The Kindle Chronicles

News – Something seems fishy to me in the Apple rankings for top free iPad applications, which has Apple’s iBooks at Number one, and Kindle for iPad at 11, despite four times as many ratings left for the Kindle app. Also, University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business completes its DX experiment, with mixed results.

Tech Tip – A consideration of the difference between e-books and e-book apps.

Interview – Jay Marine, Amazon’s Director of Product Management for the Kindle, spoke with me from Seattle on Tuesday, May 11. His job in such conversations is to avoid any predictions of future products or enhancements, and let’s just say he’s good at his job. But if you listen between the lines, you’ll hear encouraging passion regarding Amazon’s commitment to keep those Kindle innovations coming.

Content – A new e-book trove of William Styron titles is now available on Kindle.

News – Item 1: Amazon announces the release of Kindle for Mac software. Item 2: The New York Times reports on the latest round in Amazon v. Apple and the Publishers. Item 3: Two reading features of the iPad I hadn’t heard about yet, and an estimate that 200,000 iPads were presold in the first week.

Tech Tip – In which I transfer to Kindle for PC and Mac a screenplay I’m reading, written by my nephew Jesse Betlyon, graduating this month from Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara. Hooray!

Interview – Joshua Tallent, founder and CEO of eBook Architects, spoke with me in person on March 14, 2010, in Austin, where I was attending South by Southwest Interactive. We discussed the iPad, eBook prices, and how authors can succeed in publishing for eBook formats, especially the Kindle. Click here for Joshua’s last appearance on the podcast, 65 episodes ago.

Content – John Grisham has a change of heart regarding eBooks. Doubleday announces that all 23 of his novels are now available in Kindle and other eBook formats. Via Techflash, click here for his Today Show interview, back when he had little good to say about eBooks.

Your Comments – Allen MacDiarmid on the iPad, Alan Morris on Kindle for Mac, and Ronald Molnar on Apple’s job listing for an Independent Publisher Account Manager.

EBooks for Troops Update – I’m partnering with Ken Clark (who blogs here) to create a nonprofit to continue our work providing Kindles to active-duty troops. We’ve settled on a new name, EBooks for Troops (EB4T), which is not as pleasingly alliterative as the original Kindles for Kandahar, but more descriptive. M-Edge Accessories donated the first Kindle and accessories, to Army Sgt. Andre Corbin, who will soon be deployed in Afghanistan, ready to identify troops to receive the next Kindles. We have raised approximately $1,000 in contributions so far. Thank you to everyone who has participated, especially M-Edge!

Still Time to Win A Kindle – I will be awarding a Kindle and accessories to a fan of my Reading Edge facebook page at noon Mountain Time, April 1, courtesy of a sponsorship by Octovo.

News – Amazon says it will have to capitulate to Macmillan, but when? Five days after its notice of capitulation, at least two best-selling Macmillan books still have no Buy buttons at Amazon.

UPDATE: Just after recording the episode, I checked Amazon for Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, and it’s now available in hardcover for $13.46. No Kindle edition at any price.

Forrester’s James McQuivey says that by capitulating Amazon actually wins in the short term and long term. Dave Slusher of Evil Genius Chronicles echoes a twitterer’s question — “How does increased competition (Apple’s iBooks to Amazon) result in higher prices to consumers?” — and adds, “That, sir, is an excellent question and one worth thinking about.” Or do Amazon simply look like fools?

News item #2: Amazon reportedly buys a touchscreen maker.

News item #3: 93 percent of these eReader owners are very or somewhat satisfied with their devices.

Tech tip – Via Andrys Basten’s Kindleworld, Steve Brady’s (aka The Professor) Word macro (Windows only) that might bring some order to your My Clippings file. To see your highlights and notes online, click here.

Interview – The conclusion of my conversation on February 1, 2010, with James McQuivey, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, where he covers media technology. In this part, James describes what his Forrester associates are calling “The Kindle Flame.” That’s the next version of Kindle, the one that will really get the fire going.

Content – Instapaper just keeps getting better for Kindle users.

Your comments – Lots more discussion of the Apple iPad, and a way for authors to autograph Kindles!

I’ve been reading nonstop this week about the iPad’s impact on the Kindle and eReaders, and some of the smartest commentary so far comes from listeners of The Kindle Chronicles.

So this is a special episode comprising just your comments. Many thanks to those who joined the conversation, namely Pastor Mark Pierce, Mary McManus, Bob Anderson, Jim Jones (in photo at right), Kipp Poe, Jean Remple, Marie Sotiriou, Dan Meyers, John Halkias, Candy Yates, and Stace Wile.

There’s more to be said, so please feel free to email me at PodChronicles AT Gmail DOT com, or leave a comment here on the show notes page. You can also leave an audio comment by calling 206-666-2713.

You might be interested in a Wired.com article titled “Apple iPad Raises the Stakes for eReaders” by Priya Ganapati. I’m proud to be quoted by her as a die-hard e-reader fan, and I thought she did a good job reporting a complex story in a fair way.

Intro – How was Las Vegas? I ruminated on our stay for CES here.

News – Can the Kindle really account for 90 percent of all eBook sales? TBI Research says yes, according to unnamed sources. Abhi says it’s not totally crazy. Are you getting tired of HarperCollins delaying eBook releases? Some of us got rowdy at the Amazon listing for Game Change, leaving one-star reviews that maybe will get someone’s attention. Stephen Windwalker notes the book is still selling well. Marion Maneker muses about how much easier it would be to match supply to demand if publishers took advantage of the eBook platform instead of delaying eBook versions. The National Federation of the Blind settles with ASU. Amazon makes it easy to send support to Mercy Corps to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Tech Tip – Via Andrys Basten, here’s the official word on whether you should turn your Kindle all the way off at the end of the day, or simply put it in sleep mode.

Interview – Harvey Chute, webmaster and owner of the fast-growing Kindle Boards forum, sat down for a visit at CES in Las Vegas. He was busy learning about all the rival eBook readers, and he told us about what surprised him most in the eBook TechZone. Check out some of his photos and commentary on eBooks here.

Content – Thoughts on Michael Seringhaus’s recently published “E-Book Transactions: Amazon ‘Kindles’ the Copy Ownershhip Debate” in the Yale Journal of Law & Technology.

… and lots of comments!