Very disappointed with the way the tech is developing.

[Kali Yuga]

Yeah, no. I disagree that the technology is flailing miserably.

• Epaper is far more difficult to design and build than you suspect. The overwhelming majority of infrastructure to build displays is oriented towards LCD's, and getting epaper anywhere near the refresh rates of LCD's is extremely difficult. As a result, it has a much smaller market.

• The devices are consistently improving -- often just via firmware updates. They're getting smaller and lighter; connectivity options are increasing; speed is improving; battery life is growing; availability of commercial ebooks is booming; sales are up; the industry is expending more and more energy on ebooks. Heck, even some of the proofreading has improved slightly in the past year. Oh, and in case you didn't notice, prices have dropped dramatically over the past 18 months. That alone is a huge benefit.

As to the corporate comments, someone is always going to kvetch about whoever is ruling the roost at the moment. In the heyday of paper it was Barnes & Noble, who allegedly drove numerous independent bookstores and smaller chains out of business, and terrified the industry with its attempt to purchase Ingram. Amazon came out of nowhere and was the underdog, now that they've body-checked B&N it's their turn to be the Bad Guy. If Sony had the biggest market share, I'm sure someone would throw a temper tantrum every time they made a customer service misstep.

I concur that some things can always benefit from improvement, and there will be more advances very soon. However for a lot of types of reading, ebooks are fully usable right now -- which is why I've barely read any paper books in the past year or so.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by harryE123

I am sorry but this is marketing speak. "The activity of reading" and "the people themselves". I won't go into "people themselves" because this is imho a vapid comment.

Vapid?
You don't think the reading can be a social activity?
Amazon has talked of implementing reading circles within their Walled garden; what do you think would happen if they did? A Facebook/XBL-like system where you can draw up a list of friends witth Kindles and see what they are reading and get highlights, commentary and quotes straight in the Kindle?
The activity of reading is more than locking yourself in a room to read; tis a lonely person who doesn't have friends to discuss their books with.

More importantly, the point about Kindle that annoys so many is that they're focused on the full reading activity; from *buying* to analyzing and commenting, after the fact.

Kindle is not a reader alone, it is a reading *environment*.
(That is what the reader apps for PC, Mac, smartphone, etc are all about.)
And Amazon has made it clear they are more interested in evolving the environment than the device.

Us hobbyists may be interested in the nuts-n-bolts of the hardware but so far the people are voting with their wallets for Amazon's approach.

Note that Overdrive is doing reader apps to extend their library ebook program, instead of relying on deals with hardware vendors. Note that B&N has done both. And even vaunted Sony, the darling of the hardware-only fans is doing apps.

Like it or not, the industry is following Amazon's lead in evolving the reading environment instead of the hardware.

[J. Strnad]

Tell it to supporters of wire recorders, 8tracks, Quadraphonic LPs, or Laservision. (I suspect a lot of googling will be required there.)

Sadly, I understand all of those references and have hands-on experience with all but the wire recorder, which pre-dates even me!

8-tracks got killed by the smaller, more convenient cassette tapes that had better fidelity. Quadrophonic LPs were killed by the misguided notion that people wanted to be in the middle of the band; the concept was refined with Dolby SurroundSound. LaserDiscs were killed by a smaller, cheaper medium, the DVD. (You left out RCA's VideoDisc "SelectaVision" that used a stylus, wiped out by DiscoVision that used lasers, but I guess you couldn't list all of the failed tech!)

Adopting any new tech involves the risk that it will become outmoded or simply fail in the marketplace. I'm afraid that epub will fail, at least in the USA, because of the poor implementation: multiple-DRM schemes that destroy the "standard" and complex buying requirements when compared with the ease of buying a Kindle edition from Amazon. Still, I vote with my wallet and buy non-DRMed epubs, cross my fingers and hope the epub crowd gets its act together before Amazon rules the world.

And the publishers: Well, they simply need to be killed and their corpses bulldozed out of the way if they don't get a clue soon.

The tech is the least of my worries regarding ereaders, as it has been for the past five years. The Rocket Reader was more than adequate tech for the times. It was sucky marketing and greed by Goldstar that killed it. No, I don't think it's the tech that's holding ebooks back, but all the rest...the high prices of ebooks, the DRM, the geographic restrictions and the kludgy nature of the buying process (for all but Kindle).

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by harryE123

But the fact that after so long we still can't get a meagre 9.7 screen one that isn't tied to amazon to read an epub on that is a failure of the technology evolving to "focusing on the activity of reading and the people themselves.", not some wet fantasy a techie like myself might have of what they'd want a device to do.

On the one hand you say Amazon is stifling the competition; on the other you note only Amazon sells a 9.7" reader, your desired format. The reality is that these will come to market when the public is ready -- you may be, but the public isn't. If 9.7" readers were highly desired, Irex would still be prospering and Amazon would be promoting the DX heavily.

And as fjtorres notes, Kindle is an environment -- and that's the business model which will win (as Apple has aptly proven with iPod/iTunes). Why? because it meets the needs of consumers who vote with their wallets. If you don't like Kindle, watch out for Kobo: its strategy is the same -- build a great bookstore and make the content readable on many different devices.

