Teklogs:News archive/Our review of the Amazon Kindle
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On November 19 2007, Amazon released the Amazon Kindle, a new e-book reader device just released from Amazon, a few of it's features include:
- Free access to Wikipedia.
- Built-in access to the New Oxford American Dictionary.
- Electronic-paper display (Black and white only).
- Free wireless connectivity. No WiFi, uses Whispernet (Sprint EVDO).
- Access to hundreds of books, magazines, newspapers, websites and blogs. (fees apply).
Oh, but while all the features may be great, there are many disadvantages, take these quotes:
"Use of Digital Content. Upon your payment of the applicable fees set by Amazon, Amazon grants you the non-exclusive right to keep a permanent copy of the applicable Digital Content and to view, use, and display such Digital Content an unlimited number of times, solely on the Device or as authorized by Amazon as part of the Service and solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Digital Content will be deemed licensed to you by Amazon under this Agreement unless otherwise expressly provided by Amazon." — Amazon, Kindle Terms of Service, 2007
"Restrictions. You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content." — Amazon, Kindle Terms of Service, 2007
"Subscriptions. The following applies with respect to Digital Content made available to you on a subscription basis, including, but not limited to, electronic newspapers, magazines, journals and other periodicals (collectively, "Periodicals"): (i) you may request cancellation of your subscription by following the cancellation instructions in the Kindle Store; (ii) we may terminate a subscription at our discretion without notice, for example, if a Periodical is no longer available; (iii) if we terminate a subscription in advance of the end of its term, we will give you a prorated refund; (iv) we reserve the right to change subscription terms and fees from time to time, effective as of the beginning of the next term; and (v) taxes may apply to subscription fees and will be added if applicable." — Amazon, Kindle Terms of Service, 2007
So basically you are just renting the books, even though Amazon says you are buying. The books are non-transferable, meaning that books cannot be lent or sold out to others, the only way to get rid of your books is to delete them. Any attempts to break Amazon's DRM could result in the termination of your glorious Whispernet service and the loss of all those books you "purchased" from Amazon. A blog that would normally be free would cost a few dollars (USD) a month and it costs you 10 Cents (USD) to upload a personal document, but this is to pay for Whispernet. No real support for PDF documents, PDF conversion is experimental.
Amazon says they have been working on the Kindle for over 3 years.
Some users love the Kindle, others hate it. So it is up to you to decide if the features outweigh the disadvantages or vice versa.
[edit] See also
- Amazon press release
- JoT 1036, Kindle-ing a few questions.
- Kindle: First Impressions
- Will the Amazon Kindle Be the Next ‘Must-Have’ Technology?
- Kindle Versus The iPhone
- Kindle ain't no e-book reader
- The Future of Reading (A Play in Six Acts)
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