Reading the New York Times on Kindle 2

Update Mar 18, 2009: Amazon accepted my returned Kindle and refunded my account. It's too bad their customer service treated me so skeptically which led to all this semi-negative PR for them when this posted on Slashdot. A number of people who read this post have ordered cases for their Kindle.

  

I've been eagerly awaiting the Kindle 2 to try to migrate my New York Times reading habit away from paper delivery. Home delivery prices had increased twice last year and I wanted to enjoy The Times in a more eco-friendly way. This post is for people who might be wondering what the switch to e-newspaper reading on the Kindle 2 is like.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Times on the Kindle. I don't think Amazon did as good a job with assessing the usability of their device for news subscriptions as they did for books. However, I think with some software updates, they could make vast improvements to the device. I hope they don't leave it as is to work on the third generation hardware.

Kindle Display Scratches and Poor Amazon Customer Service

That said, this story ends poorly. Despite careful handling, my Kindle scratched the day after I received it. I had placed it in a soft bag - carried it a short distance from my car to a coffee house. When I pulled the Kindle out, a tiny piece of plastic on the center of the screen had been carved off at the edge of a 3/8 inch scratch. I think the plastic edge of a snack bar wrapper caused the damage but I am not sure. I made two calls to Amazon customer support. The first took 33 minutes. While not accusing me of lying, they told me their Kindle 2's are robust and don't scratch easily. My experience differs. These devices scratch more easily than the first generation iPod Nano's. Amazon showed no curiosity to see whether this particular device might be defective - Apple later settled a class action related to scratched nanos for $22.5 million. 

Despite my long term loyalty as a customer to Amazon, the fact that my device scratched so easily less than 24 hours after delivery was either incredulous to them or something they chose to ignore for business reasons. Instead, they offered me a $100 discount on a new Kindle or to sell me the two year extended warranty which they said I could use to have the screen repaired.

I felt I deserved the benefit of the doubt about whether or not this particular Kindle screen was defective given that the fact that the device scratched so easily in the first 24 hours. I quizzed the Amazon supervisor at length about what the disconnect was between us - I think he must have felt that I'd been reckless with my Kindle but he didn't want to accuse me of this outright.

I called again because I was disappointed with their response - a very helpful support person spent 50 minutes calling the internal Kindle support manager to try to resolve the issue. She said she agreed that I should be given the benefit of the doubt so soon after the product delivery. Ultimately, in the end - they did not budge. I am returning my Kindle on Monday - despite Amazon's repeated threat that the return might not be honored.

Buyer beware: If you buy a Kindle 2, buy a case - and be super careful. I thought I was being very careful.

[Note: I continued using my Kindle after this happened so I could complete this review.]

Subscribing to The Times from your Kindle

Within five minutes, I'd managed to turn on my Kindle and subscribe to The Times. The process couldn't be easier. In most cases, Amazon ships the device to you pre-configured with your Amazon billing account. The download was fast and seamless.

Reading The Times on the Kindle

So how does reading The Times compare? Well, I hadn't even recovered from the shock of discovering the screen's scratch before two people interrupted me to ask about it. One of them said, "Cool but I just like paper." Annoyed, I said, "Then stick with paper." (and stop asking me about my Kindle - I'm trying to read). Rid of them, I dug in.

There are three basic areas of The Times on the Kindle: the front page, the section article lists and the individual story pages. Here is a short video walk through - but you may get more from viewing the hi-res pics below:

The front page is a menu of the day's sections, each linked with a number beside it indicating the number of stories inside. Note: when I use the term click below, I mean press down on the Kindle 5-way joystick.

Clicking on the section name takes you to the first story page inside that section. Clicking on the number takes you to the article list for that section. I prefer browsing with the article list. Unfortunately, this requires an extra joystick movement each time I switch sections.

The Kindle makes me switch from the joystick control to the Next Page buttons too often and for no obvious reason. This is something Amazon could improve with a software update.

Reading The Times on the Kindle gets it closest to elegant when you navigate to the first section article list, then use the Next Page button to "scroll" through all the stories in that section - and then on to the next section. Once you get used to this, you can browse The Times in a way that is more graceful than paper and more enjoyable than an RSS feed reader. However, for some reason, Amazon doesn't make joystick right do the same thing as the Next Page button here. The random need to switch between the Next Page button and the Joystick directions is annoying and difficult to get used to.

However, once within a favorite section, browsing through the first page of each story with the joystick right button is also graceful. Just click Next Page when you want to read more deeply, joystick right when you want to skip to the next article.

