Some Youtube videoclips, and new readers galore

I ran across an interesting videoclip of a Kindle DX demo and looked at a few others; few are done well; there is usually so much noise from people around, you can't hear what's being said or the video is very discolored or so jerky you can get a headache from trying to watch them.  If you have any to recommend, let me know.

One that's clear is by Consumer Reports and is short.

A mother video'd by her son shopping for books at Costco using her Kindle DX to look up the titles and the cost of the Kindle editions is pretty funny in that you wouldn't expect to see this.

There's also a video of of someone's DX showing PDFs that he scanned himself. They look fine but the pages are so crowded that they'd be hard to read unless you rotated them, which would then enlarge the letters, but he didn't do that!
  It does show the speed of page turns for a PDF scanned by him, so I left it in as people have asked on forums what page turns are like on PDFs.

  Bear in mind that if a PDF is heavy with large images, it'll be slow, but this was a normal one with text mixed with the usual diagrams.

  Just a light, weekend entry here with no controversy.

I have some announcements of even more competing readers being released, and since there's little info yet, they're at my Twitter area which will carry unusual items I read about but don't want to do entries on yet.  These are of course items limited to 140 characters in length, and some have already praised God for that, but 140 characters are enough to link to interesting news articles.

  While checking out all these new e-readers, one thing that strikes me is how difficult or expensive it must be (in software programming time) to offer e-readers with annotation tools like the Kindles all have and the higher-priced Sony one has (Sony is also releasing 2 new readers, their lower cost one with no annotation tools at all and very little storage).

  Except for the Sony PRS-600, the new readers have no highlighting or notes capability, no searches of book and the device, and no in-line dictionary.  And of course they've no active, free wireless access to the Net, not to mention no web browser.  Even if the Kindle's is slow, it's useable.  Some new devices will have wireless capability but almost surely not included for free as the Kindle has; yet in many cases the unit will cost almost the same as the Kindle.

Neither Cellular nor WiFi wireless is needed for reading, but cellular (anywhere) wireless has been a huge factor in the success of the Kindle.  While books can be read on the smaller smart phones, it's not very comfortable for sustained reading.  Being able to grab a book out of the air is a real attraction.

 The only non-expensive one that interests me right now is the Astak, and then only as a secondary reader or if you don't need study tools or wireless access.   It has excellent flexibility in file formats though, but on a screen even smaller than the Kindle 2's.  More on that later, but details are linked to at the Twitter page. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Kindle Chronicles Interview with Nicholson Baker

Update to my blog article on The New Yorker essay by Nicholson Baker on what he felt were unattractive qualities of a reading device "not ready" for the market.  My response was a longish one to what was a long article AND to the Q&A session that followed the publishing of the report -- which caused an acolyte to dub the Kindle an "inadequate device" based on the power of words alone.

  Baker's review serves as a sincere anti-ad that counterbalances Amazon's ad campaign, which Baker clearly resents and asks be slowed down despite Kindle-user excitement that he notes.  The power of a strong dismissal from a formidable platform like The New Yorker has had large, somewhat destructive effect in the past, as the interview linked to in the next paragraph reminds us.

  But a good product should be able to take it, even if the criticism left out important context.  Balance is something we can't really expect from an opinion piece, from any side of the issue.

Len Edgerly of the weekly The Kindle Chronicle podcast has done a 47-minute interview with writer Baker, and the tape was uploaded today to TKC 55 Nicholson Baker and can be streamed or downloaded (the latter is best for sound quality).  Len is always a good listener, so Mr. Baker has good time to expand on his thoughts on things Kindle and iPod in response to Edgerly's excellent questions and observations which are never confrontational but which lead to useful conversation (rare in this world?) and it's a good interview. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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McGraw-Hill to expand higher-ed content on the Kindle

Reuters carries a PrNewswire on McGraw-Hill Education's announcement today of the expansion of its strategic alliance with Amazon, to introduce the publisher's higher education content on Kindle and Kindle DX.

I see that Ed Stanford, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education, stresses the increase in the "reach of its digital content through the Kindle DX" while Laura Porco, director of Kindle books mentions "working with McGraw-Hill to expand the selection of content available on Kindle and Kindle DX."
  Per the Reuters PRNewswire:

" In addition to the over 3,000 professional business, medical and technical titles currently available for Kindle and Kindle DX, McGraw-Hill will now be offering over 100 top selling higher education titles in business, economics, science, math, humanities, foreign languages, and social sciences. "

This is definitely good news as it's been noted that the 6 universities involved in the coming Fall session study using the Kindle DX technology (to save paper and student backs if it works well) will include offerings from Pearson Education, Cengage Learning and Wiley Higher Education.  The study's participant schools are Pace, Arizona State, Case Western Reserve, Princeton, Reed College and the University of Virginia.  There have been questions on the Kindle forums about whether McGraw-Hill textbooks would be offered.

  The focus of colleges and universities, the newswire says, is on achieving improved student retention and pass rates while lowering the overall cost of instruction. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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That Lovingly-Negative Baker Piece

Nicholson Baker's piece last week, which I read on my Kindle version of The New Yorker, was one of many that are either positive or negative or lukewarm but which don't touch on the Kindle's many features.

In this case, Baker reports on his dismal encounter with a drab, slow, and apparently huge device known as the Kindle 2.  This is followed by having to use the even larger Kindle DX.
  He's most dismayed by the gray screen while not minding the Sony Reader's gray screen and complains about the "grim and Calvinist" font, which is the same one used for The New Yorker, which brings us, via that dour font, Nicholson Baker's story.
  Some impressions I had while reading:

1. It seemed to me, in the long opening, that Baker was extremely annoyed at the ubiquitous Kindle ads that Amazon places on their own site and the excitement the Kindle has caused (with the result that many competing e-book readers are being released) and that this feeling somewhat influenced his review which he calls more correctly an 'essay.' In his Q&A later, he responded,

" Amazon is pushing it too hard, and the press got all excited and thought it was a millennial development. "

Well, I guess he's taking care of that.

Of no small import, probably, with respect to his intense response to the Kindle, is the subtitle of his article, "Can the Kindle really improve on the book?"
  This refers to his memory of Bezos once telling Newseek that "It’s so ambitious to take something as highly evolved as the book and improve on it.”

Fighting words! Bezos couldn't possibly have meant that an always active inline dictionary and searches possible for any word in a book or books might be considered an improvement by some. Baker refers to this in that Q&A:

"QUESTION FROM ANDREW M.: Mr. Baker, do you think e-book readers in general are problematic, or just the Kindle?

[Note that he doesn't answer the actual question.]

NICHOLSON BAKER: First, if you love the Kindle and it works for you, it isn’t problematic, and you should ignore all my criticisms and read the way you want to read.

I’m suspicious of full-replacement programs—that is, pronouncements that one way of doing something will entirely supplant another,

[ Was that said in the Bezos quote Baker gave above? ]

and that in fact we have to hurry the replacement along. It’s better if you let things evolve, and see what is in fact an improvement and what isn’t. "

2. Then, in a seeming attempt to not just slow the Kindle's movement but to imagine a complete stop -- he cleverly equates the Kindle with several spectacular product failures.

"True, the name of the product wasn't so great. Kindle? It was cute and sinister at the same time -- worse than Edsel, or Probe, or Microsoft's Bob."

For the record, Amazon's first screen saver had definitions for the word "kindle" in connection with acquiring knowledge through reading:
"...my parents kindled my lifelong love for reading" and
"1. Catch fire 2. To stir up; arouse 3. Start a fire; ignite; inspire; arouse."

I did like that screensaver's text, which another reviewer found "cloying." It could be that the Kindle is just not for sophisticates.

