Chris Leckness

The November 26 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, November 19), "Books Aren't Dead. (They're Just Going Digital.)" - Examines the impact of digital-age technology on the future of reading and the launch of the Amazon Kindle, a handheld reader.    

Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos will be releasing the Amazon Kindle (named to evoke the crackling ignition ofknowledge) this week, an electronic device that he hopes will leapfrog overprevious attempts at e-readers and become the turning point in a transformation toward Book 2.0. "This is the most important thing we'veever done," Bezos tells Senior Editor and Columnist Steven Levy, the first journalist to have access to the Kindle, in the current issue of Newsweek. "It's so ambitious to take something as highly evolved as the book and improve on it. And maybe even change the way people read."

 

Levy writes that Book 2.0 is shorthand for a revolution (already in
progress) that will change the way readers read, writers write and
publishers publish. Amazon is well placed to move things forward, but it
was not something the company took lightly. "If you're going to do
something like this, you have to be as good as the book in a lot of
respects," Bezos tells Levy. "But we also have to look for things that
ordinary books can't do." Features include paperback-size dimensions, being able to change font size into an instant large-type edition, and the
ability to hold several shelves' worth of books, plus hundreds more on a
memory card and a limitless amount in virtual library stacks maintained by
Amazon. And the device is not just for books. Via the Amazon store, you can subscribe to newspapers and magazines.

Levy talks to Bezos about the new device and the impact technology will
have on the future of reading in the November 26 cover, "Books Aren't Dead. (They're Just Going Digital.)" (on newsstands Monday, November 19). "Music and video have been digital for a long time, and short-form reading has been digitized, beginning with the early Web. But long-form reading really hasn't," Bezos says. The Kindle represents a milestone in a time of
transition, when a challenged publishing industry is competing with
television, Guitar Hero and time burned on the Blackberry; literary critics
are bemoaning a possible demise of print culture, Levy reports.

Though the Kindle is at heart a reading machine made by a bookseller-and works most impressively when you are buying a book or reading it-it is also something more: a perpetually connected Internet device. A few twitches of the fingers and that zoned-in connection between your mind and an author's machinations can be interrupted-or enhanced-by an avalanche of data. Therein lies the disruptive nature of the Amazon Kindle. It's the first "always-on" book.

Levy also explores what kinds of things will happen when books are persistently connected, and more-evolved successors of the Kindle become commonplace. First of all, it could transform the discovery process for readers. 'The problem with books isn't print or writing," says author Chris Anderson. "It's that not enough people are reading." (A 2004 National Education Association study reported that only 57 percent of adults read a book-any book-in a year. That was down from 61 percent a decade ago.) His hope is that connected books will either link to other books or allow communities of readers to suggest undiscovered gems.

Levy reports that the connectivity also affects the publishing business model, giving some hope to an industry that slogs along with single-digit revenue growth while videogame revenues are skyrocketing. "Stuff doesn't need to go out of print," says Bezos. "It could shorten publishing cycles."

Also part of the cover package, as the first journalist to get his hands on the device, Levy reviews the Amazon Kindle, available Monday, November 19 at http://www.Newsweek.com.

Source: Newsweek press release

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Jogga

Excellent post Susan (as always) :approve:

For me, there was a stand out comment in the piece:

"A 2004 National Education Association study reported that only 57 percent of adults read a book-any book-in a year. That was down from 61 percent a decade ago"

Frankly, that is astonsihing - I read several books a month, much of my current reading is for university, but I still manage plenty of pleasure reading. Nonetheless, I remain to be convinced that digital books will solve the problem of reading and declining literacy.

Pedah

This reader has been out for a couple of days, and I have to admit that I haven't picked up a paper book for quite a while! Is the trend towards ebooks? or how many devices can you carry?
Great write up by the way!