Over the past week, readers have sent me a lot of comments and questions related to a trio of products: the Amazon Kindle, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, and the Wii Virtual Console. Though none of these is itself worth writing about, taken as a whole they make an interesting combination. They represent part of a paradigm shift, a move toward on-demand digital entertainment.
Amazon Kindle
Earlier today, Jeff Bezos announced the Amazon Kindle, the latest attempt to persuade us that E-books are the wave of the future. I’m not convinced. I want to like the Kindle, but despite its promise to replace the paperback, not because of it.
The Kindle is a $400 electronic device full of whiz-bang technology. It wirelessly connects to the Amazon store, where users can choose from nearly 100,000 different books (priced at $10 or below). It can also download newspapers, magazines, and websites. It lets users annotate books, lets them search the text, lets them alter the font size. In a way, it’s like an iPod for the printed word.
These things are all keen, but I’m not inclined to buy one. I’m a bibliophile. I love books. But I don’t want to purchase another gadget to carry around, especially one that restricts the way I read. I know from reading books on a computer that it’s very difficult to jump from chapter one to chapter twelve and then back to chapter six to cross-reference something. I can’t put sticky notes on the pages inside a Kindle. (Annotations are nice, but not quite the same thing.) Other advantages for books:
- I can read a book in the bathtub.
- If I drop a book — which I sometimes do — it’s not going to break.
- My books don’t run out of power.
- When I’m finished with my books, I can loan them to friends. Or sell them.
I’m not saying the Kindle is a bad thing, or even that it’s going to flop. But I’m wary of it. For more information on this new toy, read Stephen Levy’s article in Newsweek. (And be sure to watch the video embedded in the article — it does a great job of conveying how the Kindle works.)
Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited
I collect comic books. When Marvel Comics unveiled its new digital subscription service last week, I received a flood of reader e-mails asking me what I thought it. As with the Kindle, I’m ambivalent. As with the Kindle, I have no plans to sign up just yet.
Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited offers subscribers access to thousands of web-based comics for only $5/month. Though the site’s selection is limited at the moment, it is sure to grow. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see nearly every Marvel comic ever produced integrated into the site.
Sounds like a comic geek’s dream, right?
Well, not quite. I admit that the $5/month price tag is very generous. For about the cost of two comic books, users have access to an assortment of back issues. What’s not to like?
- The comics are available via web access only. This is extremely limiting.
- Users don’t actually own the comics — the monthly fee allows them to browse a virtual library of sorts, a library where they have access to all the content. But when the service is cancelled, that access goes away.
- Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited suffers from the Netflix effect. You have to use it to get value from it. If I subscribe, read a bunch of comics for a week or two, and then forget about it, I’m going to get dinged $5 every month.
I’m not opposed to reading comics on a computer. But for now, I’m going to continue acquiring DVD-based material. Web-based comics just aren’t my thing.
Wii Virtual Console
The Nintendo Wii offers a service called the Virtual Console, which allows users to download old video games for a nominal fee. You might, for example, pay $5 for the original Super Mario Brothers from 1985.
Justin wrote to ask: “I was curious what you think of the Virtual Console from a frugality standpoint. One one hand it encourages money spending, but on the other hand, it allows you to buy cheap, older games, as opposed to new, expensive Wii games.”
I love the Virtual Console. I love that it’s not subscription based. I love that you own the game once you’ve downloaded it. I love the cheap prices. $5 for Super Mario Brothers? Count me in. $10 for Mario Kart 64? That’s a bargain, and will tide me over while I wait for Mario Kart Wii.
As Justin suggests, however, the danger with something like the Wii Virtual Console is that you’ll pay to download games that you’ll never use. My solution? I only download games I know I will play. I don’t download games just to have them — they’ll always be there later if I change my mind.
If used responsibly, the Virtual Console provides tremendous value. It can help save you money by eliminating the urge to buy expensive new games. But if you simply download a whole bunch of games and never play them, then it’s a waste.
Final thoughts
There was a time in the not-too-distant-past when I would have been all over every one of these services. I would have been happy to pay $400 for the Kindle or $5/month for unlimited comics.
But lately I’m much more cautious about expenses like these. I try to imagine how the things I purchase will fit into my life. Will I use them? Will I derive value from them commensurate with the cost? Or would I be wasting my money? Of the three services I’ve explored here, I believe the Wii Virtual Console is the only thing that’s going to give me my money’s worth. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Kindle is a runaway bestseller.
