ereader - David Starkweather

I’ve been debating on whether or not I want to upgrade my Kindle to the new Kindle Fire. Part of me absolutely wants to; touchscrean, full color display, YES! Those are the two features that have really been lacking in the old version of the kindle and now its here.

BUT is this like buying a tablet computer? If so then why wouldn’t I buy a chromebook or an Android tablet like the Galaxy Tab?

My biggest concern really, is that this will stop being my book and start being another computer/device that I can read on. Right now, my Kindle is my book, period. When I grab my Kindle I’m grabbing my book and nothing else. When I turn my Kindle on, I’m going to read and I don’t get distracted by everything else that you can get your attention on a computer. Plus, I don’t have to worry about charging my Kindle because the battery lasts for at least a month.

So here is a breakdown of what I see as pro’s and con’s for upgrading to a Kindle Fire.

5 Reasons Not to Upgrade

1st generation. I’m not an early adopter and with good reason. The 2nd generation always comes out a few months later with all the kinks worked out, a better battery and a lower price.
Reading on the e-ink display is about as good as reading on a digital reader gets…just like paper
I already have a Kindle (is this even a reason though? come on.)
The Kindle Fire becomes less of a book and more of a media device
Its only a 7 inch display. I don’t know how big of an impact this will really have but, the iPad and Galaxy Tab are 10 inch displays and that seems to be the standard size for tablets these days.

5 Reasons to Upgrade

This turns your digital book into a full blown digital media device – isn’t that what we all really need! (that and love I guess)
Full color and a touch screen are huge improvements that the original Kindle has been lacking
It’s only $199!
The Kindle Fire becomes a
7 inches sounds small for a display, but this article from Wired made me rethink my apprehension. Not to mention that for what I’ll be using this for, around the house, 7 inches is probably the right size. 10 may be overkill right? right!

It’s a pretty even race but ultimately I think Amazon knows consumers better that the other ‘media’ companies do. As long as their technology keeps up with the other guys, the Kindle Fire might be the best tablet available.

The new Kindle Fire looks amazing. It’s the same size as the existing Kindle and slightly heavier. The full color display allows you to watch movies, listen to music and read books AND magazines!

Magazines have been a big setback for me personally. I want to read magazines and I want to do it on my Kindle. The previous e-ink display wouldn’t allow for easy viewing of materials like magazines. The new Kindle Fire is exactly what Amazon needed to do to address that issue and to make the Kindle a more well-rounded media device.

The biggest downfall from this Kindle is the battery life. One thing that was so great about the Kindle is that you only have to charge it once a month. That’s amazing! The new kindle is more like a cell phone, it needs to be charged daily or at the very least multiple times per week. You have about eight hours of battery life which means you’ll need to bring your battery charger with you on business trips and vacations. That is disappointing but still doable.

At $199 Amazon has put themselves in a great position to increase their already large customer base. And because they are losing a reportedly $50 per device, it really means that they are getting more customers for their cloud storage, Amazon Prime membership and Amazon digital Music and Book sales. The Kindle Fire is the right device to promote the real services from Amazon.

Even if you’re not in the market for a full color media device (Kindle Fire), the new $79 base model Kindle is nearly impossible to pass on. It provides you with the amazing month-long battery life and access to the Amazon digital library and the easy-to-read e-ink display. At this price point its hard to pass on if you don’t already have an ereader.

Check out the new collection of Kindle’s here.

Kobo has created a new and improved version of Amazon’s kindle, including a touch screen and e-ink display. That is awesome. What isn’t awesome…they are partnering with Borders!? the same book chain that filed for bankruptcy earlier in the year and is closing more than 275 stores.

I can’t see them making much in Amazon or Barnes and Noble’s game plans (especially with the launch of the new Nook and Amazon’s even cheaper Kindle)

I imagine they have to do something to TRY and stay afloat but at this point they are way to slow to market and with the loss of so many stores along with filing for bankruptcy, there doesn’t seem to be much hope for the former book seller.

Perhaps their last hurrah should be closing all of their retail stores and trying to re-brand itself as an online only books store carve out whatever market is left in the online book space. Either way, their new product looks like it could be good, but no one wants to buy from the guy whose store down the street is going out of business.

Good luck Borders.

…for books? Seth Godin, author of multiple bestselling marketing books recently announced that Linchpin was his last book that he is going to publish. Actually he said it was the last book he is going to publish in a “traditional” format (i.e. a paper book). He is still writing and writing books – just not printed material. In fact he’s already published a digital workbook…

So with this announcement and the gaining popularity of the Kindle and iPad, how long before the rest of the book industry catches on to this distribution model? It took the music industry way too long to realize mp3′s could be beneficial (they still haven’t fully adopted it.)

Even better, here are my top 5 reasons why traditional books should convert to the digital format:

1. College students/high school students/pre-school students etc.. could all get/buy a kindle or digital reader and download their required books instead of carrying around the 10-20 pounds of books that they currently have to use for class.

2. You would always have access to every book in the world or at least what is available)…talk about variety!

3. The Kindle and like devices make reading fun again. Lets face it, the library is not a cool or even sexy place. Most youths sneek in and sneek out if they go at all (with the exception of most college students who need a place to study). But Amazon? thats sexy, that’s the cool place where everyone is already hanging out, combined with social media, reading might actually be cool

4. No more waiting for that book you’ve been anticipating to come out in paperback. How many times are you dying to read a book but its only out in Hard Cover and you refuse to pay those prices? It’s happened to me more than once. The digital version comes out at the same time and its cheaper!

5. Cause it’s awesome! Isn’t that reason enough?

And to all the naysayers out there thinking about the desire to collect a personal library, putting them on display…well, people used to do that with CD’s and DVD’s but now you’d be hard pressed to find someone willing to trade in their iTunes account for their old jewel cases. I say bring on the Kindle’s, Nook’s and iPads. Embrace the technology and look towards the future.

Go buy a Kindle…I just did! (I opted for the wi-fi version…can’t beat it!)

David Starkweather

5 Reasons to Get a Kindle Fire and 5 Reasons to Hold Off

A Look At The New Kindle Fire

Is Borders Too Late to the Game?

Is the end Nigh?

David Starkweather

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