Sony Reader Taking Hold? 357
An anonymous reader writes "Sony recently launched their latest attempt at an electronic book reader. The 'Sony Reader' is small and lightweight, about the size of a paperback book, and using E-Ink technology it only requires battery power when changing the page so light on power requirements. While it isn't their first attempt at an electronic book reader, critics are already predicting the Reader's success."
sure, they will sell a few.... (Score:2, Interesting)
If someone has a laptop, they are going to look at this device and say 'well.. i guess its somewhat easier to handle/hold, but I can already read a vast majority more on my wifi enabled laptop, and i wont have to pay an extra 400$ just to do something i can already do.'
and on the other hand, which is almost as bad-- if someone doesn't own a laptop, they will look at this and say 'wow, 400$ just to read e-books? i could spend the same amount, and have infinite ebooks, infinite music, and infinite free wifi, and (insert everything else here)'.
in other words, this technology simply isn't cheap enough for the common all american materalistic faddist.
Laptops work okay (Score:3, Interesting)
Hey SONY, your 2005 DRM fiasco has cost you more than you realize.
Finally! (Score:5, Interesting)
Sony has realised ... (Score:2, Interesting)
Translation: Sony has realised that to appease the god named Shareholder, they will have to plug this device as the consumer interface to a long and lucrative supply chain, reaching back to publishers (but not to authors: there it's the same as music: either you're one of very few stars, or you do it for love, and only love).
In 2004 it launched a similar device [...] which failed to take off due to [price and] the restrictions it imposed on readers.
Ooh, the sweet smell of insight.
Try Plucker (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Doomed to failure (Score:4, Interesting)
I would not have paid anywhere near that if it could only read ebooks though. I also use it to play games and on occasion as an organizer.
This book reader would have to be much cheaper than a PDA to be viable, and even then I can't see why someone wouldn't spend the extra for a PDA.
Also, this Sony scam charges prices comparable to hardcover for the books. They should be about half to price of a paperback. Of course the DRM sony's including makes it a deal breaker for anyone who's not a total idiot.
Formats: BBeB/PDF/JPEG/MP3 (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd like to see
DRM sure is grand.
The future? (Score:2, Interesting)
Apple will introduce an E-ink paper add on to the Ipod. A little clip-on device, that rolls/folds into a convenient to carry size. The device will need no storage of its own, and no logic, perhaps not even its own power source, just clip it on, and use the familiar iPod click wheel to navigate your documents. Of course, it will support PDF, and some other form of DRM content that works with your existing iTunes/Fairplay account with a similiar set of restrictions.
Just as Apple was certainly not the first to market with an mp3 player, they just made one that was really great to use... don't be surprised if they do the same for e-reading - should the market show there's sufficient demand for the device.
And while I'm doing some wild speculation, why don't I add....
There will then be an iPod with built-in WiFi, that will allow you to use this hi-res 1 bit display to browse the web with on-the-fly dithering of color graphics into pseudo-greyscale images. There will even be an option of sending a particular image to the color iPod display for viewing in color if it's critical... but let's face we can read
ok... my minds getting carried way, I really should get some sleep - it's almost 4:30am where I am.
Re:From the Fine Article (Score:3, Interesting)
Screen not big enough? Definately not when it comes to reading arbitrary HTML or PDF documents, but if you are reading a novel then you'd be surprised how easy it is to read when all you can see are just a few lines at a time - as soon as you get into the book a little bit you forget that you are reading on a small screen.
As everyone else is saying, the real problem here isn't the reader - it's content. Someone needs to do an iTMS for books. Better yet, as Amazon suggested, when you buy a book you should get the ebook included for free. Best of both worlds.
Re:This will save my wrists! (Score:5, Interesting)
Will I be able to read the ebook or listen to the music in 10 years? Likely no - which btw is perfectly fine with the content providers, who don't think you own anything anyhow and thus are glad to "lend" as many crippled copies as you like/need.
Hence, it's real paper for me for books (or PDF/PS/DJvu) and AllOfMp3 for my music needs (can't find russian music elsewhere anyhow).
Those critics and experts again (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah yeah.
These are the people that have been predicting e-books would take off now for how long? The same people who told us that push technology is the next great thing. Oh, and the iPod-killer, mustn't forget how many iPod-killers they have predicted. Fact: "Critics" and "expert" and (even worse) "analysts" tend to be terrible in predicting what people will buy. If they did know jack, they would be wearing black turtlenecks, earning a dollar a year, and making people in San Francisco swoon with the really successful things.
I'll say it again and again, until I can drop my e-book in the bathtub without ill effects, the batteries will never go out on me, I can scrawl notes on the margins of "Cryptonomicon" where Stephenson got the German wrong, and dog-ear it where I like to reread, the things will remain a toy. Paper has too many advantages and too few disadvantages to be in danger.
Re:Doomed to failure (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm an avid reader...I'll devour a book in a day or two... Not only is this generally expensive (paperbacks range from $5 to $10), but it takes up a lot of room. I've got bookshelves galore, and boxes upon boxes of books that won't fit on the shelves. I sell what I can, give away even more, and I've still got more books than I know what to do with...
With my PDA, I can fit very literally hundreds of books into a device that is smaller than a single paperback. I can also download tons of books for free. Lots of classic sci-fi, old mystery novels, Shakespeare... All for free. I could certainly download those free books to any old PC, but then I've either got to sit at my monitor to read them, or print them out - thereby eliminating the benefits of the ebook format.
Additionally, from what I've seen, ebooks are often priced less than a printed book. Not a lot less, but a dollar or two. With the amount of reading I do, every little bit helps.
I can certainly see this Sony reader taking off... Obviously the price would have to drop quite a bit... I paid about $400 for my PDA, but it does a hell of a lot more than just read ebooks. I guess if I was looking for something specifically for ebooks, I'd want to spend somewhere in the $100 - $150 range. And I'd also want it to be designed around the concept of prolonged screen reading a bit more than current PDAs are... A larger screen, crisper picture, very good battery life, at least a basic backlight...something I can sit down and read for hours on end without having to squint, strain my eyes, or run out of juice.
Re:Those critics and experts again (Score:2, Interesting)
Yeah yeah.
These are the people that have been predicting e-books would take off now for how long?"
Er, no, this is the single opinion of a single person who contributed on the well-chosen name "anonymous coward", made larger than life by a Slashdot editor who trusts his sources without verifying their claims.
Please show me a single objective, authorative critic who has predicted the success of the Sony Reader so far.
"Paper has too many advantages and too few disadvantages to be in danger."
Nobody would have predicted the extinction of the dinosaur, but they died out nevertheless. Paper will die, not because it cannot beat electronic devices in many areas hands down, but because it cannot keep beating them forever in the areas that count. This has little to do with the paper-like qualities an electronic device cannot emulate, and everything with the device-like qualities that paper cannot emulate.
So, you won't be buying a polymer-based ebook reading device in the near future. But perhaps you will get a clock based on the material, then an electronic picture frame (so much nicer to have a photo on your desk of Allison Hanigan with a Wife Switch), and in a couple of years your boss will have you take notes on a Star Trek-like PADD, so that everybody present at the meeting will get them delivered right away using WiFi, including the doodles that your bored colleagues are making absent-mindedly.