Year: 2009

A couple of related stories came up this week, and have got me thinking about magazines. I currently read Newsweek on my Kindle, and I noticed an article at the New York Times about how Newsweek is planning a makeover to concentrate more on opinion and less on hard news, and is hoping to attract a smaller, but more affluent, audience. I’m wondering how any of the changes described in the article will affect the Kindle version. They mention that they’re looking to raise the subscription price, but I don’t know if they’d do that on the Kindle version or just the paper version. I’m currently paying $1.50 per month, which is pretty cheap, but has got to be largely profit for them (no printing or mailing costs). They mention an increasing emphasis on photography, which won’t really translate to the Kindle, nor will any changes in layout. Hopefully, the articles will continue to be worth reading. I’m a little worried about the idea that they might go too far into the realm of opinion; I’m usually not that interested in reading other people’s political opinions. Right now, for instance, I skip anything in Newsweek with George Will’s name on it, or Anna Quindlen’s. It’s not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing with either of them; I’m just not that interested.

There’s a passing mention in the NYT article that Newsweek will be getting a little closer in tone to magazines like The New Yorker. By a bit of coincidence, The New Yorker has just become available on the Kindle. It’s $3 a month, twice the cost of Newsweek. The description mentions that it will “usually” include all articles, fiction, and poetry from the magazine, but will only include a “selection” of cartoons, not all of them. I really think the cartoons could translate week to the Kindle, so I’m not sure why they wouldn’t include them all. They’re all just single-panel black and white illustrations, generally without any fancy grey tones or anything like that. I’m tempted to subscribe, regardless, except that I know I’ll fall behind in reading it pretty quickly. Maybe if Newsweek drops off in value for me, I’ll switch to The New Yorker.

Meanwhile, The Economist is still not available for the Kindle.

The Kindle 2 looks to be pretty nice, but I don’t think I’ll be getting one. There isn’t enough nifty new stuff to offset the high price. And there are actually a few things I don’t like about it: the non-removable battery, the lack of an SD slot, and the fact that the cover is no longer included, and has to be bought separately. I can understand why they made these changes, but I’d just as soon stick with my Kindle 1.

Here’s a story from the WSJ with some more details on the next version of the Kindle: “Amazon is unveiling a new version of its Kindle e-book reader, and possibly an exclusive agreement for a Stephen King work.” Interesting.
I’m not too enthusiastic about the idea of exclusive content on the Kindle, or any other e-book reader. I don’t mind the idea of a new book being released for the Kindle before it’s published in physical form, though. That even kind of makes sense, since you can publish for the Kindle much faster than you can print actual books and ship them out to stores and all that. And maybe a publisher could use Kindle book sales as an indicator of how popular a book is going to be, and hence make judgements about the size of a print run.
This story doesn’t have much info, or any photos, about the actual hardware. I’ve seen new photos elsewhere on the web though. I’m still not seeing anything in the new Kindle that’ll make me want to toss my old one. Hopefully, we’ll get full details later today.

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According to a variety of sources (including the NYT), there will likely be a new Kindle model released on Feb. 9. I’m pretty happy with the current Kindle, but I’m curious to see what the new model looks like (assuming that’s actually what Amazon is announcing on 2/9).

It doesn’t look like they’ve got any really revolutionary advances in E-Ink technology ready, and that’s the area where they could really make a difference in the hardware.