Just received an update e-mail from Sony. It links to this URL:

http://anon.doubleclick.edgesuite.net/anon.doubleclick/cms/SonyStyle/2006/july/322978/link.html

Nothing particularly specific there, except perhaps (emphasis by me):

"Thank you for your patience and for requesting updates on the Sony® Reader, coming this fall, in time for the holidays. It holds about 80 electronic books, is as easy to carry as a slim paperback and thanks to electronic paper, just as easy to read."

What holidays would that be exactly?

Nuts, you beat me to posting it, TadW!

The PCMag review said late October (specifically he said September, then corrected himself to October) -- my info suggests that expectation is pretty close, unless it slips again, of course. :rolleyes:

Yeah, got the same email. What a bunch of jerks. First spring, then summer, now fall, coming soon, WINTER.....

If only IRex had content, I would spend the extra money!

If only IRex had content, I would spend the extra money!

So is the connect store a selling point for you, then?

Bummer!

Oh dear it seems that the iLiad starts to tinkle my brain again. But just to get it out; "SONY WHYYYYYYYY!!!! :bigcry: I was really hoping it would be maybe the beginning of September and I'm afraid it's going to be somewhere in November now.

390 grams eh? that's not too heavy now is it?

Oh dear it seems that the iLiad starts to tinkle my brain again. But just to get it out; "SONY WHYYYYYYYY!!!! :bigcry: I was really hoping it would be maybe the beginning of September and I'm afraid it's going to be somewhere in November now.

390 grams eh? that's not too heavy now is it?

yes, life is not easy ...

So is the connect store a selling point for you, then?

Only in the sense that it should give me access to thousands of (mostly recreational) books. If there was some way to get the Iliad to accept eReader or some other format with similar content availability, I could live with that, even at the cost of the Iliad.

But for the relatively few unencrypted books out there (as a % of all books), it is not worth the pretty high cost of the Iliad.

Now if it cost $350 like the Sony (or less), I might buy an Iliad just for the free content, but not for the present price.....

Okay, did some checking around -- I'm seeing reason to think that the "fall" timing may be the result of confirming quality levels on the released device (like a double-check through QA sort of thing).

(Obviously) Sony's Reader is aimed at us, the end customers, rather than B2B like the iLiad, so they're not expecting some company to buy it and fill the device with its own software. I'm inferring that Sony wants to make sure that the OS & apps on it are going to be pretty solid right out of the box, and reduce the oportunity for grumbling as much as they can.

Just look at how we're going on over the iLiad's ... issues..., and it's supposed to be a B2B product -- they made us acknowledge it in writing before they'd let us buy the rascals, and we're still awful noisy! Mostly reasonable, I dare say, but pretty noisy, still.

I think it was noted elsewhere on the forum that the Sony CEO is pretty excited about their Reader, so they have that motivation too. :shy: Specific attention to a product by the CEO? Ouch.

Anyway, it's not spring, and it's not August, but October isn't all that far off, I suppose. (grumble)

I wouldn't be surprised if the delay was due to the Connect software. There was a story in NY Times about two months ago about how Connect development had turned into a disaster. Maybe they decided to overhaul/rewrite it?

I wouldn't be surprised if the delay was due to the Connect software. There was a story in NY Times about two months ago about how Connect development had turned into a disaster. Maybe they decided to overhaul/rewrite it?
I think the music part is working just fine -- I haven't bought anything there but it seems to work well enough looking at it. Even if I do have to switch over to I.E. to see it. :sleepy:

The indications I've seen suggest that it's a review of the Reader hardware/software/OS itself.

I couldn't find the NYT item you mentioned (via their search engine), I'd like to see it, if you have a link. :)

It was actually a CNET news.com story: http://news.com.com/2102-1027_3-6078659.html?tag=st.util.print

It was actually a CNET news.com story: http://news.com.com/2102-1027_3-6078659.html?tag=st.util.print
Ah, well that's actually good -- I don't trust the NYT as much as I used to. :happy2:

Thanks!

That is an interesting CNet article, I'm not sure what to make of it in the face of the public fact that the Connect website is up and running. Doesn't seem to fit together somehow....

Didn't I also read somewhere recently that they were waiting for more content to be available before releasing? But might have been from the c/net video review that I heard that, which would mean it's probably not recent news.

Didn't I also read somewhere recently that they were waiting for more content to be available before releasing? But might have been from the c/net video review that I heard that, which would mean it's probably not recent news.
The CNET (http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_Reader/4505-3127_7-31660696.html) Review that TadW found does mention that they're "trying to get content" for it. Although, I don't think the guy talking is a Sony person, given some of his comments, so I don't know how much weight to give the remark.


