Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book Readers > More E-Book Readers > iRex

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 01-10-2006, 02:59 PM   #16
doctorow
Guru
doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.doctorow ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
doctorow's Avatar
 
Posts: 914
Karma: 3410461
Join Date: May 2004
Device: Kindle Touch
There isn't any backlight, at least in the case of the Sony. Basically think of E Ink as regular paper; without enough light, you cannot read text on paper - and the same applies to E Ink.
doctorow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2006, 06:00 AM   #17
Peppy
Junior Member
Peppy began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 2
Karma: 14
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: Palm TX
I need a backlight as well. Without that I have no interest. Maybe they will change this in the future.
Peppy is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 01-29-2006, 11:42 PM   #18
Charles Gray
Member
Charles Gray began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 10
Karma: 30
Join Date: Jan 2006
One question I have is why is Irex being coy about the price? It's nearly february, and by this time, they would have to have the manufacturing end of things all lined up, and to be honest, the distribution and marketing end of the spectrum as well.
I don't see the reason for giving no hints on the price, unless it's a very, very BIG price. And that could kill this product-- I know a lot of people who are interested in the Sony product, but the expense even for that is a little much for them-- if the Iliad is say, 500+ American, that'll kill it right then and there.
Charles Gray is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 12:16 AM   #19
Bob Russell
Recovering Gadget Addict
Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Bob Russell ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Bob Russell's Avatar
 
Posts: 5,381
Karma: 676161
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Device: iPad
I wouldn't be surprised if iRex is >$500. They are targeting business purchases and the features are very rich. But, yeah, it will be nice to hear what one will cost us.
Bob Russell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 03:19 AM   #20
Laurens
Jah Blessed
Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.
 
Laurens's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,295
Karma: 1373
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: The Netherlands
Device: iPod Touch
I asked for a price indication and got a canned "wait until April 2006" response. My guess is 600 euros at least. Also note that the device is meant for the European market only, at least for the time being.
Laurens is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 01-30-2006, 03:32 AM   #21
Charles Gray
Member
Charles Gray began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 10
Karma: 30
Join Date: Jan 2006
Quote:
Originally Posted by Laurens
I asked for a price indication and got a canned "wait until April 2006" response. My guess is 600 euros at least. Also note that the device is meant for the European market only, at least for the time being.
Which is kinda odd-- most businesses (and small busineses might very well be interested in this) plan their purchases ahead-- so the coy nature of their price info doesn't make me tremendously confident. I could see not nailing it down exactly, but a nearest hundred euro would be a very nice price range...unless they actually *haven't* ironed all the full production bugs out.

As for the expense, I think that might hurt them, especially for non-businessmarket. Granted, this is a business market item, but the home market will eventually be much, much, larger.
I just wish I trusted Sony more on the DRM end of things-- the fact that they're being coy about the need to convert PDF's bugs me. If it's some software that basically takes your PDF in and give you a txt. only file out, forget it. I really, really wish they'd have learned their lesson with the first forey into ebooks.
Charles Gray is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 01:58 PM   #22
NatCh
Gizmologist
NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
NatCh's Avatar
 
Posts: 11,615
Karma: 929550
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3
iLiad Price

I just called iRex's U.S. Product Support line and asked for a price estimate. Today they were quite willing to give me very clear 650 euros (~785 USD), with discounts for volume purchases, of course. Ouch. All that fancy networking capability, I expect.

On all these e-ink readers, I've been thinking not backlight, but front-lighting for night time reading. Like a Lightwedge approach. They could even build it directly into the unit by thickening the screen's front plastic and running LED light into it at the edges -- that should light it quite nicely, and be fairly easy on the battery power. Even if they won't build it in, the price of a separate Lightwedge starts getting more reasonable given a set page size for (most) all of my books.

Last edited by NatCh; 01-30-2006 at 02:03 PM.
NatCh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 02:07 PM   #23
Charles Gray
Member
Charles Gray began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 10
Karma: 30
Join Date: Jan 2006
Quote:
Originally Posted by NatCh
I just called iRex's U.S. Product Support line and asked for a price estimate. Today they were quite willing to give me very clear 650 euros (~785 USD), with discounts for volume purchases, of course. Ouch. All that fancy networking capability, I expect.
Or they may not want to get into the retail end of things-- the "discounts for volume purchases" might be a sign that we'll see cheaper Illiads in general retail stores, when those chains purchase a lot of units from irex. I don't know if that's what they're going to do, but generally, if you want to get retail penetration, you don't want to make your direct sales too attractive-- no chain store will pick up a unit if they think you'll just directly undersell them.
Charles Gray is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 02:08 PM   #24
Alexander Turcic
Fully Converged
Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Alexander Turcic's Avatar
 
Posts: 18,163
Karma: 14021202
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Switzerland
Device: Too many to count here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Laurens
I asked for a price indication and got a canned "wait until April 2006" response. My guess is 600 euros at least. Also note that the device is meant for the European market only, at least for the time being.
At least you got a response. I contacted them a few weeks ago and never heard back ;(
Alexander Turcic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 02:26 PM   #25
NatCh
Gizmologist
NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.NatCh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
NatCh's Avatar
 
Posts: 11,615
Karma: 929550
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3
I didn't really expect to get so clear an aswer, actually. I was hoping for an "in the such and such range." Perhaps they just decided to admit to a price recently. I figured the worst they could do was tell me they couldn't tell me anything, so....

