Well, I’m Impressed… (not that you should care)
Prior posts might leave you with the impression that I’m a bit of a pessimist when it comes to ebooks and eBook Readers, especially Amazon’s Kindle. I’m still a pessimist about Kindle and dedicated readers, but I have to tell you I’m coming around on eBooks.
I never doubted that eBooks would “take over” someday, as there are too many plusses to the technology. What I really objected to was the speed with which everyone though it would happen. The Kindle app has changed my mind.
I’ve had it on my iPod Touch for several months now, but I didn’t have anything to read on it, or any desire to acquire anything. Recently I left work without a book I wanted to finish. I had a largely unscheduled evening ahead of me and nothing to read! Being the type of guy I am, I decided to turn a problem into an opportunity. I went on Amazon’s site and bought a Kindle copy and started reading.
Let me start with the purchasing process. Its too easy, and I’m only partially kidding. I found the book, and clicked “buy with one click” and it was mine. Wow! All I had to do then was fire up the Kindle App and synch it with my Kindle account! My book came to me over my wifi connection almost instantly, no pluging in required. Wow again.
The recent 1.1 upgrade to the Kindle App is extraordinary. It uses the motion sensing capabilities of the iPhone\iPod touch to allow a landscape presentation and lets you lock in in your prefered orientation. This is huge for those among the uninitiated, for it lets you keep the print big enough to read without having to have only 3 words per line. One can therefore actually follow the book you’re reading as you can string coherent thoughts together! You advance the pages with a tap on the right side of the screen, and flip back with a tap on the left. It seems Amazon learned a few tricks from LexCycle when they bought them.
This app is whats going to sell eBooks for Amazon long term, not their overpriced one trick pony. When I think of what will be possible when the rumored large-form iPod/iPhone/Apple Tablet comes out…
This does leave me with a rather galling question for librarians. Why don’t we have a method of distributing digital material that is this easy to use? My library offers a collection of Overdrive eBooks, eFlicks, eAudiobooks, etc. Why can’t overdrive create an app(s) for the numerous portable devices out there to seamlessly deliver our material to where people want it? There are no technological limitations to this. Apple wouldn’t be stupid enough to deny such an app admittance to the App Store (I don’t think).
This would certianly allieveate some of the clunkiness assoicated with using Overdrive materials on iPods. One could browse ones “checked out” items and start it up immediately! This might also help with compatibility issues, who really knows what’s possible until someone does it! I might actually use my library’s digital collection if it was as easy as my Amazon experience!
Here’s hoping someone gets it togather and gets this done!
PS. Owners of the iPod Touch and iPhone need not spend money to try out their Kindle Apps. Amazon has several (good) titles available for FREE. I’m enjoying Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson at the moment. Also available (and highly recommended) is His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (Anne McCaffery meets Patrick O’Brien, what could be better?).
