I’ve longed for an ebook reader ever since Sony first introduced the concept about 20 years ago. Unfortunately for Sony, a combination of unreadable screens, challenging page controls, and sub-par battery life doomed their early attempts. Today, their Sony Reader is playing catch-up to the Kindle.
Amazon’s Kindle certainly proves their potential to change publishing as we know it. Taking advantage of better battery technology, customer tested ergonomics, and outstanding polymer and LCD technology in their screens, the Kindle makes a great format for reading ebooks. It fits the hand as well as any paperback, is easy to read, and lasts an entire vacation on a single charge.
But, I don’t think the Kindle has what it takes to tackle business and education reading. That is, not until now.
Amazon introduced their Kindle DX, and though their hopes may be to stoke additional consumer demand, I see the DX as the perfect business ebook reader.
For one, it’s sized properly for a magazine, not a paperback, so I can read Business Week in nearly its proper size.
Though newspapers have for a while been available for the Kindle, with the DX, reading The Wall St. Journal or New York Times doesn’t require any squinting.
But, best of all for business, the DX finally makes reading PDF documents a breeze. And, for the business user, the ability to manage and display PDF documents makes all the difference. Virtually all of my Power Point files, various performance spreadsheets, and market research reports come to me as PDF files. Except for the lack of color displays, the new Kindle DX makes it easy to flip through all of my PDFs instantly. No more lugging around my laptop to meetings. I just load my PDF copies onto the Kindle DX, and away I go.
Of course, original Kindle users tell me that they can read PDF files too. To them I say, “Byte me…” The original Kindle and Kindle 2 required sending PDF files to a third party email address associated with the device, then paying to download the file to the reader. Often the files would get corrupted or distorted in the process, and reading a research report on PDF on the Kindle’s small screen was murder on the eyes.
With the Kindle DX, I can simply connect it via USB to my computer, drag PDF files to the device, and start reading. It’s free and easy, and best of all, displays perfectly in the larger DX screen.
Finally, a way to make the Portable Document Format truly portable.
Amazon’s Kindle certainly proves their potential to change publishing as we know it. Taking advantage of better battery technology, customer tested ergonomics, and outstanding polymer and LCD technology in their screens, the Kindle makes a great format for reading ebooks. It fits the hand as well as any paperback, is easy to read, and lasts an entire vacation on a single charge.
But, I don’t think the Kindle has what it takes to tackle business and education reading. That is, not until now.
Amazon introduced their Kindle DX, and though their hopes may be to stoke additional consumer demand, I see the DX as the perfect business ebook reader.
For one, it’s sized properly for a magazine, not a paperback, so I can read Business Week in nearly its proper size.
Though newspapers have for a while been available for the Kindle, with the DX, reading The Wall St. Journal or New York Times doesn’t require any squinting.
But, best of all for business, the DX finally makes reading PDF documents a breeze. And, for the business user, the ability to manage and display PDF documents makes all the difference. Virtually all of my Power Point files, various performance spreadsheets, and market research reports come to me as PDF files. Except for the lack of color displays, the new Kindle DX makes it easy to flip through all of my PDFs instantly. No more lugging around my laptop to meetings. I just load my PDF copies onto the Kindle DX, and away I go.
Of course, original Kindle users tell me that they can read PDF files too. To them I say, “Byte me…” The original Kindle and Kindle 2 required sending PDF files to a third party email address associated with the device, then paying to download the file to the reader. Often the files would get corrupted or distorted in the process, and reading a research report on PDF on the Kindle’s small screen was murder on the eyes.
With the Kindle DX, I can simply connect it via USB to my computer, drag PDF files to the device, and start reading. It’s free and easy, and best of all, displays perfectly in the larger DX screen.
Finally, a way to make the Portable Document Format truly portable.
I believe that accountants, attorneys, and business people who travel a lot for meetings will find the Kindle DX a terrific alternative to a bulky laptop. And, because of the enhanced display, long battery life, and easy notation controls, the bigger Kindle DX really makes a case for replacing college text books with electronic versions. I recall back breaking treks from Matherly Hall to my office in Turlington with 40 lbs of text books in a backpack in the heat of the Florida summer. I would have paid nearly anything to just carry a Kindle DX with all of my course materials pre-loaded, and ready for note-taking with a handy QWERTY keyboard. Today, I’d pay $489 for a Kindle DX, but I suspect that prices will come down as features continue to expand.
Amazon just needs to add some stylus features, a color screen, and better search capabilities to the new DX, and they will take over the business and college textbook markets for e-publishing. I’m a believer.
Amazon just needs to add some stylus features, a color screen, and better search capabilities to the new DX, and they will take over the business and college textbook markets for e-publishing. I’m a believer.
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