Sony: Will History Repeat?

[NatCh]

There is also the Sony/Borders store in the works. I think it has some potential to partially level that particular field with Amazon.

[mlbspike]

Originally Posted by volwrath

I actually hope Sony loses after this Blu-Ray - HD-DVD fiasco (yes apparently I will be on the losing side again ). And I own a PRS-500.

Yes, darn Sony for learning from Betamax, and being part of a large consortium of companies behind BluRay. Why couldn't they just surrender to the couple companies behind HD-DVD, and accept the inevitable, that the inferior, but cheaper technology, will win. It's a fiasco, and it's all Sony's fault, because ... er because ... hmmm.
Now where did I put my bookmarks to those sony-haters links. Enjoying my PS3 btw ... including it's BluRay capability.

Well, anyhow, more to the point of the site ... I love my PRS-500, 505, and expect to be reading mostly DRM free content on it, right up until a significantly superior tech (from Sony, or whoever) shows up. Don't expect that to happen too soon, but ... didn't expect to be so impressed with the contrast of the 505, that I'd upgrade after little more than a year with the 500.
Mike

[aapezzuto]

Originally Posted by SanFranMatt

So while my version of the ereader (500 model) will be obsolete in a couple years, I'm confident that it will still function for its main purpose: to read books on. I'm confident that in 5 or 10 years, I'll still be able to buy a new book and put it on the device. Maybe it won't be in sony's format, but I'll have software that can convert it with ease.

Not to put anyone else's views down, but this is the point that has mattered in the e-book market thus far. Anyone remember the large format palm looking device in the 90s that was an almost dedicated reader? (Franklin_eBookMan) I don't either except when making obscure references Ok now this will get a response, anyone remember the reb1100 or 1150, before they were purchased... or heck after they were purchased for the 3rd time... by EBookwise-1150 There are still lots of hand held devices that are still doing their backup duty now full time... acting as text readers.

What I have learned from history that directly applies to the current situation

• The device has to keep working
• The device needs decent battery life (5+ hours, or 500+ pages)
• The device needs to survive being shoved in a purse
• but most importantly, the community needs to be able to provide its own content.

Like so many other things, until the content provider wars are settled and there are ways to get ebooks as standardly and freely as there are dvds and music cds, everything else is just ... posturing on a good day, and phalic compairison on a bad one

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by aapezzuto

• The device needs to survive being shoved in a purse

Thanks! That one made me

[Arek_W]

I do agree, but in 10 years time I think it will be completly different story. VHS is dead too Betamax just died earlier

[bob_ninja]

Either company may pull out. Why would Sony be any more likely than Amazon? Because Sony is an older company and has a longer history, more chances to pull out? Sure, Amazon can/will repeat the same mistakes of older companies.

[chuck94022]

Originally Posted by CCDMan

...

BTW, I have both a reader and a Kindle and both have good and bad features but generally I prefer the Kindle. I will keep the Sony until it dies and would choose to use it if I were to go somewhere where I could not charge it. It does have at least 2-3X the battery life, even compared to the Kindle with wireless off and turned off when not in use....

Comparing the PRS-500 with the Kindle, you might feel they are essentially the same reader in different packages (plus the wireless on the Kindle side). But in my opinion, the PRS-505 is a significantly improved product, with a display much superior to the Kindle or the PRS-500. The published specs do not do the qualitative improvement justice. It is a *much* better product, and if the Kindle uses the PRS-500 display, the 505 will be clearly better.

I do not own a Kindle, but own the 500 and 505. I don't really care to make a prediction one way or another regarding which, if any, will survive. This is technlogy, after all...

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by chuck94022

But in my opinion, the PRS-505 is a significantly improved product, with a display much superior to the Kindle or the PRS-500. The published specs do not do the qualitative improvement justice. It is a *much* better product, and if the Kindle uses the PRS-500 display, the 505 will be clearly better.

The Kindle uses the same screen as the 505.

[NatCh]

The Kindle uses the exact same display hardware as the 505 -- the controller is different, but the display itself is the same.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Kingston

Bottom line: Sony's ereader division is a tiny portion of this great companies revenue. Bezos and Amazon have a much greater stake in making the Kindle a long term winner. Sony can bow out gracefully in a few years, just as they did with their TiVo and WebTV. They will probably offer a Reader for years to come, but don't expect them to fight a losing battle against Amazon when it is not in Sony's best financial interest to do so.

I don't own a Sony Reader, and wouldn't take it as an insult if I did.

My reference point is the Sony Clie line of Palm OS PDAs. They were innovative and popular, but Sony folded the line and got out of the PDA market. The Clies made money, but they didn't make enough money. As you point out, Sony is a major corporation with a bottom line orientation. Senior management at places like that are custodians of Other People's Money. They have a fiduciary responsibility to invest corporate funds where they will generate the best returns. Sony management looked at the Clie line and decided they could get a better return on the investment putting the funds in other areas.

