Have ereader development peaked?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Graham

Do any of the devices other than the Pocketbook 360 incorporate a G-sensor to detect when you switch to Landscape automatically?

Graham

Amazon Kindle DX. One of the first things I did was turn it off, so I don't know how well it works.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

That depends on what you consider an MP3 player to be, surely?
My iPod Touch has a lot more features than my iPod Classic.
So has the market has segmented into two:
a) Bargain basement offerings with minimal functionality
b) Multi-function devices that have absorbed the original functionality
Which sounds like what is being discussed about eBook readers too.

iPods never had some of the features of other MP-3 players - No flash card expandability, no reading non-Apple standard formats (such as FLAC or WAV), and no user replaceable battery.

Lots of these are currently being dropped from the (sic) budget basement MP-3 players, and ones like Creative Zen (which had quite good build quality) have dropped open read firmware to have Apple-like lock-in firmware.

Build quality is dropping across the non-Apple board...

I don't want to plug in a tablet to my car just to play music while I drive...

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I agree. And it's the only area of improvement that would actually have anything to do with "reading."

that's pretty much it for me as well. Give me a cream/off-white background and faster processing (for menu navigation, not page turns), and I'm good to go. Maybe a tad sharper contrast and resolution for the heck of it. Actually I kinda like the gray, too.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

The big thing that's suffered (primarily because of Apple's dominance, I think) is format support. You just don't see as many formats supported as you used to. I had an MP3 player that could play:

MP3
OGG
WMA
FLAC

And it did it all handily. You don't see a lot of devices like that anymore. Of course, some would argue that you don't need WMA, but OGG and FLAC sure come in handy. The same player not only had a radio, but it could trasmit its signal to a radio, so you could listen to your music on your car stereo or stereo at home without using wires. (This was way before Bluetooth.)

The same can be said of video support.



I think the problem is that even the high-end MP3 players don't have the features the MP3 players used to have.

that's one of the reasons the SanDisk sansa lines have quite the cult following. They offer all those formats in a shrinking market.

Best move I ever made for my ears was going from iPod to the sansa's .

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Cyberman tM

The Cool-Er EB600 used a hardware button for that - which was perfect, IMO.
I loathe devices that try to outsmart me and turn to landscape whenever I don't hold it at the perfect angle.

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Amazon Kindle DX. One of the first things I did was turn it off, so I don't know how well it works.

Thanks, both.

Yes, it would have to have a setting that allowed it to be toggled on and off, but I can see this being really useful for the sort of pdfs that I read (where there are multiple columns but also graphics or pull-out boxes that cross the page).

Graham

[Rainmaker]

Originally Posted by boswd

that's one of the reasons the SanDisk sansa lines have quite the cult following. They offer all those formats in a shrinking market.

Best move I ever made for my ears was going from iPod to the sansa's .

I had a lovely Sansa; lend it to my brother, he got robbed. Long story short i came into the same store 5 months after my 1st purchase with the exact same mp3 player.... only to get mugged/robbed 7 months later.
That was the heck of it; total denial; and well, cell phones started coming with "decent" mp3 players (currently on a Nokia 5310)

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Rainmaker

I had a lovely Sansa; lend it to my brother, he got robbed. Long story short i came into the same store 5 months after my 1st purchase with the exact same mp3 player.... only to get mugged/robbed 7 months later.

Sounds like you need this MP3 player.

[AlbertaCowboy]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Sounds like you need this MP3 player.

WOW. I want.
Why do all the fun toys have to be illegal in Canada?

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by DuaneAA

I didn't see anyone mention the feature I am waiting for - an ereader with a roll-up screen. I busted the screen on my first K3 by sticking it in my back pocket and then forgetting and sitting on it. I really would like an ereader with a cigar tube form-factor with a pull-out screen. It wouldn't have to be color or have a faster refresh rate than the current ereaders.

Duane

How about foldable? I'm thinking something the size of a Sony 650, but which could be folded in half to fit in your pocket.

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by Cyberman tM

The Cool-Er EB600 used a hardware button for that - which was perfect, IMO.
I loathe devices that try to outsmart me and turn to landscape whenever I don't hold it at the perfect angle.

the 360 allows you to turn it on or off in case you lie down etc AND with a brilliant add on from a user you can even use it to change pages just by tilting it. you can even choose the degree of tilt needed for the page turn.

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by DuaneAA

I didn't see anyone mention the feature I am waiting for - an ereader with a roll-up screen.

Duane

Originally Posted by Harmon

How about foldable? I'm thinking something the size of a Sony 650, but which could be folded in half to fit in your pocket.

This is actually why i entered the thread. Here is one way to show that ereader development hasnt peaked yet



Polymer Vision just uploaded that video last month. and Harmon- you dont have to roll it. you could "just" fold it...

[ebusinesstutor]

Originally Posted by AlbertaCowboy

WOW. I want.
Why do all the fun toys have to be illegal in Canada?

We're not allowed to have fun here - we export all our comedians to the US!

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by AlbertaCowboy

As soon as they make a Sean Connery text to speech option, I'll buy a Kindle!
"It wash the besht of timesh, it wash the worsht of timesh".
Pure magic.

That is not as implausible as you might think. Nuance, the company Amazon licenses the TTS from, does have a Scottish-inflected voice (but it is female):

http://www.nuance.com/for-business/b...izer/index.htm

I would like to see Amazon sell some of these additional 'inflections'. I would definitely buy a few of them.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by Cyberman tM

The Cool-Er EB600 used a hardware button for that - which was perfect, IMO.
I loathe devices that try to outsmart me and turn to landscape whenever I don't hold it at the perfect angle.

My 505 had a hardware button for that, too (an extra long hold on the size button). A great feature, I agree. I would probably keep my G-sensor off, too. I usually lock on my orientation on my iPad, I really don't like the shifting landscape either.

[OtterBooks]

Quite frankly ereader technology really should plateau at some point, for environmental reasons. It's a device dedicated to recreate a non-digital experience; it doesn't need keep advancing to infinity like personal computing hardware. Despite our referring to paper as 'dead tree books,' ereaders have little, if any, ecological high ground to stand on. The amount of chemicals, water, non-renewable metals and fossil fuels ultimately used to create an ereader is significant. Top that off with yet another electronic device and its battery filling up landfills.