As folks continue debate the lasting value of the CD-ROM like publications lacking social connections, Amazon adds additional media support to their Kindle platform and launches readers on more screens.
Multi-media features
Last week, new versions of Kindle readers for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch rolled out with support for embedded audio and video assets.
Currently only the iDevices support these media files and Amazon’s existing readers lack the hardware to support video. However, there are other readers already available that are only limited by their software.
More devices
Amazon wants people to be able to read their books everywhere and last week they added to the list of supported devices with the release of a client for the android os. Unfortunately, this initial version lacks support for video and audio files.
The current devices supported by Kindle include:
- Android
- Blackberry
- iPhone, iPad, and IPod Touch
- Kindle readers
- Windows and Mac computers
Amazon may also be headed toward releasing an HTML version of a client.
Enhanced magazines?
While there is a growing list of books (13 last week and 103 this week) with embedded media, I have not yet seen any announcements about periodicals including video or audio. But it may only be a matter of time before they do. With expanded reach and a simple subscription model, Kindle seems like a logical alternative to publishing digital magazines in app format.