Quote:
Originally Posted by carpetmojo
"The biggest drawback now, IMHO, is the lock-in between device and store. That's bad for consumers because choice of Reader is influenced by choice of book store. If you like the Sony but want to buy books from Amazon, you cannot. This also harms competition in the book market. Once you're locked in, you're locked in... you can't go to a different store for a better price, so there is no incentive to lower prices!"
I'm slightly puzzled by this from EatingPie.
Are you criticizing Amazon, or Sony ? Or neither, just making a statement of fact ?
Amazon is the only store Sony are ( theoretically that is ) unable to access, is that not so ?
And most Sony owners are either content with this, or accept it, 'cos they can go to all the other sources for free or paid for books. Some are even happy, in the main, with not being largely stuck with what what Amazon hve available for them.
With a Sony you can go to a different store for a better price.
If you're target is Amazon, I agree - but as I don't much care, as they don't (yet?) have a monoploy position in the supply of e-material.
'Course, if I've misread the post as it's too early and I haven'y yet had a cup of tea, I'm sorry................
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Sorry about the confusion. This is obviously a thread about Sony, but I was making a criticism of the industry at large: directed at Sony, Amazon and B&N.
In terms of
mainstream stores, there is a device/store lock-in for all three of the major players. Amazon cannot do ePub, and nobody else can do .mobi, so it's Amazon/Kindle if you go that route. For B&N, nobody can read their books except the Nook, so once again you're locked. Consequently, this basically
forces Sony Reader buyers on to the Sony store for their books. And while the Nook can read ADE books, and thus those from the Sony store, I would be surprised if anyone with a Nook does. (I believe Apple uses yet
another DRM scheme.)
Now, I'm not trying to make Sony look like a victim. I actually think this whole situation is Sony's fault! They started out with a device/store lock -- attempting to copy the iPod/iTunes model -- and as the first Reader on the market, they set the tone for things to come. Amazon followed a year or so later with the same paradigm, and immediately won the war because they were a known book store.
As you point out, there are other ADE-supporting stores out there, as well as free options like libraries and Gutenberg. But to get a brand new book, for example, you are basically locked in to a store. So what incentive does Amazon, for example, have to lower the price of an e-book? Once you have the Kindle, you are buying at Amazon. They're not competing with anyone. Same goes for B&N. And these are the two largest book sellers in the US.
I also would prefer to be free to buy whatever e-Reader I want, and use whatever bookstore I want. Freedom of choice is nice! The situation now is somewhat analogous to buying a Dell laptop and requiring a special version of Windows and Office for that Dell. You can't just go buy an HP, for example, because your Dell-version of Windows and Office won't work on it; you'd have to re-purchase all new software.
Okay, hope that clarifies things!
-Pie