Insert Flame Pun

The Future of Reading: A Play in Six Acts is about the new Amazon Kindle electronic book and the debate it has ignited. Not everyone is negative but then again, there’s a lot of discontent, for some fairly good reasons.

If the iPod taught us anything, it’s that users are willing to be locked into one retailer, as long as they can buy drm-free content if they want and, more importantly, can bring their own content to the device whenever and however they want. I’m ready for ebooks, and have been for years, but I don’t want to be burnt for being an early adopter.

This comment from 37signals: “When you buy a book, you’re buying a tiny piece of furniture that you usually carry with you the rest of your life” hit especially close to home. I’m sick of having to decide which books to keep and which to ditch every time I move anywhere. In this age of waste reduction, it makes sense to push for epaper and digital delivery. The users are ready, and the opportunity for profit is huge. So, where is the kindle’s competition?

Posted in Textism on Wednesday November 21, 2007.