Whether Sony will continue to support the reader depends on how well it does. Sony is a large company, and needs a fairly significant return to justify the investment. If they can make the reader a mainstream product and get that sort of return, they may be in it for the long term. If not, they may abandon it. It's too early to say right now what may happen.

Sony has tended to shoot itself in the foot with a bad case of "Not invented here", and an insistence on proprietary technology. Remember the Memory Stick? Instead of using something like Compact Flash or Secure Digital formats for expansion media, Sony chose to develop and use their own proprietary format. Sony is the only one that used it, and even they have finally decided to use SD in various products. The Sony LRF ebook format is a minor example. Why Yet Another Ebook Format?

Will Amazon win with the Kindle? Hard to say. Amazon's strength is the vast amount of content they can make available. Sony needs to increase the available content and address pricing to be competitive.

But Sony's strength is as a manufacturer of consumer electronics. They've had a lot more experience in designing, making, and selling devices to play content. If it should become possible to view AZW files on a Sony Reader, a lot of Amazon's advantage in content goes away.

And Amazon is not a consumer electronics manufacturer. This is a new area for them. They are also a large corporation with a need to generate a suitable return on an investment, so they will face the same pressures that Sony does in making their device a mainstream product. If they can't expand the Kindle beyond a niche market item, they too, may choose to fold the product and put their money elsewhere.
______
Dennis

Speaking of the PS3, for some odd reason I wish they had the option to install the library software on that as well as a PC. Blasted thing is already being used for audio, video and gaming. Why not support ANOTHER Sony product? (Okay, that's a personal whim. I just want to read downloaded assembly instructions off the larger screen than the small, torn manual when working on stuff.)

[radleyp]

I got a Kindle over the holidays and find that it has now become my only reading device (I no longer read on my pda or my phone, a MotorolaQ). This is largely because of the screen size (whether reading eink is actually better on the eyes than a screen that is artificially lit, I do not know, but the battery life is certainly greatly improved). I did not want a Sony, because there are far too few current books available (the Borders arrangement seems to me nothing more than a sales gimmick, as Borders is no more a publisher than is Amazon, and all this means is that Sony-drm'ed content will be sold in its stores). OTOH, I am reading the NYTimes on the Kindle (I think it's easier to manipulate on the Kindle than in the print version) as well as two books I bought for $9.99 each. The one thing of which we can be certain is that there will be improvements and new versions in short order (that's the law of technology, is it not?) and the next ones will be better. Is this the future of reading? Each of us will have to decide.

[NatCh]

Can you get the NY Public Library's e-books to work on the Kindle, radleyp? I seem to recall that this was important to you at one point, and it's a matter of no small interest to the rest of us.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

There's something else you may need to consider... the fact that neither company is operating in a vacuum.

Sony may indeed stop making readers someday, and Amazon may stop producing the Kindle. But in the meantime, there are other companies right now, working to build devices that will enter the market alongside the Sony and Kindle, then pick up where they leave off.

Remember the Walkman? Sure you do. Sony created a sensation with it. And once the sensation was realized, dozens of other companies created and sold Walkman-clones, and flooded the market with 'em. Even when Sony cut back on Walkman production, there were still plenty of other companies selling. Today, the most popular player, the iPod, is a direct descendant of the Walkman concept, but it's not made by Sony. Neither is the iAudio MP3 player I own, and probably not the MP3 player you own, either.

Right now cloners in China are working on e-book readers (they'll be a hit in countries where you can't get a Kindle or Sony reader, and for sure they'll be a damn sight cheaper). Even if Sony and Amazon pull out of reader selling altogether, the clones will be able to take over and at least maintain the market, if not progress it.

So I wouldn't lose much sleep over this. The worst that will likely happen is, when your Sony dies someday, you'll be able to buy a reader just like it from Sanyo, rebranded from some Chinese firm you've never heard of, for $50.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Can you get the NY Public Library's e-books to work on the Kindle, radleyp? I seem to recall that this was important to you at one point, and it's a matter of no small interest to the rest of us.

The NYPL offers ebooks in PDF and MobiPocket format (with more in PDF than Mobi, I believe.). The Kindle can't handle PDFs. If I recall corectly, the Kindle also can't read DRMed Mobi titles (which is bemusing, since Amazon owns Mobi, too). I haven't gotten Mobi titles from the NYPL, so I don't know about DRM, but I'd bet some protection is present.

Mind you, not being able to read DRMed Mobi titles on a Kindle may not be an insuperable problem...

http://igorsk.blogspot.com/

______
Dennis