I suspected we’d be seeing distribution of the Tales at some point because, let’s be honest, there’s demand for more from the Harry Potter universe. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if a new series started out within that continuum, because she did such a wonderful job creating a believable world.

So, I wasn’t too surprised when I saw that Amazon announced today that the Tales of Beedle the Bard will be available on December 4th, 2008. Tales, if you remember, was a hand-crafted book written and illustrated by J.K. Rowling in her own hand, it seems. Only a handful of copies were made and sold at auction or given to friends. They look spectacular. The books contain the fairy tales described in the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

There are two editions available for pre-order. There’s a standard edition, that contains the five fairy tales, reproductions of the illustrations in the hand-crafted originals, and commentary by Dumbledore. There’s also a collector’s edition, which comes in a fancy package and has additional illustrations and a cover very similar to the one on the original run (inlaid metal, replica gems, etc.).

I think I might have to get one for myself… (would make a nice Christmas gift, hint hint).

So, I whined about iTunes not having Season 2 of The Wire and 5 days later, it was available. I complained about the price of the DVDs being outrageous at $59.99, suggesting to friends that I’d pay up to $40. What do I see at Best Buy yesterday? All seasons of The Wire on DVD for $39.99. Amazon made the same price reduction.

So, I’m going to flex the awesome power of FatMixx once again. Amazon folks, I would’ve bought a Kindle if you just had either True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society or He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know available on the Kindle.

Seriously, 2 books. Small publishers. Come on now.

You can check out the celebrities that own the Kindle over at Coolspotters.

That’s basically my reaction to today’s announcement of Amazon Kindle. Hmmm…. There’s a lot of potential here, and I can’t help but thinking of a few iPod parallels.

For those that haven’t heard, Kindle is Amazon’s new E-Book reader. No, not a software service, but an honest-to-goodness hardware device. The device boasts Wi-Fi, built-in EVDO (cellular internet) access, and over 90,000 titles and newspapers and blogs available. The wireless data plan for EVDO access is included in the cost of the device. Yes, really. The device sells for $399. And yes, I want one even though I don’t have a subway commute anymore.

The link above has video, so you can listen to the sales pitch.

Now… as for what I think. This is a game changer in that they’re sucking up the wireless access costs. That means that in most cities and in most airports, more importantly, you’ll be able to download and/or buy new content wherever, whenever. No trips to a kiosk or store and no PC to dock with. That’s a shift.

Will it matter? Not sure… when the iPod came out, I had a similar reaction, although the iPod was a sexier device. Kindle is, well, plain, to put it kindly. Anyway, my reaction to the iPod and iPhone was the same: “man, it’s expensive. Is it worth it?”, and “man, will I actually care about the new interface?”

Obviously, the answer to both questions was yes once I got my hands on the device. Apparently, reporters with early access to Kindle have said yes to both as well.

So, I’m not willing to write it off, because I know that a few years ago, living in Boston and having a subway commute, I would’ve considered a device like this. The price would’ve weighed on me, including the safety issues of having a large, $399 device out on an evening subway ride, but people carry iPods out. At the same time, books don’t have the same broad appeal as music. If nothing else, that’s a strike against the device being game changing right there.

One last thought: this does make the whole e-paper thing kind of pointless (in the near term) if it works, doesn’t it?

More on the announcement at CrunchGear and Engadget (which seems more stable than CrunchGear right now).

I’m working at home today and was thinking I could catch up on Heroes on my computer. So, I go over to iTunes and realize that iTunes doesn’t have Season 2 because NBC pulled their content from iTunes. Wonderful.

So, I have to watch it o NBC’s web site, but since I can’t float the video like I can the iTunes window, I’m only able to watch a sliver. A screenshot of that half of my laptop screen is below the fold. I also couldn’t tell you what the TV commercials are for. I’m assuming that’s the revenue NBC wanted, but I’d like Sprint (the ads on the page) and whatever other video advertisers know that I ignored the ads on the NBC Video Rewind Player. It’s too easy.

And, on top of that, NBC/GE shareholders, they just lost $1.99 an episode from me. I missed 4 episodes, to that’s $8. Yes, yes, I can download Heroes episodes from Amazon except that I don’t own a PC. I don’t want to store them permanently on my Tivo. I’d like to take them on my iPhone and iPod. I can’t with Amazon’s inferior product. I’m not saying that you HAVE to go with iTunes, but keeping the most popular portable music player, the fastest selling phone, and a rapidly growing platform in mind would be a good thing, don’t you think?

So, NBC, thanks for screwing me out of a good experience and yourselves out of some cash. I’m sure I’ll miss more episodes of Heroes, and I’ll do the same with your online player. The irony is that my views will count just the same for the player, and NBC will count it as a success even though, quite frankly, the advertiser is getting screwed. Page views and video starts are pretty opaque stats, but that’s all that gets reported to advertisers.
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Amazon has launched AmazonMP3 today. The service offers NO DRM, plain old MP3s, and will work on a Mac or PC. It does require a software install, but I’m OK with that. Prices are $0.89 per track, and the top 100 albums are $8.99 or less. This is awesome. I’m going to try it out in a bit, but just wanted to pass it on. If someone wants to write a review, add it below or email me and I’ll make it a top level post.