Story pages are easy to read. At the default text size, you only see a few paragraphs per page - I found this frustrating. Dropping down to the smallest text size is a bit harder to read but provides more of the traditional newspaper-like column reading experience.

By far, the most confusing thing getting used to the Kindle is wanting to scroll down on a device that is designed to encourage me to click Next Page for books. Using the Web so much has trained me to want to scroll. Scrolling on the iPhone with gestures and software acceleration is a breeze. But the Kindle is designed for books and incremental page turning. For some very annoying reason, joystick down doesn't "scroll down" to the next page. This too could be improved with a software update.

Without ads, The Times is surprisingly compact and browsable - might also be those newsroom cutbacks :(.

I also tried out the Wall Street Journal subscription and it's navigation works pretty similarly.

For news subscriptions, the Kindle needs something like the Apple iPhone Home button and perhaps a Section Home button. Or, the software needs be changed to make its existing buttons work better for newspaper subscriptions. For example, the redundant Previous Page and Next Page buttons on the left could be made to work better for reading news subscriptions. When reading news, Kindle Back button sometimes gets me back to where I want - but it's not as determistic as a Home and Section Home button would be.

I really enjoy holding the Kindle. It's easier to grasp and lighter than a book. There's no flapping, unwieldy news pages - and I'm unlikely to set a restaurant on fire reading too close to the candlelight (which I started to do once).

I enjoy reading The Times on the Kindle and it provides some additional break from reading news at my laptop. I have to spend so much time on my laptop these days that any chance to read about current events from a healthier postural position (or just a different postural position) is welcome.

Kindle has several features for clipping content to text files and taking notes. Clipping takes 3 clicks, when I want it to take only one. Furthermore, I'd like to clip the URL and abstract of stories - then have an RSS feed on my computer that I can read my clips from. Ideally, I'd like to be able to post clips to NewsCloud, Del.icio.us or other bookmarking services directly from my Kindle; the Net Newswire iPhone application allows this. Unfortunately, the clip feature doesn't seem to work like this at this time. I hope they improve this in future software updates.

It seems with some slight software enhancements, you could create a list of email addresses of friends at Amazon.com that the Kindle could then allow you to email article links to quite easily. Good luck typing a note to them though...

The keyboard on the Kindle is terrible and I wasn't very comfortable making notations. The interface for this seemed awkward. My sense is that trying to overload these features into the joystick button controls has made the interface more confusing and more difficult than it needs to be. Amazon would have benefited with Apple's less is more approach, leaving out the keyboard but putting in better navigation buttons.

In the absence of better hardware keys, it would be fantastic if Amazon provided the ability to customize the behavior of the standard keys when reading The Times and other news subscriptions on the Kindle. Perhaps doing this through Amazon.com's Web site (like the Logitech Harmony Remote) would be easier than building this into the device. I've placed some suggested key mappings at the end of this post.

The text to speech capability is decent. I could imagine letting the Kindle read The Times to me while I drive - but I think I'd want the ability to navigate with my voice e.g. skip (article), home, sports, next (article), next section, etc. Kindle has a male and female voice.

The Kindle Display

The gray scale quality of the photographs is just fine for me. Zoomed photographs look great. Wall Street Journal readers will feel pleasantly surprised. When you turn the Kindle off, it loads a photo of famous authors from memory and is quite attractive left on a coffee table. I'd really like to be able to upload some of my travel photos to the Kindle for its sleep mode - not sure if I can do this with jpgs that I download to Kindle.

I love the visual quality of the display and found the text quite readable. For The Times, I prefer seeing more of the story on a single page - so that requires minimizing the text size. At the smallest text size, readability isn't quite as good. When you change pages, the electronic paper display does flash a bit. Occasionally, especially behind photos, you can see remnants of text from the previous page. Mostly, this is a very minor issue.

How delicate is the Kindle 2's screen? Sadly, it makes the legendary scratchable first generation iPod Nano surface seem hardy. I had no sooner pulled the Kindle 2 out of a soft bag (carried a short distance from my car) for my first reading as I noticed a 3/8th inch permanent scratch in the center of the display. I hadn't had the Kindle for 24 hours. I hadn't used it for more than 30 minutes. I've asked Amazon for a replacement. Word to the wise: buy a case and be very careful with yours. I thought I was being careful and I scratched it. It is so easy to scratch this screen that I am surprised Amazon doesn't more clearly inform people of this on the packaging.

Writing and publishing for the Kindle

Because reading the "paper" on the Kindle is such a different experience, my habits are different. I noticed that I only read the first graphs that fit on the display - and often clicked ahead to the next article if the reporter couldn't capture my interest. So, writing the first few paragraphs well becomes even more essential on the Kindle than on the Web.