I share Charles' hope that retailers will pick the thing up. I can't imagine why they wouldn't, they carried those ghastly iRocket things about ten years back.

The piece they all seem to be missing is that in order to get the average consumer to use such as this (as opposed to just us technophiles) they're going to have to figure out how to get the prices down to something the average consumer will pay. iRex seems to be planning to allow their content providers to foot some of the bill for the end user, perhaps Sony will do something similar, such as offer a few free books from their service to get us started.

I can't help wondering just how fast a processor an electronic reader really needs to have. Could they not do the job with, say, a nice, cheap 286 chip? Do they really have to be heavier hitters than my desktop PC? Maybe they'll have an "econo" line in a year or two, once we early-adoptors have defrayed some of their dev costs.
NatCh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 02:42 PM   #26
Charles Gray
Member
Charles Gray began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 10
Karma: 30
Join Date: Jan 2006
Well, to be fair, a lot of the features of the Iliad seem to be aimed (as they said) at the industrial and busines smarket. For example, a big repair shop where you can shoot PDF files and such to the mechanics. The long lasting e-ink means you can just grab your illiad off the desk in teh morning, without having to worry about it dying midway through the day.
So, if you *use* those features, it's probably a much better buy. Now, for someone like me, who really just wants it for a ton of books I have on my computer, the questoins are different. I don't need the wireless features, and the "write on the file" while nice, are also not needed.
My biggest question is simple:
What sort of DRM, and.... What does the conversion process do to my pdf's? In fact, if anyone here has had a chance to play with it, at a show, any information on that would be very welcomed.
Charles Gray is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 03:07 PM   #27
Charles Gray
Member
Charles Gray began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 10
Karma: 30
Join Date: Jan 2006
Good news-- according to adobe, the sony reader DOES support full PDF:
http://blogs.adobe.com/billmccoy/200...eader_and.html
Charles Gray is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 03:10 PM   #28
Laurens
Jah Blessed
Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.
 
Laurens's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,295
Karma: 1373
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: The Netherlands
Device: iPod Touch
Quote:
Originally Posted by NatCh
The piece they all seem to be missing is that in order to get the average consumer to use such as this (as opposed to just us technophiles) they're going to have to figure out how to get the prices down to something the average consumer will pay. iRex seems to be planning to allow their content providers to foot some of the bill for the end user, perhaps Sony will do something similar, such as offer a few free books from their service to get us started.
Good thoughts. Following through with this, I'm thinking of subsidized, subscription-based pricing models, similiar to those used for selling mobile phones cheaply. For instance, if you purchase, say, a 2-year electronic subscription to The Times, you get the reader for half the price.
Laurens is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 03:25 PM   #29
Alexander Turcic
Fully Converged
Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Alexander Turcic's Avatar
 
Posts: 18,163
Karma: 14021202
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Switzerland
Device: Too many to count here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Laurens
Good thoughts. Following through with this, I'm thinking of subsidized, subscription-based pricing models, similiar to those used for selling mobile phones cheaply. For instance, if you purchase, say, a 2-year electronic subscription to The Times, you get the reader for half the price.
I remember reading somewhere that this is exactly what iRex has planned for the Iliad reader. They want to work hand in hand with a couple of mainstream newspaper agencies and offer the reader in conjunction with a e-paper subscription. I don't know if you actually *own* the device or just borrow it for the duration of the subscription, and also if you actually have to pay a one-time introduction fee.
Alexander Turcic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2006, 03:54 PM   #30
Brian
MobileRead Editor
Brian has learned how to buy an e-book online
 
Brian's Avatar
 
Posts: 447
Karma: 84
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Massachusetts
Device: Treo 700p, Zodiac2
That's exactly what I think will happen. Something along the lines of how Audible.com offers $100 off "Audible Ready" devices like Treos and iPods with a subscription commitment.

If they could knock 50% off the price with a daily subscription to a major newspaper, a monthly subscription to a popular tech magazine, and give me 2 e-book credits per month, all for $20-$30 per month, I'd buy one.

The more content you consume per month, and the longer your subscription commitment, the lower the initial price for the hardware.
Brian is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Where did you first hear about the Sony Reader or iRex Iliad? Bob Russell Lounge 47 09-11-2007 06:40 PM
Sony Reader Vs iRex iLiad - viewing figures pdam iRex 19 11-28-2006 04:45 PM
Hacks for iRex iLiad and Sony Reader round-up Alexander Turcic News 10 10-24-2006 05:43 AM
M-edge cases for the iRex Iliad and Sony Reader now available CommanderROR iRex 0 10-22-2006 03:30 PM
More images of the iRex iLiad e-book reader Alexander Turcic iRex 11 03-10-2006 01:02 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:15 AM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.