Special Pages - Reports

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Amazon Kindle gets 1400 periodicals via NewspaperDirect

PR Web reports that NewspaperDirect Inc. is making its entire library of newspapers and magazine titles available on the Kindle Amazon.  "Kindle users who subscribe to PressDisplay.com can now download any of the titles currently available on the world’s largest online newspaper and magazine kiosk, and read them in their entirety."

Key paragraphs:
'... NewspaperDirect takes a different approach. After installing its PressReader software on their computer, users can select the publications to which they wish to subscribe. PressReader downloads these publications and then transfers them to the Kindle via USB cable. Using PressReader, Kindle users have access to 1,400+ complete editions of local, national and international newspapers from 93 countries in 44 languages — often before they are available on newsstands — and can read them from cover to cover.
...
“We have completely transformed what it’s like to read newspapers and magazines on Kindle,” said Alex Kroogman, CEO of NewspaperDirect. “Our unique e-publishing technology optimizes the visual quality of every title for Kindle, plus our enormous breadth of titles and all-inclusive pricing model means that Kindle users worldwide can enjoy all their favorite papers every day, in the palm of their hand.”
...
Kindle joins a growing list of devices already supported by PressReader, including PCs, Macs, smartphones, iPhones, iPod Touch and BlackBerry devices, Sony and IREX digital readers, and, soon, Interead’s COOL-ER. The moment a title is available on one device, it’s available on all of them, ensuring that PressDisplay.com subscribers always have access to the latest content on whichever device they prefer.

NewspaperDirect’s technology means Kindle owners enjoy a more authentic, graphically rich and sustainable reading experience than currently exists with other newspaper editions for Kindle:

* All original content (including photos and images) is presented in a familiar newspaper layout.
* Intuitive navigation controls are built in, along with thumbnails, and cross-linking within multi-page articles.
...
PressDisplay.com also enhances the reading experience with powerful features such as cross-title search, monitoring, article ranking, bookmarks, instant translation, on-demand audio and social features that allow readers to comment on content, share articles, and interact with other readers. '
There is much more info at the website, linked at the top here.

I checked out the membership prices at PressDisplay and there is an economy plan for $10/month. The totally unlimited plan for accessing the entire library is $30/month.
  No date is given but it may be available almost right away.

SEE several Updates with hands-on report and responses from NewspaperDirect.

4 comments:

  1. Who in the world wants to read a newspaper formatted this way? Even on a DX screen, this would require pretty small fonts. I've used software on PC's before to read mags/newspapers this way and found them to be tedious. I much preferer the individual article downloads that I get by subscribing through Amazon and find that easy enough to go through (now if only Amazon would manage some kind of bundle pricing long-term, that, I'd like).

    ReplyDelete
  2. duncande,
    If you came back you will have seen that the newspaper graphics show on the Kindle but that the actual newspaper stories are displayed as normal text. Photos are included though and not just placed at the top of an article.

    I like the Amazon subscription navigation but they have only 90 or so newspapers. There are close to 1400 available on this one, so it will be beneficial to some others.

    ReplyDelete
  3. did anybody check this? how does it work on Kindle 2?

    ReplyDelete
  4. bjelinski,
    I did a hands-on report at
    http://bit.ly/kwpressdisprpt.

    It has a couple of visual samples.

    It's been some time. And should work better for the Kindle now. They now have a special for newcomers until February 28.

    Put
    "Orlando" (without the quotes)

    into the trial subscription to get a month's free trial.

    ReplyDelete

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