Web site publishers should seriously consider providing Kindle friendly content. As the Kindle 2's web browsing software improves, this may be increasingly valuable to building your audience.

I'm not sold on Amazon's blog subscription fee. I do like reading blogs on the Kindle, but it seems a bit pricey given that there are easy ways to get the same content for free e.g. the Web, KindleFeeder.com. I guess you could say the same thing about The Times. Perhaps that's remnants of my MSM-bias coming out. However, the lack of ad space on the Kindle requires that blogs earn revenue somehow. $1.99 per month for some blogs seems a bit high.

Comparing the Costs

Once your promotion expires, seven day home delivery of the New York Times costs $58.06 per month or $697 annually. A Kindle 2 sells for $359. The New York Times via Kindle costs just $13.99 per month or $168. You can buy a Kindle 2 with a one year subscription to The Times for only $527. Then, you can use the $169 savings to take your friend out to a very nice dinner - the one whose sister has the dogs who get their waste dumped in your blue plastic Times delivery bags (I guess I'll find out soon if she reads my blog when she asks about that dinner).

BusinessInsider mused that it costs The Times twice as much money each year to provide home delivery than it would to buy every subscriber a Kindle: "What we're trying to say is that as a technology for delivering the news, newsprint isn't just expensive and inefficient; it's laughably so."

Having been startled awake by the thud of the Sunday Times on my porch a number of times at 3 am, I have to say I'm looking forward to the future with my Kindle.

I was awake writing this blog post and the Sunday Times arrived on my kindle (silently) shortly after 2 a.m.

Conclusion

I think switching to The Times on the Kindle 2 is a fantastic way to lessen your impact on the environment, reducing tremendous waste from paper, print, delivery and plastic bags. Perhaps saving a forest. However, it's not for everyone. You'll need to be willing to commit to the form factor and accept changes in the reading experience.

Overall, I give the Kindle 2 with the New York Times a B to B+. If Amazon makes the software updates I mentioned above, this would raise the experience to an A-.

I love my iPhone and I've used both the NetNewswire application and the New York Times application on it - but reading The Times on the Kindle is better in enough ways to make me carry both...before even considering the Kindle's blog and book reading capabilities.

I'm impressed with the Kindle as a device but surprised that Amazon didn't do a slightly better job with the interface. Perhaps they optimized too much for books and didn't think so much about news. With software updates and Web configuration, they could greatly improve the Kindle 2 - and make me a much more satisfied user. Making software and Web improvements to the clipping features would also be a great improvement.

Kindle 2 won't be for everyone, but the Kindle 3 could prove to be a game changer.

I fully expect to see multiple form factors in the future including a clipboard size which allows students to read textbooks and take notes. While Jeff Bezos said that electronic paper won't permit a touch sensitive screen for a while, a larger Kindle would provide space for a pen and touch sensitive track pad where you could make your notes below the display (kind of like an old Palm Pilot). A touch pad might also allow for gestures for scrolling and section navigation.

I'm very disappointed in Amazon's customer service and the fragility of these displays. I'm curious to see if other users end up with similar problems.

Related Info and Links

I highly recommend reading The Seattle Times' interview with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos after the Kindle 2 launch.

Some people have complained that Amazon charges ten cents per document you email to your Kindle for reading. This is they say because you aren't paying for the 3G wireless connection. The user guide explains that you can email your kindle address with the subdomain free e.g. jeff@free.kindle.com and this bypasses the fee - but you have to sync your Kindle vs. USB. Nice alternative if you're sensitive to this.

Here are some nice related tips on Kindle PDF conversion in case you want to read your own documents more easily on the Kindle. The same site has a great list of Kindle 2 "hacks".

I've played with the web browser and mobile gmail on the device and it's very difficult to use. Amazon calls this feature experimental - and I would say that is generous.

Suggest Key Mappings for Amazon

Here are some suggested key maps for news reading:

Home key maps to Front Page. Home key double-click goes to Kindle Home. Joystick click on section name should default to article list (like the # of stories does). Because joystick navigation is used pervasively when reading The Times, joystick left and joystick right should mimic Previous page and Next page. e.g. On a section article list, joystick left and right should also map to Previous and Next page. On the last page of a section article list, joystick right should map to next section article list (like Next page does). This would make browsing through sections faster and more intuitive. Always having to switch these controls is annoying, seemingly unneccessary and hard to get used to.

