Multi-touch electronic book reader? Check. Full Windows PC operating system? Check. I am a PC and Windows 7 was my choice. Well, it should be if you want to run the software behind Amazon Kindle’s ereader and bookstore. Amazon is making their Kindle platform–including the large ebook library–available for your reading pleasure on a Windows 7 machine. If you own a tablet, laptop, or display with multi-touch capabilities, you can also pinch and zoom.

With the recent rounds of rumors of dedicated, self-branded tablet hardware from Apple and Microsoft, it seems that electronic content of books and magazines will be the next wave of the digital frontier. Amazon’s move in bringing Kindle contents to the PC was a surprising move, but a good move for the online retailer to take some of the spotlight away from rival Barnes & Noble, which has earlier in the week unveiled the nook, a digital ereader device with software for the PC, Mac, and a number of smartphone platforms. The nook’s hardware was meant to compete with the Kindle’s hardware, but the nook delivers what Amazon has so far not done in allowing the same purchased digital contents to be read on a PC. However, with the launch of Windows 7, the Amazon Kindle PC software will hopefully level the playing field between the Kindle v. nook debate.

Source: Gizmodo