The Kindle Chronicles discussion
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TKC 247 with Jason Merkoski
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Tom
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Apr 26, 2013 09:56AM
Interesting that the Aura's larger screen (28% more area) didn't make more of an impression. I would have had expectations that it would. I like the 'idea' of a larger screen provided it doesn't add significantly to the size and bulk (the iPad mini in mind here).
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Yes, Kindle 1 has a reset hole (I bought one on eBay a couple of months ago). Looking forward to listening to the interview with Jason. I read his book but it wasn't as interesting as I'd expected, based on the promotion, amplified by my keen interest in Kindles and digital reading.
I should say 'over inflated by my keen interest..' - to the point where my expectations probably could not be met...
Len..what about kobo ecosystem compared to amazon? Seems like amazon has them beat in every conceivable aspect...can u wirelessly purchase a book with kobo? Is there anything comparable to whisper synch? Customer service? Price of books? 3G capability? Price of ereaders? Exclusive content like singles? Kindle owners lending library? Number of titles in the store? I could go on and on :)......kindles rule!
Len, Adobe DRM does involve some inconvenience, but in return it does offer the ability to transfer a book file from one reading system to another while providing some enforcement of copy restrictions insisted on by most publishers and by proxy, authors. You can buy content from any of dozens of vendors, and read using the (Adobe-licensed) reading system of your choice, with the reading features you require. There are even cases like Readmill which let you upload and store third party DRM-ed content for free, and which let you take full advantage of the ecosystem for synching, annotation backup, etc. The requirement for 'device authorization' with an Adobe ID is a bit of a throwback to the days prior to general purpose wireless mobile devices like iPhone, etc. Five authorizations (I think this is still the default when creating a new Adobe account) must have seemed like it would be enough to last for years. Adobe does increment the account limit over time to account for device attrition, but for people like us who are always checking out new reading devices and applications like Copia and Readmill etc., the limit can be easily exceeded. I've had to contact Adobe at least 3 times to increase the limit myself, but it is not difficult or time consuming.
When Barnes & Noble launched the Nook, they worked with Adobe to develop a form of DRM that did not require device authorization. You do not need Adobe Digital Editions or an Adobe account to read books downloaded from B&N. Instead, when you open the book file using a third party Adobe-licensed reading system, it will prompt for credentials, in this case the account name and number of the credit card on file with B&N when you downloaded the ePub file. Once these are supplied, a secure hash of this is stored and any other books you open that use the same credentials will just open without prompting for credentials. Unfortunately some vendors who use Adobe DRM, for example, Sony, fail to implement the workflow involved in dealing with so-called "B&N" DRM and so you simply cannot read B&N books on those reading systems. But arguably this is a 'better' DRM because it doesn't require those extra authorization steps, and it baffles me why only B&N uses it (any licensee of Adobe's DRM solution can use it). The only downside for consumers and merchants is the need to have a credit card on file with the vendor (they may prefer to use gift cards or Paypal etc.).
Be that as it may, the vast majority of people who buy books from Kobo or Google or Barnes and Noble and only read those books on the vendor-supplied reading systems, have no need for an Adobe ID. Content downloads directly to the vendor supplied reading system (not necessarily in the form of an ePub file), and no Adobe DRM is involved (Sony may be the exception). But now, those bits are not 'portable' to another reading system.
By contrast, Amazon's DRM prevents you from taking the book file and reading it with any other device or application, whether it is registered to your own account or not. If Amazon does not provide reading features that you need or want on particular platform, you are out of luck until they decide to add them. Moreover, if you were to lose access to your Amazon account, you would have no way to read the books purchased from them. That is not the case with Adobe DRM.
Of course most of what we value with Amazon is the ecosystem: the great customer support, great selection, prices and discovery, features like Send to Kindle, good overdrive integration for library borrowing, and in general quite decent hardware and software. If DRM were to vanish tomorrow all of that would still weigh in their favor.
I like to think that if Amazon creates a Paperwhite Plus, that they can manage to do it without increasing the form factor very much. The bezels on the sides could be narrower and they could even make them flush with the screen so it could be gripped on more comfortably (like iPad mini).
