You can already buy your Kindle books once and read them anywhere: Kindle, Kindle DX, Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, PC, and Mac. Soon, with the new "Kindle Previewer for HTML 5" that we are announcing today, you'll be able to sample Kindle books from anywhere. Kindle book previews will be available through your web browser-simply click a Preview button on an Amazon book detail page and a new browser window will open containing the preview. If at any point while you're reading the preview you decide you want to buy the full book, simply click the buy button and it will be instantly downloaded to your Kindle or any one of our free Kindle apps. Because the new previewer is designed specifically for HTML 5 and CSS3, the latest generation of industry web standards, Kindle Previewer for HTML 5 will offer a great experience, with complex layouts and graphic design, embedded audio and video where useful, and enhanced user interactivity. We are excited about this new feature and look forward to making it available in the coming weeks.

Please stay tuned for more details.

Very nice. I wonder if this replaces samples?

I'm hoping it's in addition to, not instead of...

PLEASE don't take away samples! That's how I keep track of books I want to buy.

I cannot possibly imagine that Amazon is doing this instead of the existing samples, since it would require you to have an actual computer in order to sample books. This simply looks like a way to view samples before buying a book while shopping on a computer.

Kindryll, I do exactly the same thing. Works better for me than a wish list because I can re-read the sample to be sure it's what I want, and then just hit the Buy option.

Thank you for first being on the cutting edge of technology and second for using HTML5 and CSS3. Those folks that don't keep up with technology just bring the rest of us down because most businesses cater to the lowest common denominator or the least advanced user. It's a tough decision to make one that includes the latest and greatest but I think it's a good one! I LOVE MY KINDLE!!

So does this mean that we will be getting updated internet use as well? Right now, I have my pictures disable so I can at least read internet pages without it taking forever to download. Will this be another update for Kindle 2?

Diane, there is NO way that Kindles will be able to use this feature; it will require the capabilities of a computer to run. And what would the point be; there is a perfectly adequate way of handling samples on the device itself. The purpose here is to let people view samples outside of a Kindle or a kindle app.

Not only does this provide options for existing Kindlers, but it can help get people into the Kindle ecosystem in the first place.

For ppl like myself who lives in an area that DOES NOT get the wispernet... this will be a dream come true. I can only get samples when I drive to another town nearby that gets the wispernet, which is @ 20 miles.

Sheila, you have been able to download samples to your computer for some time now. You can either view them in Kindle4PC, or, just change the file extension to .mobi, and view them with Mobipocket Reader.

Hi Susan, I did not know this... thank you!

Yeah, I've started doing this almost exclusively. Now I don't have to run down the Kindle battery by downloading and indexing samples and then removing the index entries when I delete the sample. Maybe I'm almost glad we can't search on Kindle for Mac. But previewing online is even better.

Why does anyone care if it's "for HTML5"? Do I have to know if my browser is HTML5-compatible? Will you also start telling me about every other kind of technology you use too?

Being a kindle newbie, can you please tell me how to access kindle4pc because I have limited access to whispernet also.

thanks!

HTML5 is being bandied about as there is an on-going discussion about what mobile devices will use to get data from the web. Many people are moving away from Flash as the defacto standard for interactivity on websites. Apple's IOS devices don't support flash (safe to say never will) and most other mobile devices don't either.

HTML5 is the new standard for many functions that previously only Flash was used for. But as many people will attest, Flash is buggy, a security risk, and owned by just Adobe so that means if you build some major part of your website with Flash, you are in bed with Adobe to keep that working (and paying & paying).

HTML5 is open source so you don't pay anything to develop with it.

Andrew, this is about whether Flash is required or not - HTML5 is an alternative. For those of us who choose to use devices that don't support Flash (iPhone, iPad) this is a great move towards standards that will be more future-proof.

Go here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=ms_sbrspot_0?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311&pf_rd_p=1268025762&pf_rd_s=center-22&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0015T963C&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1METNVET291D5ZNJ2DS4

Download and install.

This program will let you read your Kindle books on your computer.

If all you want to do is download books to transfer to your Kindle, however, you don't need that software. Just buy a Kindle book. When it asks you which Kindle it's for, select transfer from computer. It will download to your computer and you can transfer it to the Kindle using the USB cord.

Ah, so this will be a way to read samples online then? Is that what it means under all of the HTML5 etc. talk?

This would be good for non-kindlers too, who could use the samples to help choose their DTBs.

Wonderful! I like the idea of this option in addition to downloading samples to my Kindle. Amazon, please clarify the announcement to reassure us that downloading samples will continue!

I'm curious about why it should take anything but basic HTML to read samples online. We've had the ability to "look inside" paper books for years. What is different about the samples? It it the interactivity of keeping a Buy button available on every page?

Part of it is becuase of their new web widgets (seperate announcement)... with the way they are setting it up, you can view samples through the widgets on other sites.

Developers care; please note the 'widget' announcement.

Also, people on Safari browsers care, and especially folks using iPads, because iPads are too crippled to use flash.

Please explain "web widget"

I'd like to add my vote for keeping the samples please. This will be useful, no doubt, but please don't take away the sample feature.