Tag: kindle

Anybody got an opinion on Kindle Fire HD vs. Kindle Fire HDX?

I’ve been saving up for the last few months to buy one – my children have taken over the iPad, and that is the way of it – and I’m almost there.  Problem is, I’m not sure which is better: the HDX 8.9″ is lighter and has better resolution, but for the prices that I’m looking at I could get double the memory if I went with the regular HD 8.9″. Anybody who’s played with either have an opinion?

I know, I know: First World problems.  Gimme a break: this is the item I hide from my family and use for my own entertainment needs.  Pretty much every other digital device in the house has been colonized by my children: they’re even eying the Chromebook. Continue reading Anybody got an opinion on Kindle Fire HD vs. Kindle Fire HDX?

…Why is The Black Book of Communism not available on the Kindle?

You would think that The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression is precisely the sort of book that one would want to have in digital form: easy to hide, easy to transmit, easy to overlook.

Sheesh.

Moe Lane

PS: Sorry. I’m doing the monthly “buy stuff for my library” and I was just startled to find that there wasn’t an e-book version.

Well, I suppose that flying cars were probably not a good idea anyway.

Also… yeah.

But think about this example: somebody sat down and wrote a book recently on his computer; he sent it into a major e-publishing company and offered it for sale. Meanwhile, I participated in an affiliate program with that same company which provided me with fully taxable revenue in exchange for link placement on my site; the resulting revenue stream allowed me to purchase that book mentioned in the previous sentence, and have it downloaded to one of my four e-book readers for later perusal. A perfectly normal bit of commerce… until you remember that you couldn’t actually do this six years ago.  There was the Amazon affiliate program, but the Kindle didn’t launch until 2007 and the e-publishing thing didn’t start getting legs until about 2010 or so (which, not even close to coincidentally,  is when you started seeing real alternatives to the Kindle*).

Welcome to the future.  And remember: flying cars means flying drunk drivers.

Moe Lane

*Amazing how efficiently and usefully that entire “market forces” thing seems to work, huh?

The best way to get a multi-format book e-reader?

One of Ace’s open-bloggers has a post up on the e-book wars: specifically, reconciling the .epub vs. .azw format (NOOK vs. Kindle).  The way it works out for me is that I generally use my iPad* for reading both formats (as well as PDFs), and save the Kindle for when I want to read outside (because e-ink just simply works better, in a way that computer pixels can’t currently match). I think that this more or less covers all the bases.  Although I think that Amazon is missing a bet by not making their Kindles more accessible to competitors’ content: but I freely admit that this could very well be a distinctly ignorant opinion on my part…

Moe Lane

*Note that the link to the above is to the first generation iPad, which is being priced down to the point where one that’s used is going to be perfectly serviceable as an e-reader.  16 GB, 3G capacity, $260 and eligible for Amazon Prime.  Not top of the line, but if all you want is a ebook and pdf reader with a web browser attached, well…

PS: BTW, if it isn’t obvious or anything: I’m an Amazon Affiliate for Maryland.  Just disclosing that.

So, let me take a break from ticking off…

…speech code hypocrites to note that there’s a looming lawsuit against Apple and various members of the publishing industry over the price of e-books.  This recent op-ed by Authors’ Guild president Scott Turow argues that the current system is somehow better for the consumer, despite the fact that people are paying above market value for electronic versions of most books*  and Amazon.com is currently the epicenter of a self-publishing boom.

It’s a very poignant op-ed, written by a leader of an important segment of the buggy whip book industry.  But let me tell you this: thanks to the Kindle – and a dedicated, handheld electronic text reader is something that people have been trying to get for decades – I probably read more books, and try out more authors, and generally get the impression that it’s now easier for me to write and get paid for a book, should I ever have the time and energy to do it.  Simply put: whether you like it or not – and the publishing industry will not – taking a couple of bucks off the price of a hardcover and making it the price for an e-book will not fly.  They can either accept that, or they can keep pretending that it’s 1895.

Guess which one will be more expensive in the long run?

Moe Lane

*Not all: some companies out there are experimenting with systems that offer books at significant discounts in electronic form, or providing advanced reader copies of to be published books, or bundling entire series, or anything else that might transfer funds from the buyer to the seller.

PS: Amazon.com Associate for Maryland.  So I have a slight financial incentive to keeping Amazon around.

I have a suggestion for e-book vendors.

Start thinking about pricing your books so that they’re competitive with the paperback versions, not the hardcovers.  Give you an example: I’m trying my best to get back to The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression.  The hardcover goes for eighteen bucks and the paperback nine and a half… and the Kindle version is eleven.  I’m discovering that I’m more likely to finish nonfiction books on my Kindle than otherwise – don’t ask me why – but pegging the price as a discount on the hardcover is maybe affecting my cheapskate instincts.  Which is why the darn book is on of the piles scattered about the house.

Obviously, a new book is a new book; but if you’re bringing out softcover reprints, maybe linking the new Kindle price to that will help with sales? – Or not.  This thought just occurred to me.

Moe Lane

PS: Downloaded and read Confessions of a D-List Supervillain this morning.  Overall: well worth the three bucks.  Started strong, good character development of the hero/protagonist, action and plot maintained up until the last ‘chapters,’ which unfortunately did come across as slightly rushed (the book was originally a novella, and it still slightly shows).  The book probably could have used another two chapters or so of development, but It Did Not Suck.  Of course, I admit to having a certain weakness for books that have chapter headings like “Like I Need Another Reason to Invade Branson, Missouri” and get away with it…

The Amazon Kindle is startlingly easy to replace.

Yes, it was that kind of weekend – but the Kindle people were actually pretty matter-of-fact about the whole thing: “Holding down the button didn’t work, huh?  OK, we’ll mail you a new one: figure you’ll get it Wednesday.  Send us the old one within thirty days of you getting the new one and it’s all good.”

I figured that I was going to have to give them an argument… but then, I and the rest of the e-reader demographic are kind of a cash cow to these people, aren’t we? – Not that I mind being actually treated as a cash cow, which is a bit of a refreshing change when it comes to e-commerce.