Amazon introduced it's new eBook reading device, Kindle, this morning. The product's website contains several video overviews of the device, along with testimonials from several authors, including Toni Morrison, Neil Gaiman, James Patterson and Michael Lewis (author of one of my favorite books, Moneyball).

The site and videos addressed some of the misgivings I have about eBooks in general. First, there is a full text search feature, something required to use Kindle for anything resembling research. Second, there's also the ability to annotate as you read, the electronic equivalent of underlining and writing in the margins. Without either of these features, the device could be little more than a reading-for-fun device. However, I wonder if Kindle provides a means for organizing these annotations (and by extension the book text itself) through tagging or some other means of categorization. That's the kind of feature that would actually give an eReader like Kindle an advantage over print books. Since the demo video brags about the ability to export annotations from the Kindle, I'm not optimistic this feature exists.

An additional misgiving I've always had about eBooks is storage. Sure, a device like Kindle holds hundreds of books, but what about those of us whose home libraries run in the thousands? Kindle has an SD card slot so there is the possibility of external storage of overflow, but I don't want to maintain a library of SD cards anymore than I wanted to maintain a library of floppies in the 1990s. That said, a collection of SD cards certainly takes up a lot less room than a library of print books (though I suspect a room lined with shelves of SD cards will be slightly less decorative than my current library at home).

Fortunately, Amazon will handle online storage in the same manner they do with Unbox video downloads via the Media Library. Every eBook you buy for Kindle will be stored in your online Amazon library so that you can re-download it later. No word, however, on whether or not these eBooks will have restrictions similar to those on Unbox, in which there are often limits on how often you can download an item.

Pricing for titles on Kindle is a big step up from previous eBook efforts. The single biggest reason that I have never purchased an eBook of any kind is the the cost. With few exceptions, the price for eBooks on Amazon in the past were the same as buying the item in print. Isn't one of the biggest selling points of eBooks supposed to be the lower cost of production? If the cost is the same despite no physical product, I feel like I'm getting ripped off, regardless of convenience. Albums on iTunes cost less than CDs, and now eBooks on Amazon cost less than print books, which is exactly how things should be. (In addition, with Kindle's ability to manipulate font size, any book can now become a large text edition with one setting change.) Kudos to Amazon for making this happen. Finally.

But what about rentals and/or library loans? Is there any chance that Kindle owners will be able to obtain books for a limited amount of time? Unbox offers consumers a choice between rentals (less expensive and limited in time) and purchases (more expensive and permanent), so it would be logical to do the same with eBooks. For now, however, users can only purchase eBooks. Will there be any means by which a lending library can purchase titles for Kindle and then loan them out to patrons who have a device of their own? Doubtful. Libraries' only option will likely be to amass a collection of digital files and then loan out Kindle devices to patrons with selected content preloaded, similar to what's being done at some libraries with iPods. This hardly seems the most efficient use for Kindle, and I wonder if the terms of service even allow this.

Formats appear to be limited. Presumably I can't buy an eBook from another provider and expect it to work in Kindle. Word documents can be imported, but PDFs apparently can't. Would the iPod have succeeded if it didn't play MP3s?

A major reason Kindle actually looks viable is Amazon's huge library of available titles. When I browsed available titles this morning, the site pulled up 91,325 results. Not too shabby for the first day. However, when I searched for the 4 books that I'm currently reading (The Power Broker by Robert Caro, Fame Junkies by Jake Halpern, Ladies and Gentleman, the Bronx Is Burning by Jonathan Mahler, and Manhunt by James Swanson), only one (Manhunt) is available on Kindle right now.

So maybe I've complained a lot, but I'm still very, very intrigued. This is the first eReader that I've ever given any real thought to actually buying. It is a slick little device. A bit on the ugly side, but still innovative, particularly for providing book shopping and downloading directly on the device. Even if Amazon opted for a notoriously unreliable wireless carrier like Sprint, at least they have a wireless carrier.

Your move, Sony.

The New York Times reports today that both Google and Amazon are expanding their forays into the electronic book world, Google by offering paid full access to scanned copyrighted material and Amazon by introducing a wireless eBook reading device:

In October, the online retailer Amazon.com will unveil the Kindle, an electronic book reader that has been the subject of industry speculation for a year, according to several people who have tried the device and are familiar with Amazon’s plans. The Kindle will be priced at $400 to $500 and will wirelessly connect to an e-book store on Amazon’s site.[...]

Also this fall, Google plans to start charging users for full online access to the digital copies of some books in its database, according to people with knowledge of its plans. Publishers will set the prices for their own books and share the revenue with Google. So far, Google has made only limited excerpts of copyrighted books available to its users.

Following a failed history in the late 90s, eBooks appear to be on the verge of a comeback following the introduction last year of Sony's Reader product. Unlike the Kindle, however, the Reader does not have wireless functionality and must be connected to a computer to download new content.

[NY Times] Envisioning the Next Chapter for Electronic Books

As usual, Amazon.com is leading the way in illustrating just how interactive an OPAC can and should be.

The online retailer recently added yet another feature to its product information pages: customer review comments. Now instead of only being able to post a review about a product, customers can post comments to other customers' reviews...

Some commentators are speculating that this will lead to more flame wars within the Amazon system, but with flame wars occurring there already, at least now they'll likely be contained within the comment area instead of appearing on the main product page.

(via Download Squad)