A curious thing I noticed re-watching the video -- it's dated 1/5/06, but there's a sign in the background of the shot that reads "Sony Electronics: Holidays in July" -- what's that all about? I'm thinking the video couldn't have been from July '05, so the sign must be refering to the next July, i.e. this month (July '06).

Funky.

freakonomics is going to be available at launch. Thats good as I was wanting to read it.

also launch "titles":
Digging to America
At Risk
(and of course da vinci code)


Edit: here are their connect software book "categories":

Biography
Business
Entertainment
Fiction and Literature
Games Graphics
Health, Mind and Body
Mystery and Thrillers
Nature
Politics and Government Resources and Reference
Self Help and Improvement
Science Fiction
Technology
Thrillers

Ah, figured it out -- I was mistaken about the video, it's from last week (7/26), which is when Sony had its Holidays in July (http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6554490.html) thing in NYC -- maybe that'll teach me to read instead of just watching vids.

So the review is fresh, if not very in-depth, and neither of the guys talking is a Sony rep (the PCMag review seemed a bit more informed).

Ah, figured it out -- I was mistaken about the video, it's from last week (7/26), which is when Sony had its Holidays in July (http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6554490.html) thing in NYC -- maybe that'll teach me to read instead of just watching vids.

So the review is fresh, if not very in-depth, and neither of the guys talking is a Sony rep (the PCMag review seemed a bit more informed).


The date of the article is indeed older but there was no video next to the article. The video is indeed new and I know that for a fact since I found it. :wink:

The video is indeed new and I know that for a fact since I found it. :wink:
You are most correct, diabloNL, it is the one you posted, my apologies -- I was confusing it with the one TadW had at the beginning of this thread.

Sorry 'bout that. :shame:

You are most correct, diabloNL, it is the one you posted, my apologies -- I was confusing it with the one TadW had at the beginning of this thread.

Sorry 'bout that. :shame:

No problem! :D

I made from carbon the iLiad and the Sony Reader so I can compare the size of both. It's very difficult to decide because they both have pros en cons. At the moment I'm still leaning towards the Sony Reader.

Here's a picture of my creation:

Wow, pretty slick, diabloNL, puts it into perspective somewhat.

Wow, pretty slick, diabloNL, puts it into perspective somewhat.


Yeah, because I first tried it with a blank piece of paper but this works way better to really see the difference in size. Conclusion is that the iLiad is not as big as I thought it would be and the Reader is way smaller than I thought.

One thing that keeps me away from the iLiad right now is the somewhat disappointing battery life. Who can guarantee me that they will fix that issue?

For the Sony Reader I really think the hardware is ready and the thing that holds them is the connect system.

For the Sony Reader I really think the hardware is ready and the thing that holds them is the connect system.
From what I'm finding, the hardware/software/OS is pretty much ready, but there seems to be some hesitence to declare it so. The indications are that this has to do with some sort of final quality assurance double-check, but I haven't found anything that indicates that it's necessarily solely the Reader itself, (shrug -- I want a shrug smilie!) it could be (at least partly) the 'Connect' side, so far as I can tell.

With the new version of the iLiad (2.5), I've used it for two nights in a row before recharging, from around 7ish to about 11.30. Although it still isn't as good as promised, for the use I'm going to give it (leisure reading at home, close to a plug if I need it) I think it's acceptable as is, although the longer the better, of course. ;)
Also, as to the page flipping, I hit the bar on the last sentence/line or so, so that by the time I've read it, it's about to turn, so that doesn't bother me either. :p

You know, ElaHuguet, it's not nice to taunt us non-first-wave early-adoptors.... :laugh4:

Oops, sorry. :p
I'm not an early adopter btw, sigh, this was a very late birthday present (early March!). At the rate I read, my husband decided it was cheaper than buying p-books. :D

...I'm not an early adopter ....
yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. :happy2:

Well... maybe I'll admit "impatient adopter". ;)
Really, I'm the type that is quite happy with whatever works and VERY lazy to actually change/upgrade/get the newest gadget (eg. I still have W2k at home and refuse to change), but e-ink touched my sensitive/lust fibre (ok, I'll be honest, it wasn't really e-ink, it was the screen size that did it! LOL). :)

I did some comparison prints for the two eink sizes, 6" & 8" -- printed the same text at each size (margins of .01") and compared how much text per page was on each.

I did comparisons on several criteria: number of characters (Arial 12pt), number of words, and number of lines (normalized to 1" margin, letter-sized sheet)

It looks like the 6" screen displays 70~71% of what th 8" one does, or from the other direction, the 8" inch is ~40% larger than the 6".

The whole file (119 pp), worked out to 337 pp for the 8" screen and 526 pp for the 6", or 156% of the number of pages for the smaller compared to the larger.