Sean Reiser
Kindlecasting and A Kindle Catcher: A Propsal
March 20th, 2009 Last night, in a fit of inspiration and exhaustion I posted a poll around creating a kindle catcher. As I was tired, I assumed that folks would immediately know what I was thinking based on a sentence, which might be insane. So, without further adieu I present a more thought out plan for what I’m thinking about. I know this is an evolutionary idea more then revolutionary but I think it’s worth discussing. Actually, there are folks that would say going from audio/video to print is devolutionary but whatever.
Back in 2000 Dave Winer added a media enclosure tag to RSS. This simple development gave us Podcasts, Vidcasts, Netcasts, etc. Quite frankly, I feel the media enclosure was one of the most significant development in RSS, allowing people to broadcast media to anyone who wants it.
So, just like a podcast is an RSS feed with attached .mp3 files, a “kindlecast” would be an RSS feed with attached .mobi/.prc or maybe .txt files. A kindle catcher, like a podcatcher, would parse the RSS feed pull down the ebooks. There can also be software to sync the content directly to your kindle. This can all happen without going through Amazon’s distribution model which will make Prof. Emily Walshe very happy, perhaps we can save free speech while using her kindle.
Off the top of my head I can think of a number of use for this:
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Independent Authors can release their books on a feed. They can either release for free (maybe to create buzz), for a fee (with a personalized URL) or work on a donation model (like podiobooks) all without having to run through Amazon. This would work for short stories or chapters. When she did Playing for Keeps as a podcast, Mur Lafferty released a PDF with each episode. Having a feed of Kindle edition books would’ve fit right into the way she was marketing her book.
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News Organizations, Blogs and Magazines who are just looking for people to read their stuff can publish in this methodology. There can be embedded ads (just like a newspaper), or a subscription model via a personalized URL.
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I’m sure there are more. I don’t have a great imagination.
Now that I’ve given some backstory and detail. What do you think?
Edit: Filed the spelling of Dave Winer's Name, Sorry Dave
Sean Reiser, 40, is a developer, technologist, and amateur photographer. Sean has spent the past 20 years as a programmer, system architect and development manager. He is a life long New York resident.
Sean currently serves as the President and Chief Geek Officer of Repair Sense, Inc.. Please go to that site with any professional inquiries.
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- Well said, sir.
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I have a Kindle but I have to admit I have not used it yet. It sits there doing nothing and I can't figure out what I'm waiting for, but I always seem to have something else I'd rather pick up and read or watch. This might be it -- if I understood how to get content off my desktop and onto the Kindle and then onto its screen. A howto for that would help me figure it out. BTW, my name only has one "e" in it. :-)
Sorry about the typo, dave. Thanks for your thoughts!
Actually, it's a great idea. The whole concept behind progressive technology is to enhance people's lives and in some cases to simplify it. I love my Sony e-Reader because I have about 50 books preloaded on it that I can pull out at a moments notice. I have always had a number of books that I would read simultaneously and now I no longer have to keep all of the hard copies around. I also can archive those that I have read without having shelves and boxes of books that I have already read. The concept of being able to pull down new books via RSS would make life easier. If I could subscribe to an author and have his/her new novels automatically come down to me I would love it! Imagine being able to have an "agreement" with Amazon or the like where they are allowed to charge you and push out to you an ebook automatically. It would be totally sweet!
Thanks for writing, Mark,. Where having an agreement with Amazon would be cool, I'm trying open things beyond that. With Amazon they could use whispernet to get content onto your kindle, this is more for folks who don't want to publish through them.
Yeah, I think rss was going to show up as one of the protocols that came in anyhow. What does that have to do with speccing directory protocols from S3-related stuff or whatever the Kindle...i would have helped if you said Amazon or Borders or whoever made that thing...API permits as far as user content, notes etc. in its own (iirc) s/w. How about a kind of link that distinguishes between Ragnarok Online resources and Russian Free-As-In-The-Most-Menacing-Pirate-In-The-Room resources in a given erstwhile kindle feed. How about, how does this fit in with that there closed firmware thing or S3 or whatever, anyhow? Don't include those links, someone's making money from the angering elves angle.... PODcast could as easily show up as print-on-demand, ye know. (Oh look, it's being ressurected!)
As a Kindle owner, I think this is a very very cool idea indeed. If the .mobi format can be easily distributed via RSS enclosure, you're all set. Of course, there's the fussy business of manually transferring those files to the Kindle.
Perhaps a script/app that detects when a Kindle is connected via USB and auto-transfers the files to the appropriate Kindle directory? Or -- even cooler -- a script that zips the content to a Kindle user's "kindle.com" email address, for "invisible" wireless transfer? I'd happily pay a ten-cent fee for that convenience.
It's a brand new world, Sean -- excellent post, and excellent ideas! Go for it.
This sounds brilliant! I don't exactly understand all of it, but look forward to hearing more about it.
Sean,
I had the same thoughts on a flight today to Denver while reading a new book on my kindle. I don't have the tech experience as far as programming, but I am in the educational technology business. I think a use for RSS and teachers to send their lessons, communications, etc, via a kindlecast. I would love to look deeper into it and would love to see the Kindle replace the textbooks that are so cost prohibitive these days.
Great Idea...looking forward to further discussion.
Bill