The Death of E-Readers Is All Your Fault

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

But that is the total book market. It includes textbooks, coffee table books, etc.
Narrative text reading, the penetration is much higher: Romance is well over 50%. SF and Fantasy not far behind. LitFic much lower.

How important ebooks are is a function of the genre.

Those 2 genres (romance and sf/fantasy) are the home genres of a lot of really voracious readers. People who read mostly litfic read fewer books. Yeah, these litfic readers may be elite and read a lot compared to the average person, but they don't read several hundred books or more a year like voracious genre readers do.

To quote Charlie Stross:

The voracious 20-150 books/year readers are a small but significant market segment.

These people buy lots of titles. They frequently have specialized interests which they pursue in depth, and a large number of authors who, although not prominent, they will buy everything by. They frequently re-read books, and they are disproportionately influential on other customers because they enthuse about what they've read. They're particularly common in genre fiction. Previously they bought paperbacks and hardcovers from specialist genre bookstores or, failing that, from large B&N/Borders branches. They will go to whatever retailer they can find online, and they find DRM a royal pain in the ass — indeed, a deterrent to buying ebooks at all.

There is a pervasive assumption that ebooks are disposable literature. But to the voracious readers, this is not the case. Currently it's hard for many people to build up collections of books due to space constraints — nevertheless I know many SF fans (of the kind who read 50-150 books a year) who have turned their homes into libraries. They will be the tip of an iceberg once ebooks become mainstream; why discard an ebook when you can file it and come back to it in 10 years' time and it takes up no space?

These are also the people who present the ongoing market for e-ink readers (and yes, I'm one of them).

[rkw]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There's two factors which affect the capacity of lithium battery: number of charge cycles is one, but simple ageing is a more significant one. When a lithium battery is first charged, the clock starts ticking; a 3-year-old battery will typically have lost a third of its original capacity; after 5 years it'll probably be completely dead. Many people with older readers like the Sony PRS-505 or the original Kindle have certainly run into battery issues already.

Good points Harry. I think most folks really do not understand the way Li-Ion batteries work let alone how to mange them over time. Not our fault though as the device makers just do not try to help us. In fact give most all devices, well the portable kind anyway, are for all intents and purposes, disposable. Granted the Li-Ion batteries live a long time but since removing and replacing a battery is a non-trivial matter, still since these devices are far from "obsolete" once a battery needs replacing it is a shame and a waste of the natural resources many people are trying to conserve when buying a device like an e-reader.

BTW an FYI reminder, remember the K1 has a user replaceable battery. My original K1 is still running just fine with it's original battery. I bought that device when they first were released. I don't own it anymore, gave it to a friend, so I can't do a run-down on the battery but she seems happy with it. Yeeeesh, what did we pay for those original K1's, something around US$465-$495. Wow, saving money was obviously NOT the plan there, huh? hahaha.

I'm still using the 2nd gen Kindle and it too is just fine for my needs. Some day I need to un-font hack it so it can update the firmware to the last version but am in little to zero hurry there.

Well back to watching Catwoman on my KF1 because it's a guilty pleasure and the whole reason I bought a small tablet like the KF. The darn thing plays video far better than my Asus TF300T. But like my ereaders I am not going to blow funds on the new KF HD's even if they are a good tech device. Like my ereaders that original KF works perfectly well and will for a number of years yet.

I think that is the idea the article in the OP is about...do people really need to replace consumption only type devices every time a new iteration of the same theme is released? Heck no, the only thing I see new devices doing is enticing fence sitters into the fold rather than existing users to update the hardware. In-fact I see these devices becoming "free with membership" in less the 3-years when attached to the walled-garden markets like Amazon where the device is pretty much just a "Sears Catalog" (something no household was without in my younger years). I guess I see these things as part of the roadmap to smart-devices everywhere in the home, car and pocket. Maybe on that level the ereader is eventually going the way of the do-do though I just see it as evolving into an even more dedicated delivery system for what we readers need to mainline...we just need some more waterproof devices for the, ahem, "reading-room" & tub.

[Pat M]

Many people cannot afford to upgrade very often. Those who can afford to buy a new reader with every version would be an even smaller slice of the reading population

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Amazon, at least, seems innocent of making older devices obsolete.

This Kindle DXG owner would beg to differ

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by kennyc

paraphrasing a quote on my wall

"My reading no matter how transient is a dagger in the heart of ignorance."

To paraphrase Kenny's wall:

"To spend one's day twitting, no matter how transient twitting may be, is to put a dagger into the heart of intelligence."

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There's two factors which affect the capacity of lithium battery: number of charge cycles is one, but simple ageing is a more significant one. When a lithium battery is first charged, the clock starts ticking; a 3-year-old battery will typically have lost a third of its original capacity; after 5 years it'll probably be completely dead. Many people with older readers like the Sony PRS-505 or the original Kindle have certainly run into battery issues already.

A good place to buy a replacement battery is newpower99: http://www.newpower99.com/category_s/222.htm

The battery comes with a video showing how to do the replacement. If you prefer, for a fee they will replace the battery for you.

My wife loves our Sony 505 and after 4+ years, the battery is dying, so I have ordered a battery from newpower99. Except for the battery dying, the 505 is in pristine condition, even though it gets 3 to 4 hours of use nearly every day and has for the 4+ years I have owned it.

[Greg Anos]

The problem with Li-Ion batteries is they start dying (slowly) immediately after they're manufactured. A 10 year old battery, never used, will probably not work, period.