3. About the "greenish, sickly gray," I wonder if he has a defective Kindle 2? I've written about batches that had screen defects with low contrast, which Amazon replaces with another Kindle upon a call to 866-321-8851. Linked further below are some photos which show a Kindle 2 (mine) in less dire straits.

4. Baker on the basic font:

"Monotype Caecilia was grim and Calvinist; it had a way of reducing everything to arbitrary heaps of words."

In his Q&A about this, Baker added that the same font is used for The New Yorker, but it worked for him to say this about only the Kindle in his report. He explained to a questioner:

" It's just that the default font, Caecilia, is not a good reading font. The basic decision to use it was a mistake, I think. But some people really like that everything is made equal -- George Eliot, The New Yorker, the Times, the latest bestseller, are all in this same font. I just wish it looked better."

5. In his zest to find books not Kindle-ized yet, he did not review the Kindle's popular features. What else does the Kindle, as one of the now many gray-screened e-Readers available, offer? Could one guess from this review?

Maybe he didn't have or make time to work with the highlighting and note-adding tools but he did briefly mention searching a text string though not what the results were like with the search-a-book or search-the-Kindle feature which brings up, quickly, chronologically listed results, and maybe it wasn't worthwhile to bring up the inline-dictionary that gives a summary definition on the status line for each word the cursor is on. To be fair, he probably never has to look up a word.

Instead he spent a lot of time hunting down books that were not converted to Kindle format yet by the publishers and making much ado about that. At the right is a Kindle screen-capture of search-results for a character's name because I couldn't remember who he was in the book, "Columbine" by Dave Cullen, which I'm reading along with several unfinished books.

An owner of a Kindle can still buy the physical book if it's not put into Kindle form yet. So what was all that about? But it must have been fun to keep finding books not converted by the Publishers yet.
Next, he turns around to complain about publishers possibly converting books to Kindle format eventually.

6. His very next is a reassurance and yet a lament that

"...the title count will grow. It will grow because not so subtle forces will be exerted on publishers and writers."

So, if they do get publishers to add Kindle versions then it's some kind of nefarious move on Amazon's part - with "not so subtle forces" exerted. Is there a pattern in this assigned report?

7. The Sony's screen is not really "slightly less gray." It depends on which Sony and which Kindle. The e-ink screens differ in darkness possibly due to variance in batches. As for its typeface being "better," that is a personal call. This is what I saw at Target with the two readers side by side. The relative lightness of screens will depend on the light falling on them and the angle at which you're viewing them, as you can see in that photo and in the one prior to it

As for the typeface and the screen contrast, see the Kindle 2 text and the Sony PRS-505 text.

8. Next grievance reported by Baker:

" You can't read a Kindle book on a Sony machine, or on the Ectaco jetBook, the BeBook, the iRex iLiad, the Cybook, the Hanlin V2, or the Foxit eSlick. Kindle books aren't transferrable."

And you can't read a Sony book on a Kindle! Nor will you be able to read a Plastic Logic book on a Kindle. Furthermore, the Barnes & Noble eReader cannot be read on either the Sony or the Kindle. Does Baker know this?

Why is this kind of cavil one-way for him? His many complaints and disappointments would be with e-readers and the e-Ink screen.

9. Then he wonders at the Sony getting 500,000 Google books that were published before 1923 but being ignored by the e-book reading public. Amazon does have a mere 7,000+ free books for download, but customers can buy or download, often for free, books from many online sites, often direct to the Kindle.

Well, with the Sony PRS-505 there is 1) no free 24/7 cellular wireless access to the entire Net nor 2) even a slow web browser that you can use, with Amazon's encouragement (many pre-set sites bookmarked for you) to access Google and Wikipedia (always options on the status command bar) and 3) no highlighting, no note-adding features nor an inline-dictionary and no search of the current book being read or of the entire device.

The Sony PRS-700, which has a touchscreen and side-lighting, did not sell well (and is discontinued) because reviews were very hard on the loss of contrast due to a 2nd layer over the e-Ink screen and the uneven lighting of the side-lighting. Many Sony users love this model, nevertheless, but there just aren't as many who bought it and kept it (some traded down to the PRS-505).

10. Maybe all Baker wants from an e-reader is the ability to read a book - that's fair. Others, though, really appreciate the study tools and also being able to -slowly- browse the Net, for free at any time, almost anywhere (not Montana or Alaska or deeply wooded rural areas). But in wondering why another e-book reader, with so many helpful features missing is "ignored," I think he might have done more research, as his review will be very influential. People are easily affected by people who speak with authority and with the clout of a magazine like this one. In the Q&A session, a commenter actually wrote:

"...I understand that you have made a number of severe criticisms, the upshot of which is that I will not consider reading books on this inadequate device."

11. Baker then generously grants that "they got the screen to display sixteen shades of gray, not four, a refinement that helped somewhat with photographs."

Somewhat? See the differences between the capabilities for image display with 4 shades (the Kindle 1 and many newly released cheaper e-readers this month) and with 16 shades (Kindle 2 and Kindle DX). The Sony readers discussed here both have 8 shades of gray.

12. Baker rightly mentions the fading issue occurring in apparently bad batches. This defect happens with Sony's e-Ink screens too, when the unit is defective. Sony forums have notes saying that (unlike Amazon's customers), the Sony owners won't get replacements because it is "supposed" to fade like that. E-Ink and Amazon market the unit as being just as easy to read in direct sunlight and therefore Amazon replaces Kindles, usually within a day or two, with this problem.

A Kindleboards poll (unscientific, sure, but of interest) showed this result for the question, "Have you had any sun fade issues with your K2?" -- 24 users reported Yes and 76 users reported No. That is a bad percentage, of those responding to the polls at least. People without problems and those who just lurk forums won't tend to respond and that forum has at least 4,000 members.

The problem will be somewhere in the e-Ink and display mechanisms put together by E-Ink and the company that just bought them, PVI, and will show up in e-ink readers using them. The upside is that Amazon does replace those units, unlike Sony, from what I've read. But it HAS been a problem for too many, with an article about it on this blog. Recent Kindle 2's are said to have better screen contrast and customers are reporting, in forums, fewer problems with the screenfading problem now.

13. Newspaper articles that are purely text but possibly not included in the Kindle versions somehow, have been reported before and I personally don't like the publishers withholding any text articles from subscriptions. In the Amazon customer reviews, some customers have reported, though, finding some missing articles in the next day's edition.

The pure-text format of Amazon subscriptions with only a lead photo (free RSS feeds usually don't include the images) is not for those who need to see newspaper editions in the paper-layout we've known and enjoyed for most of our lives.

For me, an e-reader screen is like a window to the mind of someone I hope is interesting; there is no beautiful layout or colorful surroundings and no smell. If that's important, don't go near the subscriptions :-).

I'm trying out the Kindle edition of my local paper, the SF Chronicle, which has amazingly good photo reproductions with excellent contrast and range of tones and also good sharpness while other newspapers' photos have less contrast and lower resolution. Kindle owners might try a 14-day free trial for a few days to see what that is like. I'm not recommending a subscription, but the SF Chronicle Kindle-photo editor should teach classes on that.

14. Last, Baker mentions the smaller devices (iPod/iPhone) being his preference and filling his night-reading needs. But he reports falling asleep while reading on them. Maybe they tire his eyes? :-) I'm just teasing there. At least he decides he should finish his awful task and read the end of a book on his unattractive Kindle, and does get through it!

OTHER THOUGHTS ON THIS
After writing about that chirpily dark review, I'll add a link to a favorite customer forum thread that discusses the unusual ways that customers use their Kindles. Most of these involve using features that other e-readers don't have and which Baker didn't mention.

