Amazon launch Kindle PC application, here soon?

After much publicity and hype, Amazon’s Kindle handset took the US by storm. Although the hardware was slower to take off here in the UK, the new PC software download might tempt those who aren’t convinced by the handset’s price tag.

That’s right, the software is free and it doesn’t sap your hard drive in the way that some downloadable programmes do. It’s also simple enough so that even the most technologically challenged among us should have very few problems getting to grips with it. With just a few clicks, it is installed and ready to go.

Of course, even though the software is free, you still have to pay for the books. However, with titles starting at just $2.30 there are bargains to be found. While the selection of books available doesn’t even come close to that available on Amazon as hard copies, there are still nearly 300,000 titles to choose from. If you can’t decide between Pepys’ diary and Barbara Kingsolver’s new release then downloading a sample should make the choice easier. Samples are free and give you a good idea of the book’s content before you pay anything for the full version.

The downloads are incredibly quick and the text can be viewed on your Kindle screen almost immediately. The selection of different text sizes greatly improves the readability and it is possible to bookmark your page. The contents page is hyperlinked, so you can skip straight to a certain chapter with a mere click of the mouse.

The PC Kindle is great for people who like to read books on the go (or in the office when no one’s looking). However, the major drawback to this free software is that newspapers, magazines, blogs and personal documents cannot be downloaded and viewed. For these, you need the handset and it doesn’t look like that is going to change anytime soon.

Kindle for PC is still in beta and Amazon have already released their plans for upcoming improvements to the software. These include the ability to make notes and highlight certain passages, find certain words or phrases within the text and zoom in on and rotate images embedded within the books.

The software is certainly no match for its big brother handset. However, it does provide a cheaper alternative for those who want the basic functions of Kindle without the $259 price tag.