Print is dying – there’s no question about it. Traditional media in the form of newspapers and magazines have seen their best days come and go. For many, blogs have replaced both newspapers (as the main source for breaking stories) and magazines (for entertainment reading).
Will the Kindle be able to save them?
A hopeful story out of the New York Times seems to points towards that. According to the piece, Amazon is planning to roll out a version of the Kindle that’s equipped with a screen that’s large enough to display standard-sized newspapers and magazines.
Amazon has already sent out press invitations, inviting members of the media to an event to be held on Wednesday, May 6th, at Pace University. Since Amazon has, historically, only held these types of events to announce a new Kindle device, it seems logical to assume that the large-screen e-reader is definitely tops on the agenda.
This begs the question, though. Do we even really want to save traditional media?
In its current from, the Kindle already allows owners to subscribe to over 58 newspapers and magazines. If folks aren’t already interested in paying $9.99 a month to read The Journal on a six-inch display, will a larger screen suddenly make the idea more palatable?
A large screen works for magazines and newspapers because it will allow them to present layouts the way they always did – packed with tons of ads and fillers (as of this moment, we don’t know if that’s what’s going to happen). I don’t know about you, but going back to that has never really been interesting to me.
Personally, I think a supersized Kindle is a joke. The whole idea of an e-reader is to be portable – not a bulky piece of tray that I’d rather leave at home. We already have desktops for that.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