After all that, my final thought on this is that the Kindle or any e-reader is just an alternative way of reading; why some feel we can have only one or the other eludes me.  I enjoy both, but I prefer carrying many books at once in one small package and I know that some books will never be good on an e-reader, so I still buy and enjoy DTBs ("Dead tree books" as they're sometimes called in e-reader forums).

---

I enjoyed Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine.   This is not available in Kindle format.

Student eyes may not be as keen as Baker's for reading entire books on the iPhone.

Photo: Photo-illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: WikiCommons, Courtesy of manufacturers (downsized) Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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How to print Kindle folder-list on a Windows system - Update

UPDATE 8/4/09 - to original post dated 8/3/09, 2:14 am.
  At the bottom is an addendum due to a question in the Comments section re making the scrolling Kindle-contents list accessible on the Kindle itself -- and also I've added a way to list sub-folder contents of the Kindle for those who make sub-folders for viewing on their PCs, despite the Kindle screen still showing all documents at the top.  The Kindle folders (done while connected to the PC) can help you organize your files in the device even if the Kindle doesn't show the folders.

---

The guide below is to a simple and free way to print contents of your Kindle 'documents' folder if you are using Windows.  I verified that this works on my Windows XP.

Windows Explorer file manager doesn't support the printing of a directory/folder listing directly but here's a simple way to do it though you will need to run a DOS statement from Windows.  But that's not difficult.

  Be sure to see if a slash is a backward one "\" or a forward one "/" ... Direction is key.

1.  Connect your Kindle to a computer USB port with the USB cable that is part of the Kindle's power cord.
2.  Use Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer), or whatever file-manager/utility you prefer, to find out what Drive Letter your Kindle is assigned by the system.  Mine is sometimes F:, sometimes G:
  Keep that drive letter in mind.

3.   Go to 'Start' at left-hand bottom corner and click on 'Start'
4.  Then click on "Run"
6.  Type into the resulting box, "cmd" (this runs commands in the DOS window)
7.  You'll see an old-fashioned DOS window and a 'prompt' that looks like "C:\"

In that DOS window:
8.  Type in the Kindle drive-letter (such as F: IF that's what it is).
9.  In other words, you'd type merely F: and press the Enter key.
10. That'll put you in the Kindle drive at the 'root' or top.
11. Type dir and press Enter key just to see folder/directory names.

We're going to create a list of Kindle documents in alpha order.
(I can update this later to show how to do other sort-orders if anyone wants.)

12.Type
  Dir documents  /on > kindlelist.txt  /d
  and press Enter key

That makes an alpha list of your Kindle documents, filenames only.

(Explaining above 'command' -- "/on" means "Order this list by Name" -- and ">" means "Get this listing and put it into a file.")

You can also get Date, Time, and Size but only before the file name:
OPTIONAL: Type
  Dir documents  /on > kindlelistmore.txt
  and press Enter key

So you now have a file of filenames only, or you have two files, one with more info.

At this point, just run whatever editor you use -- Notepad, Microsoft Word --
and then Open f:\documents\kindlelist.txt

  If you made a file with more info, open that one later too.

(Again, this is if  "f:"  is the drive.   It could be g:  or  i:
Make sure you type the drive letter assigned to the Kindle in all of this.)

And now you should see your listing (or first of two separate listings).

From your editor, you can print it.
  You can even copy/paste it into Excel.  Printing will be as normal.

That's it.  You can keep the file on the Kindle or delete it.
  Before you disconnect the Kindle, be sure to click on "Safely Remove" via that green icon at bottom right of your screen and click on 'Stop' the Kindle drive, to be sure your data stays safe.
  You should also close that DOS window too.


TIP: To avoid doing all the above while getting much more flexibility, try Calibre.  It takes a little time to install and set up but will be much more rewarding.

I hope this is useful.  Drop me a comment if something doesn't work for you.
Or even if it does :-).  You can use this for regular Windows directories of course.
 I wish I had a Mac way to do this but maybe Mac users already have that.

---

Should work with:
  Kindle DX,  Kindle 2, and  Kindle 1.

---

ADDENDUM 8/4/09

You can read the Kindle-list file on the Kindle, if you move or copy the kindlelist.txt file to the 'documents' folder (the filename you choose might be different).

So, once you're done, the last thing in the DOS-window typing sequence above would be:
Type
/>   copy kindlelist*.txt documents
and press Enter key.

That's it!

  An additional idea: Users comfortable with file-handling via Windows Explorer can make folders on the Kindle, via (File) Explorer, and be able to see everything on the Kindle in a more organized way in the Explorer file-manager, but the Kindle Home Screen will still show all of them together.

To make a file listing that also shows any subdirectories/folders under the Kindle's 'documents' folder that you might choose to create -- and their contents -- you'd add a "/s" to include subdirectories:

Type
  Dir documents /on > kindlelist.txt /d /s

And for the FULLER listing with Date/Time/Size, it would be:

Type
  Dir documents /on > kindlelistmore.txt /s

That's assuming those are the filenames people choose to use. Otherwise they substitute the filenames they actually chose. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Kindle DX finally coming back in stock

The Kindle DX is now "expected to ship in 2 to 3 days."  Why did they run out for so long - small runs?  Much higher interest than anticipated?  What happens when the Fall Semester nears?

At any rate, here's a portion from a more recent review of the DX that is pretty thorough.

Brad at Sunset Lake Software reviews it from the standpoint of scientists and engineers.  Some of his comments:

" So far, I'm finding it to be an extremely useful device, with a screen that works very well for many types of documents, including scientific papers and technical manuals.  The Whispernet data connection is really cool and provides a strong differentiator for this reader versus others on the market right now...

While seeming a little too small at first, I think Amazon got the size just right.  The screen is large enough to display detailed content, yet the Kindle is still portable enough to take with you everywhere...

I tried a bunch of complex PDFs on the Kindle, and all of them rendered flawlessly.  The images below illustrate various documents, including a research paper, a page from my Ph.D. thesis, a spec sheet from a microelectronic component, and pages from Apple's Human Interface Guidelines.  The text and vector art are sharp and clear, but text that was already in small print within two-column research papers might be difficult for people with poorer eyesight to read.

Unfortunately, the only way to zoom in on a PDF is to rotate the device into a landscape mode, which widens the PDF to fit that orientation.  It would be very nice if Amazon were to add a portrait zoom function in a future firmware update. "

Brad doesn't seem to write notes on PDFs though, and that's not possible anyway with Amazon's current Adobe licensing.  As mentioned before, for adding notes, you'd have to convert a copy of the PDF to MOBI/PRC via one of 3 free utilities, mentioned in earlier articles here, to get a copy which pays less attention to intended layout but allows highlighting and notes added as well as all text to be findable when doing a full search of the Kindle contents.

See the full review and photos here.

Also, here's that video of the DX used for pilots' approach plates;
 it's the most accurate representation I've seen of the DX rendering PDFs.

Some photos I took earlier of the DX screen, in vertical and then landscape modes are here.

Updated for minor corrections and addition of video information for those who missed the approach plates story. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Student sues Amazon despite finding 1984 notes

Update to earlier articles (1)  and  (2) on the Amazon '1984' debacle

  Note that an interview with the "1984" student will be broadcast on The Kindle Chronicles podcast tonight (Friday).

When the student was last interviewed by The New York Times's Brad Stone about the sudden removal of his copy of '1984,' Stone reported:

' Whether or not people are bothered by these possibilities may in part be a function of their age, as a new generation grows up with an implicit understanding of the rules around these networked devices and learns to live with them.

