Quote:
Originally Posted by Eutychus
I think current devices will fade away as happened with the last generation of ebook readers. But I do not think ebooks and readers will go away. Eventually the price of the reader will be low enough that it will be a convenient and cost effective way to distribute text books and reference works.
Whether it is a good idea for you to buy at this time really depends on whether you have the money and interest to buy the gear and deal with the hassles of getting the books you want on the reader and then doing the reading on the device. I don't think the mythical "typical" consumer would find it worth the money or effort. Regardless, there will be an adequate market along the way to continue to develop the eReaders and ebooks.
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I definitely agree with parts of this. At the current pricing and with the current format restrictions, we're a far cry from universal adoption. And I definitely will not be surprised to find myself replacing my Cybook as completely outdated in two years.
Having said that - I think we're in a real upswing finally. I used to own a rocket ebook and - nobody had even heard of it. And those that saw it were kind of 'meh' about it, with the feeling that they could see why *I* wanted one, but didn't really want one themselves.
Or people who saw me reading on my pda or my smartphone and whose main reaction was 'that's cool, but I could never read on such a small screen'.
On the other hand, with my Cybook, I've had half a dozen people ask me to send them the information on how to get it or ask me question after question about ebooks, formats, how they work. I know of at least 1 person that's planning on buying one and several others that are still trying to justify the price but absolutely wants one - or the Sony or Kindle.
And some of the positive reactions are from people who, when they found out I had ordered one, were very much in the "I could never read on a device, it'd be too annoying/I'd miss the feel of books' camp.