(Amazon Kindle News) The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) has filed a lawsuit against Arizona State University to stop the University from purchasing the Amazon Kindle DX to replace textbooks in the classroom. Both the NFB and ACB say that the Amazon Kindle DX cannot be used by blind students. The main contentions in the lawsuit is that while the Kindle DX has a text-to-speech feature, the menus to select a book or purchase a book are not blind-friendly, making it impossible to select textbooks for download.

Six educational institutions, including ASU, are deploying the Kindle DX as part of a pilot project to assess the role of electronic textbooks in the classroom. The NFB and ACB have also filed complaints with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, asking for investigations of these five institutions, which are: Case Western Reserve University, the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, Pace University, Princeton University, and Reed College. The lawsuit and complaints allege violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

“Given the highly-advanced technology involved, there is no good reason that Amazon’s Kindle DX device should be inaccessible to blind students,” says Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind. “Amazon could have used the same text-to-speech technology that reads e-books on the device aloud to make its menus accessible to the blind, but it chose not to do so. Worse yet, six American higher education institutions that are subject to federal laws requiring that they not discriminate against students with disabilities plan to deploy this device, even though they know that it cannot be used by blind students. The National Federation of the Blind will not tolerate this unconscionable discrimination against and callous indifference to the right of blind students to receive an equal education. We hope that this situation can be rectified in a manner that allows this exciting new reading technology to be made available to blind and sighted students alike.”

(Amazon Kindle News) Eclipse magazine has reviewed the Kindle DX, giving it a negative review grade of a “C-”. The magazine’s main contention with the Kindle DX can be summed up with the following two sentences that appear in the Conclusion section of the review:

“The problem is the hardware is getting worse and worse, and more and more expensive with each release. That’s a bad direction to go in.”

Other things the review found as drawbacks include the battery life, having to hold down the off switch to turn the Kindle DX off (versus an instant action switch like on the original Kindle), and the small size of the buttons.

The review was done by Eclipse magazine writer Michelle Alexandria who made it clear that in the case of the Kindle DX, “bigger isn’t always better”.

(Amazon Kindle News) Days after the Amazon Kindle DX went on sale (June 10, 2009), it quickly sold out, creating a waiting list of several weeks for people who want a Kindle DX. The Kindle DX has many features not available in the Kindle 2, including:

1) A much larger display (9.7 inch versus 6 inch)
2) The ability to view content horizontally (just tilt the unit horizontally and the display changes to show your content horizontally)
3) The ability to view pdf files.
4) More memory (3.3 Gig)
5) Longer battery life.

The new Kindle DX is aimed both at Kindle fans and at the student textbook and newspaper marketplaces. The Kindle DX makes it so that students don’t have to cart around a ton of books since they can simply download textbooks, at a much cheaper price, to their Kindle DX. In addition, people who like to read newspapers can now have them delivered electronically at a fraction of the price. In addition, the newspapers delivered to the Kindle DX can be updated multiple times a day. The newspaper industry has embraced the concept.

“At The New York Times Company we are always seeking new ways for our millions of readers to have full and continuing access to our high-quality news and information,” said Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman, The New York Times Company and publisher, The New York Times. “The wireless delivery and new value-added features of the Kindle DX will provide our large, loyal audience, no matter where they live, with an exciting new way to interact with The New York Times and The Boston Globe. Additionally, by offering a subscription through the Kindle DX to readers who live outside of our delivery areas, we will extend our reach to our loyal readers who will be able to more readily enjoy their favorite newspapers. Meanwhile, we are continuing to work with Amazon to make The New York Times and The Boston Globe experiences on Kindle better than ever.”

Despite being sold out, people can still order the Kindle DX, however it will take up to six weeks for it to ship.