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Since I don’t read comics, or own a Wii, only the Kindle looks remotely interesting to me, but it appears that it suffers from the same issues that the Sony ebook has, namely. it’s not the right size or shape for reading easily. It doesn’t look like you can easily hold it in one hand while reading. until someone can come up with an electronic book that feels like a “real” book, I don’t think they’ll become common.
However, I strongly suspect the first company that makes textbooks available for a significant dicount over paper textbooks will find the masses beating a path to their door.
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I’m surprised that you think that the Kindle may be a bestseller. It seems like an expensive paperweight. As a reader, I think this would be the worst gift to get me for all of the reasons you’ve already mentioned. I think in general, if you’re a reader and you purchase books it’s not because you don’t want to go to the library – I think it’s because you want to own the book. A digital book just doesn’t compare. Similarly, if you’re a reader but you don’t want to purchase book, you’re not going to pay $10 to read something that you can get at the library for free. There’s just no value in having a digital book as far as I can see — especially not for $400!!
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“I love the Virtual Console. I love that it’s not subscription based. I love that you own the game once you’ve downloaded it. I love the cheap prices. $5 for Super Mario Brothers? Count me in.”
I don’t own a Wii, so you’ll have to explain how this works, but do you really *own* the game?
I’ve been sensitized to the whole ownership of IP especially after MP3s/iTunes/and DRM brought the issue into the limelight. It’s a little frustrating to ostensibly pay something to “license” a product that you don’t own and that in theory can be taken away from you by the terms of its own license.
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Akasha, I’m not saying that Kindle might be a best-seller because of its features, but because of the marketing force behind the product. Also, it does do some keen things that are non-book related. You can send MS Word files to it, for example, which is something that may be of use to many people.
I agree that digital books have little value to me, but I know other people who love them.
I’m not saying the Kindle will take off, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
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I do like the idea of e-books…but it seems to me like they’ve got a long way to go before they will see widespread adoption.
There’s something that’s been bothering me (other than the price) about all the e-book readers that I’ve seen, and I think I’ve finally put my finger on it – you can’t open them like a book. A normal paperback lets you view two pages at a time; none of the e-book readers I can recall seeing let you do that. And you can’t open or close them. I’d like to see an e-book reader that had the same basic shape as the Nintendo DS – two screens, mounted to separate hinged sections that that can fold toward each other so that screens are on the inside and protected from being damaged when you’re carrying it around.
I think that at $400 the Kindle doesn’t have much of a chance at replacing the paperback. The price on the hardware needs to come down, drastically, for it to have a major impact on the market for physical books. I agree with morydd on the textbook comment, though – the cost of textbooks is mind-boggling.
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I really love the Wii virtual console. I have only bought three games on it thusfar, but I have to say that they were worth it. Actually, I have been struggling over whether I should try to sell some of my old Nintendo and Super Nintendo carts that are lying around. I have been purging games that did not have much value to me in future playability, but I have been reluctant to part with games that I have enjoyed a lot in the past, and think I would like to play again in theory. Beyond the loss of my current save files, I do not see many compelling reasons to hang on to games that have been released on the virtual console, particularly those games that I could sell on Amazon or eBay for more than the Virtual Console purchase price.
There are two things slowing me down at this point:
1. Sentimental value
2. I want to use the original controllers.
If I can get over #1, there are some third party converters for SNES to Gamecube which I could then use with VC.
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Hm. Good question, Anton. Here’s how it works: you pay for the game, download it to the Wii, and play it. Even if you never again have an internet connection, you can play the game. HOWEVER, I don’t know of any way to transfer it to a new Wii, so I’m guessing the game is tied to the console to which it was downloaded. That seems fair to me, though. So “own” may be the wrong word in this case…
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eBooks will never replace dead tree books, but devices like the Kindle have some interesting uses.
-Imagine going on vacation and instead of having to decide from your pile of 5 books and 10 magazines you really want to read, bringing all of them, and all the books your wife wants to read (on her own Kindle of course).
-Imagine taking an econ course and being able to digitally submit your homework to your teacher and being able to actually draw formulas and equations to show your work (a problem that is more common than you might think)
-Imagine not having to kill a tree to own a book. Imagine the landfill space your digital magazines are not taking up. the gas that trucks are not using to transport your books to the store/library.
