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Amazon vs. Itself
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You might think that the poster child of the Internet revolution, the company that made
its fortune as the web's first and largest online bookstore, the world-famous Amazon.com
would never question the sanctity of books. The launch of Kindle, an ambitious e-reader service,
makes paper obsolete. Amazon seems to be undercutting the business model they created.
The new Kindle from Amazon. More readable in person.
Kindle's Many Virtues
Let's get the geeky details out of the way: the Kindle is a combination of three technologies: a simplified
handheld computer, Sprint's wireless high-speed cellular data network (EV-DO), and an unbelievable new
display technology called E-Ink. It's this last feature that makes all the difference. E-Ink looks like black
text printed on stock paper. You can read it in direct sunlight, without eyestrain, for hours on end. Watching
the image change from one page to the next seems almost supernatural. This is a display system paradigm shift
waiting to strike.
Amazon proposes a curious business model for the Kindle. The device costs a hefty $399, but the wireless
service is included. You can browse some 80,000 books plus a handful of top newspapers online from any populated area
within the US and Canada, and even read the first few pages at no charge. Most books can be downloaded in less
than a minute for about $10. There's even free access to Wikipedia, which Amazon's marketing team explains brings
"new meaning to the term 'a walking encyclopedia.'"
You can email files to the Kindle for about 10 cents a page, or just upload them using either the built-in memory card
slot or an included USB cable connected to a computer. The built in battery lasts for around thirty hours, and there's
enough internal memory for a library of 200 books. The device also sports a full keyboard for annotation, searching
and other reader-centric features.
The Crippling Power of Copyright
Most of the content currently delivered by Amazon, and indeed, any bookseller, record store, movie theater, concert venue,
lecturer, magazine, or software company, is protected by the massive legal enterprise of copyright. This is not news:
we all know that just because we have some information does not mean we are allowed to do whatever we want with that
information. But practically speaking, citizens have always felt a fairly extensive ownership over at least the physical
medium containing the information. If I buy a book, an album, or a movie, I can certainly lend it to my friends,
sell it on Ebay, or read/play it aloud at a private party. The article will survive long after the publisher goes under.
I can even photocopy my favorite passages, save my favorite songs/scenes to the computer or make mix tapes for my friends.
These rights seem automatic and beyond reproach.
Of course, most of those actions are not actually legal and consumers consciously ignore them anyway. The requirements of
copyright have long been effectively unenforceable. Electronic readers like the Kindle change everything. Amazon and
the publishers strip away all the ownership rights the consumers thought they had (but never really did). You
cannot lend, trade or resell an ebook. You can't print it out or back it up without explicit permission. Should Amazon
abandon the Kindle or perish in market upheaval, your ebooks may be forever lost.
Does this mean that there is no immediate future for ebook readers? The technology enables devices to compete with the
readability of books, but also, to enforce the copyright dreams of publishers. That means there can only be short-term
success with those consumers who don't care about the implied privileges of book ownership. These are not large markets.
Enforceable copyright kills the incentive to buy.
A Golden Opportunity
One minor aside in Kindle's design could be the unintentional start of a revolution. The device includes free online access
to the world's largest encyclopedia. A device the size of a paperback that includes an always up-to-date compendium of all
human knowledge is worth something, although maybe less than a few hundred dollars. Toss in the all of the rest of the
public domain content in the world: every book, play or article whose copyright has expired, plus things like academic
textbooks which probably should be in the public domain, and you've got a contraption of real value. Or consider
a Kindle tied to a library card, which would let you check out electronic versions of paper books for no charge.
The transformative power of this technology may lie slightly outside its creator's intentions. Such occurrences should
surprise no one. Unanticipated repurposing is a mainstay of innovation.
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