Kirk Biglione

Amazon’s Kindle was featured on Oprah last Friday. Predictably, the segment generated a considerable buzz amongst ebook lovers and publishing industry observers.

There’s no doubt that Oprah’s endorsement will provide a huge boost for Amazon’s ebook platform. But what does the Kindle’s apparent success mean for the future of the publishing industry? Or ebook consumers? Or even newspaper publishers?

I’ve been covering the Kindle recently for both Booksquare and Medialoper. Here’s a quick roundup of my recent posts:

• Reconsidering the Future of eBooks: Yet another Kindle vs. iPhone comparison. As I note, these are two entirely different types of devices, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
• Reading Pynchon on a Kindle: After spending some time with the Kindle I discovered that many of my favorite backlist titles aren’t available in the Kindle format. However, I had no problem tracking down pirated versions of many of those titles. That’s a shame given how easy it is to buy a book on the Kindle. This is classic example of how withholding digital distribution rights can lead directly to digital piracy.
• Digital Content in an Ownership Society: This was in response to an open question on the TOC blog regarding digital ownership vs. digital subscriptions. This isn’t so much a Kindle article as a discussion of the various issues faced when choosing between buying and renting digital content. While I don’t go into great detail on Kindle books, I do consider Kindle downloads to be a form of rental. The restrictions are such that consumers simply don’t have the same freedom they would with a print edition. As a result, I think it’s safe to view any Kindle purchase as a form of temporary ownership, at best.
• Can the Kindle Save the L.A. Times: At one point I actually had some hope that eReading devices like the Kindle might be a partial solution to the problems facing the newspaper business in America. After reading the L.A. Times on the Kindle for a few months, I’m not so sure about that.