[KlondikeGeoff]

What do you think the Amazon Kindle means for the Sony Readers?

I'll tell you what I think it will mean. First, let me say, as I have on these forums before, that I had (and still have and use) the old Rocket eBook. It had many features such as dictionary, annotation, search, etc that Sony did not bother with for some odd reason, but Kindle has incorporated.

It may not look as sleek as the Reader, but it will "read" the same with loads of extra neato features, such as the wireless download, keyboard, six sizes of type, etc.

Now, back to poor old Rocket eBook, which started life as an RCA device, and then was acquired by Gemstar, British publishers of "TV Guide." It was heavier and thicker because it had backlighting and a touchscreen, but otherwise was a great device, years before Sony got into the field. One terrific thing for people for vision problems was that you could download any two fonts and point sizes that was on your computer, and really get large print books that way. Also, you could adjust the brightness in several steps as well as the contrast, read from all four directions, reverse the page-foward page-back buttons, and more.

All in all, it was a wonderful device. Like the Reader, every time I was in a doctor's office, a store, or an airport reading it, invariably somebody asked what it was, and when they saw, they thought it was way cool. Several of my friends bought them after seeing mine. You could also buy and download books from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Their Librarian software was excellent too.

So, Gemstar in their infinite wisdom finally announced that they were discontinuing it because they were not selling enough of them.

You may not be surprised by this, as they absolutely NEVER ever advertised or promoted the availability of their eBook, so obviously, nobody knew about it except by word-of-mouth, or somebody happening upon one in a store.

Now, I was very disappointed by that, but I kept downloading enough PG free books to keep me going, and still use it when want to read at night or in a dark place.

When Sony announced the forthcoming Reader, I sent an email asking to be on their list when it came out, and they did, and when it was released, was one of the first to buy it. It is great, and I love it, despite the fact that they had left out so many features that the eBook had years ago. And despite the horrendous, stupid Connect website.

Also, I am chagrined and appalled to see that Sony seems to be following Gemstar's idiotic policy of keeping it pretty much a secret. If they advertised it at a tiny fraction of the amount they do for their other consumer products, there would be a quantum jump in sales, but for some unknown reason, they don't seem to want to. Very mysterious.

I therefore predict, that even if they change their minds and start promoting, it is far too late to compete with the power that Amazon.com can exert in promoting the Kindle. They may keep it going on a tiny scale, but it will never compete with Amazon's ability to do business on a vast scale. I hope it continues, and I will keep mine, but expect will get a Kindle after it has aged a bit and/or the next version comes out.

Alas, poor ol' Sony will never be able to catch up to Amazon. I hope I'm wrong, but doubt it.