The eSlick: Budget e-book reader to arrive early '09
(Credit: Foxit Software)You can't always judge an e-book reader by its cover--or at least its model name. If you've been perusing gadget blogs in recent days you may have noticed that another e-book reader, the eSlick, from Foxit Software, has entered the digital reader fray.
The eSlick's claim to fame is that when it's released early next year, it'll be cheaper than the Amazon Kindle or any Sony Reader. Whether it will be slicker is another story, as a couple of bloggers have opined that it's not the foxiest looking reader in the world.
The eSlick, which is due out in February or March, has an introductory price of $230 at launch and a $260 MSRP (how long the $230 will last, we don't know). The device appears to be pretty no-frills: there's no built-in wireless and seems to be all about viewing PDF files (Foxit makes a PDF converter and viewer, so that's the tie-in). The eSlick uses the same E-ink technology that the Kindle and Sony Readers do and it comes with a 2GB SD card that slips into an expansion slot.
Overall, the concept is a good one. A lot of people don't want to fiddle around with a lot of e-book formats and just want a device that's an excellent PDF reader. Both the Kindle and Sony readers have had some shortcomings in this department, though Sony improved its PDF support in its latest Reader, the PRS-700. We'll see if the eSlick is as slick a PDF reader as it says it is when it's released next year.
Comments anyone?
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter.
@myles taylor: you shouldn't write off technical documentation and scientific papers most of which available for free. also check Project Gutenberg: lots of classics in public domain to read.
I love reading and also need to read a lot of tech and engineering books and periodicals, so I couldn't care less about 'the beauty of bound paper books'. All I care about is content and subject matter.
I have a huge library that may literally be the equivalent of a small forest, and I hate lugging it around from move to move. As well, my books all have those pesky little bugs in them that eat all the glue in the binding so that the pages eventually fall out (don't laugh -- everybody has those little book bugs).
This may just be the e-reader that solves my problems.
Cheers
Other readers like the Kindle are ugly as sin and offer much more than most people probably want. If I need to do anything that requires a keyboard or wifi I'll use my computer. When I want to read, I just want to read without having to pay a fortune. Honestly, for the price of these readers I could buy a pretty decent basic laptop. That's just crazy!
If they could make the most simple e-book reader and get it down to a reasonable price ($100 or less) I'm sure it would really take off. If I had something like that in college I could put all my textbooks on that weighed me down, I would have bought it in an instant and I'm sure other students would too.
I do not think it applies to US, but in some countries (at least in my home country) some authors often release short stories or novel chapters (or even whole books) for promotional purposes.
P.S. The main thing about the reader is its price.
This is what e-book readers were at the beginning and should have stayed from the beginning. They show *books*! It isn't loaded with weird features like Sony's (touch screen) and bloated in size like the Kindle.
I will give to Sony that their cheapest reader is fine, but they market the "better" ones so much more that nobody knows they exist! And why put a backlight on them. Isn't the whole purpose not to induce eyestrain!
And Amazon. Great job with the Kindle, actually. The Whispernet is fantastic (or so I've heard...haven't used one) but there still are some issues that need to be worked out, namely size. The Kindle is definitely a v1.0 product. I'm sure that v3.0 will be indeed better.
But I digress.
All people need is a simple, cheap device that has easy access to cheap(er) books. If this was $100, maybe $130, it would sell like hotcakes. I know I would buy one.
Anyone agree/disagree?
Except the Cybook accepts multiple formats. Makes me wonder if this is just a stripped down version.
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by caribena
January 24, 2009 7:37 PM PST
- I am looking for a simple BOOK reader, for which I can download books, either for free from libraries or for purchase from a site. I love real books, but travel a lot and want to be able to bring a bunch of e-books with me on trips. I don't need any of the internet bells and whistles, or want to read newspapers or blogs etc. I'll use my laptop for that. I just want something simple I can use on planes, or in hotels. Is e-Slick the answer? Any thoughts?
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