As I see it, shousa, the definition of "average consumer" is
very relevant to the discussion of what sort of device is appropriate for him.
You defined an "average reader" as:
Quote:
Originally Posted by shousa
I said AVERAGE users (to spell it out - will not be using hacking software in legal grey areas to convert their books and I am talking about BRAND NEW BOOKS NOT OLD PUBLIC DOMAIN).
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A number of us have taken the time and energy to explain, in some detail, that we don't think your definition really fits the average
e-book user, because folks who use e-books are necessarily more computer savvy than you describe, and the true "average consumer" doesn't have much use for books
period, let alone e-books -- but I'll refrain from going back into those details again.
In order to have much of a productive discussion on
any given topic, the
terms of that discussion have to be agreed on by those in the discussion. Given the way you've defined your "average consumer" the
only answer to the question you posed would be the one you offered in the first place: there is no e-reading device suitable for the "average consumer" as you define him.
However, that doesn't make for a very lively discussion (and discussion is kinda what we
do here :wink2), so we're trying to find a definition that is, perhaps, a bit more representative, so that there can be an actual, somewhat real-world related discussion of the question you raised: are present e-book devices so unapproachable that they're doomed to failure? You can declare that semantics if you choose, I just consider it to be defining the terms of the discussion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shousa
I therefore define Sony's reader, for the average user as being tied to their connect store since other store's ebooks will not work eg Amazon et al....
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You're free to define it that way if you like, but you're ignoring the fact that several other retailers offer books (yes, new stuff) that can be used with the Sony without conversion. Fictionwise sells many titles in LRF format. Baen's webscriptions service offers titles in RTF, a format the Sony reads just fine. And as I said before, if your average consumer can handle ripping MP3 files from a cd (I imagine
any realistic definition of "average consumer" would include such folks), then they can handle running .LIT files (which are
very widely available from many retailers) through ConvertLIT to get RTF which the Sony can read, and which can be converted via a number of similar drop-and-convert apps into pretty much any format you care to name. If you want to ignore those facts you're welcome to do so, but that sort of thing doesn't tend to make folks take you seriously.
You also seem to think that e-books are inevitably doomed because you can't get just any title you want in them. There are also new, current titles that can't be gotten at Barnes & Noble or Borders, that single fact alone doesn't mean that
paper books are inherently doomed. That's not semantics, that's analytical consideration of the argument you advanced.
If you want to point out that the selection of e-books still lags the selection of paper books at your typical retailer, well pretty much anyone who's
awake will agree that is true.
If you want to make an argument that this is detrimental to e-books in general, most would agree with you there too.
I just don't think it's reasonable to try and make the availability, or lack thereof, of any specific book, or even of a majority of books, into some sort of success/failure litmus test for the entire e-book reader industry.
Your initial post was indeed clearly phrased as a challenge, and there's certainly no reason not to have such challenges, but even a challenge can be handled respectfully.