it's another gadget that reads documents...yay my pda does that and so does my portable media player. also the price of ebooks particularly the good books dont differ that much from their paper counterparts as publishers are still 'testing the ebook waters'so to speak and there really is something to be said about turning the pages of a book and putting it down satisfied after it's finished as opposed to pressing the power switch therefore while i think they will become big eventuallly, now is not the time
I've read all 317 (to this point) comments, as I'm interested in the Sony reader. My only pause is the availability of the books I like. A universal format for popular literature is what will determine the future of these devices. (Sony should know that; Beta vs. VHS and Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD.) The copyright and DRM issues will be tough nuts to crack, as the content providers don?t have a handle on this digital domain yet IMHO.
Mostly, I plan to use it to read technical manuals (I work IT.) I saw a 505 demoed and the text was quite legible. I don't mind having another gadget; I already have an MP3 player, handheld GPS, Smartphone, and laptop. I prefer a device optimized for its intended task.
I've had an ebook reader for YEARS. It's called the Franklin Ebookman and it only cost me about $70. I can change the font size, read .txt, .html, mobipocket and ebookman files. It's about the same size as a regular hand held. Yes, it only holds 16 mb. But who needs more than that. I regularly have about 20 books in it. It goes everywhere I go. I love it. Franklin no longer makes these which is a shame but they're still sold on ebay for less than $100. It's not a color screen but I'm reading a book not watching TV.
Nice thing about ebooks is that they usually cost less than a paperback or hard cover edition because there's no cost to the publisher to print it.
If these ebook readers were priced more reasonably I'd probably try one. But their price is crazy.
I've been reading ebooks on my Palm TX for about 3 years now and pretty much echo the comments of the other Palm TX reader. I commute to work on the bus, and they've been particularly handy there. I have about 30-40 books on my Palm right now, and since I always have it with me, I always have something to read. I don't know that I would buy a dedicated reader. As someone said, one more thing to carry, but for the pda, definitely. They are hard to read outdoors (practically impossible), but I wouldn't want to give up paper entirely... I also wouldn't want to give up ebooks.
Not too long ago I had this same idea. However I think the paper industry and or publishers will fight the popularity of this tooth and nail. Copy write protection will be some what hard to save with devises like these. I do have a few ideas that expand upon this concept that could really boost its popularity and lower the readers initial costs but, I will keep these to myself for the time being unless someone would like to pay me for my input which I doubt. However, it could be worth millions.
ebooks will eventually be a common thing, but to predict the exact device is another thing. Will it be Amazon's or Sony's or an unknown company's product that will be the product of choice.. that remains to be seen. But just like other forms of communication, we shouldn't expect it to be an overnight adoption. ah, how our society always expect instant gratification. dommage.
They just need a lower price, which I'm sure will come with a little more time.
As someone else stated, it would be fantastic if this could take the place of school books! It could save the school systems money, save trees by the millions, and keep kids from having to lug around 20 lbs. of books.
As for me, I'd love to be able to download the next book in a series I just finished and just decided that I can't wait to read it; be able to search for bits that I want to find in an article or story; highlight things I want to remember. All great!
I have no idea in this age, anything can become popular but books have taken a hit from video. I know that e-books are still too expensive for me to try, lose and break. I also know that the music subscription download service's leave too much to be desired by me. I suspect the e-book service providers would be subject to some of the same inherent problems. I also much prefer to own the hard copy for the difference in cost.
It will be interesting to watch global trends in book publishing, to see if e-books ever steal the thunder from print books, the way e-music seems to be cutting into "printed" music on CD's.
There's an interesting list of sources of statistics on book sales at Google Answers:
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=246739" target="_newWindow">http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=246739</a> <a href="http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=246739">Global Book Sales</a>
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my pda does that and so does my portable media player. also the price of ebooks particularly the good books dont differ that much from their paper counterparts as publishers are still 'testing the ebook waters'so to speak
and there really is something to be said about turning the pages of a book and putting it down satisfied after it's finished as opposed to pressing the power switch
therefore while i think they will become big eventuallly, now is not the time
Mostly, I plan to use it to read technical manuals (I work IT.) I saw a 505 demoed and the text was quite legible. I don't mind having another gadget; I already have an MP3 player, handheld GPS, Smartphone, and laptop. I prefer a device optimized for its intended task.
Nice thing about ebooks is that they usually cost less than a paperback or hard cover edition because there's no cost to the publisher to print it.
If these ebook readers were priced more reasonably I'd probably try one. But their price is crazy.
As someone else stated, it would be fantastic if this could take the place of school books! It could save the school systems money, save trees by the millions, and keep kids from having to lug around 20 lbs. of books.
As for me, I'd love to be able to download the next book in a series I just finished and just decided that I can't wait to read it; be able to search for bits that I want to find in an article or story; highlight things I want to remember. All great!
Now if the price would just come down some.
why to buy anything else?
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://BooksoniPhone.com" target="_newWindow">http://BooksoniPhone.com</a>
There's an interesting list of sources of statistics on book sales at Google Answers:
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=246739" target="_newWindow">http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=246739</a>
<a href="http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=246739">Global Book Sales</a>
Worth a look.