We'll see how "replaceable" these batteries are, over time. will battery manufacturer make small run of the specialized form factors? I'm not optimistic...

(My BeBook One (6") uses a Nokia cell phone battery. Sounds good, but....Nokia changed the input terminals with later phones. The new ones won't fit...even though the rest of the battery is the same form factor. Will there be batches of old connector bateries 10 years from now? That's why I wanted everything I won to use AA or AAA form factor batteries - and use ENELOOP rechargables. But no company ever built an e-ink e-reader with AA or AAA battery used. The JetBook was not E-Ink....)

[Isles8008]

I think I read somewhere that one of the reasons eReader sales have plateaued over the past year is that most eReader users get a device and then they NEVER upgrade.

I am inclined to believe this just based on the posts I read by many people here. There was a guy earlier in the thread talking about how much he loved his Sony PRS-505, but now that it is dead, he is switching to his Kindle 2. Those devices were released in 2008 and 2009 respectively, right?

Now, I understand; you find a device you love and there just isn't any need to pay more money for a slight upgrade. When Amazon released the Kindle Touch, I hung on to my Kindle 3 because the new features just weren't worth it. There isn't anything wrong with this—until everyone decides that their 2004 eBookwise 1150 is the only device they will ever need, and then eReader developers are forced to close up shop. This is a problem.

[Andy_T]

When I look at the eInk website, I can not help but notice their claim that they are willing to make a display any size, form and whatever you want.

However, when I look at commercially available e-readers, there's basically only one size and two resolutions now that the Kindle DX is no longer available.

I would certainly be interested to look at a larger-screen or higher-resolution eInk reader that was as sharp as my Kindle Keyboard (the Paperwhite I received was not, unfortunately, so it went back).

As I see that they are offering a "standard size" for e-ink Pearl displays of 9.7" with a resolution of 2400 x 1650 pixels, all I can say is "WOW! - where can I buy one?" ... http://www.eink.com/display_products_pearl.html

Best regards,
Andy

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by Pat M

Many people cannot afford to upgrade very often. Those who can afford to buy a new reader with every version would be an even smaller slice of the reading population

Also there is really no need to upgrade a reader unless your old reader is broken or has quirks that annoy you that are not in the new version, or adds new capability that you don't have yet that you want (like, say, a better way of reflowing pdfs). But mostly those upgrades don't really deliver the stuff I really want. In fact, I think that my last kindle firmware upgrade actually got rid of a function I loved, and I got that for free! without buying a new reader. Yay.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Andy_T

As I see that they are offering a "standard size" for e-ink Pearl displays of 9.7" with a resolution of 2400 x 1650 pixels, all I can say is "WOW! - where can I buy one?" ... http://www.eink.com/display_products_pearl.html

I'd pay good money for a reader with that screen! Isn't gonna happen, though. There seems to be simply no market for 9.7" E-ink readers, at least not a profitable one. Amazon has already bowed out by discontinuing the DX, Pocketbook only has VizPlex models, and the only Pearl one left is the Onyx Boox M92 (and their OEM the Icarus Excel).

The 9.7" is a niche product, with what little market there was for it eaten by cheap tablets. Alas. Like I said, I'd love me an M92 or DXG with a 2400x1650 screen, and would pay good money for it...

But there are simply not enough of us out there

[Laridae]

[QUOTE=joehunt;2369337]So there you have it. The decline of ereader sales is due to the fact that we prefer "mindless entertainment" over "cultural consumption" /QUOTE]

Well, I guess I'm part of the problem then; having bought 3 tablets in the past year, with nary a dedicated e-reader in sight.

But it seems to me that this is a faulty argument; it's not a case of "either/or" it's a matter of "yes/and"

We can still read our e-books quite nicely on the tablet and do so much more. Things change; it's a sign of the times. I don't see why there needs to be so much anguish over it. Let's just move on. And if your livelihood depends on making buggy whips, well I'm sorry.

[stewacide]

I think there is a huge market for large eink readers: the problem so far has been price point. I know lots of older folks that like HUGE laptop screens because of their ageing eyes now that such laptops are no longer a premium niche product (as they were back when the first 17" PowerBooks were launched). I also know a growing number of people, many of them in fact quite young, who have gravitated toward these huge ~5" cellphones and some who ever use +7" tablets as phones now that they are available and cheap.

I personally like screens small and high-DPI, but I think I'm probably in the minority, everything else being equal.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by stewacide

I think there is a huge market for large eink readers: the problem so far has been price point. I know lots of older folks that like HUGE laptop screens because of their ageing eyes now that such laptops are no longer a premium niche product (as they were back when the first 17" PowerBooks were launched).

Perhaps the market is there, but I don't think a lower price is possible. If it were possible to deliver a 9.7" reader for less than the price of an M92 or DXG and make a killing, I assume someone would have done it; certainly an Amazon has the clout to get the screens at the cheapest possible price point and can sell the devices at cost or even at a loss. And yet they were $349,= to the last. And at that price, people are getting tablets.

But an 'M93'/'DXG Next Gen' with one of those 2400x1650 screens, frontlight and touch? I would pay 6, 700 bucks for that, but how many would they sell?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Joykins

These are also the people who present the ongoing market for e-ink readers (and yes, I'm one of them).

It is sooo me.

But I haven't turned the house into a library; I just have a single room with floor to ceiling custom shelving. Thanks to ebooks that should suffice.
(I sure hope so.)

In my defense, I'll point out that SF draws me into a lot of areas of science-fact.