“I’d like to live in a perfect world where I own this content and can do whatever I want with it,” said Justin Gawronski, a high school student whose copy of “1984” was erased by Amazon, but who recently declined when a lawyer asked him to join a class-action lawsuit over the incident. Mr. Gawronski said, “This is probably going to happen again and we just have to learn to live with it.” '”

That last thought was more relaxed than my own reaction as I feel that Amazon and other e-reader companies have seen that they'd best not do anything like this again, just for what it would do for their bottom line, as customers definitely don't want this done.  Amazon acknowledged this already by changing their systems, they said to Stone, so that this wouldn't happen again on even a book that was found to not be a legal edition, once it had been sold.

Yesterday, the Wall St. Journal reported that Justin has gone ahead with the lawsuit after all (no doubt with the help of some persuasive lawyers).

  Though other newspaper reports didn't mention this, there is another plaintiff name involved, "A. BRUGUIER," who wants another book to replace the one removed.  The lawsuit also focuses on what it calls "unfair and deceptive business acts and practices...as part of a pattern and generalized course of conduct."
  For most people I talk with on Amazon forums, this description just gives the suit less credibility, as Amazon's strong point has been the overall quality of its customer service in the last couple of years.  

Len Edgerly of The Kindle Chronicles announced the other day that Friday night's podcast will include separate, unrelated interviews with Ian Freed of Amazon and with Justin Gawronski.

  The interview with the student came about because of the interesting, almost entertaining way in which he found out ("The rest of the story") that he still did have the notes after all, on his Kindle, after feeling his work had been stolen.  That can be read, with hyperlinks added by Edgerly.  It should be good to hear from Justin himself in the interview.  Len said, at the unsympathetic Amazon forum thread discussing this, that in his interview

' Justin comes across as a pretty good kid, trying to do the right thing in a situation that is getting pretty intense.  I agree this lawsuit doesn't look very good on paper, but hearing his side of the story in his own words puts the matter in a different light, IMO. '

  The notes were, by normal programming, put into a separate pure-text file ("My Clippings" file) which Kindle users can then copy or move to their computers for editing and printing.  Justin confirmed the notes are still in that file.
  About a day later, Justin received a used e-copy of the book that had been available at feedbooks.com some time ago.  It wasn't provided by Amazon though.

 The Lawsuit acknowledges that the notes were not lost (despite many current newspaper reports).  It states, instead, that Justin considers the notes "rendered...useless" because he no longer has the book for reference and that some notes, which give location numbers in the Kindle book, referred to items such as "this paragraph" in the book.


MY TAKE ON THE LEGAL TEAM'S POINTS
This includes the detail from TradingMarkets's story.

1. License for Life: Jay Edelson, of the firm of KamberEdelson uses the following rationale: his main point seems to be that “People are given license for life” (to an e-book), but I think the problem there is that Amazon found out from the copyright owner that Amazon didn’t have the "rights" to License the e-book at all as the book is still under copyright in the U.S., and Mobile Reference, who uploaded the book ‘1984? (as well as ‘Animal Farm’) didn’t have the right to offer it for sale.

  If Amazon didn’t have the right to license that book to anyone, can they license that book "for life" as Edelson puts it?

  I still feel that Amazon handled it poorly, even if giving refunds as they did, and really should not have removed the book(s) from customers' Kindles, but they have given two apologies, with the assurance (reported in The New York Times) that they’ve changed their systems so that it will not happen again despite illegal book uploads having been sold.

2. "Hacking" into peoples Kindles - TradingMarkets reporting Edelson's points).
  TradingMarkets reports, "The class action seeks injunctive relief barring Amazon.com from improperly accessing peoples Kindles in the future."

What is 'hacking' or 'improper' accessing in a network environment with ongoing interaction and file handling and backups?
  Amazon's normal network processes include ‘removal’ of a current daily blog to replace it with the most current daily blog subscribed to, and to ‘move’ customer-deleted books to the Kindle “Archives” area so that these deleted books can be re-downloadable via a click from the Amazon servers.  Also, older subscription issues are moved to a Periodicals folder, and all kinds of file handling (including back-ups of notes and notations on books with customer approval) are everyday file-handling.  In other words, deletions are part of the everyday processes.

 Ironically, a long-standing demand by some customers has been that they be allowed to have 'permanently removed,' from the Server logs forever, any books they thoroughly dislike and have deleted from their Kindles, so that they never have to see the title in their Kindle's Archives listing anymore, but Amazon has been reluctant to do this when the customer had bought it and when there is no legal issue involved that presses for permanent removal.  What if customers were to decide later we wanted a book again after all, for a second look, and called to say we had purchased it and should be able to download it?

3. Personal property / Network client device
  Another key point will be whether or not the Kindle doubles as personal property AND as a network client device, the latter covered by Title 17 of United States Code:
(c) Information Residing on Systems or Networks at Direction of Users which is discussed in an earlier report.

---

To download a copy of the federal lawsuit, click here.
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How to save on college textbooks

An AP article carried by Cleveland Ohio Business News suggests "3 ways to save on college textbooks"

The article points out that publishers are now offering to rent books or are providing electronic versions at what AP says is a fraction of the cost and that, next summer, colleges will be required by federal law to "list the cost of required materials in online course schedules.  Publishers will also need to disclose book prices in marketing sent to professors who may not realize the costs"

Until then they suggest
1. Renting.  They give Chegg.com as an example - that site is renting Introductory Chemistry for a semester for $44 while the list price of the book is $140.  They have a catalog of 1.6 million titles and say they will try to track down books requested that are not in the catalog.  While the student pays for shipping, returns at the end of the semester are done with prepaid envelopes.
  BookRenter.com works similarly and there is an option to buy at the end of the rental period, with credit for the rental price.  Both places offer refunds if a class is dropped - within 30 days at Chegg.com and within 10 at BookRenter.

2. Buying Used.  The AP article states that used books cost almost as much as new ones, at campus bookstores, so they recommend going online to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Borders for better pricing, where the condition of a book is often described by the 3rd-party sellers (rated by users) and online coupons or special sales are offered in email by the bookstore chains.

3. Digital books.  Coursesmart.com offers about 7,000 titles and the company says that its e-textbooks are, on average, half the price of new print copies, and have the same layout so there's no confusion over what 'pages' are assigned.  Print copies are available too.  There is rather limited copy & paste allowed but students can print 10 copies "at a time" (whatever "a time" means).  Highlighting is also a feature.
  Cengage Learning makes its titles available electronically at iChapters.com.  Unlike e-books bought for the Kindle or Sony readers, the books at both companies can be kept for only the equivalent of a semester and can't be used later for referencing.  These are not bought but leased then.

 The Kindle DX and Sony Reader are also mentioned, but it's pointed out that some textbooks won't be available for them.  They add:

" Three textbook publishers -- Pearson PLC, Cengage Learning and John Wiley & Sons Inc. -- have agreed to make books available on the Kindle. But representatives for Kindle and Sony did not respond to questions about the breadth of their textbook selections or prices.

As an example, however, "An Introduction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics" cost $45.45 on the Kindle, compared to $75.11 for a new copy from third-party vendors. "

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Barnes & Noble offer free WiFi in stores

ZDNet reports that Barnes & Noble have teamed with AT&T to offer free WiFi access in their stores nation-wide.  They've done away with subscription fees at the stores and will not require a purchase to enjoy it there.

I've always enjoyed going to B&N and while it'll be nice to be able to take my old laptop there to enjoy the Wi-Fi , I've not needed it when I had my Kindle, with its own always available, albeit slowww (but free), cellular wireless access.  But it'll be another reason to visit there.  May B&N do well, always be available (unlike Borders) and keep Amazon on its toes. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Free 'Basic Html' e-book for bloggers

Basic HTML: An Introduction to HTML for Bloggers, written by Kevin Muldoon for Blogging Tips newsletter members (membership is free), is a 63 page e-book spanning 11 chapters, available for a free download by anyone who joins their Blogging Tips newsletter.

