(Updated 10/19/10) Well, the free Kindle application for Macintosh computers has finally arrived. The press release is here, which repeats the promise that there will be an app for the iPad as well. It’s pretty much what you would expect, with all the flaws and strengths of the prior apps, starting with the iPhone/iPod Touch app released about a year ago. Like the earlier extensions of the Kindle platform, many some features are curtailed or missing in the Mac app but it’s still a great if basic ebook reader.
First off, it’s finally possible to read your Kindle ebooks on a Mac without any need for the Kindle device. In fact, it’s now easier than ever to start buying and reading Kindle ebooks without ever buying the Kindle.
Start the program and you get a standard screen of ebooks you’ve previously downloaded to the computer. A quick click away is your entire library of Kindle ebooks stored on Amazon’s servers in the “cloud” (see picture below). It’s handy and convenient but still no access to files you’ve loaded manually on your Kindle device, ebooks from other vendors or any of your blog, newspaper or magazine subscriptions. I did look to see if there was some way to send subscriptions directly to the program instead of to your Kindle device but struck out.
Pages of text look great and you can switch font sizes and change the margin width with a click (see picture below). You flip to the next page by clicking with your mouse, hitting the right arrow key, enter key or space key on the keyboard or using a scroll wheel on a magic mouse. Page turns are instantaneous. And the app syncs all books to the last page you’ve read on any of your Kindle apps or devices.
But, like all the other application versions, it’s still not the holistic Kindle experience I’d like to see. Click on the big, friendly button that says “Shop in Kindle Store” and what happens? Your web browser opens separately and goes to the Kindle store web page. Likewise, if you click on the drop-down menu item “Manage your Kindle…” you get whisked off to the web page via your default browser.
There is a convenient notes and bookmarks bar that jumps off the right side of the page if you click on the “Notes & Marks” button. And you can add new bookmark spots with the Mac application.
UPDATE: And with the updated version released in October, 2010, you can finally highlight text for a clipping and add new notes. You can also now search within the book you’re reading though not through your entire library like you can on the Kindle hardware.
You’re still stuck with the usual Kindle organization issue — there are no folders and no way to see your library of ebooks except sorted by how recently viewed, author or by title. I do love the colorful icons depicting the book jackets.
Amazon says, as of October, they are “thinking about” adding the dictionary look-up and “a new way to manage, organize, and search your content,” whatever that means.
So progress for us Mac heads but no revelations in the new Kindle app for Macs.
Leave a Reply