-Imagine how much easier it will be to move your library next time you move (into a smaller house because you don’t have to have so much physical storage space for your books)
Also, for those who complain about the screen, I recommend picking up one of these eInk devices in the store and actually looking at it. Its something that images just can’t do justice to. It looks like paper, but its electronic. Its hard to describe.
That said, I think the price point on these is still too much. The sweet spot will probably be somewhere in the $100-$200 range. I own one of the 1st generation eInk devices, and it is pretty great, but it was seriously expensive (~$800). Luckily, I didn’t have to buy it with my own money, as I was evaluating the product for my job. Oh, I also still own paper books too. The device doesn’t replace books, it compliments them.
Also, the price for ebooks themselves is outrageous. $10 is way too much for that kind of content. $1-$2 would be better, considering what you get and the volatility of digital information.
Actually, I predict this device will fail because Amazon wants you to pay to transfer any kind of content to it whatsoever.
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Anton, Virtual Console games are not normally transferable between consoles so you might say you do not really “own” them if you consider ownership being able to do whatever you wish. You are pretty much only given the right to play them though, you can back them up to external storage and are given the right to re-download them as many times as you want onto your same Wii once they are purchased.
If you are worried about losing your games in a hardware fault, don’t. Nintendo will transfer your points and list of games downloaded to the new console if it has to be replaced. The one limitation there is that I do not believe they will do this except if you go through official channels for service and replacements. That could be a problem in the far reaching future once the Wii becomes obsolete and you would be able to get one online much cheaper than a replacement from Nintendo. Hopefully, they will be able to address this by then.
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You don’t need to buy a special device to play old games…there are plenty of free emulators and games out there. Not sure about the legality of sharing them, but I have played emulated games from old console systems like Nintendo, Sega, Neo Geo, Dreamcast etc. No special hardware needed since you just play them off of your regular PC.
-R
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I have to say that I don’t think the Kindle will do well at all, probably in part because of it’s completely un-sexy design. Looking at the picture in this article, I could’ve sworn I was looking at some forgotten electronic device from the 80′s, and I had to find more photos online just to confirm that that was indeed how it looks.
Besides that, I like to believe that most people are like me and don’t want to do “everything” in front of a computer screen. Business-minded folk seem to get wide eyed about the death of printed material, but I think books (and perhaps magazines) are far from being on their last legs.
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I think I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to books, give me paper over a gadget any day. I’ve only just been able to bring myself to listen to a book on a CD or my ipod, and even then it’s only certain authors I can manage.
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I like being able to hold a book, but after filling up two rooms with my books, I can also see why the Kindle might be a good idea. Plus it saves on paper waste, which is always nice. Perhaps a compromise is in order. Keep your rarely read books on Kindle and your favorite on real paper.
Gal
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I have enjoyed ebooks for a while now. I used to read them on my old Palm Pilot. I use them for paperbacks that I know I won’t read again. But I still buy paper books for books I want to keep.
I guess the combination of being a geek, having a small apartment, and too many bookshelves contributes to my love of ebooks.
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I believe Wii Virtual Console downloads are tied to your account, and I know for a fact they can be backed up on an SD card. In general, Nintendo is being pretty good about helping people use their legally-purchased VC games on their Wii, while still preventing rampant copying to other Wiis.
I’m not sure I agree with the sentiment that $5 for a digital download of a 20-year-old game qualifies as “cheap.” I’d much rather have seen prices in the $2-$3 range for NES, $5 for SNES, and $7 for N64. The other feature I really wish it had is the ability to re-map the buttons when using the Gamecube controller. The one game I’ve downloaded (Donkey Kong Country) is a pain in the butt to try to play unless I go out and spend another $20 on the “Classic Controller.” They could have just allowed me to change the buttons around to better suit the Gamecube controller, and it would be golden.
But oh well, it’s still cool overall.
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Books as objects probably won’t be replaced by books as electronic data masses. It’s not the same as music, I think, since a book isn’t like an album/CD collection, it’s a whole, not a collection and most of the time one probably won’t want to buy just a chapter of something (I think that’s even true of poetry, if you’re the kind of person who reads poetry, you’ll be willing to buy the whole book, not just the hit poem). Maybe textbooks aren’t the same kind of thing, but with text books it may be important to be able to manipulate the material in ways that paper can facilitate and most users don’t have all the skills for onscreen.
Also, printed books make great gifts, in a way that an e-book isn’t going to be quite as nice, I imagine.
