Comments on: Amazon Kindle http://chrisgonyea.com/archives/2007/11/19/amazon-kindle/ Thoughts, musings, and junk. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:03:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Brian http://chrisgonyea.com/archives/2007/11/19/amazon-kindle/#comment-29916 Brian Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:42:50 +0000 http://chrisgonyea.com/archives/2007/11/19/amazon-kindle/#comment-29916 Why do you need a keyboard on a digital book? If such a device wants to let you take notes, it should have a touchscreen with a stylus, allowing you to annotate as needed, not a bulky keyboard. Do you type in a paper book? No, you write in it, and highlight it. Until an eBook does this, it will fail. Further, part of the value in an eBook is quick access to things you don't want to keep for thirty years -- like magazines and newspapers. If an eBook worked like an iPod, had all the pen input/annotation/highlighting/indexing features that we take for granted in the real world of print media, and would automatically have the latest newspaper and magazine issues at the ready faster than your delivery boy (or mailman) can bring them, then it would succeed. Until then, we will see a series of overhyped underwhelming products. Why do you need a keyboard on a digital book? If such a device wants to let you take notes, it should have a touchscreen with a stylus, allowing you to annotate as needed, not a bulky keyboard. Do you type in a paper book? No, you write in it, and highlight it. Until an eBook does this, it will fail.

Further, part of the value in an eBook is quick access to things you don’t want to keep for thirty years — like magazines and newspapers.

If an eBook worked like an iPod, had all the pen input/annotation/highlighting/indexing features that we take for granted in the real world of print media, and would automatically have the latest newspaper and magazine issues at the ready faster than your delivery boy (or mailman) can bring them, then it would succeed. Until then, we will see a series of overhyped underwhelming products.

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