I imagine that people who travel a lot in cars or planes or trains could use the ebook reader. Or salesmen that wait in physicians offices, or someone who might be handicapped in some way. In my personal life, I like the feel of the book in my hand. I don't read ebooks on my 30 inch computer screen either.
I would really like to buy either Amazon's or Sony's version, but for me they are missing one important aspect. They can handle their formats but cannot handle .pdf format (or not well). I have plenty of .pdf files that I would love to load to it. I realize that both companies are trying to continue making money by also selling the books, but then they shouldn't cost so much. If they sold it for $300 and also gave you a $300 credit to their library, I'd go for that. Sony gives $100 credit for classics; I've read all the classics that I care to read. I'd rather have current bestsellers. Sell me one that handles .pdf files, comes with a matching credit for reading material, and then I'll take e-books seriously.
I've seen a number of people rave about the credit for classics they got with their Sony but gutenberg.org has all those classics and many many more for free. They even have audio versions of some books now.
As for other books, including current bestsellers, more and more books are becoming available in eReader, Mobipocket, and MSReader formats all the time. Furthermore, the backlists of many current authors are also becoming available in one or more of these formats. I routinely pay between 6 and 8 dollars for current books and sometimes as low as 4 for backlist issues. Ten dollars for a bestseller still in hardback is a good price but it isn't a good price for most other books.
I just upgraded my cell to a AT&T Tilt (by HTC). I read my News via RSS through GReader. I got PDF's, word Docs, webshite bookmarks to read on there with my down time. I read on my phone as I go to sleep. Only complaint is screen is still small but it's an everything phone, I'd not be interested in an E-Book reader. I would just want the application for reading E-books to be on my available for my cell. Probably already is unless Sony has pulled one of the infamous copyright protection on these ebook files.
I have E-Reader (software) and mobi pocket. I have the software on my cell phone and on my pc's. The software did not cost $300 or even $200 or even $100. And there are lots of free books to download. I have a T-Mobile Dash. I had windows mobile on my sprint phone and read e-books then, too. With the software you can change fonts, colors, text size and even backgrounds on the pc version. I don't carry books anymore. And I am giving some of my paperbacks/hard covers to my local library. And I don't have to worry about misplacing my book or forgetting where I left off in the book.
I'd love to have a real ebook reader small and thin enough to fit neatly into a backpack, had a decent sized screen (bigger than a PDAphone), and decent memory -- but not at 400 bucks! In addition, there's lots of apps for it in schools and adult education businesses if they can get to the price point.
e-Books is not for me. Who wants to read a book of any length from a computer monitor...much less a postage stamp size device...well maybe a little larger than a postage stamp...but not by much. Even if I download a one page document to my computer, the first thing I do is print it out so I can comfortably lean back and read it without the glare of a computer monitor. No way am I going to read a 90 page hardware instruction manual from a desktop computer monitor...much less a 300 page book.
with all due respect, I don't think you get it. At this point, eBook readers are intended to supplement, not replace printed work. As for glare, there isn't glare on most eBook readers. They use eInk, a totally passive form of image reproduction. There isn't a back light, and they resemble more than anything a very thin paperback, where the screen looks like paper with real print.
Regardless of how convenient or inconvenient computers are supposed to be, the get the job done. You can hold more books on a flash drive than you will ever get in your carry on luggage, hold baggage, or whatever box you decide to mail your reading material to your destination. The big mistake that Amazon, Sony, and the rest are making is that they are trying to increase their profit margin (Just like I-tunes) rather than lower it and depend on volume and low overhead (no storefront, no printing costs, no distribution costs etc.) to offset the reduced profit margin. It's called greed and these companies are all consumed with it. I will wait until they get their heads out of their piggy banks and plod along with Project Gutenberg (free e-books) Various online Universities that allow me to read electronic texts to my heart's content, and the scandalous list of free online book services that offer me more reading material than I will ever need. The simple reason that e-texts are not more popular is that the people offering them to us (for profit) can't wrap their heads around the fact that they don't really need to make more per unit than the traditional booksellers. If they don't wake up and smell the coffee soon, Starbucks will take over the whole operation, partner up with Barnes and Nobles, and we will be ordering our books up tall, Vente and Grande (or whatever they call them!)
I'm from Mexico. We love to have a siesta (nap) after lunch, witch is the big meal of the day. I like to read the newspaper, a magazine or even a book just before falling asleep with the reading material over my face. I tried to do so with my computer; I found out that doing so it's really hard to have the siesta with the monitor over my face! Nothing is better than a big book in my face to have a 15 mnutes nap!! E-Books? No Way !!
