[NPMUG] I Like Kindle for Mac

[Rob Lines]

On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 10:41 PM, Greg Simkins <gregsimkins at me.com> wrote:

> Has anybody else tried the Kindle for Mac application mentioned recently in
> MacRumors?  (
> http://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/18/amazon-releases-kindle-for-mac-application/
> ).
>

I have been using the Kindle for iPhone and the one for PC (in a VM on my
MPB) since they were both released.  I have been requesting the Mac version
since the day that the PC one came out and I have been requesting an android
version since I got my new phone last November.  I am so glad to be able to
turn off the VM most of the time and just use the native application.


> I was greatly interested in the Kindle books when they were first offered,
> but couldn't justify the price of the reader, especially since the book
> prices seemed not to be discounted enough to justify forgoing the book. Even
> though I travel, I like the convenience of a printed book.  But the idea of
> loading up 25 lbs of books on one light, electronic device has its appeal.
>  The Kindle via free software seems like just the sweet spot for me.
>  Especially for the larger screen on the iPad.
>

The price difference has been creeping lately.  It used to be that the new
release was available for 9.99 when the hard cover hit the shelves or very
soon there after.  As my wife tends to buy them when they come out she was
saving between $15-20 per new release so the cost of the reader for her was
easy to justify.  Adding in that we don't end up with shelves and shelves of
books (especially after the last move where we realized that we had almost
as many boxes of books as we had everything else) Though with the move to
$15 books it kinda cuts into that savings but we still can both read the
books at the same time as we share the same amazon acccount.


> I have installed the Kindle software both on my MacBook and on my iPhone.
>  I purchased an electronic book on each platform and am happy to report that
> I can read either book on either platform.  I just need to log in to my
> Amazon account.  I am looking forward to receiving my iPad and installing
> there (assuming Kindle for iPad will be available).
>

You can have the books on up to 6 devices (there are some publishers that
have limits to the number of unique devices) at the same time so you can add
your iPad to the mix and then toss in a kindle down the road if you decide
you need to epaper experience and still have slots left for more devices.


> Since I am presently working in Japan, this avenue of obtaining reading
> material is really great.  I can buy books on amazon.jp and have them
> delivered to my hotel, but their English language site still has too many of
> those funny scribbles for me to completely understand what I am ordering.
>
> I was confused about navigation on the MacBook because the Kindle browser
> has a back button and no Next button.  I kept trying to find a next button.
>  Finally, the obvious thing worked - use the navigation buttons on the
> keyboard!  Also, when you mouse over the right and left margin, navigation
> buttons appear on the screen.  Of course on the iPhone, the pages flick back
> and forth just like photos.  I like it!
>

The iphone app really does a great job on interfacing with the person using
it.  The desktop one will let you use the arrow keys as well as click on the
border area and you can also do a click and drag action to move to the next
page also.   The back button is more if you click on the timeline at the
bottom to move forward so you can go back to the page you were just on.  I
tend to use it when I mess up and tap the timeline and end up on a random
page not knowing where I am.


> Steve Jobs wants to sell books on iTunes for a higher price than Amazon is
> offering through Kindle software.  I wonder where that collision is headed?
>

We have already seen the shift in the amazon store to the $15 price point.
It is a bit annoying to say the least as the distribution costs of a digital
book are much less than a physical book.  No longer do they have to print
millions of copies to be able to blanket the book stores across the country
then suck up the cost of the books that go unsold.  The ones that really get
me are the older titles that sell for $5 when the paper back version is
available for $5.50 or in some cases the same price let alone the used book
version that is going for half the price of the digital one.  I hope that
the iBook store has content that really makes a difference and is worth the
premium.  For your typical fiction books there is little difference between
a paperback and a digital version but if they put text books on it that have
illustrations and rich media then I would be okay with the digital version
costing more than the print one.

One interesting aspect is the best seller list on Amazon where you can find
alot of books that are free or really cheap.  I wish they would add a list
of free books that normally have a value higher than free so that you could
see the currently discounted books.  I have "bought" a number of the free
books then found that I really liked them and ended up buying the next ones
in the series.   I think that the digital distribution method gives the
option to give away the first book without loosing anything to get people
hooked for the later books.

Hope you enjoy the digital reading,
Rob
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