http://www.amazon.com/Psyched-Nothing-bedtime-tales-weary/dp/B00165EXTW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1208222972&sr=1-1

I’m not sure where you get your information, but you can turn off the wireless and it runs just fine. You can download over USB and never even use the wireless.

As for the compatibility with other books, I would imagine that in Version 2.0, you’ll see a lot more of the compatibility that people want their existing unlocked ebooks. Amazon owns Mobipocket, so it’s not a long leap to see that getting better in the future iterations.

I’m a computer geek and also an author, so DRM neither frightens nor confuses me because I understand why it’s there. Alan Greenspan will not sell his book without DRM of some sort, publishers will not be happy without DRM. JK Rowling won’t even publish her books electronically. There is no good and elegant solution to this problem and Amazon devised a solution which is going to make publishers happy, going to make authors happy, going to make easily-confused readers happy, and will only piss off those who already have an investment in ebooks, and it seems like they are working on a transition path for those as well.

What I like most about Amazon’s model is they’re pricing the ebooks lower than print. Now there’s a cost-value to purchasing an ebook. I buy a lot of music from iTunes as well.

It seems to me that there are people in the world that want everything seamless and turn-key, and then there are others that want to move from platform to platform with ease. I worked in tech support for a long time. “Platform to platform ease” is a pain in the CPU. When you lock into one platform, you can sell products to your grandmother, and my mother, and the yoga teachers, and the guy who hates computers. See Apple Macintosh.

I’m ignoring the cost for ‘charging for blog content issue,’ which I think is another battle entirely, because I like reading blogs on my computer, so I’m happy. :)

ps. Am I entered to win Demon Night???

The hand wringing continues.

The most interesting aspect of it is that their introductory ebook pricing is in line with the pricing structure of US-based sites, even though their paper book prices remain at an Aussie high (to roughly convert Aussie prices to US dollars just imagine the price is 10% cheaper – and that’s about the price in US dollars). This would be an attempt to lure back buyers like me who now buy more ebooks from US websites than actual paperbacks from Aussie bookstores. If their embarrassment of a ebookstore is anything to go by, then their device is going to suck the big one!

In any case, it’s too little too late. I think the ebook horse has well and truly bolted for non-US based English language bookstores. The US stores will continue to get the lion’s share of international trade – except for Amazon, of course, as we can’t connect to their sooper-dooper kindle network or read their kindle books on our other devices.

I don't believe the iPod is so successful based on the delivery.

Well, first the delivery system does not have anything to do with the DRMs involved.

I know from experience most computer illiterate folks I have talked to like the convenience of the whole Apple package. iTunes rips your cds for you and sells you music you do not have right in your own home and the new iPod goes even further to access iTunes directly so you can buy while using it away from home.

It’s all about immediate gratification.

iTunes is not the best cd ripper in fact it is pretty glitchy but people use it all the time. iTunes despite the DRMs does not sell you the best quality recordings like you could get ripping your own CDs.

iPod is not the best quality MP3 player on the market. In fact it is relatively expensive and sounds sorta muddy especially after the last few updates.

But… despite all these negatives both of these pieces together makes it the best for people who do not want to do more or learn more. The whole system and hardware combination is a win for Apple while marketing convenience.

The Kindle is following a great model in this respect.

They are coming out with a literal ton of devices that can be used to read eBooks.

I think the point of The Amazon Kindle is that it includes a support and delivery system like the iPod.

Apple iPod is not just another MP3 it has iTunes that can be accessed and bought from.

That is the whole puzzle right there not just an eBook Reader itself but the promise of a whole system that connects you to any eBook you might want to buy and read at that moment.

Apple has the potential to do this, Fictionwise has the underlying ideas, but Amazon has actually connected it all together on a wireless.

I think it will take something more than a good eBook Reader if products like the Kindle actually do catch on.

I still gotta admit it is sorta cool seeing Hunter's Pride from Samhain sitting right next to Hunter's Salvation from Berkley and both can be readily downloaded by the Kindle without a bunch of hunting around.

The convenience of it all is so cool.

LOL… yeah, that’s very cool.

I gotta be honest, I’m irritated with Amazon, but there’s a part of me that is thrilled that ebooks are suddenly going to be in the limelight…at least for a while. I just wish it was a product I’d be able to vouch for and push on people.

As it is, I can’t. I hate the limitations of it, I hate how ugly it looks, I hate the DRM deal, I hate how Amazon is trying to ‘control’ the product and its use even once it’s sold.

;) Maybe I’m just hard to please.

Dymocks finalising ebook

Oh shit, I think I want one of these now. I am so weak!

I am weak, too! I want one so badly, I can taste it. Alas, I will wait for the price to go down.

The convenience of it all is so cool.