Kindle Crumbling? - Why paper needs to go

Let's face it, newspapers are on the way out. There are many papers and magazines that have gone online exclusively. Printing media and delivering it to stores to sell is expensive, and quickly becoming unprofitable.

Going to an electronic format is the next logical step for newspapers, just as the music industry did years ago. The Kindle looks like a great next step for newspapers. It's thin, but has a big screen, and is great for viewing text to read.

Why eBooks aren't the answer

I'll admit that newspapers are on the way out. The technology is old and outdated. Newspapers are great to sit down and read, but by the time the paper reaches your door, its content is quickly becoming old news. With the invention of the Internet, news can travel the world in a matter of minutes. Newspapers print yesterday's news while the Internet has today's and breaking news. You can even get the newspapers' word-for-word articles on their sites. There are few reasons to go out and buy a paper anymore -- and looking to Kindle to save newspapers simply won't work. 

The next reason eBooks and eBook readers will fail is simple; they're something different, and that means they're a change. There are people out there that will jump and get the Kindle because it's cool and new. Then there is a much bigger chunk that will buy newspapers until they can't anymore, because it's what they read on a daily basis. For a new device to make it big, it needs to make it to this level. The iPod has made it to this level and is cashing in big time. eBooks need to provide a good enough reason for people to upgrade. They do offer excellent benefits, like the ability to transform a library of media into a single device.

The other major hurdle is price. The iPod really started taking off with the iPod Mini, an MP3 player that many people could afford and were willing to pay the price for. The Kindle isn't in the price range most people would want to spend the money on for an eBook reader.

iPod owners could use the player with their current music by ripping it onto their computers first. At the same time, many people were downloading songs illegally, which quickly increased personal music libraries. With the Kindle, you have to go repurchase the books you already own. Books are still pretty pricey at $9.99 for a NY Times best seller. iTunes songs were 99 cents. You could buy just the songs you wanted and not the whole album, which saved money. You really can't buy chapters of books like that.

The greatest thing Apple did was get the music industry to work with them on prices and song availability. Amazon has succeeded at getting books into their store, but has had some issues keeping them there, and on people's devices. There have already been a couple of publications that have been pulled out of the store, and off of users' devices. This had led to some major backlash for the Kindle.

Apple did have an easier time than Amazon did. Amazon simply has to sell books, but Apple gave the music industry the option of selling songs for $.99 or people downloading them illegally.

Next: Future eBooks? >>
 

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