Amazon's Kindle 2

On Monday, Amazon introduced the Kindle 2, the latest version of Amazon's e-book reader. Since the release of the first Kindle, the elusive e-book reader which has often remained out of stock at the online retailer; the most recent purchasers of the outgoing Kindle were moved from the waiting list to a waiting list for the Kindle 2. The price of the e-book reader is still $359.

As much as Jeff Bezos wants to be Steve Jobs, and the Kindle to be the equivalent of an iPod, the problem is that e-books are quite different from downloadable music; although some of the same challenges apply, the fundamental difference is between the active nature of e-books and the passive nature of music; it is quite easy to listen to music while walking or driving a vehicle, but to do the same thing while reading a book is more difficult. This is one of the reasons why one of the new features of the Kindle 2 is a Read-To-Me mode in which the Kindle will read the text of the e-book aloud. This feature of the Kindle 2 has the Author's Guild claiming copyright infringment, stating that the audio generated is in effect a derivative work. I see this as a useful feature to the Kindle 2, as it places the Kindle into a passive state, which makes it far more accessible to those of us who drive.