you are not buying anything – you are only leasing access to text as long as you maintain an Amazon account

It is more likely the case that Amazon is being forced to have DRM by their contracts with publishers. The vast majority of publishers just aren’t yet willing to release non-DRM’ed titles into the wild.

#15 – yes, I am leasing my Kindle titles and I don’t really have a problem with that. To each his own.

#16 – if you want answers to publishing on the Kindle there are lots of other Kindle specific blogs/forums where you can get all the info you seek.

4. Why use a proprietary format? E-books are not exactly rocket science. So why not use an open standard?

If none exists to meet their requirements, they could help developing one – but come on, this is text display, not voice recognition or AI. How hard can it be?

Make sure they know you flew in just for this.

From far away.

Wear an “I’m blogging this” T-shirt…

Here’s the contents of the newest (Kindle DX) tarball:

alsa-lib-1.0.13_patch.tar.gz
alsa-lib-1.0.13.tar.bz2
alsa-utils-1.0.13_patch.tar.gz
alsa-utils-1.0.13.tar.bz2
base-passwd_3.5.9.tar.gz
binutils-2.17.50.0.5.tar.bz2
bonnie++-1.03c.tgz
bootchart-0.9.tar.bz2
busybox-1.7.2.tar.bz2
dosfstools-2.11.tar.bz2
e2fsprogs-1.38_patch.tar.gz
e2fsprogs-1.38.tar.gz
fuse-2.7.1_link.tar
fuse-2.7.1.tar.gz
gcc-4.1.2.tar.bz2
glib-2.12.9.tar.bz2
glibc-2.5.tar.bz2
gst-plugins-base-0.10.17.tar.bz2
gst-plugins-base-0.10.6.tar.bz2
gstreamer-0.10.17.tar.bz2
hotplug-2004_09_20.tar.gz
ifupdown_0.6.8.tar.gz
iptables-1.3.3.tar.bz2
klibc-1.5.tar.bz2
libol-0.3.18.tar.gz
linux-2.6.22-lab126.tar.bz2
lrzsz-0.12.20.tar.gz
lzo-1.08.tar.gz
module-init-tools-3.2.2_patch.tar.gz
module-init-tools-3.2.2.tar.bz2
mtd-utils-1.0.0.tar.gz
picocom-1.4.tar.gz
powertop-1.10.tar.gz
procps-3.2.7_patch.tar.gz
procps-3.2.7.tar.gz
readline-4.3.tar.gz
syslog-ng-1.6.11.tar.gz
sysvinit-2.86.tar.gz
taglib-1.5.tar.bz2
uboot-1.3.0-rc3.tar.bz2
udev-112.tar.bz2
util-linux-2.12r.tar.bz2

There is no source code for the actual application which decodes and displays ebooks.

Cory, you are buying convenience.

To have a reader that doesn’t require a hook up to a computer. To have a reader that has an incredibly long battery life (I’ve read every day for a few hours at a time and haven’t needed a charge in over a week). To have a reader that you can keep 1500 titles on. A reader that is easy to use- connects right to your Amazon account.
I’m not telling you anything that you don’t already know. You are buying it for the easiness.
This is not the gadget for everyone but those of us that own it will tell you how very much in love we are with it. I got my Kindle2 back on the release date in Feb and have read over 30 books so far. If you think there is a book out there that is super important that you never want to lose it, want to read it other than on a Kindle, then the answer would be to actually buy the bound version.

Why is everyone overthinking this gadget?

I’ve had a Kindle 2 for a couple of weeks, and I do love it. Very handy, very easy to read, and although I have some issues with the clunky interface, those aren’t enough to merit me recommending against the device.

I use it much like I use my iPod: Most of what I have on my iPod is from non-iTunes sources, and most of the content on my Kindle is from non-Amazon sources (and a large percentage of that was free). Only about 3% of the content I have on it is DRM’d in some way. Basically, I bought a couple of books from Amazon just for fun, and to check out the wireless downloading. And it was fun. :) If at some point that content goes away, well, so be it. I know the analogy isn’t perfect, but I see it the same way as if I drop a “real” book in a puddle or spill spaghetti sauce on it–nothing lasts forever. If I read a book on my Kindle that I really love, chances are I’d go try to find a first edition or some such thing for my permanent library.

Prior to the 1980′s, it was pretty much as you said. During the 1980′s, American capitalism rapidly focused on money as the end-goal, and not the product as the end-goal. It worked (and is working) very well for the executives, but not so well for the rest of the world.

And then, after buying a competitor’s product (say, with a built-in writing tablet..) come back here and tell the world about it.

As for the audio-book capabilities: get an MP3 player. That way, you can still read a book when the MP3 players’ battery dies while you’re on an trans-two-oceananic flight. Or listen to music while you’re reading, or…

Tikitok

I don’t know how they deal with publishers, but with self-published authors, the author can only suggest a selling price…which Amazon promptly ignores.

I have a book that sells for $15.99 print-on-demand. They set that price based on the number of pages in the book. I thought more copies would have sold at $12, since it’s less than 200 pages. (They’ve already reduced my royalty since our original agreement.)

When I uploaded the Kindle version, I thought $9.99 would be a reasonable price…$6 less than the rate they were selling the paperback. But Amazon decided to go with $7.96 instead. So now I have an over-priced paperback and and under-priced (IMO) e-book.

I think that the best is probably to not give any dollar to Amazon. That’s the only language they understand. Much like for iPods, iPhone, etc.

Amazon has shown a great deal of unfriendliness, including DMCA take down notice, unavailability of the device outside of the USA, unavailability of their DRM-free MP3 in, say, Canada (are they actually available out of the US?) and the need to install their software to download them…

Today corporations make money. Satisfying their customer is just a side effect.

you may be right. An Internet-wide boycot of Amazon to make them shove DRM? I’d sign up.

If the “techies” lead the way in such a boycot, I’m sure Amazon will promptly change their way.
Hubert Figuiere,

you may be right. An Internet-wide boycot of Amazon to make them shove DRM? I’d sign up.

If the “techies” lead the way in such a boycot, I’m sure Amazon will promptly change their way.