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Posts Tagged ‘Kindle’

The Orlando Sentinel whined that the Kindle DX did not do enough for the newspapers.  The headline was, “Amazon’s Kindle DX: Not the answer.” There were several clues in the article that the paper clearly understood the nature of the Kindle and why, but was ignoring some current truths about newspaper success in general and their own role in utilizing new technology.

First newspapers were on the decline before the recession hit because of their progressive liberal editorial views and what I call “anger news.” Like the failure of liberal talk radio, the American market has spoken. No one really wants to listen to or read propaganda. There was also the rising cost of energy to run the presses and newsprint was more expensive. The Internet played a roll as people began to get their news from on-line sources. It isn’t the Kindle spoiling the newspaper’s success. No I think the Kindle is another potentially positive tool for the paper that decides to use the Kindle to its fullest advantage.

The medium in the Kindle’s case may not be the message.  the newspaper still has that roll but through a new and very speed-and-size-conscious digital delivery format. The media (newspapers) may have to adapt to the Kindle – you think?  Are we at the start of a paradigm change like we were in the 70’s with the invention of the digital watch? Watchmakers sloughed those off remember. I understand the concerns in the Sentinel article about graphics, pictures, and charts, and the positioning of headline text. The presentation is new. Be creative with headlines to attract attention.  Make the Kindle work for the paper now and support it as it begins to succeed as a delivery system.

A third party news distributor now sells a book reader/newspaper reading device that is subscription free to the customer. The customer decides which digital books they buy and which newspapers to subscribe to using the Kindle as a delivery device. The business model appears to be that Amazon pays its Whispernet charges out of book sales and newspaper subscriptions. Amazon also needs to make a profit to stay in this business.  In the article I believe the Sentinel acknowledges the model.

The paper wants to use the Kindle as a means to instantly deliver news.  It seems reasonable to me that unless the newspaper actually develops a subscription base on the Kindle to support additional payments to Amazon to develop such a mode, that Amazon’s one download a day is enough. In the Sentinel article the paper’s progressive entitlement mentality is showing through. Perhaps some focus on the part of newspapers to create thoughtful Kindle editions of their papers that take advantage of the available technology without trying to mimic paper media is in order. This has been a problem for newspapers since the creation of the world-wide web.  The Kindle offers newspapers another way to help the newspaper succeed in the digital age. Newspapers can either adapt or sit back with their arms tightly folded across their chests, chins up, teeth clenched and watch others succeed. Their choice.

I’m not so sure that, at least ion my case, that newspapers or even instant news is actually an attractive option for the Kindle. I get this elsewhere and the size of the DX and the way in which I use it doesn’t make it an attractive option. Except for the Wall Street Journal, most newspapers are suffering from a lack of journalist excellence which cause me to take no interest in their content. That and I purchased the Kindle to read books and PDF files and not newspapers. Newspapers and blogs were not even on my list of desired content for the Kindle. Living in the country as we do we have our own newspapers, some of which have minor on-line editions that I can read on a larger computer screen. My Twitter feed from Fox News and Drudge serve me well and a visit to the local grocery puts a newspaper in my hands. Old fashioned but adequate.

The concerns some folks have about being able to save newspapers in quantity on the Kindle or moving them across Kindle devices and saving back issues at Amazon.com also concerns me. There doesn’t appear to be a solution for that so if I eve need to read or search a paper I will visit its website.

It is hard to tell where the Kindle will actually be in one year or two or even five. Grumbling by newspapers early in the game doesn’t help much. I suggest they get some Internet savvy people on board, retire the marketing people that don’t get it and move forward with some alacrity lest they be left gasping for breath in the dust of newspapers passing them by.

Since Amazon first introduced the Kindle I have watched and waited. Watched because the Kindle was due. It was time for a personal reader. Technology had gone beyond paper years ago and it was time for a device to carry the written the word. Waited because I didn’t want to be first. Sometimes first is disappointed and that wasn’t going to be me.

This terrific reader has so much inside that I want to write separate articles as I master the options in the DX. First I want to share what I know about reading PDF’s.

