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Originally Posted by MR. Pockets
I probably am too "fanatical" in defending the definition of ereader, but I just can't stand it when someone calls something an ereader when it (arguably I know) is not.
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I understand and sympathize with the concern. But what is and is not an ereader is an evolving concept, and not everyone will mean the same thing when they use the word.
But so what? Under what circumstances does a particular user's definition of the term really matter?
What device and software the user has make a difference when a support question arises, and what device and software the user has makes a difference when questions come up about whether particular books are
available for that platform, but as long as we know what the platform is, what term the user uses to refer to it
doesn't natter.
Quote:
 BTW, what will happen to the dedicated device when low power, color, fast refresh rate screens are available? Will they morph into small tablets? Or will they simply disappear? Or maybe something else?
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If the device is intended to display ebooks, has built in software to display them (and perhaps software and connectivity to enable
getting them), what real difference does color and fast refresh bring to it?
Once reason I'm not interested in a dedicated reader is that current dedicated devices mostly don't
do color, and I need color support. Among other things, I collect illustrated editions, and have ebooks with drawings or paintings by people like Caldecott, Rackham, and Wyeth. Grey scale conversion of work originally in color is not acceptable.
Differences
are likely to arise down the road as the technology evolves. ePub, for example, is a container, and an ePub file can contain more than text. ePub files with embedded audio and video as well as text are possible, and as devices to display them evolve, I expect to see books that are explicitly intended to be multi-media productions.
Will they still be ebooks? Will the devices that display them be ebook readers?
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Dennis