Kindle, Amazon's e-book reader, is hot, but how does it ha..

Kindle, Amazon's e-book reader, is hot, but how does it handle?
By Allen Pierleoni - apierleoni at sacbee.com

Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Story appeared in SCENE section, Page E2

http://www.sacbee.com/140/story/864829.html

When you buy a Kindle electronic-book reader for $400 from Amazon.com
– the only place you can get one – and open the box, the first thing
you see printed inside is: "kindle: v.t. 1. set on fire. 2. inspire,
stir up. v.i. 1. catch fire. 2. become animated."

That's apparently what Jeff Bezos wanted to do with the very concept
of traditional books and how we read them when he introduced the
Kindle on Nov. 19. Bezos is the chief executive officer of the diverse
online merchandiser Amazon.com, which sells, among other things, a lot
of traditional books.

Newsweek magazine got carried away in its coverage of the Kindle's
debut when the headline on its story proclaimed, "The future of
reading."

Is it really all that? Or is the Kindle another niche product in the
multibillion-dollar book industry – in that regard, akin to the
audiobook?

Or is it more than that? Will it help an older audience of traditional
book readers overcome its fear of computer literacy? Will it help push
a digital-savvy younger generation into doing something that is
becoming increasingly alien – that is, reading?

E-book readers have been around in one form (primitive) or another
(sophisticated) since the late 1990s. As of today, though, the Kindle
is king. Its main competitor, the Sony Reader, debuted in 2006 and for
a while was sold exclusively at Sony and Borders stores but is more
widely available now. It's $100 cheaper than the Kindle but has a more
roundabout way of downloading books, from the source to a computer to
the Reader.

The Kindle's main advantage over the Reader is the simplicity and
speed with which books can be downloaded – wirelessly and within a
minute. The technology allowing that is a high-speed data-transmission
system called Whispernet.

The e-book industry is growing, yes, taking a $33 million share of the
publishing business last year, up from $6 million in 2002, according
to the International Digital Publishing Forum, a trade association.
Still, those millions represent only 1 percent to 2 percent of the
pie, depending on which source you consult.

I test-drove a Kindle for two weeks to gain some insight into bookless
books – a technological giant step that could become a cultural
phenomenon with huge implications, or not. Let's not forget that CD-
less music has been a hit; just think of the MP3 player.

On the occasions when I announced my possession of a Kindle, people
would either excitedly gather around and ask a dozen questions, or
look blank and ask, "What's that?"

To satisfy such curiosity, here's a Kindle primer.

What is a Kindle?

It's a plastic-body, hand-held computer that serves as a wireless
reading device. At 7.5 by 5.3 inches, it's close to the size of a
trade paperback book but smaller than a hardback (it's 0.7 inches
thick). The screen is 4.75 inches deep, 3.5 inches wide and 6 inches
diagonally.

What are all those buttons and bars?

A cursor bar that "guides" the electronic cursor; a dual-function
select wheel that moves the cursor up and down the cursor bar, and
clicks on selections; two "next page" buttons; a "previous page"
button; a "back" button ("allows you to retrace your steps, like the
back button on a Web browser"); and a mini- keyboard that contains a
"home" key and a "search" key.

On the back are the main power switch, a wire switch that allows
material to be downloaded, a speaker (for broadcasting audiobooks and
background music), a volume control, a headphone jack, a USB port to
transfer content between the Kindle and a computer, and a power
adapter jack for charging the battery.

It sounds complicated

It does, but it isn't. Using the Kindle controls is quite intuitive.
However, like any computer, it's like an onion – many-layered. In my
case, the more I peeled, the more I cried. For instance, it took me 2
1/2 hours to read and understand the tutorial. The explanations for
some of the more esoteric functions may be everyday-speak to the
computer literate, but not to me. I kept asking, "Why would the Kindle
engineers include that?" The answer kept coming back: Because they
could.

Continued from previous page

What does it do?

As Amazon CEO Bezos writes in his electronic "welcome" letter on the
Kindle, the device is all about reading. Going through the Kindle
Store, the user can choose from 116,498 books in 24 categories (the
Kindle launched with 90,000 titles); 16 newspapers (including some
from France, Germany and Britain, but not The Bee); 11 magazines
(including Newsweek, Fortune and Slate); and 325 blogs in 10
categories, ranging from science and sports to lifestyle and travel.

Users can sample the first chapter of a book for free, as well as get
two-week free trials of newspapers, magazines and blogs. The Kindle
can hold up to 200 non-illustrated books and includes the New Oxford
American Dictionary, in case you need a definition.

How much does it cost to download material?
New York Times best-sellers and other new book releases are $9.99, but
prices vary depending on the title. Monthly costs for blogs range from
99 cents to $1.99; magazines, $1.25 to $3.49; and newspapers, $5.99 to
$14.99.

How many Kindles have been sold?

While Amazon.com has stated that its Kindle supply cannot keep up with
demand, the company does not release sales figures, the number of e-
books downloaded by the Kindle community or even where the device is
manufactured. Best-guessers think about 2,000 units have sold so far,
with an ongoing back-order list.

* * *

There were more questions, so I phoned Amazon.com public- relations
manager Heather Huntoon. My first question was really a complaint: The
Kindle reading screen is not backlit, and it's too easy to
accidentally hit a wrong button when holding the machine. Will the
next-generation Kindle address these issues?

"Anything is possible," she said. "We're focused on listening to our
customers' feedback."

Do you have a profile of the Kindle user?

"No, but we know they like to read." Can I download games, crossword
puzzles and Sudoku?

"No."

Are textbooks available?

"They are not, but our goal is to have every book ever published
available on Kindle."

What about copyrights?

"Publishers must own the e-rights to books to get them on Kindle."

* * *

What do other industry people have to say? The book industry has been
buzzing since the Kindle's introduction, of course, and no one knows
the biz better than Sara Nelson. She's the editor of Publishers Weekly
magazine, the bible of the book business, and has has written two
columns about her Kindle. I phoned her, too.

What's to like about the Kindle?

"I love the wireless download, but I lost my Kindle and have been
using a Sony Reader," she said. "I must say, its (download process) is
a pain in the neck."

Does the Reader have any advantage over the Kindle?

"To me, the Reader is physically and aesthetically more appealing and
somewhat easier to manipulate, though I think they both need a
Generation 2. You tend to hit the 'Turn Page' bar by accident on the
Kindle, but there's another problem on the Sony Reader: If you stop
reading and it sits idle too long, it goes into a sleep mode (so does
the Kindle), and it's not always that easy to get back to the place
you left off. The Kindle takes you right back."

Are e-readers any threat to the book industry?

"No more than audiobooks were once perceived to be. Publishers see (e-
readers and e-books) as an opportunity to expand their readerships. I
don't think anybody sees (e-books) as a negative, but everybody's
taking a wait-and-see attitude. There's been a lot written about (e-
readers), but (e-books) are still a tiny percentage of (comparable)
sales.

"Both the Kindle and the Sony Reader are supplements to my
(professional life). At this point, they are of most use to people in
the book industry and related industries – to people who travel a lot
with a lot of books. I'm about to go to the London book fair, and
while I will always carry 'real books' with me, I have my e-reader
loaded with stuff because it's a lot easier to carry."

* * *

Major book chains such as Borders and Barnes & Noble have stakes in
the e-book "revolution." What's their take?