Comments

[Bob]

I am not at all surprised about Amazon's response. I had an order several years ago that didn't arrive on time. I called a manager, who asked me what the big deal was since the package would arrive eventually. I haven't ordered from Amazon since, and it sounds as though Amazon's service hasn't changed one iota. Good luck with your refund, and don't take no for an answer. Your credit card company should help significantly in this regard.

[Jon]

I hate to be a dick, but you're being unreasonable on the screen. This is your fault.

I got my Kindle on Tuesday, and I've used it -extensively- (20-30 hours at least) since it got here. I also bought the Amazon leather case, because it has been made clear in several places that e-ink screens are fragile (hell, LCD's are fragile - having broken my 17" MBP screen and shelled out $1500 to replace it, I'm -well- aware), and because I'd like to keep my Kindle looking good.

If you didn't buy some sort of case, whether a book cover case, a slip case, or some other protective item for a device with an exposed screen, then this is your fault, plain and simple. Take the out, buy the 2 year warranty, and get the unit replaced.

I predict that Amazon will not honor the return - you damaged the screen, it's not new anymore, they can't sell it as new, and the cost to sell it as refurbished (if they would do such a thing) is prohibitive.

Suck it up, admit you screwed up, and buy a case for your Kindle. And take the $65 out and get it replaced with the extended warranty.

[Jeff]

Jon, Actually it's funny, I realized when the Kindle arrived that it appeared quite fragile and placed an order for the Belkin case. I was quite careful with this device. I was pretty shocked when I saw it scratched anyway. If something can't last through 2 hours of normal use, that's not a warranty issue - that's a customer support issue.

[Rahul]

Bob: my experience is the opposite. I live in India and Amazon deliveries normally take 2 weeks from the US; this was an expedited delivery. When the package didn't arrive after a month, I contacted customer support. They said it seems to have been lost in the mail and they are sending me a new shipment (at no extra charge). Within a day of the confirmation of the new shipment, I received the original order. They told me to refuse or return the second shipment when it arrives; refusing was not an easy option (office address delivery), so I shipped it back, and they paid me my shipping costs. I've had similar experiences when I lived in the US: once it was UPS that lost the delivery, and they sent me another one promptly. No complaints whatever.

[Matt]

"While Jeff Bezos said that electronic paper won't permit a touch sensitive screen for a while..."

Jeff Bezos isn't entirely correct here. The Sony Reader PRS-700BC uses the same e-ink technology employed by the Kindle, but includes some clever engineering to implement touch-screen capabilities (though with a slight reduction in readability).

[Oldtaku]

If the device is really that fragile, then there's no excuse at all for it to not come with a case (instead of making you buy a separate one). It should have a big 'WARNING SCREEN IS LIKE BUTTAH' on it. And then they could blame you all they wanted.

[Bob Dixon]

I have owned my Sony Book Reader for almost 12 months - it has traveled in my computer bag all that time - no scratched - no dings - no marks.

[Bob Dixon]

To add to my comment - the Sony Book reader I bought for $299 - comes with a cover as a standard part of the purchase. That may be why is has never scratched -

[Matt]

Please stop re-sizing my browser window when I open images in new tab.

[Lanny Budd]

I enjoyed your review, but if you want to be taken more seriously as a writer, you need to review the rules for the proper use of apostrophes.

[mmonk]

It doesn't sound like you were being very careful if you were just shoving it in a bag with a candy bar. I've had a Kindle 1 since they came out in 2007 and not a scratch yet. Get a cover or a case.

[Paul Miller]

My wife has had a Kindle 1 since they came out, and reads it almost constantly. No scratches in over a year. I'd say your case is a fluke.

[E. Luten]

Thanks for the detailed review. I have been thinking about buying one but after hearing your gripes and seeing the actual photos of the product, I think I'll stick to a laptop for a while.

[Don A]

Try getting a Zagg screen cover. I tried going to wiki-travel/WashingtonDC, going there on vacation and they have a nice pdf/map of the area. I wish that the kindle would allow you to zoom the image so it is readable. Liked the Ireaderreview link above.One question that I haven't seen addressed was if you go on vacation out of the country can you still download new books and your newspaper that you have subscribed to?

[Robert Ivan]

Thorough review of the kindle 2 for newspapers. Thank you.

I'm still not convinced that it is cheap enough for the masses. The cost of me reading the NYTimes.com site from home, office, laptop, or on my blackberry is free (right now). If the economics of this change, then the kindle 2 and others, will become more attractive.

[Owen]

I'm not sure that reading on the kindle qualifies more eco-friendly than reading the newspaper.

just because one is not getting a paper everyday, does not mean that one is more eco-friendly. There is alot of energy and chemicals used in the manufacturing process, not to mention the design.