This very basic primer is written for readers with no prior knowledge of HTML, who want more control over how their blog posts are shown and to help them quickly identify basic coding errors on their blogs.  A Cheat Sheet can be downloaded too.  The author lives in Scotland, so this is written in UK English.  The short book is very nicely done and the price is right. :-)  For beginners. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Rubin's $35 Bio of Lucas: 'Droidmaker' FREE download - Update

David Pogue tweets today: 'Michael Rubin's $35 biography of George Lucas and Lucasfilm, "Droidmaker," now available as a FREE download. What a deal!

While Rubin writes that he hopes that people will also want to buy the actual hard-copy book, here is the link to the free set of three PDFs that comprise this electronic version.
  Rubin hopes that if you don't feel like getting the hard copy that you will click on his "Donate" box for the e-copy.

  To reward Michael for this, people might consider (as he requests) getting the hard-copy also, as a gift for fans of Lucas or Rubin or filmmaking.

  Rubin doesn't know how long he will have this free version on the Net, so get it while it's there.  The book has received 25 reviews on Amazon with an average rating of '5' out of the max 5 Amazon uses.  There's no Kindle version yet, though.

  At that reviews area, Alvy Ray Smith, co-founder of Pixar writes:

' After years of reading mangled "histories" of Lucasfilm/Pixar, I am extremely pleased to read one by a guy who gets it right, including the arts, the technologies, the businesses, and the personalities.  Michael Rubin not only gets the gist correctly imparted, but also those pesky details. '

---

UPDATE - 7/25/09 - Can a Kindle guru help with making this happen?
  Original posting of entry 7/24/09 at 8:59PM
Michael Rubin has added a comment to this entry, and maybe someone can help him with his interest in getting the PDFs converted for the Kindle and making them "appropriately available that way.  I'm told it's possible, but I haven't figured out how to do it from my Mac..."

  I also think his publisher should make the book available as a Kindle edition and I clicked on the box at the Amazon book page to ask the publisher to do that.

  These PDFs will be fully readable on the Kindle DX, of course, as is.

  But for the Kindle 1 & 2 -- While I know Stanza and Calibre (both will work for Mac) might convert these from PDFs, these are fairly complex ones with double photographs on a line and lots of footnotes which are on both sides of the body of the text, something that I know MobiPocket Creator doesn't convert very well at all.

  I might ask at MobileRead forums.

SIDE NOTE:
Here is Rubin's response when asked why he was doing this.  I had wondered also, and from a creator's point of view, it makes a lot of sense.

He also welcomes any feedback any of you may have.

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Getting Google directions with the Kindle on a trip - Update4

N O T E :   JULY 10, 2010 -- GOOGLE CHANGED SOMETHING AND THE PREVIOUS DIRECTIONS (BELOW) DON'T WORK ANYMORE -- See the NEWER VERSION dated July 11, 2010 -- this one is just part of the archives now and maybe in the future might work again.

UPDATE 7/25/09:  Shortcut for both Kindle 2 and DX, to go to a website, has been added at the bottom.

Web-browser tip.  Some Kindle owners take advantage of the free, included, 24/7 Sprint cellular wireless when in the car, without a GPS unit or suitable map, and wanting to find out how to get somewhere.

  This works for Kindle 2's and Kindle DX's, although any map that appears, while quite readable in the DX, is not particularly readable on the Kindle 2.  However, the text navigation directions are very readable on both, and you can enlarge the font for those.

  When you've been busy using the Kindle for a number of things, sometimes the first attempt at web-browsing will cause the Kindle to reboot to clear memory for a clean start.  After that, it should be fine.

1.   Press the Menu button to get the "Experimental" option.

2. Click on "Experimental" to choose/accept the "Basic Web."

You'll need to use the SYM key at bottom right of keyboard to get any unusual characters such as '@" sign as well as the question-mark symbol.  While slow and an irritation, it's still useful in a car if you don't have phone access to the web.

3. At the Web browser page (though it may take you to bookmarks page instead),
press Menu to choose "Go to Top"

That gets you to the top line to type a link or URL

4. TYPE:
maps.google.com/?output=html

5. Five-way to the right until you get "GoTo" and then press down on that.

That should fetch the Google map/directions page for you.
(SHORTCUT for Steps 1-5 is at the bottom of the page.)
6. Press the Menu button to BOOKMARK this page so you don't have to type this again.

Also, the screen should show "Advanced" or "Desktop" at top center as your browsing mode.  "Basic mode" won't work with this.  This is normally done automatically, but if not, then press Menu/Settings to choose "Advanced."

7. Then you can use your 5-way button/cursor to get, slowly, to the input boxes to enter city, state (or zip) for a Map of the area.

  If you want "Directions" - then add an address before city

8. If you check "Directions," you'll see the START-address input box and most of a small map.

9. TYPE the From: address that you want.

10. 5-way down slowly :-)

11. Then the screen shifts and gives you the rest of the map and the END-address input box.

12. TYPE in the To: address there.

Again, the text directions from Google are very readable on either Kindle screen, and you can increase the font size of that text with the Aa font-key.

You'll need to play around with this to get used to it.  On the DX, zooming-in on a map will make the street names clearer of course.

Let me know if you have any problems with this.

---

ADDENDUM for KINDLE 2 and KINDLE DX USERS: (added 7/25/09 at 2:59 AM)
There is a shortcut (Kindle 2/DX) for getting to a URL from the Home Screen.

  The traditional way was shown above.

INSTEAD of 1 through 5 above:

AT HOME SCREEN
1. Press Enter key (below the DEL key)

  This brings up the tubular text-input 'box' at the bottom.

2. TYPE in:
  maps.google.com/?output=html

3. Five-way to the right until you get "GoTo" and then press down on that.

  You'll be placed right on the Google map/directions page.

Then go to Step 6 (or to Step 7 if you've already bookmarked it previously).

---

ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE SHORTCUT to the one above.

AT HOME SCREEN
1. Press Enter key (below the DEL key)

  This birngs up the tubular text-input 'box' at the bottom.

2. TYPE in:
  @url maps.google.com/?output=html

3. Press merely Enter-key (below DEL key) to choose default "Search my items"

  You'll be placed right on the Google map/directions page.

The last alternative forces you to use the SYM key use for the "@" sign, which is a slowdown.

  But it also lets you just press Enter key instead of 5-waying several times to the right.

---

UPDATED 7/25/09
ONE MORE ALTERNATIVE SHORTCUT

  You can type in the URL while reading a book or article
    IF your cursor is NOT on the screen.
      Then start typing in the website url (no http://) and then
      5-way to "my items" and press down.

  After finishing with website, press 'Back' key to return to book page.

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Jeff Bezos - An Apology from Amazon

Jeff Bezos posted to the Kindle Community Discussions forum a simple but eloquently spare apology with no excuses for the remote deletions that understandably caused Amazon a tremendous loss of trust in one week for the clueless handling of a digital rights management situation which involved having inadvertently sold illegally-published books (uploaded by the trusted Mobile Reference folks who have done such good work on public domain works) and deciding to give refunds while erasing the files from servers and from network client Kindles without warning to customers who had paid for the books.

The wording is so effective, to my mind, that this will go a long way toward restoring a good bit of the trust they've had from long-time customers.

For my money, it was a classy statement, not put out to the world through a press release but directly to the Kindle community itself. Excellent move.

