Since the iPad came out, Amazon has been struggling to maintain its marketplace presence when it comes to ereaders. That struggle is reflective in Amazon lowering the price of its Kindle. It’s trying to maintain its domination because Apple, with its awesome iBook app, is cutting into the ereader pie. And when it comes to comparing the Kindle to the new iPad, there is no comparison.

Consumer Reports even admitted that “the Kindle is pretty lame for everything but reading books”. And there’s some issue now with how good of a book experience it is. For example, the iPad iBook shows everything in color. That’s important if the book you’re reading has color pictures (i.e. like the series of Visually Teach books). Some books use color to make a point. You’ll never discover that point on the Kindle, because it is black and white.

With the iPad you can turn the unit horizontally and it goes from reading one page at a time, to two pages at a time, something you can’t do with the Amazon Kindle and again, it is something more close to the book reading experience. With the iPad, you turn pages with your finger much like reading a book. With the Kindle you press buttons. And the way the buttons are organized doesn’t always make it that easy to go back a page if you need to.

With the Kindle, when looking at a blog feed you’ve subscribed to (and likely pay for), you can’t view video posted in a post. With the iPad you can view video in its full color form, just like on a computer.

Right now Amazon is going after people that have the name “amazon” or “kindle” in their domain name (i.e. amazonkindlenews.com). They are threatening site owners to give up the domain names or face action. Instead of embracing the idea of social communication on a wide scale, they are trying to control it. As a result, we will soon be closing this site, but will be transferring all the posts to http://www.coolgadgetsblog.com. You can also follow our new posts on Twitter at http://twitter.com/coolgadgetsweb as Amazon is also forcing us to shut down our Twitter Kindle news account.

We have used Amazon.com and its products from the time the company first opened. We are sad to see the direction they are now going and have lost our enthusiasm for them. But the iPad iBook looks pretty darn good! Check it out:

Amazon.com has been harassing us for several months to close down our Amazon Kindle News site and our Twitter account (amazonkindleweb). They’ve now stepped up their threats, giving us exactly two weeks to give up this domain name (amazonkindlenews.com) and transfer it (along with any other domain names we own with “amazon” or “kindle” in it) to them. If we don’t close down within two weeks and initiate the transfers then they will “take action” against us, including closing down our associates account with them and possible legal action for having their “trademarked” name in our URL.

We will be complying with Amazon’s threats and demands, but not before airing our two cents. Right now Amazon is locked in some pretty big battles, particularly with its Kindle. The introduction of the Apple iPad is a serious threat to Amazon’s commanding lead in the ereader marketplace. This is a time they need to be encouraging partners and associates, not making threats against them. Instead of embracing those that help promote their products, they are alienating them.

I used to be a big fan of Amazon. I am an Amazon Prime member and purchase thousands of dollars of stuff from them every year. I promote their products on my Websites and online magazines. I’m not so much of a fan anymore because of what they are doing.

I remember the backlash Warner Bros. faced when they tried to close down Harry Potter fan sites that used “harrypotter” in the domain name. There was a major backlash and they finally backed down. Not only did they back down, but they also started providing content to such sites to help with the promotion of the franchise.  In other words, they were smart. I doubt Amazon will see the light. Amazon.com seems more interested in control than reputation (ironically, hoping that control helps them control their reputation). This site will only be up for several more days. We will be transferring the content to http://www.coolgadgetsblog.com and welcome you there. We’ll still cover the Amazon Kindle, despite Amazon’s treatment of us.

(Amazon Kindle News) Amazon.com has introduced a new application for PC users that allow them to read Kindle books on their PC. Called “Kindle for PC,” the free application allows users to download and read more than 360,000 Kindle books carried by Amazon.com. The application goes beyond just allowing Kindle books to be read on a PC. It also features Whispersync, which will save and synchronize bookmarks and remember the last page read on a book accross various devices. So you can start reading a book on your PC and finish it on your Kindle without missing a beat.

“Kindle for PC is the perfect companion application for folks who own a Kindle or Kindle DX,” says Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “Kindle for PC is also a great way for people around the world to read the most popular books of today even if they don’t yet have a Kindle.”

The Kindle for PC has the following features:

• Purchase, download, and read more than 360,000 books available in the Kindle Store
• Access for free your entire library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers
• Choose from various font sizes and adjust words per line
• Add and automatically synchronize bookmarks and last page read
• View notes and highlights marked on Kindle and Kindle DX
• Zoom in and out of text with a pinch of the fingers (Windows 7 users only)
• Turn pages with a finger swipe (available in a future release for Windows 7 users)

Microsoft demonstrated Kindle for PC for the first time ever at the Windows 7 launch event late last month in New York City.

“Customers have told us that they want access to a wider variety of content and an increasingly diverse set of form factors,” said Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows Platform Strategy at Microsoft. “With the announcement of Kindle for PC, Amazon is making its massive selection of Kindle books available on the world’s most widely used platform. The new Kindle for PC’s use of Windows 7 features such as Jump Lists and Windows Touch demonstrates how Windows 7 makes new things possible.”

Kindle for PC takes advantage of capabilities in the new Windows 7, including Windows Touch technology. In addition to Windows 7, Kindle for PC will also be compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista. Kindle for PC will be available to customers around the world as a free download next month. Sign up to receive an email when Kindle for PC is available for download at http://www.amazon.com/KindleforPC.