[Jeff]

Ari gave permission for me to post this...

Hi,

I read your Kindle review (linked from Slashdot) and I really wanted to comment about someone else's comment but I don't like signing up for accounts to do so, but I felt compelled to send a note through other means.

The post by "Jon" demonstrates he either works for Amazon or is just a putz. His response was idiotic, demeaning, and further proof that technology corporations get away with murder because of attitudes like his: he *settles*, rather than wanting to get the full value of his money. I hope he gets ripped off the next time he's at the car shop and hears a mechanic tell him, "It's your fault, deal with it." Jerk.

I am seriously interested in buying a Kindle, but your experience with the scratching has given me serious pause, and I'm glad too, because that's what a decent review is supposed to to. Amazon's attitude is shocking, but perhaps that's what's most shocking about it: that we we should be surprised Big Business treats customers like crap.

Anyway, excellent review, thanks for the time and effort. In looking at the screen shots, the text appeared as "Chaparral Pro" which I think looks great on screens.

Thanks again, and get your money back!

Sincerely,

Ari Espinoza

[Martin]

Interesting article. Thanks very much for taking the time. You're misusing the word "incredulous" though, fyi. Correct usage would be either "they were incredulous" or "it was incredible to them".

[Scott Lewis]

I stored my Kindle 2 in the box it came in, with the little plastic cover around that box to keep it closed. I did this for 2 days until my case came. I can't imagine having just thrown it in a bag, especially one that had other things in it like candy.

[Jeff]

Perhaps I should clarify further ... I had a small cloth bag that I placed the kindle with a protein bar in. I thought the Kindle screen was facing the bag away from the protein bar. I carried the Kindle this way because I was worried about the screen (usually I carry a backpack). I was very careful. I don't know what caused the scratch. I was shocked when I saw it.

[Tom]

Yesterday I subscribed to the NY TImes and my new Kindle and I have similarly positive impressions re: the navigation and overall usability. It's elegantly done, based on reading one full daily issue (today's) on the subway and the bus while riding into work during the Manhattan snowstorm this morning.

I also have a seven-day print subscription to the NY Times, and that's where evaluation step #2 for me will come in: to compare the print and Kindle editions, page by page, and see what's missing on the Kindle. Based on my memory of paging through the physical paper this morning, what's missing is a lot, and I'm not talking about advertising and photography. What the Times leaves off the Kindle, I believe, are most of the "little features" that helps make the Times so yummy: the shorter (sometimes wire service) pieces, sidebars, clippings and comments from nytimes.com, charts and graphs such as the Business Monday media top-rated lists, etc.

In short, what the Kindle does is strip the NY Times print edition to its essentials. You get all the long-form pieces, plus letters and editorials and such, and it's nicely done. But IMO the "real" edition of the Times, the best and fullest one, is neither the paper nor the Kindle, but the website. At www.nytimes.com you get the blogs, the video and multimedia, the information graphics, Times Topics, hyperlinking between stories and outward into the Web, and of course years of the archives. That's the Uber NYT. That's the one I want on the Kindle.

[Troy]

IF YOU RETURNED YOU KINDLE, make sure you got Tracking or Delivery confirmation. If you have that amazon cannot refuse refund. If they do, you can simply dispute the charge on your credit card and they will refund the money for you.

[Jeff]

Thanks for the heads up Troy. I did get the drop off confirmation receipt from UPS. If Amazon doesn't accept the return, I had already planned to dispute the charge.

[dandjfi]

If you don't know what scratched it, and you haven't tried scratching it, you really need to disregard it instead of comparing it to the ipod...

I see people who *think* they were careful pull a laptop out of their bag with a totally smashed screen. All it takes is something to hit it in at the right/wrong angle.

[M Nolt]

Are you sure you scratched it?

I received my Kindle 2 last Thursday. I tend to hold off on using new tech, to see if there are any known issues and to feedback from other first users. I got around to opening it yesterday evening...

...and was about to charge and power it on today when I thought about your story, which I read yesterday. I hadn't removed the plastic film, so I did before I was going to plug in the charger, and I took a look at the screen for reference to see how the screen handled future scratches...and got surprised.

First pass, I didn't see anything, then something caught my eye. Saw like a wear mark line, light in the lower right corner.

Inspected closer in the light. Found one that bother me. The second is a fine scratch but distinct in the middle of the screen, about 3/4" and sort of raggity, like someone pulled a needle lightly across it.

2 screen issues, brand spanking new, unused.