To check whether it was officially from Amazon, I saw that management had caused the two sticky topics at the top of that forum to become unsticky at the top - one was a Customer Service Announcement thread and the other was a Kindle FAQ given sticky status long ago for customers to help other customers.  Only management has the rights to change those placements and I think it was possibly inadvertent while placing his announcement post there:

" Initial post: Jul 23, 2009 12:16 PM PDT
Jeffrey P. Bezos says:
This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our "solution" to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com "

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iRex DR1000S 'Paper tiger?' - DX size $989 US

First, I ran across a few more interesting stories and they're linked at my Twitter page, so if you're interested in additional news items that I don't expand on here, you can get them at twitter.com/kindleworld where we're limited to 140-character alerts but can still link you to the full stories.

The iRex Digital Reader DR1000S is reviewed by Bill Ray, of Register Hardware, and he subtitled it "Paper tiger?" which sums up his appraisal, amplified by the 55% Rating he gave it.

  Expectations can be high when the suggested price of this unit, somewhat larger than the Kindle DX, is more than twice the cost of the DX -- at $989 US (£599) for the iRex DR1000S vs the DX's $489, often referred to as "too expensive."

  He says it's not exactly comfortable for reading books due to its size, but I thought I'd feel that way about the DX and have come to find the size just fine.

  The screen is 10.2 inches (in diameter, I assume) with the same 16 levels of gray as the DX, and he finds that it "excels at rendering an A4 page, ideally from a PDF file" and describes it "a joy" and slim enough so that it feels like a clipboard.

As with the iRex iLiad (reviewed by AlexOnLinux after a year of use), it uses a stylus which has slight lag time.  While calling the hardware "superb," Ray writes that the interface is a "mess" with "appallingly designed processes" and:

" Take this scenario: imagine one has finished reading a PDF document and wishes to close it and then delete it. Closing the document involves nine key presses, in the correct order switching between side and bottom buttons, deleting the same document takes another eight: get one wrong and you're back to the start. We've not seen interfacing this bad for a very long time..."

The battery is affected by the capacitive screen if not much by the e-ink display and "would rarely allow 10 hours of reading."  On the other hand he was "using complex PDF files. and taking lots of notes"

For e-books, it supports Mobipocket but he says the model is "not intended for reading books."
  What?  The iRex iLiad (normally $850) deals with all kinds of file formats, so I don't know what he means, unless he means the device is mainly for pdfs, excel sheets and office documents. He adds:

" The value of this class of device is in the ability to make a load of scribbled notes onto a PDF file and then merge those notes into the PDF file for viewing elsewhere. "

 The iLiad model is open and has encouraged hackers to create apps that strip out pages with no notes and which change all notes into red marker -- really useful for ultra long documents.  But this model won't do that, for now.

His "Verdict"

" Despite the disappointing software and outrageous price this is, quite simply, the most effective way to read and make notes on long documents.  If you have to do that regularly, then the RD1000S is the best tool for the job, but try to get the company to pay for it. "

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B & N and Plastic Logic 2010 - The Focus - Update

UPDATED 7/23/09 for a very interesting additional Plastic Logic quote, from May 28, placed at the bottom of the Plastic Logic section and to correct a couple of dates from '2009' to '2010' (thanks to Batman) - Original Post was made 7/22/09 at 2:17 AM.

Wall St. Journal reports that Barnes & Noble is partnering with Plastic Logic to power its bookstore when Plastic Logic releases its E-Reader "in early 2010," a date given in the VIDEO interview with Fox Business News by Plastic Logic's Vice President of Business Development, Daren Benzi.

  Commenters to the news site quote some of his responses:

" Our goal is to focus on the business professional. ...optimized for content for the business professional: newspapers, magazines, periodicals...we're targeting a different kind of a customer... the business professional..."

In a New York times piece, Brad Stone astutely points out that this

" typically suggests a higher price and the need to lure more affluent customers."

Reactions of website commenters (some of whom have been eagerly awaiting the Plastic Logic model) to yesterday's interview which once again had a Plastic Logic executive bringing an inactive model to a televised broadcast:

' It wasn't even a working model, just a mock up. It "displayed" a single, static page. No demonstration of the touchscreen, the refresh rate, or the supposed flexibility at all. '

  That was strange.  Here's another reaction which addressed the announcement that was well in advance of the release:

" A lot of people have a lot of hopes pinned to this device, and it doesn't even have a firm release date or price.  'Early 2010' could mean it might not be released for another 9 months. I'm supposed to start buying books from Barnes & Noble now and not plan to read them until next spring? "

However, two months ago, in May, there was a demo of the working model at that point, and the external appearance is the same, a heavily commented on, somewhat aging PC color, for the frame which has no buttons because everything is done via the touch screen and a virtual keyboard.  Here is the video for that by Gizmodo.  Gizmodo comments on the functioning that they saw in the demo.  Here's the larger video without Gizmodo comments.

The NY Times's Brad Stone adds

" The Mountain View, Calif., company declined to disclose any more information about the pricing, or whether it will charge consumers monthly for that wireless connectivity.  Amazon.com’s Kindle accesses content through Sprint Nextel’s wireless network, although users are not charged for the service and many probably do not even know their Kindle uses Sprint to download books and access the Web. "

At this point, please read details in the earlier reports here on statements by Plastic Logic executives when making presentations in late June, May, and mid April.  I'm summarizing here (but the details in earlier articles are better):

[ Daren Benzi ] - "Compared with a computer, one of the advantages of the device is that readers can focus entirely on consuming content, they will not be disturbed by emails, for example."

[Sarah Geata] - "It will have WiFi, USB connection and a Bluetooth. We support PDF, ePub and MS Office. We are targeting [the] business traveler, you can annotate documents on it... When plugged in, the device can upload email to it... [WiFi] will be built in. Kindle set the standard making it transparent."

[When asked if there would be a web browser, Geata's response was]
"Not right now. It's about not being interrupted.
  It's a reading device. There won't be email on this or a web browser ..."

In yesterday's video, it was mentioned that the content would be for the business professional - magazines, newspapers - whereas Amazon targets those whose main interests are books.

In a Fox Business News interview earlier (details in earlier stories), an executive said that wireless would be used to upload and download documents needed for work and that most books would be business oriented ones.

This all jibes with PC Magazine's opening statement in its article today by Mark Hachman:

" Plastic Logic said Wednesday [sic] that its upcoming e-reader device will connect to the AT&T 3G network for content updates when the device debuts next year. "

They intend to use the wireless and wifi capabilities for uploading and downloading documents needed for business.  Brad Stone describes the plans this way:

" 'Over time you can see a lot of potential to be connected back to your office or to your home base,' said Richard Archuleta, chief executive of Plastic Logic.  'Having that ability to get documents, books or trade journals over Wi-Fi or the 3G network is critical, especially for mobile business professionals.' "

---

UPDATE 7/23/09 - Added quotes from Plastic Logic - Original posting 7/22/09
From Christie Silk of Editors WebLog dated May 28, 2009, more information about publishers with whom Plastic Logic had already made arrangements and another interesting quote:

' Richard Archulet, the company's chief executive, emphasised that his company's project aimed to satisfy the demands of a different user base to the mainly leisure orientated market already dominated by Amazon:

"Everything is designed for the business user, and business users require a lot of different types of content. It's really not about books at all." '

And from an earlier report which cited an even earlier report

' Benzi explained that although the first device will not access the internet, consumers might well be able to click on an advertisement for additional information on products or offers . . .

Plastic Logic will be able to "track the information about what the customer is doing with the device," a system which would seem to offer benefits to both newspapers and advertisers. '

---

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ABOVE:
So, I am not at all confident that non-business-oriented customers should bank on the Plastic Logic unit if looking for the ideal consumer e-reader.  I don't even think the price will be attractive.  But the file formats that the Plastic Logic will handle are a very attractive draw and include the Microsoft Office suite, full PDF support, and ePub format, etc.   Since Barnes and Noble plans to support ePub at some point (not right now), the Plastic Logic unit could read books from that store.  Looking at B&N's e-book store, fictionwise.com (recently purchased by them), average pricing is above Amazon's.

