noble and buy a brand new hardcover bestseller for $9.99), they like that you don’t need a computer or anything to get the books.

Jeff Bezos seems to be kind of a jerk-wad about this…I understand he doesn’t like it…but I don’t think he would like it no matter what. He doesn’t like ebooks. Ok, I get it. It’s like someone who doesn’t like Rap music write a review for a new Rap album. I mean, come on…