Kindle, iPad, and the cloud

For anyone who has talked to me about it since I got my iPad, the part of it that I find most awesome is the Kindle app. To be honest, I basically got an iPad because I wanted a Kindle + other functions in case I used those too. And Kindle has delivered. They don't have the selection that I would like, and some of the books--especially poetry--are the type of shoddy post-copyright books that make me hate cheap publishers. Still, overall, a great experience, both on the iPad and on the computer (where my notes from the iPad show up automatically as long as I'm connected to the internet on both! Coolest thing ever!).

Which is why I was suspicious recently when Amazon announced the "cloud" reader. The cloud reader, which runs in Chrome and Safari instead of as an app, and which can be used offline, is clearly meant to replace the iPad app (and possibly the computer program as well). I've test-driven it a little, and it is clearly very well produced (i.e. Amazon has been wanting to get out of the iTunes app store for awhile). I'm as anti-iTunes as anyone, and really would hate that I cannot get third party applications if I used my iPad for anything but as an e-reader, so I generally support Amazon finding a go-round of Apple's annoying lack of flash and arm-and-a-leg cuts off the top through the app store. But so far, the cloud reader just doesn't have the features of the dedicated program: in Chrome, highlighting and copying text with the mouse does not work, which makes note-taking tedious at best (the bookmark system has never worked well without dedicated/set pages); nor do the pages "flip" or even scroll. Instead, one block of text replaces another, which is, at least to me, quite disconcerting.

Hopefully all these things will be resolved, especially if Amazon intends to discontinue service for the pc/mac Kindle application. I'm happy to fight the war against closed computing systems too, so long as the open ones are high-quality. One could also hope that they'll come around on at least a set page option, because, well, the more options the better.