The whole DRM thing remains a huge red herring: it has no significant impact on the vast majority of e-book buyers. Yes, Kindle e-books don't work on a Sony/Kobo; but they work on all Kindles and a variety of other devices. (Kindle ebooks can also be simultaneously shared within a family on the same account.) Books purchased for Sony/Kobo and most ePub players work just fine on that class of devices. The great majority of content is available on both platforms; and in the past three months, e-readers have dropped low enough so you can afford both a Kindle 3 wifi and a Kobo for the price of a mainstream reader in June -- giving you best of both worlds.

E-readers are gaining in popularity because they do their job well, and they are easy to operate: which includes the purchase cycle. They are a lot like HDTVs: no one wants to fiddle to alter the picture, or adjust the reception. Sure, there are Home Theatre fans -- but everyone just wants plug-n-play. The latest Kindle 3 is a marked improvement on the Kindle 2 with improved screen, more user controls, better connectivity and at half the price. All this in a year. I think things are moving along just fine.

[corona]

Sorry

...for saying anything about the truncated neologism.

[harryE123]

it's not that the public is not ready for 9.7" it's that no one can undercut amazon in the price to offer something similar because amazon is subsidising it with book sales. That's why irex went bust, it has neither amazon's clout nor it's business model, and it's in the business model. Plus, we are in a recession and already plenty of gadgets pry for attention, smart phones, ipads, gadgets of all sorts, computers...it's not easy for a single purpose book reading device. Plus someone has to create the market as per usual, the way apple does. But apple right now is killing everyone with a combines product that to some people is better than a single purpose e-reader. So if we oversimplify all these we reach the wrong conclusions.

But trust me, the market is there, and the public is ready, a decent a4 or close pdf e-reader will be a best seller in academia and people who read lots of technical articles for example.

[harryE123]

Originally Posted by corona

"Tec"??

it's not that hard to understand it's short for technology now is it.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by harryE123

it's not that hard to understand it's short for technology now is it.

No, "tech" is short for technology.

You know, a big percentage of your posts include either direct statements calling people idiots or implied ones like above...

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by corona

"Tec"??

Yeah, it is kinda annoying when people misspell words but this is an international forum so I've just learned to ignore it since there are those who are doing good to translate from their native language to English.

Curiously enough, there seem to be more people that spell in English correctly here, no matter where they are from, than on boards I'm on that have pretty much 100% participation from US citizens who were born and educated in the US. To be blunt, our educational system sucks. I see high school grduates now who couldn't pass a fifth grade English class back when I was in school (I'm 61, you do the math).

[HistoryWes]

And besides that, where is my flying car? I was promised a flying car when I grew up!

[J. Strnad]

My sentiments exactly on the flying car...and don't forget the rocket pack! What did we get instead? The internet.

Hey, you want illiteracy...check out the comments at CNN.com on any article. It'll freeze the blood in your veins.

Jan

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Hey, you want illiteracy...check out the comments at CNN.com on any article. It'll freeze the blood in your veins.

Or comments at Youtube or the IMDB.

[Fat Abe]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Yes, Kindle e-books don't work on a Sony/Kobo; but they work on all Kindles and a variety of other devices.

Most notably, the Apple Ipad, which has its own content purchase model (iTunes and iBooks). Unlike Sony, Apple allowed Amazon to port its Kindle app to the iPad, and thus a number of users have started to ditch their Kindles. But, Amazon would rather have Kindle hardware sales cannibalized than lose the huge ebook market. Apple, on the other hand, had its motives in accommodating a major competitor, Amazon. Apple's not so secret plan is to establish the iPad as the number one tablet device. Eventually when they build up their iBooks store, they will subtly steal business from Amazon by offering the same large selection of books. Don't think that this is not Steve Jobs' master plan. Look what he did with the mp3 market!

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

E-readers are gaining in popularity because they do their job well, and they are easy to operate: which includes the purchase cycle. They are a lot like HDTVs: no one wants to fiddle to alter the picture, or adjust the reception.

Not true. Users do not mind sideloading, if they can place content into their devices that is either free or not available from Amazon, Apple, etc. If that content happens to be a pdf file, I assure you that they will do a lot of tweaking with that file, to get fonts, paragraphs, and pictures displayed correctly. This dinosaur format (pdf) makes mechanics of us all. We have not reached that stage of technology where ereaders can be operated like appliances, with one button functionality.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

My sentiments exactly on the flying car...and don't forget the rocket pack! What did we get instead? The internet.

Hey, you want illiteracy...check out the comments at CNN.com on any article. It'll freeze the blood in your veins.

Jan

Yahoo.com news is just as bad. Then there are the two F-150 truck forums I visit from time to time. Talk about a bunch of illiterate rednecks with a handful of pseudoliterates tossed in pontificating pure B.S. Yeesh!

You probably remember all the wild claims for inventions magazines like Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Science and Mechanics, and Mechanics Illustrated used to make. Pretty much none of them ever materialized. They were fun reads.

Does being a flatuent geriatric count for having a jet pack?

[J. Strnad]

Does being a flatuent geriatric count for having a jet pack?

"Hoist by your own petard" are you? I don't think that counts unless you're actually lifted off your fee.