Amazon is doing to much now it’s almost blinding. And hard to form an opinion on what exactly it is they are doing.

Ok, I admit it. I’m an Apple fan simply because they make such good products; things that are really useful instead of just ‘pretty.’ There may be other products out there that do the same things, but they don’t do the same things as nicely and don’t look as good doing it. Why do you think there are so many iPod clones out there? Even the pirates know what sells!

Mostly, I’m waiting for an eBook reader that makes it all inevitable. Like the iPod did. There were MP3s and MP3 players before the iPod, but then somehow it appeared…and the scene changes. Lots of people buy ‘em, buy into digital music, lots MORE people find themselves going “against my better judgment…I sort of want one.” Like I’ve done with touch phones and iPods, I want to wait until something happens with eBook reader technology that makes it inevitable that sooner or later, I’m gonna get one.

However, I don’t want so many buttons on an ebook reader, they’re just not necessary! Why do you need a full QWERTY keyboard? Why do you need buttons on either side right where you’d place your thumbs to read? Those would only cause you to accidentally change pages and lose your place!

No, the Kindle is a very poorly-designed device for its intended purpose, and the 2nd-gen and XL versions are really no better. What if you want to read in the dark? What if you want to reverse the polarity (white on black instead of black on white?)

I also hate that Amazon purchased Stanza. I’m using Stanza on my iPhone now because it gives me decent control and has access to a decent–though by no means complete–library of old books I want to re-read.

Maybe–I hope–Apple has something better in the works. I hope they do call it an iBook or maybe an iPadd.

@Jan: Thanks. I’ll check it out when I’ve the time.

PS: Also, you make a good point about Amazon’s DRM. I’ve nothing against big, monolithic corporations per se, but DRM is frankly horrible, and it speaks to an older version of the digital marketplace. Oh well.

I’m not keen on Big Monolithic Corporation Businesses…or at least, not the ones that FEEL like big Monoliths. Thus, I don’t like Microsoft, but I don’t mind Apple. Don’t like Amazon, DO like Google. Stuff like that.

Amazon just doesn’t feel like they have the slightest bit of interest in BOOKS. And you have to like books, because it’s a really dumb business to try and get into for MONEY’S sake, anyone knows. They feel like they’re just going after some puny little area that they can muscle into and knock over and make some cash.

I dunno. Maybe it’s just in my head, but they don’t make me comfortable.

Increasingly, though, I *DO* want an eBook Reader. I’ve been lusting after the Sony eBook Readers all week.

I don’t like the DRM. I want to buy books, not rent them.
I don’t like that Amazon has the power to close down your Kindle Account. (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44350&highlight=amazon+banning)
I don’t quite like how few formats it can handle (even though you can convert everything through email, it’s still quite a hassle).

Though these are specific buts, which they can easily sort out in the 4th version :p, I also have a general dislike with the monopoly they are creating, and how they are handling their power over the book-market. The whole #amazonfail thing, though mostly a twitter-rage, I really didn’t like how they handled it. Their customer-service and pr is horrible. And last, I’ve always been more of an Indie kind of girl, can’t help but have a disdain for the big guys.

“Folding a newspaper! WOW what a rush!”

;)

And as for the iBook thing, there’s interesting speculation right now. Because the iBook name is wide open again, there’s no current Apple product associated with it. So everyone is speculating that Apple’s going to come out with a reader. There’s been a fair bit of rumors for it, particularly for comic book and magazine stuff. (if they have the touch-and-flip effect for page turns, that would be a delight.)

As for the picture not being the Kindle Big, well, I don’t need to have puny FACTS get in the way of my dislike of sumfin! :)

@Pete: Just a note: the pic up there isn’t the Kindle *sheepish grin* It’s a picture of Public Logic’s new eReader, one of the Kindle’s future competitors for digital newspaper space. Sorry about that – there were no leaked pictures of the Kindle DX then. (oh, and the Apple has released an iBook … it was the name of a laptop, if I’m not mistaken. Maybe the Apple iReader? Clunky name but …)

Also: I guess I must be of a completely different generation – I didn’t even consider the idea of folding a newspaper! God, I’ve got to try that before everything becomes digital …

But the thing that really turns me off this new Kindle is that picture up above. that thing is stonking HUGE! It’s like a newspaper that you can’t bend!

Did they miss the bit where mostly we don’t read the newspaper AT FULL SIZE? I don’t know about you, but I fold it all up when I’m reading it.

This is like reading a newspaper with starch in it.

Also…this is the THIRD Kindle in, what, two years? If that? That’s a LOT. And it does make me wonder why.

I’d like an eBOok reader, for things I occasionally find in the Gutenberg library. But right now, it’s too much like the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD or VHS/Betamax sort of war. May as well wait for it to die down and something more standardized and user-friendly to come out (presumably, it will be the Apple iBook…you watch…)

Any comments?