In mid June, Jeff Bezos announced to a Wired Magazine sponsored conference:

"In the future, Amazon.com’s Kindle e-book reader will display more book formats beyond its own."

And I'd say they'll obviously need to.


BARNES AND NOBLE
Now, to the B&N side of the news, The Wall St. Journal reports that they will launch an e-bookstore with bestsellers priced at $9.99 and will offer 700,000 titles.  500,000 of those will be public-domain books written before 1923.

  Business Day adds that B&N "would be the only provider of books on Plastic Logic’s electronic reader when it starts selling next year."

  Although book formats that B&N support include iPod, iTouch, Blackberry smartphones, and most Windows and Mac computers, the President of B&N, William Lynch said that titles bought through B&N's bookstore won't be compatible with Sony Readers or the Kindle

Also, while B&N will support Plastic Logic, its contract does not prevent it from selling its books for other e-readers, maybe even one made by B&N.

They don't say whether they'll actually sell the Plastic Logic and there is no pricing information available during this fairly large announcement, which seems timed to cause a slowdown for the Kindle but without displaying anything noteworthy with the Plastic Logic reader while changing the expected release date from "January 2009 2010" to "early 2009 2010," which could be as late as April 2010.

Of interest to me also is that Fictionwise, Barnes and Noble's e-store currently, has sold books in formats directly downloadable to and readable by the Kindle for some time.  feedbooks.com and manybooks.net also sell or give books that are fully readable by the Kindle and, directly to the Kindle.

  Many are unaware of that, thinking the Kindle can deal only with Amazon books.  Now, B&N's future super e-book store will not provide books in compatible formats for the Kindle or the Sony.  I thought that was a little odd, when Fictionwise has (MOBI/PRC format) for so long.

But Barnes and Noble's challenge will serve to keep Amazon on its toes; I personally love using the Kindle, but I really want Amazon to 1) update the firmware in the Kindle 2 so that it provides native PDF support with manual rotation and 2) to update the firmware in the Kindle DX to fully support PDF editing and study tools, sooner than later, with the school sessions coming up very soon. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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A Sony-PRS700BC review & comparison w/ the Kindle

Computer Shopper's Matt Safford reviews the SonyReader PRS-700BC, with a touchscreen and with side-lighting, and compares its features, pro and con, with the Kindle (both the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX).  Good photos, in that they're large enough to get a good idea.   Best to read the review there, but for those reading this blog on a Kindle reader, the Kindles do fare better. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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A different 'rights' theory on Amazon '1984' action

This is an update to the Orwellian tale - Part 1 that has non-customers more angry than most Amazon customers posting on the forums (probably because Kindle customer service has been so responsive over the last year), though we are definitely watchful -- but Amazon took less than 8 hours to respond that they're changing their systems so that this doesn't happen again.

Note the still hilarious ongoing Amazon Kindle forum thread in which customers create new scenarios of Amazon dropping by, unannounced, to make various changes in their homes.  Yes, this was serious stuff but Amazon seems to know it stepped into a dark, deep spot it'll want to avoid in the future.

  When publishers have decided to withdraw a book from Amazon, actions haven't been done retroactively insofar as customer copies are concerned -- but if you finished reading and then deleted a book which is later withdrawn by the publisher, and you then want to re-download that book to take another look at it, the publisher's new wish takes precedence at that point and it's not re-downloadable.

  TIP:  Keep a back-up copy on your computer.

As an addendum to the earlier "Furor" story, I came across an unusual CNet article by Peter Glaskowsky which included, in its Comments area, a unique theory about this mess, by "Jaleth."  He wondered if Title 17 of United States Code:
(c) Information Residing on Systems or Networks at Direction of Users could apply to Amazon affecting its predicament with the illegal edition of the book.

It's far-fetched except that a case could be made that Kindles are a part of a network within which Amazon regularly makes contact to add files, move them into folders, back up, record last-page read for synchronization with iphone apps, and replace once-a-day blogs with newer editions.

 And, while the Terms of Service say that Amazon grants the customer "the right to keep a 'permanent copy of the applicable digital content'," this right was not exactly assignable with a book edition that Amazon and Mobile Reference weren't entitled to sell at all.

It doesn't change the fact that Amazon should never have just deleted the book and they're not likely going to be doing that again, as they said.

The network-reach theory explanations by Jaleth (above) are an interesting read as are the arguments against his.  These are found in the bottom third of the final comments page.

I wrote a post in response about the way Kindle interacts with the Amazon servers, and I'll add it here (edited) in case some readers haven't read about that.

It also includes customer-approvable backups of highlighting and annotation in connection with the books on the Kindle - to two ends:

1) the customer has a web area on Amazon which holds all the highlighting and notes for viewing at any time by the customer, sorted in various ways -- and recently Amazon created the option to see all your notes for a book on one unbroken web page. This has been very well-received.

2) Once a customer finishes a book, they can delete it from their Kindles. At that point, it goes automatically into "Archives" -- meaning it is still held at your personal Kindle-management area at Amazon and can be re-downloaded if you want to look at the book again (no add'l fee of course) -- and this includes any highlighting and notes you made to the book, if you approved the backing up of annotations.
  For each user the notes-area is reviewable at kindle.amazon.com (a private page).  Amazon's servers need access to move subscriptions and periodicals into a periodicals folder, after a certain length of time, and non-Amazon papers into the Personal Docs folder.  They also need to be able to overwrite single daily issues of blogs as those are not accumulated for the customer, though each daily download will tend to include the last 25 blog entries, useful for searches and more leisurely reading.

That's all in connection with how this works as a network.  It's my own firm belief that Amazon shouldn't have deleted the illegal edition of the book once it was purchased.  At the least, they should have let the customer know the reasons the book should be deleted but they should have let the customer do it.

Apparently, they will do something like that in the future since a spokesman was quoted as saying that they are changing the systems so that this doesn't happen again in these circumstances (I suppose he means when they delete a book from their servers for copyright reasons).

For those concerned about the 17 year old student, Justin Gawronski, whose plight was described in Brad Stone's NY Times piece, a couple of us were able to contact him and let him know that Amazon replicates the highlights and notes of any book into a file called "My Clippings" and that this is kept separate, in straight-text format on the Kindle, and that his notes should still be there.  That is done so that the customer can edit and print the notes.

Justin confirmed they were still on his Kindle, in that file.

That doesn't mean Amazon was 'right' to delete the book -- only that they have a sometimes flexible and, in many ways, well-thought-out system for the study-use of books.  Since people voiced concern over how this affected a student's work on his notes, of course - I wanted to let any readers of this comment area know.

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Amazon's sharing policies confuse its own reps - Update

UPDATES added near the bottom Original posting 7/17/09 - 10:16 AM - It was a system error, now being "fixed" per staff.

The Net has seen some heated writing about Amazon's DRM (Digital-Rights-Management) policies in that a first-tier customer service representative had told a customer-blogger that there was a limit as to how often we can re-download an Amazon-purchased book when the Amazon ads blare that a Kindle owner will be able to re-download a book at no added cost anytime the book is needed again when the customer has deleted it to save space.  Also re-downloaded with the book would be your highlighting and notes if you allowed Amazon to back them up.

The actual quantity limitation by Amazon is on the number of devices on which one Amazon-purchased book can be be simultaneously accessed under one person's account.  The limit that Kindle forum participants are used to mentioning to new members is "up to 6 devices," usually meaning Kindles or Kindle-compatible units like the iPhone and iPod that use the Kindle App.

Here's the Amazon FAQ statement in reply to the question: "How many Kindles can I use to access titles in my library?"

