A few words from a professional procrastinator

As more and more ebook services and devices are coming out. Amazon has
released the PC version of their famous Kindle. This now allows users
to read their ebooks on their desktop of laptop computer. It makes sens
doesn’t it? There the device and the iPhone version and now you can
read books on your computer.

Mac users are out of luck at the moment but the FAQs give mac users hope.

The desktop software also allows you to manage your books and download them accordingly.

Much similar to the iPod setup, you can have 6 devices registered with Amazon.

And the great thing is, the service is available where they ship the Kindle. But we still have to see if the $2 levy will be subtracted for users outside the US. The $2 is the charge for the delivery of the book via AT&T’s 3G network. Understandably that the user carries the cost of transmission outside the US. But I don’t think that this should be added to purchases or deliveries made to the PC.

Could Amazon be banking on the millions of netbooks out there to be transformed by their software into ebook readers? Maybe. But this really provides them an opportunity to gain a very strong foothold as Barnes and Noble’s “nook” reader is a much better reader than the Kindle technically. Since Amazon cannot change their device overnight, this PC application might be a way to get users into their gates before B&N does.

But I still stand on opinion that all ebooks should be playable on any device regardless on where you bought it. Much like a real book. I don’t need some special tree or binding or glasses to read books that I bought from Amazon, Borders or even B&H. I can just open it and read it. I think that is the reason why many people aren’t entirely sold on the book thing since the only advantage is that you get the book instantly and you don’t have to bring a lot when traveling.

I see this application caters more on those who want to try out the Kindle service without having to shell out for the hardware but just want the buying and using experience and I don’t have an iPhone or and iPod Touch to be able to do it. Yes the screen would be bigger but all but the usual strain on the eyes due to prolonged reading on a monitor still remains. My best bet would be to install this on a netbook and then you’ll almost have the Kindle experience.

If you don’t have an iPod or iPhone but would want to try the ebooks from Amazon, then this is the software for you. It’s free and just create an account to get started. I do hope that they release a mac version soon.