14 DAY TRIAL // Amazon has released the Kindle application for Mac. The program automatically synchronizes the last page read, and allows customers to create bookmarks and view the annotations they created on their Kindle device. Like the original product, the Kindle Mac app enables users to search and browse more than 450,000 books (including New York Times Best Sellers and new releases for as low as $9.99), get free book samples, and more.
"Kindle for Mac is the perfect companion application for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX," Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle, said. "For those customers around the world who don’t yet have a Kindle, Kindle for Mac is a great way to instantly access and read the most popular new releases as well as their old favorites."
According to Amazon, Kindle for Mac offers key benefits, which include the ability to purchase, download, and read hundreds of thousands of books available in the Kindle Store, as well as the ability to access their library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers for free. Once users download, install and register the app with their Amazon account, they can start choosing from ten different font sizes and adjust words per line, add and sync bookmarks and last page read, view notes and highlights marked on Kindle, Kindle DX, and Kindle for iPhone, and read books in full color.
According to the product’s fact sheet, system requirements include: a Mac with a 500MHz Intel processor or faster; at least 512MB of RAM; a screen resolution of 800x600 or greater; Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and 10.6 (Snow Leopard); 100MB of available disk space.
Amazon has confirmed that Kindle newspapers, magazines, and blogs are not currently available for Kindle for Mac. This and several other features will be added to the Kindle for Mac app in the near future, the company claims. These will also include full text search and the ability to create and edit notes and highlights, its official report says. Evidently, the Amazon Kindle app for Mac is free.