I like the e-ink, but desired titles (technical) are never available. Besides I want Color, hires, the qualities I already have from real books, not be mention bigger, thinner, and cheaper. I'm still an impatient observer. It's a nice and need experiment, however.
Because of the wonderful portability of e-books and the fact that they are faster to obtain (when they are available), they already make a lot of sense, especially for those who want to carry around reference materials that tend to be heavy in paper. The cost, battery drain, and painful reading experience of reader screens in the past has been a deal-breaker for most. But screens are getting better in every way now, which is going to completely change the game.
Not in my lifetime or yours, e-books are too expensive and real readers will always buy the actual printed book, an electronic tablet will never do! E-books will always be a nitch market.
Although I still buy real books as there are still some titles that don't come out in e-book form.
In regard to dedicated ebook readers, I really don't see them being that popular. I read my on my pocket pc. So I only have one device that does everything, phone, diary, games, music, ebooks, etc.
The problem with ebooks is that the come in different programs with the 3 biggest being ereader, mobipocket & Microsoft reader, with several other minor ones being available.
I hope ebooks continue to grow, but it has been a slow start up
It's not a question of "if" but "when" an e-book will be a best seller... though I don't see that happening at least for the next several years.
I think the real game changer is with Kindle's ability to download over Wi- fi. With services such as this and Google maps on cell phones, we're really coming into an age where you can have information anywhere, right in your pocket.
Personally, I think I'll always prefer the look and feel of turning pages in a real book... Amazon can pump the "simulated paper" bit all they care to, but it's still an LCD screen, to me. The decisive factor of what will make e- books more popular will really come down to cost, and proprietary-free systems. Cost being the price of paper and ink (which will infinitely increase), versus the cost of the electronic device (which will become commoditized and decrease). You have to think in terms of e-books eventually becoming not only ubiquitous -- for example, it's most likely that one day you'll be transferring books to your cell phone or tablet PC - - but also eventually cost about the same as an ordinary calculator.
I have been in the print business for about a decade, and the trend is loud and clear, folks: print will eventually be supplanted by electronic media, and at best become a niche market. And that's very likely going to happen within the next 20 to 30 years.
So a best selling e-book may not happen while they're still ported to a stand alone reading devices, but it will happen eventually.
I use my Sony Reader frequently, especially when travelling. I found no problems with the transition from paper, and I've been reading books on paper for 50 years.
I would make more use of the Reader if I could buy books from Sony, but Sony only sells e-books to US residents. Same with Amazon.
So if I want to buy anything not in the public domain, I still purchase paper. Seems to me the e-book companies are setting themselves up for failure: defeated by their own pathetic, parochial perspective.
I can lend my paperback to whomever I want and I can mark it up however I want and in general do whatever I want to my pb once I have bought it. Not so this very expensive piece of tech.
With what intrusive surveillance do they plan to enforce this user agreement?
"You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content."
There are two types of reading I think of--one for information and one for entertainment. I can go to an electronic screen for information for a limited amount of time. However, my image of sitting in my favorite chair beneath a warm light falling on the pages overwhelms anything I can imagine of an electronic screen.
I have a Sony reader and I love it. I like the fact it can hold many books ,which saves the time wasting gas at the pump. And can a paper back ? show slideshows, lisen to music or read and save pdf documents.It's more than just as reader. The Sony is pricey , but in the long run,it will last longer and do more things. I have one cell phone , one reader , one MP3 player and carrying the reader is no problem and I can read it in sunlight without glare like PDA'S. Now , which one of my 7 boooks will I read first or will it by digital photos of the grandkids or listen to some music? no, I want to open a docu,ment from a university research. Can a paper back do all of this.It's 2007 . Enjoy the what is new and keep the old where it belongs, in the past.Will they last,probably,unless the trend is paper to cut down more trees.
ebooks will of course catch on. I've been reading them for years on my pocket pc. The problem is the devices. Both the amazon and sony products cost way too much. And I don't want to be locked into their stores. Nor will I purchased ebooks with DRM. I've done that before and it was a huge headache to actually get my book to work. and now I can't read it at all. I also just want a device that supports the most formats, .txt, .html, .pdf, .lit, etc. and these devices are somewhat limited. I also need them backlit so I can read in bed. I'm not sure if either the sony or amazon products provide all that. But my pocketpc does and it was cheaper than both the sony or amazon products and does far more.
