The Kobo Reader, at $150, costs less than the Kindle 6-inch and the nook, and does less, too. But the Kobo’s svelte profile and light weight make it convenient for reading in some settings. In all, it’s an attractive new entry in the e-book sweepstakes. All three of these e-ink readers have advantages over the iPad, which I find I’m using less and less for reading books.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Social media evangelist Bryan Person did Part 2 of our conversation about the iPad on Thursday April 15, 2010. This gave me a chance to revisit my expectations on how good a reading device the iPad would be compared with the Kindle.
We spoke 12 days after I had bought my 16GB WiFi-only iPad at the Apple Store at the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver. (Click here for video of my memorable entrance into the store.) In that time, my fascination with the device kept growing.
In this interview, Bryan and I discuss the issue of “serious readers” and whether they will be drawn more to the Kindle than the iPad. I have to confess that since our conversation, I am less inclined to make this distinction. I have read too many accounts like this one of people using the iPad for very serious reading, and my own experience has shown me that I am perfectly at home reading on the iPad for up to an hour. Yes, I sense some discomfort in my eyes from the LCD screen, but the ability to turn down the brightness from within most of the iPad reading apps I use–iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, and Stanza, but not Barnes & Noble–makes it manageable.
I remain in love with my Kindle and am quite sure that reports of its demise are exaggerations, as Mark Twain would have put it. I don’t see this as an either-or proposition. The iPad’s arrival is wondrous, for many reasons beyond the realm of reading books. The Kindle owns the outdoors, and any time I go with Darlene to read outside at a cafe, the iPad stays at home. At home, sometimes I pick up the Kindle, and sometimes I pick up the iPad. I haven’t figured out which situation is which, but I’m having lots of fun experimenting.
And tomorrow, I’ll have another device to explore–the Alex by Spring Design. Stay tuned!
CORRECTION: The monthly price of The Wall Street Journal iPad app is $17.29, which is $2.30 more than The Financial Times US edition on Kindle at $14.99. In the interview, I guessed that the Journal is $5 more.
Click here to download audio of the interview by Bryan.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On my first iPad session at a local Starbucks in Denver, I realize that overhead lights can be a challenge as reflections in the iPad’s screen. Some horsing around with a Gorilla tripod solved the problem. For a relatively simple project this morning, involving email, Safari, and Apple’s Pages word processor, I was able to leave my MacBook Air in the bag and work exclusively with the iPad.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Several hours after fetching my iPad in Denver, here are some initial thoughts on how it stacks up against the Kindle, and more. The one thing I left out was how heavy it seems compared with the Kindle 6-inch. That’s probably a deal breaker for reading in bed and long reading of just about anything, as well as tossing something in my bag to carry with me for occasional chances to read.
Still, this is a mysteriously compelling creation. It has my curiosity fired up to 11, as if I’m a remnant human who never saw a pencil before, wondering what to do with it. That may just be the three hours of sleep talking!
I’m sorry this video player shows as a black screen. I promise: If you click on it, it will play.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On March 13, 2010, Katherine Tasheff was a panelist at one of the most buzz-worthy sessions of South by Southwest Interactive, titled “iPad: New Opportunities for Content Creators.” She is executive director, digital media and marketing at Hyperion.
I interviewed Katherine immediately after the panel, and we discussed many topics related to eBooks, including pricing, Hyperion’s enlightened belief that “windowing” eBook titles for delayed release does not make sense, and what the iPad may make possible for publishers.
It’s refreshing to find someone as tuned into the digital world as Katherine is, working within an established publishing house. Bravo, Hyperion!
Click here to download this episode.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Bill Jensen, Director of New Media at Village Voice Media Holdings, was a panelist today at South By Southwest. The topic of the session, “iPad: New Opportunities for Content Creators,” drew an overflow crowd to the Radisson Hotel 21 days before the iPad will be available in Apple stores and for delivery of pre-orders.
Jensen gave a fairly confident assessment of the digital future for his company’s string of 17 alternative weekly publications, including the mothership, The Village Voice, as well as Denver’s own Westword.
He described why the iPad is generating such interest among publishers like himself. I left the session convinced that the hype about this device is not a mirage. Time will tell, and pretty soon. Meanwhile, geeks at SXSW aren’t the only ones suffering from iPad Distortion Syndrome. Click here for video of Stephen Colbert’s Grammy’s gambit that got one into his hands, briefly.
Click here to download this episode.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I interviewed Seth Godin this morning via Skype. He is the author of Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, published last month for Kindle, nook, Sony Reader, and hardcover. It’s a great read, and if you purchase it on Kindle by about March 1 you’ll receive a free personal addendum, Insubordinate, in which Seth describes several people who qualify as linchpins. What’s a linchpin? That’s someone who has found his or her true work, as an artist does, and is overcoming the resistance of the lizard brain to actually ship stuff that matters, because it’s original and given freely.
In the early going, my own lizard brain resisted with a couple of clever arguments (noted in this blog post) to Seth’s exhortation, which will come as no surprise to him. Lizard-like resistance is what a linchpin always faces and overcomes.
In addition to his new book, we talked about Seth’s critique of the traditional publishing industry and his vision of how Amazon, or someone, could remake the eBook platform into something much more compelling as a way for authors and readers to connect.
I prepared for our conversation by watching videos of Seth’s TED talk in May, 2009, and his presentation at last year’s O’Reilly Tools of Change conference.
Here is a complete list of Seth’s previous books.
Click here to download this episode.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
James McQuivey of Forrester Research
On the Monday after the weekend when Amazon and Macmillan faced off in a dramatic battle over eBook pricing, I turned to James McQuivey, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, for his perspective on who won, what the stakes are, and what might lie ahead.
James says his contacts at other publishers are disappointed that this turned into a mud fight, but he suggests there will be benefits from having the issue finally out in the open. He also shares his thoughts on how Apple’s new iPad figures in to all this.
I’ll have the second half of this interview on The Kindle Chronicles episode 81, which will be uploaded as usual on Friday, February 5. In that portion, James will discuss what he and his teammates at Forrester are calling “The Kindle Flame,” by which they mean the next generation of Kindle that might, if it gets certain things right, set the eBook market fully ablaze as opposed to merely kindled.
Click here to download this episode.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This is the conclusion of my January 27, 2010, interview with New York Times technology reporter Brad Stone. For the first part of the interview, please check out Episode 80 of my other podcast, The Kindle Chronicles. We spoke the evening after Brad had attended Apple’s unveiling of the iPad.
In this segment, Brad looks ahead at Amazon’s next moves and comments. He’s found 46 new jobs posted at Amazon’s Lab126, the group that makes and advances the Kindle. Brad says at one point, “The Kindle tablet may be right around the corner.”
Following the interview, I’ve included a fair-use excerpt of audio from Steve Jobs’s comments about the Kindle and the new iBooks app which will come on the iPad, setting up a high-stakes strategic battle between Apple and Amazon. Does Steve sound as if he’s got his heart in this fight? Listen, and decide.
Click here to download this episode.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
