My feet were killing me and I planned to attend the session with Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) so I headed to the room early to snag a seat. I could see immediately that this was going to be a popular session as there were already several people in attendance thirty minutes before it was to start.
So I sat down. My feet were pleased. The room filled up quickly and became standing room only. My feet thanked me for my foresight. I quickly learned from the introduction that Jeff Bezos had not bothered to be at BEA for 8 years. Perhaps that was the reason for the popularity. Or perhaps people were eager to learn more about the big POD scandal. In any case, what we were treated to was a thirty minute commercial for the Kindle. Which made me want one. One of the gals sitting next to me had one and pulled it out. This was my first chance to see one in person and I wanted it. But admittedly, ten minutes into the commercial I was ready to hear about something else. I do have to say that Bezos is quite entertaining and easy to listen to. He also spoke about how you can look up words you don’t know on the Kindle and thus discovered his vocabulary wasn’t as good as he thought. I’ve learned that same lesson in my job, when students ask me what a word means, I often need to look it up to fully explain it.
Luckily, thirty minutes into the presentation Chris Anderson came out and started asking questions. At first, it was a bunch of questions about the Kindle and vision, etc. The ultimate vision for the Kindle is to eventually have every book that has ever been in print available within sixty seconds. Simon and Schuster announced they’d be moving towards that goal by offering 5,000 more of their titles in ebook format by the end of the year. Anderson did ask about the POD scandal and I actually thought Bezos stumbled through his answer a bit. I love what he said, but I’m not sure it really applies. His ultimate answer was that Amazon has to do what is best for their customers. But the line I liked was: “When you pioneer in something, you have to be willing to be misunderstood.”
They closed the session talking about his passion for space.
I’d love to know your thoughts on the Kindle and ebooks in general. Do you read them?
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June 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 pm
My internet is being sucky lately so I can’t read the article you linked to and have no idea what’s going on…
But I despise ebooks. I hate that they have taken over reading with a regular paper book in hand. Plus I can’t spend too much time reading a computer screen or I start to get blurry vision. So for a girl who will frequently stay up quite late (like 3am) reading a real book is a must!
June 4th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Nothing can replace the look and feel of a real book in your hand, so I don’t believe I would ever use the Kindle or ebooks. There’s just something magic about holding a book. And I definitely don’t like to read at the computer. A friend of mine bought a Kindle, and he said that although he can see possible uses for it at some time, it still just seems like an expensive toy.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I have a number of friends with Kindles and other ebooks who absolutely love them. I don’t think that ebooks will every completely replace books, but for people who commute, people who do a lot of traveling, they are extremely handy. (Also, from what I’ve seen, they are not at all like reading from a computer screen. There’s no light behind the text, so you don’t have to worry about glare and you can read in the sun with no problems.) Still, they’re mostly a gadget and I think it will be a long time before they take over.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
My husband bought me a Kindle as a present, and while I had been drooling over it on the Amazon home page for months, I wasn’t sure I’d love it. I was scared that I’d hate it since I love physical books so much. After having it for a few months, I absolutely love it. I read on it constantly. The screen is amazing - it’s not like reading on a computer screen at all. And it’s so nice to always have it in my bag and not notice the extra weight (can’t say the same for an enormous Stephen King book).
Nothing will ever replace a “real” book. In fact, I have a system now where I’m constantly reading one book on the Kindle and one physical book. But for avid readers, the Kindle is wonderful. The built-in dictionary lookup is fantastic and the prices on best-sellers and new releases can’t be beat by any bookstore, including Amazon.
If it seems like I’m babbling, it’s because I can’t help it. I love my Kindle, and even started a Kindle website after having it for a few months.