| Amazon's E-Book Reader: Kindle |
| Written by Hank Green | ||
| Monday, 11 September 2006 | ||
 The e-book reader is called the Kindle, which, I assume, is a reference to their desire to light the fire to the sales of digital books. This is probably in direct response to the announcement that Sony's E-Reader will be going on sale at Borders sometime in the next year. More after the jump
Digital books have their advantages and their disadvantages. The good news is that they completely eliminate the need for shipping, they don't take up warehouse space and they are almost entirely resource free. No trees die, no fossil fuels or chemicals are used in their creation. They're infinitely reproducible for free. Of course, the intellectual property rights of the authors must be maintained, and I'm sure Amazon has a plan for digital rights management that will be fairly annoying. Also, ebooks are not flippable, you can't just flip through pages. You can, however, search the entire text of a book instantly. Try that with a paperback.
The Kindle will come with 256 megabytes of onboard flash, an SD slot, a headphone jack (presumably it will play MP3s) a rechargeable Li-Ion battery and an EVDO wireless modem. That's right...wireless. This definitely has a leg up on Sony's Reader. Maybe you'll get your morning news delivered to your Kindle every morning before you wake up! The Kindle looks to have an e-ink display, which is exciting because they are non-toxic, extremely low-power and very high-resolution. However, the refresh rate of an E-ink screen (when you push the 'next page' button, for example) is quite slow. As time goes on, I can only assume that these problems will be worked out. Though Amazon obviously wants to get this fire burning, they might have to wait for the next generation of e-book readers before it will happen. Via Engadget
Comments
(6)
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written by rob , September 13, 2006
An Ebook lover Responds
written by Hank , September 13, 2006
There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to both, but as a lover of the E-book, I must respond!
1. Anybody can operate them, without a manual. If you can use a microwave oven without a manual, you can use an E-Book. 2. They can be stuffed in a pocket. All E-book's being mass-produced today are based on the form factor of a paperback book. The only difference is that they're thinner. 3. They are a lot less likely to be stolen. But they're more likely to be well taken care of! 4. There are big buildings called libraries, that contain thousands, that you can read for free. There are big servers that contain millions of books for free (see the ecogeek article about Google Books). The internet will always have a larger selection than a single building. And if that means I have to pay for a book that someone worked hard to create, so be it. 5. Library books are very environmentally friendly. Agreed 6. The electronics and Li-Ion battery in the E-Book are very environmentally unfriendly, you would probably have to print several hundred paper books to match the pollution. It'd be interesting to see someone actually do a study on this. 7. Paper books don't require a power supply. (No ongoing CO2 emmissions) Ebook readers use very very little power. Something like two AA batteries per 10,000 pages. The CO2 produced in shipping the book would very likely outweigh any power consumption by an ebook reader. 8. Paper books are derived from wood, thus working as carbon sinks. Interesting point...I'd never thought of a book as a carbon sink... 9. You can swat spiders with a paperback. (Ok, you could with the E-Book, but it probably wouldn't work afterwards. Hah...true, very true 10. You can prop things up with paperbacks, they are also handy as impromptu doorstops.Or perhaps that's just me smilies/smiley.gif Well, when all of our books are electronic, we're going to have to use all those old paper backs for something You bring up a lot of good points here. But I honestly think that the future of sustainability requries us to be able to consume products that themselves are not made of material goods. That's why an iPod is good for the environment. Well, as long as Steve Jobs doesn't keep making them obsolete every two years.
@rob Libraries are not free.
written by jon , October 05, 2007 Your tax dollars support libraries. I believe they encourage literacy, and serve as vital cultural nodes in 'meatspace' and I love them. And librarians are vital to our culture. We should always set some resources aside for the public good. But don't fool yourself into thinking libraries are free.
well...
written by LittleJoe , October 07, 2007
whats the harm of 2 AA batteries ending up in a dump every 10,000 pages compared to the exhaust coming out of enormous harvesting equipment in disappearing forests so that millions of copies of books, which will most likely end up in a dump also.
and... rechargeable batteries?
Koda !!!
written by Gan-erdene.g , January 02, 2008
give me econometrics ?
@jon
written by Joe , June 14, 2008
Libraries are basically free, considering you have no say in whether or you pay or not for them.
That's like saying it costs money to walk down the street. Since your tax dollars had to pay to pave and maintain the street in the first place. Very silly way of thinking! | ||
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1. Anybody can operate them, without a manual.
2. They can be stuffed in a pocket.
3. They are a lot less likely to be stolen.
4. There are big buildings called libraries, that contain thousands, that you can read for free.
5. Library books are very environmentally friendly.
6. The electronics and Li-Ion battery in the E-Book are very environmentally unfriendly, you would probably have to print several hundred paper books to match the pollution.
7. Paper books don't require a power supply. (No ongoing CO2 emmissions)
8. Paper books are derived from wood, thus working as carbon sinks.
9. You can swat spiders with a paperback. (Ok, you could with the E-Book, but it probably wouldn't work afterwards.
10. You can prop things up with paperbacks, they are also handy as impromptu doorstops.Or perhaps that's just me
Convinced you yet?