Amazon.com announced an early preview of a Kindle software update that includes real page numbers, on its Kindle web page this week.

This may not sound like much on its face, but it enables readers to cite actual pages that correspond to the printed book. According to the post, prior to adding this feature, it was difficult to determine the real page of the book because of the layout differences between the eBook edition and the print one. 

So, for example, if you were in a class reading on a Kindle along with others reading the print edition, it was difficult to coordinate exactly where people were in the process, and this was also problematic when making a citation. The new version fixes this.

The update will also include the ability to create notes about a book and share them with others including the author. This feature has the potential to create communities of interest around books and authors, which is one of the big advantages to having an electronic book format.

To that end, the update also includes the ability to rate the book or share your thoughts with your social network, all as part of the book reading experience (as opposed to having to go to a ratings page or open your social network to do it).

Latest generation Kindle owners can get the software update today as part of an early preview program. Others will be updated automatically as soon as the update is ready.

For more information:
-see the Amazon Early Preview page on Amazon.com
-see the Amazon download link for an preview of the software

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