Amazon Kindle e-Book Newspapers, Magazines and 90,000 Titles
-- Graphic Arts Online, 12/1/2007
Amazon.com debuted Kindle, a portable e-reader using a crisp, reflective 600x800 dpi resolution E Ink Vizplex imaging film to present books, magazines and newspapers from wireless downloads available anywhere. Unlike iPods and other e-file devices, no computer is needed for feeding publications to the Kindle, which uses an advanced cell-phone format, EVDO, that eliminates the need for wireless hotspots, etc.
E Ink says its Vizplex imaging film, introduced in May, updates faster than earlier generations, is 20% brighter and offers higher resolution to support more detailed artwork. In addition to Kindle, readers by Sony, iRex, Jinke Hanlin, Bookeen, Neolux and eRead Technologies have adapted the E Ink film, which offers a 180° viewing angle and sunlight readability.
In development for three years, Kindle has more than 90,000 books, including 101 of the top 112 NY Times bestsellers, downloadable for $9.99 each. Featured as the cover story in a recent issue of Newsweek (shown), the 10.3-oz. Kindle measures 7.5×5.3×0.7´´.
PDFs and Word documents can be converted for Kindle reading. Two downsides cited by early reviewers: airlines won't let you read Kindle during takeoff/landing and no backlighting means the reader requires a booklight.
To feed content to the device, Amazon launched a self-publishing Website that automatically converts book text files into salable e-book HTML formats in 12 hours, and posts them for sale at a user-set price from 99¢ to $200.
John Tadian, parent of a high school student in Royal Oak, MI, tells the Wall Street Journal he'd like to see his son's 50-lb. book load and $500 bookstore tab converted into a Kindle e-book reader
