by Mark Stephenson
Rough Draft
Editors: Anne Connaughton, Ryan Brooks
Newspapers in desperate need of financial relief eagerly anticipated Amazon.com’s May release of the Kindle DX—introducing their widely-discussed new service, “Kindle Newspapers”. However, problems beseiging the wireless reading device soon put a damper on their high hopes. A month later, Kindle owners received the following notification:
“We recently discovered a problem with a Kindle book that you have purchased. To remedy this situation, we have processed a refund to the payment method used to purchase Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984). Upon the activation of the wireless, the title will be automatically removed from the device.”
The irony of this Big-Brother-like redaction was not lost on customers and the media alike. Kindle users took to the Amazon.com discussion boards to voice their concerns.
User “Caffeine Queen” wrote that she was “annoyed that the email announcing the refund gave no explanation.”
Amazon’s ability to automatically, wirelessly delete the novel from a Kindle brought up additional worries about digital rights management (DRM), also used by Apple’s iTunes software for music downloads. DRM technology enables media publishers to impose limitations on the use of their content—even after it has been purchased.
“I'm concerned now that I don't really ‘own’ any of the books on my Kindle, and that any could be ‘taken back,’ ” wrote Caffeine Queen.
New York Times technology writer David Pogue called it “ugly for all kinds of reasons”:
“As one of my readers noted, it’s like Barnes & Noble sneaking into our homes in the middle of the night, taking some books that we’ve been reading off our nightstands, and leaving us a check on the coffee table.”
Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos later issued an apology to customers, calling Amazon’s reaction “stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles.”
He went on to note Amazon’s blame in the situation, promising to “use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward.” Despite Amazon’s swift damage control, however, the somewhat Orwellian event represents only one example of the issues revolving around the Kindle reader, made even more problematic with the introduction of newspaper content onto the device, which is ill-suited for publications with images. As a result, Kindle seems to be taking a while to catch on.
Dr. Richard Menke, a professor of English Studies at the University of Georgia and a specialist in new media, said he wasn’t planning on purchasing one.
“The idea is an interesting one, but I’m not sure Kindle is quite there yet,” he said. “My wife was really jonesing for one back when the first came out. But she heard about the problems it had with illustrations.”
Dr. Menke pointed out that the reader is most suited for “the thing you need it the least for: out of print, standard, straight text novels. Like Jane Eyre.”
But, Menke noted, readers can easily go buy a used copy of Jane Eyre for similar prices as Amazon’s digital e-book, without the fear of losing it due to copyright infringement, or that the technology will soon go out of date.
“In a way this sort of technology is like the newspaper. What we care about that seems really big and important today, we don’t care as much about tomorrow,” Menke said.
When asked about Kindle Newspapers, Menke had heard of the service. “They’re probably better suited for that,” he said. However, he repeated, he still wouldn’t be getting one before some kind of significant design update.
While Dr. Sarah Steger raved about her Kindle’s ability to easily transport her library of books, she too didn’t find it’s imageless format adaptable for reading the news.
On the other hand, Dr. Chris Pizzino was more embracing of technological trends.
Pizzino, who teaches a course on Science Fiction, said that “If that’s where the times takes us, I’ll go with them.”
“In five, ten years, I may be teaching all my classes from a Kindle textbook, so students can save the money from having to buy a new edition every year,” Pizzino speculated. He also pointed out the environmental benefits from saving the paper required to print newspapers and magazines by subscribing to them digitally.
So far, problems with the current device have prevented news readers less inclined towards science fiction from jumping on board. Perhaps with a few hardware updates, however, Kindle might provide a viable new market for struggling newspapers.
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Despite problems plaguing Amazon.com's Kindle, the web based company is hoping to boost interest with their newest venture, "Kindle Newspapers." (It's just a simplified version of his lead, but I like his a lot. I don't think it should be changed.)
ReplyDeleteI think he's on the right track getting both sides of the Kindle argument, I think he needs one more Kindle owner to make it balanced. If it could be someone our age, I think that would be a fresh perspective.
Really love the story, wish I had thought of it myself! Great sources utilizing the English Dept. We discussed strengthening his argument and explaining why the newspaper release ties in with the other problems featured in the story.
Other then that, just cleaning up some quote issues and missing an id.
Good story Mark. Like your last story, I see a problem stretching this to newspapers. The fourth source really needs to talk about the viability for newspapers on the Kindle. If you can't get one, that's fine. Then change the lead because the story has nothing to do with newspapers, but rather the viability of Kindle -- an that's OK for our purposes.
ReplyDelete