Candace

Talmadge

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June 5, 2009

Amazon’s Kindle: A Clever Monopoly Device

(Second in an occasional series on the future of reading.)

After more than a decade, digital books are finally coming into their own, thanks in large part to competition between the makers of the portable devices that make ebooks readable away from the computer. The current leaders of the e-reader are Amazon’s Kindle (thanks to its Oprah Winfrey anointing) and Sony Corp.’s Portable Reader System.

This review covers one user’s brief experience with the Kindle 2 and more extensive knowledge of the Sony PRS-505. The latter is not the latest Sony e-book reader (the PRS 700), but it was the one available, since I own it and was unable to obtain a newer version to examine.

First, full disclosure: I have a business relationship with a company that is suing Amazon.com over its clumsy attempt in 2007 to force independent publishers to use its book printer or be removed from the Amazon web site. This background plus three decades as a business reporter have indeed influenced my perspective.

When it comes to making a profit off digital storytelling, Amazon clearly wants the first, last and only word. The Kindle, now in three versions, is a poorly disguised monopoly play. It is designed to expand Amazon from the biggest Internet retailer of physical books and other products to a mega-sized, sole purveyor of all electronic storytelling, known in demeaning C-suite lingo as “content.”

Its e-monopoly aspiration is Amazon’s motive for the trouble and expense of developing and building into each Kindle a wireless delivery system that works anywhere cell phone service is available. Sony users must rely on Internet-connected computers to purchase and/or download content from their devices. Kindle users are not so restricted.

It’s remarkably easy to buy content over that wireless connection and send it straight to the Kindle 2. Almost too easy. I found myself purchasing items I didn’t want and having to delete the deal after the fact. Amazon has already increased the tab for this seductive convenience, and most likely will do so time and again as its market share rises.

After fooling around with a Kindle 2 for a couple of days, I decided I prefer the privacy of the Sony, wherein I alone decide how and when to make online contact, to the Kindle’s snoopy, too chummy connectedness, which does eat up battery life, by the way. Many others obviously feel just the opposite.

In its favor, the Kindle 2 seems less techie than the Sony PRS-505, which is slightly heavier. Both the devices are easy to read, even under direct light. A well-written quick-start guide and more detailed user manual soon have Kindle 2 newbies up to speed and reading away. The plodding Sony instructions took me more time to master.

Kindle 2 also offers six different font sizes; the Sony, only three. Larger fonts are great for older eyes, but result in formatting irregularities in both models. Amazon has designed a USB cord for the Kindle (to hook the device to a computer) with a handy electric power adapter plug. The Sony requires two different cords and charges extra for the AC-DC power version.

True to its monopolistic origins, the Kindle, unlike the Sony, does not support the Adobe PDF format, the current universal standard for academic, business and government documents. Instead, Amazon offers an automatic document conversion service, which is free if users send the converted document to their computers and then transfer them to their Kindles. Amazon charges to send converted documents directly to a Kindle.

Those who consume primarily current bestsellers or news are probably better off with the Kindle, although right now, that limits their reading options since not every new book, newspaper, magazine or blog is Kindle compatible (yet). Those who read a lot of academic, business, or government publications should opt for the Sony, since it does not impose the annoying and time-consuming extra steps to address the formatting issue. Those leaning toward the Kindle’s advantages, but who deal with lots of Adobe documents, should note that the larger the PDF file, the more numerous and noticeable are the formatting glitches and quirks in the Kindle converted version. This may be OK for mostly text and/or work documents, but is frustrating for leisure reading or articles/books with lots of art, charts, or photos.

Neither the Kindle nor the Sony is cheap, and then there is the cost of content over and above the price of the device. In our current rough economy, e-book readers remain fun luxuries best reserved for those who travel extensively and want the advantage of a compact electronic library at their fingertips, or those who simply have to have the latest digital gizmo, no matter what the tab.

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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