Most books and other non-subscription items you purchase from the Kindle store may be simultaneously accessed for your personal use on to [sic] up to six Kindles (or Kindle compatible devices) [emphasis mine] registered to your Amazon.com account.

If you reach the device limit and wish to replace one of your current devices with a new one, you must first deregister and delete the content from the device you wish to replace before you can access the content in question from your new device.  Please see the "Registering Your Kindle" section of our Managing Your Kindle Settings Help page to learn how to register/deregister your Kindle.  There is no limit on the number of times a title can be downloaded to a registered device.  [Emphasis mine.]

Subscription content can only be downloaded to one Kindle at a time, and only the seven most recent issues will be available for redownload from your Kindle or from the Manage Your Kindle page. '

  My own addition to Amazon's statement is that you don't really have to "deregister" a Kindle to do this -- you just have to Remove or Delete the book from that Kindle.  I've done this many times as I have many Kindles so that I can write with first-hand knowledge of the models.

There's now an Amazon forum thread about the finding that those who use Amazon's self-publishing books feature ('DTP' or Digital Text platform) have wording in their product-info areas that the number of digital devices able to share the book simultaneously is '5' rather than '6'... that's been confirmed by a few Kindle book authors.

It's possible that an error was made when placing this info with the DTP books and that someone meant to put "up to 5 other devices" (Bufo Calvin is asking Amazon about this), but maybe Amazon, which is the "Publisher" in those cases, wanted to have a lower device count for those, but that would be very strange and a confusing inconsistency it really doesn't need.

Karen of Books on the Knob also points out that Wiley had a limit of 4 devices months ago, apparently mentioned in the product description.

 She reminds forum readers that we can download a book "hundreds of times (costing Amazon 12 cents or more, each time)" so is puzzled (as are any of us) why Amazon, as 'Publisher' would choose 5 devices for authors who publish under Amazon's DTP publishing area.  Perplexing, but she also notes that it's been evident that most customers don't appear to care that much that they might be able to share books with only 4 other Kindles under their accounts.

---

UPDATE 7/18/09 - see Karen's update in her comment to this post.  This seemed to have been an error on the part of a staffer who may have posted the number without authorization.

UPDATE 7/18/09 #2 - Here is the forum page on which the Amazon staffer ("dtpadmin") responds to Bufo Calvin's question about the 5-device limit:

" Hello,

We have identified an error in our system. We are fixing the problem to remove the device limit for DTP titles. We apologize for this error.

Thanks!"

---

I find that most people just want to be able to read a book.  The ability of a family or very good friends to share books on the same account paid for by one of them is considered a nice feature.

But Amazon has to get clearer about the policies, if nothing else, and wiser about them if they would keep a better focus on the customer experience.  I enjoyed a description of the Kindle the other day as a "vending machine" for products Amazon needs to sell us.  The long-term relationship needs more clarity and less fear that the customers want to steal books.  Most of us have had very good experiences with Amazon's customer service but there needs to be a way to give all the customer service representatives the same policy information and to place in the online-support areas more detailed and consistent information.

Amazon is a company that seems to have a lot on the plate.

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Furor over Amazon's Deletion of Orwell's'1984' from Kindles - Update #2

Amazon, advised that the sale of illegal copies of the still U.S. copyrighted '1984' and 'Animal Farm' were taking place on their site, removed those editions from their servers and from users' Amazon-area "book shelves" which, during synchronized wireless sessions, caused the books to be deleted, remotely, from customers' Kindles, and Amazon refunded the 99c cost of the book to affected customers.

 However, there was no warning to customers, and the company's emailed explanation said only that there was a problem with the books.   This was experienced, understandably, as invasive after the purchases had been long completed.  Others point out that while physical stolen goods are taken away without payment made to buyers, Amazon is not a police dept. enforcing retrieval under a court of law.

Mobile Reference, it turns out, didn't have rights to upload and sell these copies, but since they specialize in specially formatted versions of public domain books (usually with a high level of care and on a volunteer basis) and the books are not in copyright in Australia currently, the inclusion of those books was surely inadvertent, as it's probably not widely known that the books are still under copyright in the U.S. until 2044, according to several articles online.

The most balanced and detailed story last night on the fiasco was by Nate Mook and Tim Conneally of betanews.  Give that a read if wondering what on earth happened.

The NY Times's Brad Stone posted an update quoting statements by Amazon:

' An Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said in an e-mail message that the books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to them, using a self-service function. “When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” he said.

Amazon effectively acknowledged that the deletions were a bad idea. “We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers’ devices in these circumstances,” Mr. Herdener said. '

It has to be asked, under what circumstances might it still be done?

---

UPDATE - 7/18/09 Originally posted 7/18/09, 4:45 AM
Stone also quotes Justin Gawronski, a 17-year-old who "was reading '1984' on his Kindle for a summer assignment and lost all his notes and annotations when the file vanished. 'They didn’t just take a book back, they stole my work,' he said."

Those notes should still be in his "My Clippings" file, which holds separate copies of highlighting and notes you make for a book.  I wonder if anyone's let Justin know he should look there.

UPDATE #2 - 7/18/09 Original posting 7/18/09, 4:45 AM
Justin Gawronski has been found via Ken Kennedy's Kenzoid's Autonomous Zone article in which he described Justin's plight as told by Brad Stone's NY Times piece and made a guide for backing up your Kindle's "My Clipping" file so that you can retain, edit, print your My Clippings file.  Also remember to check out TheProfessor's Word macro that will sort your My Clippings file by book.

Justin found Ken's story via a friend and now they're connecting to make sure his no-longer-lost notes are useable once a reasonably-priced copy of '1984' is found.
The Net is amazing.  I never reached Brad Stone though.

Justin verified he found his notes in the My Clippings file. I don't know if Justin can stand reading a book online, but at least it's free to do that, as I just found out, at the George Orwell site.  I sent Justin a quick note.

---

An Amazon customer discussion forum thread has some good pros and cons by members with some information on past deletions for copyright (Ayn Rand, Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series) and the current situation with these two books in other parts of the world.

I've barely touched on the details, so do read the articles above if curious about the uproar.

It's not all nefarious deeds and high drama though.  There's a lighthearted send-up of the situation by Amazon customers in one entertaining forum thread.  Don't miss it.

UPDATE 7/18/09 - James Adcock makes one of his usual good points in the Amazon thread normally focused on the many ways to get books for your Kindle.  He uses the analogy of someone selling you a bike or camera but not realizing it was stolen.  I replied to his with another thought on that.

My own personal take on this, posted to the Amazon forums on 7/18/09 also, in connection with the above.

And here's another very good summary of the situation, by Ars Technica's Ken Fisher on "Why Amazon went Big Brother on some Kindle e-books." Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Kindle finally on its way to the UK? Maybe so.

mobiletoday.com ('Mobile') reports that "Amazon is close to finalising a launch date for its ‘Kindle’ electronic book reader in the UK and is in advanced negotiations with a mobile operator for an MVNO [Mobile Virtual Network Operator], Mobile understands."

 Other points Mobile makes (and I'm quoting them due to the importance of wording on a not-finalized deal):

' Amazon is understood to have outsourced all aspects of manufacturing for the Kindle in the UK to Qualcomm, including securing ‘connectivity’ with a mobile operator in the UK.

' The retailer wants customers to be able to download books through PCs or over Wi-Fi, but also to have the option to regularly download newspapers, magazines and journals while on the move, via a mobile network.

'Amazon is understood to be frantically working on having the Kindle ready for launch before Christmas 2009 and has already secured agreements with book publishers.  It is also in the process of negotiating with news and magazine publishers... '

Mobile quotes an Amazon spokesman's response: "We have previously announced that we are looking to release the Kindle with our international customers.  At the moment we have no timeline." Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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