Quote:
Originally Posted by Poppaea
This is not correct. None of these persons had a Sony PRS-X50 with a touchscreen, they are former 505 owners. For someone coming from a now seemingly heavy device with buttons to a more lightweight device with buttons there is not a big step to make, but for those who had a Sony PRS-X50 it will be very hard to step back to this cheap button only technology.
Here are the threads mentioned: Former Sony boy and ...now...Kindle owner
Also you might be interested in this thread. It is about where one shops. Kindle owners shop at Amazon, everyone else complains there is no multiple choice in this poll... now do your own math. |
While, I'm not too keen about being sucked into this little drama fest, I just can't seem to let some of these assumptions go by without any challenge.
You suggest that someone who selects a device with low tech and inexpensively produced physical buttons has not had enough exposure to devices with high tech and expensively produced touch screens. Given that a prs-350 and a Kindle 3 are roughly the same price (at least within the U.S.), why do you suppose a current Sony customer would not elect to upgrade to what you view to be a superior piece of technology?
From your post, I gather that you believe that this choice is based on a fear of change, and that the only/primary reason someone would reject a touch screen is because they are attached to buttons. However, with touch screen technology becoming more and more ubiquitous, this assumption that another person's consumer choice is based upon lack of exposure is a bit insulting. While I love the touch screen on my iPod, I simply found the responsiveness of e-ink to be a bit too sluggish in comparison. Along with a user interface that is IMO cumbersome and non-intuitive, the Sony just left me cold; even though, I had been initially attracted by the possibility of writing directly on the screen. After testing out the Kindle, classic Nook, and Sony prs-350, I found the Kindle to be the more enjoyable and user friendly of the three.
As for your conclusion that Kindle users only buy books from Amazon, I suppose that's true for many people. Although I have yet to purchase any ebooks from Amazon--my favorite authors are all in the public domain, so I've been downloading my books from MobileRead along with a few free downloads from Baen--I will probably do so at some point in the future. When I purchase pbooks, Amazon is the first place that I look, so it stands to reason that I'll go there first for ebooks as well. On the other hand, if Google Books has a better price on an ebook, I can always use the Kindle's browser to read it. While the lack of library support is disappointing, especially given the fact that my local library system has one of the largest ebook collections in the country, my personal reading habits (i.e. reading multiple books at the same time) simply do not fit with two week checkout periods.