Comments on: Why The Author’s Guild is Wrong about the Kindle http://www.danappleman.com/?p=75 Analysis and commentary on technology issues and others Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:30:51 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Cheryl http://www.danappleman.com/?p=75&cpage=1#comment-199621 Cheryl Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:52:24 +0000 http://www.danappleman.com/?p=75#comment-199621 So, my wife likes reading. In fact, she likes reading A LOT! We have so many books, we could probably fill the Library of Congress. So, when Amazon came out with the new Kindle Wireless Reading Device, the first thing she brought up was that her birthday was coming up. As if I would forget....yeah..probably would. So, she showed me the Kindle and at first I was a little hesitent. To me, it just looked like another gadget that she wanted to have and would probably never use. So, I looked into it and came to find it very interesting. So, as her birthday approched, I really had no solid ideas about what to get for her, since she has almost everything. Then one night, I really made her mad somehow, probably just being a dumb guy, and I went on the computer and looked up the Kindle once more. I sat there reading reviews, specs and features and thought that maybe if I would buy her the Kindle for her birthday, she wouldn't be mad at me anymore. So, I swallowed my pride and made the purchase. And just to butter it up a little, I bought a beautfil violet leather case and a flexible light to go with it. Along with that, I bought the extended warranty just in case. We have two children who love to play with things that are not theirs to play with, so I thought that would be a good idea. In just under two weeks, the Kindle arrived at our mailbox and I was lucky enough to get to it first. I opened it up and thought I could hear the sounds of harps and violins playing all around me...it was that cool. I turned it on and was amazed at the clarity of the screen and the light weight of the device. So, just like I do with any new device, I left it sitting on the charger to get a nice full charge before my wife got to it. As her birthday got closer, I was excited to finally get myself out of trouble by presenting her with her new gift. The day came and so I gave her her birthday gift. To see the look on her face was absolutley priceless. I opened it up for her and showed her a few features and also showed her how easy it was to use. She was amazed at its size and weight and the beautiful clarity of the liquid ink screen. Also, we live in Germany and so the wireless capability is not available to us here, but I read into it and the site said the we could download the books onto our computer and tranfer them through USB onto the Kindle. So before I gave the Kindle to my wife, I looked up some books that I thought she might like and bought a few new titles to put on the reader. She opened up her Kindle and turned it on and waiting inside was the new relase from Karin Slaughter, along with a few titles from James Rollins. She was so excited, she began reading right away. So to all of you who love to read and who are running out of space for actual books, we recommend this ebook reader. We wish you all the satisfaction that we have received and hope you enjoy this as much as we have so far. Good Reading to you! So, my wife likes reading. In fact, she likes reading A LOT! We have so many books, we could probably fill the Library of Congress. So, when Amazon came out with the new Kindle Wireless Reading Device, the first thing she brought up was that her birthday was coming up. As if I would forget….yeah..probably would. So, she showed me the Kindle and at first I was a little hesitent. To me, it just looked like another gadget that she wanted to have and would probably never use. So, I looked into it and came to find it very interesting. So, as her birthday approched, I really had no solid ideas about what to get for her, since she has almost everything. Then one night, I really made her mad somehow, probably just being a dumb guy, and I went on the computer and looked up the Kindle once more. I sat there reading reviews, specs and features and thought that maybe if I would buy her the Kindle for her birthday, she wouldn’t be mad at me anymore. So, I swallowed my pride and made the purchase. And just to butter it up a little, I bought a beautfil violet leather case and a flexible light to go with it. Along with that, I bought the extended warranty just in case. We have two children who love to play with things that are not theirs to play with, so I thought that would be a good idea.

In just under two weeks, the Kindle arrived at our mailbox and I was lucky enough to get to it first. I opened it up and thought I could hear the sounds of harps and violins playing all around me…it was that cool. I turned it on and was amazed at the clarity of the screen and the light weight of the device. So, just like I do with any new device, I left it sitting on the charger to get a nice full charge before my wife got to it. As her birthday got closer, I was excited to finally get myself out of trouble by presenting her with her new gift. The day came and so I gave her her birthday gift. To see the look on her face was absolutley priceless. I opened it up for her and showed her a few features and also showed her how easy it was to use. She was amazed at its size and weight and the beautiful clarity of the liquid ink screen.

Also, we live in Germany and so the wireless capability is not available to us here, but I read into it and the site said the we could download the books onto our computer and tranfer them through USB onto the Kindle. So before I gave the Kindle to my wife, I looked up some books that I thought she might like and bought a few new titles to put on the reader. She opened up her Kindle and turned it on and waiting inside was the new relase from Karin Slaughter, along with a few titles from James Rollins. She was so excited, she began reading right away. So to all of you who love to read and who are running out of space for actual books, we recommend this ebook reader. We wish you all the satisfaction that we have received and hope you enjoy this as much as we have so far. Good Reading to you!

]]> By: Scott Mitchell http://www.danappleman.com/?p=75&cpage=1#comment-181974 Scott Mitchell Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:18:58 +0000 http://www.danappleman.com/?p=75#comment-181974 Dan, I agree that for the vast majority of authors the text-to-speech feature proposed for the Kindle won't have any significant impact on the bottom line. But the Authors Guild (I assume) doesn't represent ALL authors, it represents its members, of which there are around 8,000 (according to Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authors_Guild). My guess is that the Authors Guild is made up of more big name authors, the ones that are likely to have audio book version, than small time guys like you and me. I agree with you that the text-to-speech functionality would be nice and would have no impact on the vast majority of authors. Dan, I agree that for the vast majority of authors the text-to-speech feature proposed for the Kindle won’t have any significant impact on the bottom line. But the Authors Guild (I assume) doesn’t represent ALL authors, it represents its members, of which there are around 8,000 (according to Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authors_Guild). My guess is that the Authors Guild is made up of more big name authors, the ones that are likely to have audio book version, than small time guys like you and me.

I agree with you that the text-to-speech functionality would be nice and would have no impact on the vast majority of authors.

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