Kindle for iPhone

I see that Amazon has issued an iPhone app that converts the iPhone into a Kindle reader. That seems to me a major major release. What do you all think?

And a question out of sheer ignorance: do iPhone apps work on the iTouch? I could see getting an iTouch if I could use it to read books--although it would need to have a heck of a lot bigger storage capacity.

Each App Store app lists its system requirements, but 99% of them work on any mobile OS X device: iPhone or iPod Touch, old or new.

The main reason an app would not work on the iPod Touch is if it relies on camera or microphone. (Apps that need GPS generally DO work on the iPod Touch, but rely on Skyhook for location data--which ranges from pinpoint-accurate in some urban settings to nonexistent in the country.) Also, some apps need the Internet to work, and an iPhone has that ALWAYS, while an iPod has it only in WiFi hotspots.

The Kindle app would work on the Touch I'm sure. And I doubt storage is an issue: even AUDIO books don't take up much space (much less than music), so text would be very little data. I'm sure you could fit hundreds of books at once, with other held back in reserve in your Kindle account.

I looked at some screenshots, and readability seems good. Not AS good as a book (or even a Kindle: dim but nice and big). But I don't lug books everywhere--while I do have my phone on me at all times.

I was thinking of storage space as including music as well. I've maxed out my old 30 gig iPod and hve been thinking about getting an 80 or 120 gig classic. But maybe I'll wait to see if Apple comes out with an iTouch that has a larger capacity.

I see. I'd love a 64GB iPhone, myself! It will come in time

Meanwhile, with my 16 GB, I find that a few Smart Playlists gives me "all" of my music in effect:

My phone ALWAYS has:

* My most-played songs
* My highest-rated songs (3 stars or better)
* My most recent 100 additions
* My last 100 played history
* Everything by certain favorite artists or on certain albums (even if rated low)
* All my custom mixes/playlists

That pretty much covers every song I'd ever manually seek out--and those categories overlap a lot of course.

That gives me "the best," but I ALSO have "the rest":

* A sizable random selection of lower-rated songs for variety.
* A small random selection of the worst--or never-rated--songs.

I set those two random mixes to Least Recently Played. That means whenever I play a song from "the rest," it gets dumped at next sync (or at least when it drops off the 100 history) and replaced by a different random song. This automatically cycles through ALL of my music.

In that way ALL of my music ends up on my phone. The stuff I seek specifically is always there, and EVERYTHING else will come up eventually in shuffle.

And what else is a shuffle, after all? I would have the EXACT same experience (whether shuffling or choosing manually) if I DID have all the music on the phone at all times.

You may find that a 32 GB Touch (or even your current 30 GB) can do surprisingly well if you take the time to set up a lot of smart playlists.

A side benefit: when I scroll through all artists or all song titles, it's a lot easier when only SOME of the "worst" ones are on there. Less to go through.

I very much didn't like the "idea" of going from my old 60 GB iPod--with ALL my music--down to 16 GB. But the REALITY works out just great--so the "idea" wasn't so hard to let go of after all.

I have not checked out the Kindle app for the iPhone and touch but I have been using an app called Stanza. I have been re-reading a lot of books from my younger days. I just finished The Time Machine and loaded up another Wells book and a couple of Twains. I get them from Guttenberg Press since they are all in the public domain and free.

I manage my music much like Nagromme does and don't have a problem with the 16 gig capacity.

I like to have all the music available--just indecisive about what I want to hear, I guess.

Me too--but in reality, how many of them do you--or would you--ever look for? (Some number less than all!) Because the ones you don't look for, but which come up on shuffle, WILL still do so even on a lower-capacity device. And with no manual fiddling needed once you set up your smart playlists.

If you don't use star ratings, another easy way to make sure your favorites are ALWAYS there is to use a smart playlist by Most Played.

That sounds like a whole lot of work to me!

In fact, the Apple's media apps - iPhoto as well - all demand serious time for rating, arranging, creating lists, and so on. I guess, when that's done, you have a lot of flexibility, but until then, it is a bit like arranging ones Pokemon collection.

I prefer to have everything in one place, with a few special applications playlists (one for the gym, one with soft non-intrusive stuff for talking) and the rest at my whim and command.
Those 64GB phones will surely come within the next year or so. What else can they do to the iPhone?