Just weeks after announcing it would release a new, refined version of its electronic book reader, Amazon.com has not only held true to its promise, but is offering the device earlier than previously announced. Amazon.com made the Kindle 2 e-reader available to consumers Monday through its retail Web site, one day earlier than expected.
“The response from customers to Kindle 2 has been tremendous,” said Cinthia Portugal, a spokesperson for Amazon.com. “In order to ensure we ship Kindle 2 by the original ship day of Feb. 24, we started shipping one day early.”
Kindle 2 is a new, souped-up version of the old Kindle. The device has a 25 percent longer battery life, weighs 10.2 ounces, and is thinner than the old version. It comes with a five-way controller enabling the consumer to navigate through content and highlight text.
The Kindle 2 also includes wireless coverage for no fee. Users can download newspapers, books and other content using Amazon.com’s coverage, which has recently been expanded.
The Kindle 2 holds more than 1,500 books, and users can choose from more than 240,000 different titles, according to Amazon.com. The device also comes with a text-to-speech feature which enables users to listen to the book if their hands are full or when they are driving.
The “Read-to-Me” feature has stirred some controversy in the publishing community about audio rights versus e-reader rights. Amazon.com told USA Today that providing software that reads the text aloud is not breaking the law. The software is Realspeak Solo by Nuance Communications.
Portugal said Kindle’s software is similar to text-to-speech applications currently in use on PCs, Macs and other devices. Audiobooks, however, are different. “Audiobooks, such as the 30,000 professionally produced audiobooks available from audible.com and also playable on Kindle 2, are individually recorded spoken-word productions carefully produced and recorded…