While I am all for reading (I read e books, listen to audio-books and even do the low-tech thing picking up an occasional book... I must admit that I do it mostly on my Toshiba Tablet-PC and have never been able to figure out why more people don't do the same. In fact, my son who is in graduate school takes all lf his notes on a Toshiba Tablet. Wish I had had one in school! You can easily download, read or listen on the Tablet, annotate or even write your own. I'm even hand-scribbling this note on my screen... and the OS translates my chicken-scratch into text! Why buy something else?
I have about a hundred e-books in my laptop, but I'm frustrated as every company tries forcing cosumer like me to use their formats, which only work their devices. I'm still looking for something that gives me more choices.
I don't own one yet, but I have pondered it. Do I need it? I don't NEED most of the gadgets that I have, I just like them. With most things, you don't know that you need them until you have them.
I suppose I'd survive without my ebooks but it wouldn't be my choice. Especially as I've gotten older, reading dead tree books has become harder and harder on both my vision and my hands. A small unit with sizeable type has kept me from losing my last real pleasure in life.
It would be nice to take a device like this with me on a trip, rather than an armload of paperbacks. But pay $300 to $400 for the privilege? No thanks. Let alone pay more for each title than the actual paperback would cost. Maybe when the cost drops under $100; certainly if under $50.00.
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As for other books, including current bestsellers, more and more books are becoming available in eReader, Mobipocket, and MSReader formats all the time. Furthermore, the backlists of many current authors are also becoming available in one or more of these formats. I routinely pay between 6 and 8 dollars for current books and sometimes as low as 4 for backlist issues. Ten dollars for a bestseller still in hardback is a good price but it isn't a good price for most other books.
Catherine
CathWren
Only complaint is screen is still small but it's an everything phone, I'd not be interested in an E-Book reader. I would just want the application for reading E-books to be on my available for my cell. Probably already is unless Sony has pulled one of the infamous copyright protection on these ebook files.
Its like paying 600.00 for a good portable DVD player when he Laptop will to even better, and again to more things.
You can buy a small laptop and use that as a reader and it will do more things. Just find a referb 12 inch, ready to go...
I can almost use my PSP to read E-books (well, its coming) My Arcos 605 does quite well. And has more than one goal it its life.
E-books will always be a nitch market.
Cheers,
Rich
Although I still buy real books as there are still some titles that don't come out in e-book form.
In regard to dedicated ebook readers, I really don't see them being that popular. I read my on my pocket pc. So I only have one device that does everything, phone, diary, games, music, ebooks, etc.
The problem with ebooks is that the come in different programs with the 3 biggest being ereader, mobipocket & Microsoft reader, with several other minor ones being available.
I hope ebooks continue to grow, but it has been a slow start up
though I don't see that happening at least for the next several years.
I think the real game changer is with Kindle's ability to download over Wi-
fi. With services such as this and Google maps on cell phones, we're really
coming into an age where you can have information anywhere, right in
your pocket.
Personally, I think I'll always prefer the look and feel of turning pages in a
real book... Amazon can pump the "simulated paper" bit all they care to,
but it's still an LCD screen, to me. The decisive factor of what will make e-
books more popular will really come down to cost, and proprietary-free
systems. Cost being the price of paper and ink (which will infinitely
increase), versus the cost of the electronic device (which will become
commoditized and decrease). You have to think in terms of e-books
eventually becoming not only ubiquitous -- for example, it's most likely
that one day you'll be transferring books to your cell phone or tablet PC -
- but also eventually cost about the same as an ordinary calculator.
I have been in the print business for about a decade, and the trend is loud
and clear, folks: print will eventually be supplanted by electronic media,
and at best become a niche market. And that's very likely going to happen
within the next 20 to 30 years.
So a best selling e-book may not happen while they're still ported to a
stand alone reading devices, but it will happen eventually.
I would make more use of the Reader if I could buy books from Sony, but Sony only sells e-books to US residents. Same with Amazon.
So if I want to buy anything not in the public domain, I still purchase paper. Seems to me the e-book companies are setting themselves up for failure: defeated by their own pathetic, parochial perspective.
With what intrusive surveillance do they plan to enforce this user agreement?
"You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content."
The problem is the devices. Both the amazon and sony products cost way too much. And I don't want to be locked into their stores. Nor will I purchased ebooks with DRM. I've done that before and it was a huge headache to actually get my book to work. and now I can't read it at all.
I also just want a device that supports the most formats, .txt, .html, .pdf, .lit, etc. and these devices are somewhat limited. I also need them backlit so I can read in bed. I'm not sure if either the sony or amazon products provide all that. But my pocketpc does and it was cheaper than both the sony or amazon products and does far more.
In short... at least with the Kindle... I don't get it.
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~ Tim
CathWren