Ebook Readers discussed on Marketplace

[nekokami]

Caught this on National Public Radio (NPR) Monday night. Here's the link to a page containing text and the audio, in case you missed it.

New e-readers get a big push

E-readers allow users to read books digitally, but sales of the handheld devices have grown slowly. That may be changing as Amazon and Sony, along with some well-funded startups, push a new generation of e-readers. Mitchell Hartman reports.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/d...13/pm_e_books/

Marketplace is a daily radio program on NPR that discusses topics of economic interest.

[ProDigit]

I'm sure once the screensize (and resolution) increases with about 25-33% for the current price we'll see a lot more people finding interest in these devices!

Then newspapers and pdf files could be read comfortably.

[6charlong]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Caught this on National Public Radio (NPR) Monday night. Here's the link to a page containing text and the audio, in case you missed it.

Marketplace is a daily radio program on NPR that discusses topics of economic interest.

Thanks for the link, nekokami. It reminded me it’s time to renew my NPR pledge. I updated my RSS feeds and downloaded some recent podcasts while I was at it. I snagged This American Life. It’s quirky but good sometimes. And Fresh Air sometimes. Marketplace is often interesting and there’s a lot more to choose from.

I was downloading these and that got me thinking. Where are the good podcasts in Britain? Australia? Canada? Surely they allow podcasts to cross borders. I mean, there’s no DRM on them. I don’t know how copyrights work with podcasts though.

[Gudy]

Originally Posted by 6charlong

I was downloading these and that got me thinking. Where are the good podcasts in Britain? Australia? Canada?

I don't know about the UKoGBaNI (although the BBC surely has at least a couple of podcasts?) or Canada, but ABC Radio National has a large amount of daily and weekly radio programs on offer as podcasts, covering a wide range of topics. If that isn't enough, the list of ABC podcasts goes on and on and on.

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Caught this on National Public Radio (NPR) Monday night. Here's the link to a page containing text and the audio, in case you missed it.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/d...13/pm_e_books/

Marketplace is a daily radio program on NPR that discusses topics of economic interest.

Actually, you heard the broadcast on your local public radio station, not National Public Radio (NPR). While your station may be an affiliate of NPR, the Marketplace program is produced by American Public Media, not NPR. This is often confusing to listeners as the local stations may air shows not only from NPR, but from other networks such as American Public Media and Public Radio International (PRI). PRI is a non-profit corporation while American Public Media is owned by a non-profit that also owns several public radio stations.

Pertinent web sites:
NPR--> http://www.npr.org/
PRI --> http://www.pri.org/
American Public Media --> http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/

And Wikipedia has fairly comprehensive articles about all three.

[nekokami]

Thank you for the clarification (I guess).

[bouncy2009]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I'm sure once the screensize (and resolution) increases with about 25-33% for the current price we'll see a lot more people finding interest in these devices!

Then newspapers and pdf files could be read comfortably.

That's right.

[ProDigit]

1024x720 is a good resolution to begin with...
It also displays webpages pretty fine in landscape mode!

Unlike the netbooks equipped with 1024x600 screens. I still think they lack vertical resolution, partly due to large buttons, menu bars and the status bar on the bottom.

Unfortunately e-ink isn't used for watching HD movies, otherwise the first resolution to think about is 720p (=1280x720).
Imagine if E-ink could display HD movies in B&W?

[wodin]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I'm sure once the screensize (and resolution) increases with about 25-33% for the current price we'll see a lot more people finding interest in these devices!

Then newspapers and pdf files could be read comfortably.

Actually I want one that will fit in my shirt pocket, or at least not be too obtrusive in a holster like a cell phone.

I’ve been reading about the one with the roll up screen (the name escapes me). That would be the one for me assuming that it actually works and can render some common format, like secure Mobi.

Ah yes, that right Readius discussed here

I use my Touch cell phone when I’m not at home now, but the screen is pretty tiny and my eyes get tired easily.

[ProDigit]

Originally Posted by wodin

Actually I want one that will fit in my shirt pocket, or at least not be too obtrusive in a holster like a cell phone.

I’ve been reading about the one with the roll up screen (the name escapes me). That would be the one for me assuming that it actually works and can render some common format, like secure Mobi.

Ah yes, that right Readius discussed here

I use my Touch cell phone when I’m not at home now, but the screen is pretty tiny and my eyes get tired easily.

The one with the roll up screen had a very low resolution, in the likes of 320x240 pixels... very low. https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix