Not satisfied with establishing one of the best known shopping brands on the planet, Amazon appear determined to change the way we look at the printed word. The latest, and greatly enhanced kindle 2 e-book reader was only launched in February and now Amazon have followed up with the Amazon Kindle DX – which is pretty much more of the same but bigger. And be in no doubt, in this case bigger is definitely considered better. The kindle DX is aimed at readers of newspapers and magazines.

The kindle DX has a screen which measures 9.7” from corner to corner, two and a half times the size of the kindle 2 screen. Resolution is 1200 x 824 pixels with 16 grey scales and it employs the same E-ink display technology as the kindle 2. The overall size of the kindle DX is 10.4” X 7.2” X 0.38”. So, whereas the kindle 2 was comparable with a paperback book, the DX is, fittingly enough, more on a par with a glossy magazine.

It has the capacity to hold as many as 3,500 books, periodicals or other documents and you can download your books in a little under sixty seconds using 3G wireless technology which has no subscription fee or connection fee. Unlike the kindle 2, the DX is able to display pdf files without the need for conversion.

Apart from the display size and the pdf capabilities, the DX shares most features with the smaller kindle. Obviously, being a little larger, it could be considered slightly less portable, but it will still fit very readily in a briefcase or handbag and at just 18.9 ounces it’s not going to be too tiring to carry around with you. The DX will sell at $489 (compared with $359 for the kindle 2) but some newspapers have already said that they will offer the DX at a reduced rate if purchased along with a subscription.

The New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post have confirmed that they will operate a pilot kindle version of their papers, along with a discount and subscription scheme this summer. A number of higher educational establishments have also stated that they will be ensuring that recommended course textbooks are available in kindle format and some are thinking about subsidising the kindles for their students.

Amazon have not yet confirmed official figures, but it’s estimated that sales of the original kindle and the new kindle 2 are around the 500,000 mark to date. Based on these figures and the high sales volumes of the kindle 2 (300,000 since its launch in February 2009) there could be as many as 5 million kindles in use by the end of 2010. The support of Amazon with its vast library (275,000 titles in May 2009 and growing daily) coupled with cheaper than print subscriptions and discounted devices from newspapers and magazines, could lead to e-book reader technology becoming an accepted facet of daily life very quickly indeed.