I think that there’d also be an out-of-sight-out-of-mind thing, too — at least with a pile of unread books, I see them, and eventually pick one out to read. A black box of e-books might not ever get read.
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Great Post J.D.
Now i’ll have something to read over the weekend.
-mike
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I have a Wii and love the virtual console. I’ve been slowly adding my favorite NES games to my collection, and some SNES games that I never had a chance to play (I jumped straight from NES to PS2).
I was totally stoked when SMB3 was released recently, as it was one of my favorite NES games
. I’m glad I had the Wii points saved!
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Well said, I agree. I thought the Kindle would be cool to have, but the price is ridiculous. Frankly, they should be giving away the devices to sell the e-books. I don’t see any other compelling reason to switch.
The Wii VC is awesome, but it is a dangerous temptation that can be so easily accessed. I went a little nuts and spent about $40 right when I got it, while that is more than I should have spent, it did get me a lot of fun games that I really enjoy to play over and over again.
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I’m open to ebooks, but at $400 it just isn’t realistic. I can almost get a laptop for that price. Seriously. Gagets….
I would be surprised if it really takes off, but it did take me years to get on the mp3 player train.
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J.D., when you say DVD based material in regards to comic books, what do you mean? I’m an old “comic geek” and this intrigues me.
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Mark Pilgrim has a great post about the Kindle.
@Justin
Marvel has been licensing the publication of its main titles on DVD. For example, here’s 40 years of Spider-Man on DVD. If I recall correctly, only Iron Man, Thor, and Daredevil remained to be published. They nixed this deal. (They failed to renew the agreement.) No new DVDs will be produced, and the existing ones can’t be sold after a certain date. I have several already, and will be buying the rest before they sell out.
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I’m not sure if the Kindle or another e-book reader is a worthwhile purchase. Do we -really- want to be carrying around another device when a laptop or PDA can do the same thing just about as well?
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Been using PocketPC ebooks readers (peanut/ebook, ms reader) since 2000 and have never looked back.
Sadly, I just spent $400 on One Laptop Per Child. You’d think I learned to not spend money from here…
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E-Books will be huge…maybe not enough to kill paper books (music downloads aren’t even killing vinyl records) but big enough to supplant paper books as the main distribution mechanism. There are so many inherent advantages, many of which have already been mentioned above — ease of carrying many books, ease of distribution, no dead trees necessary, variable font size, easy cross-referencing, instantaneous dictionary lookup — sooner or later someone will get the formula right.
That said, I think the Kindle is too expensive and too ugly to be the device that really drives e-Book adoption.
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I have to agree with Rob. The Kindle is hideous looking. It sort of looks like the broken calculator we threw out last time we cleaned the office. I’ll be surprised if it does well. Maybe if it were sleeker it would be nice for people who don’t like to keep cluttter, but I also don’t like that you don’t get to keep the files that you download.
While I complain about not having enough room for all of my books, I do love them. Looking at a neat shelf of books makes me happy. Touching the paper and turning pages is part of the experience that I wouldn’t want to give up 100% of the time.
I had no idea that you could get old NES on the Wii. That is awesome! I could play Mario for hours.
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Wow. Comics on DVD. You have ruined my life. In a good way, though. Have DC or other companies followed suit?
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((Actually, I predict this device will fail because Amazon wants you to pay to transfer any kind of content to it whatsoever.))
You are quite wrong, icup. In fact, you couldn’t be more wrong. You need to check your facts. It’s the exact opposite of what you claim. You can transfer unlimited content to your Kindle without paying Amazon a dime.
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Re “owning” the Wii games you download: If you haven’t already, I would recommend reading the Terms of Use for the Virtual Console in full. They include a few clauses I didn’t like much: (1) all Wii points actually belong to them, (2) as long as your Wii is connected to the network, they can scan it and remove anything they don’t like “for your protection,” and (3) if they ever find anything they *really* don’t like, they can boot you from the network and remove all your downloaded games from your Wii.
So, I’m being a little nitpicky, but a company that reserves the right to take back what it’s sold me any time it likes doesn’t seem to be selling ownership.
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Hey JD, love your blog and was reading through the archives. Im a huge comic book fan but don’t have the money for them and also feel they are too expensive anyways. It’s been awhile since you’ve posted this but have you had a chance to check out the Marvel digital subscription since? Do you think it would be a good deal now? It looks like they have pretty much every Marvel comic on there now. And it is still $5/month. What do you think?
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