My needs in a personal reader included PDF capability. Having joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary in 2008 I was regularly printing large, multi-page PDF files used for personal study. My home library already had at least two wheel barrels full of training materials. There just had to be a better way.

When the Kindle DX was introduced in June 2009, I figured I was ready to make the purchase. The DX was a larger size and to me size mattered. The closer the Kindle was to 8 1/2 x 11 inches (actually 9.7) the fonder I would be. Larger is readable when your eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be. I’m one of those that carries reading glasses to read the fine print. The Kindle DX was bigger and therefore better.

The price was a tough one at first but what finally sold me was that no subscription was required. Subscriptions ruin my appreciation for a service when the subscription prices begin to climb. I like the idea of being able to read my own PDF files, and purchasing Kindle books when I wanted to. What a great surprise to also find that Amazon.com has some free titles that include genres of interest to me! When you compare what you get with some of the other high tech devices out there today and you don’t want a cellular telephone contract to enjoy book reading the Kindle looked great at $489.

The Day Came

The Kindle was delivered to my mailbox. Strange that $500 worth of technology is delivered by the post office to a rural mailbox but that’s how it came. It even sat in the mailbox overnight because we didn’t check the box on a Saturday afternoon. Thank goodness it wasn’t stolen or that the Summer heat didn’t bake it. The box it was delivered in was obviously from Amazon but to the casual observer it probably looked like a book. Save the box and packing kit when you get yours. It was substantial and may come in handy someday.

When I opened the box there was the Kindle DX , an AC charger/adaptor and a tiny getting-started pamphlet. The Kindle had a half charged battery so I was able to try it right away. The actual manual was inside the Kindle as a readable book file. It’s been a week and I have yet to read the entire manual. Basic operation for the computer geek and former software professional was intuitive. My guess is the average reader will also find it as easy to use.

First on My List was the PDF

First on my list to try was reading Pmy DF files. I connected the supplied USB cable to my computer and the Kindle and then copied several PDF files to the Kindle. I was pleased but on a scale of one to ten I give the Kindle DX only a seven with the current implementation. Here’s what I discovered when reading PDF files:

There is no control over character size in a PDF. Zooming in to make the page bigger isn’t possible. Small text is very small requiring reading glasses and occasionally a little eye strain.

While in PDF mode you can’t highlight text and save it to the clippings file. When I read my paper files I mark text with yellow highlighter regularly. Adobe and Amazon need to get together on this with a version of PDF for the Kindle!

Large PDF files take a little longer to load than smaller PDF files.

When you use the “Go to Page” menu function you get to the right place but you cannot use the back button to return from whence you came. You must go back to the page number you left. Going to page 608 takes you to page 608 but pushing back takes you to page 607. Perhaps the button could work two ways or it would wait until you push page forward and a new return default of “the page you actually left” could be bypassed. That’s an enhancement request from me to Amazon.

PDF document search works very well. I searched for a combination of two words in a 618 page document. The Kindle found all of the occurrences I expected it would find. You can also bookmark a page. A very tiny, and I mean very tiny folded page corner appears on the upper right corner. You have access to your bookmarks from the menu button. This is an appropriate way to save an important page. The keyboard on the DX reminds me of the keyboard on a cellular telephone. In order to access numbers you first press the ALT key, find the number and press that key. Numbers are shared with the first row of letters. Using the chicklet style buttons requires my reading glasses.

So far images in PDF files are reproducing just fine. When I run into one that doesn’t appear correctly I note it under this article.

Anytime I’m going somewhere where I expect to have to wait I take my Kindle. Hey if the other geeks are all wearing their Bluetooth© headsets I can carry my Kindle. It goes to work so I can read on my lunch hour and with me to the doctor’s office.

So far I am very pleased with my Kindle DX. I hope to write as many more articles on using it as I find interesting topics to warrant the time.

[errata:  071109 DougWeb - It is possible to return to the page you came from after a jump to a page in a PDF file by pressing the "back button underneath the five-way control. The Prev Page button does exactly what it is supposed to do.]

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