An Open Letter to Amazon About the Kindle

Dear Amazon:

The first thing you need to know is that I want a Kindle. I do. I’m in the middle of trying to pare down my 3000+ volume library down to manageable size, and have to admit that an eReader that can hold half of them in its memory is tempting, to say the least. Not to mention space-saving.

It doesn’t hurt that your available Kindle library is huge. When you read as many books as I do, this is a huge bonus. And how cool is your Whispernet service, too, which would let me order books any time, any where (more or less)? No cables, no messy computer interface, just a quick order, and boom, reading within minutes. Can’t beat the convenience!

But, I’ve got a few concerns.

First–and this can’t be a big shock–is the price. I’m delighted, actually, that you just dropped the price to $299, which is now in between the Sony PRS-505 and their PRS-700BC. But, still, you have to admit that it’s not a cheap little gadget. I know, neither is an iPhone or an iTouch or a Netbook, but they can all do other things also, which helps ease the pain.

But, it’s  not just the price of the unit. I could gulp a little, take the plunge, bite the bullet, throw caution to the winds (pick the cliche you like) and splurge on the $300 (or the $480 for the bigger DX version), but I still need something to read. And, frankly, the books aren’t all that cheap! There are Kindle books that cost almost $300. (As big a fan of Shelley’s poetry, I can’t imagine spending $288 for a critique of his work.)

Okay, to be fair, there are a LOT of books available for less than $5, which I think is fabulous. But why are so many of the Kindle books you sell going for prices remarkably similar to the paper editions? Sometimes the same as or even MORE than the paper version? I am all for writers’ royalties–I hope to have some of my own someday–and I know that you and the publishers have to stay in business. I’m certainly not suggesting that you give copies of current bestsellers away for free (unless you want to). It’s nice enough that you give free samples.

But, since there are no printing costs, no postage costs, no binding, storage, or paper involved, no inventory to keep, just digital bits, shouldn’t the electronic copy of a book that’s already written and published be, well, cheaper? And not just by a few dollars, but substantially cheaper? Sure, when a brand-new hardcover is selling for $24.95 and you can get it on Kindle for $9.99, that’s a great deal. Can’t be beat. No argument. But once the book comes out in paperback, shouldn’t the Kindle version still be LESS? Like, half-the-price less?

There are other little quibbles. It’s a black-and-white reader, and color would be nice, but no rush. It would be really nice to be able to share books with friends. I understand the process for transferring pdfs and such to the Kindle for easy reading is unwieldy which is a shame since I have a lot of pdf-format ebooks already. It seriously worries me that there’s no changeable battery. I try to avoid buying ANY electronics that don’t have a battery pack I can replace myself. That’s like buying a digital camera without a memory card, where all the pictures are stored into the camera itself, and if it dies … too bad. And, speaking of the memory card, why CAN’T the Kindle read a SD card?

But, really–here are my biggest, most serious concerns.

There’s the longevity. I’ve heard horror stories–and yes, I DO consider this a horror story–about books and magazines that people have bought that suddenly are no longer available on Kindle. Poof! Gone from the library, just like that. As a person who’s been building her own personal library for decades now (as you know, since you’ve sold me most of them), the idea of any of my books just disappearing is … disturbing. If I buy it, I want to know that it’s going to be there when I need it.

So, why couldn’t I read it on my computer? Or even print it out? I understand about the proprietary coding to keep me from buying one copy and then handing it out to four hundred of my closest friends, but what if the Kindle’s battery is charging? Or–heaven forbid–what if it’s broken? Shouldn’t there be SOME way to be able to read your books on something other than the actual Kindle? Even if I had to log into Amazon via the internet from my computer to do so?

And, don’t tell me. I could use my iPhone. But, I don’t have an iPhone and can’t get one because they’re only supported by AT&T (don’t get me started). Nor do I have an iTouch iPod, either, because my MP3 player is a different brand. I can’t afford an extra $300 just to get a back-up gadget that meets your very limited criteria for “acceptable substitute.”

You know what I’d really like to see?

(Cut to my soapbox; cue stirring, patriotic music.)

I’d like to see eBooks have standardized formats, like MP3s for digital music. Isn’t part of the beauty of this electronic age we live in the fact that exchanging information is supposed to be easier? Isn’t this little format war just like the VHS/Beta war? Where, when the dust settles, half the people will have wasted their money backing the wrong side?

I would never steal your content, or spread it illegally, but I do understand there are people who would. But I don’t consider lending a copy of one of my books to my sister is harming the authors–not if my sister wasn’t going to buy a copy anyway. Making a copy of a cd for my mother to listen to in the car seems within reasonable User Rights, since we live in the same house and she can hear the music wafting down the hallway. I know there are growing pains this eBook technology has to go through, just like the ones the music industry did when faced with illegal MP3 copies racing around the internet.

But that’s the point.

I want my eBooks to be as convenient, portable, and sharable as my paper books–or the MP3 albums on my harddrive.

I know that, if I buy a Kindle now, I will find all sorts of things wonderful, convenient, and useful. The ease of travel, the freed up shelf space, the multitude of books, will be very helpful. I WANT one of these gadgets.

But I don’t like then being totally reliant on what you, Amazon.com, allows me to do with that content that I paid for.

Words should be free. That doesn’t mean “unpaid for,” but rather “free to be shared, free to be spread.” Our very country is founded on the concept that ideas cannot be controlled or censored, and it worries me that, by putting so many restrictions on the books readable on this wonderful invention, that you’re limiting my freedom as a book-purchaser to what YOU deem appropriate.

Which is why I’m reluctant to shell out the $299 … no matter how miraculous the Kindle is. It’s not the gadget I worry about–it’s its gate-keeping restrictions on the content that concerns me.

Hoping we can come to a mutually-satisfactory agreement, I apologize for the length of this letter and remain yours,

–Deb Boyken

(stepping off the soapbox)