MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Cory Doctorow: "Hardware ebook readers are a dead end"

majorusa · 03-09-2008, 05:01 PM

I purchased the Sony Reader because I have a lot of books in pdf format. I did this knowing the limited capabilities of this reader concerning the PDF. Still, in the decision making I considered the price and I really wanted a device to do only this: read books. That is why I refused to pay 700EURO on Iliad, a far more complex device. I like the devices that are multi-tasking, but here is a price-usage ratio. Why to pay extra features when you need only the book reader? I could see this tendency on the big It names. It is called bloat-ware. Cram a tons of features inside a products, allegedly to increase added value for the client. But I wonder how many people are actually using all the features of a product?

In my opinion, should a company will be able to devise a product with a bigger screen (sufficient to read A4 books), capable to show also colors (but it is not a must), without wi-fi, hand writing, mp3 player, video player but being able to open and refresh quickly the screen and supporting open formats will be able to sell millions of devices.

I really hate to read on the computer screen and I like to read in bed. I hate the feeling of the laptop on my chest and the heat and noise is making. That is why I paid 300 USD on the Sony Reader and thanks to the pdflrf convertor I am very happy with it.

But this is showing me another thing. The hardware reader is only a part of the job. The other part is the software and the possible future developments. Here the companies are reluctant to give control to the masses. It may end in a total new direction than the company intended. We, as consumers, are lucky though, because on the web are enough enthusiasts whose passions are producing tools to enhance some products that short minded designers created with a lot of limitations.
Will the existing readers disappear? I will answer with another question. Will e-ink as technology disappear? Since now the two are related we have an equation with two variables. And to make it more complicated, will electronic e-book stores evolve?

Only the future will tell us, but for now I am going to continue reading my book on the Sony Reader. And I am happy that I can do that.

03-09-2008, 05:01 PM	#78
majorusa Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Sony PRS-505	I purchased the Sony Reader because I have a lot of books in pdf format. I did this knowing the limited capabilities of this reader concerning the PDF. Still, in the decision making I considered the price and I really wanted a device to do only this: read books. That is why I refused to pay 700EURO on Iliad, a far more complex device. I like the devices that are multi-tasking, but here is a price-usage ratio. Why to pay extra features when you need only the book reader? I could see this tendency on the big It names. It is called bloat-ware. Cram a tons of features inside a products, allegedly to increase added value for the client. But I wonder how many people are actually using all the features of a product? In my opinion, should a company will be able to devise a product with a bigger screen (sufficient to read A4 books), capable to show also colors (but it is not a must), without wi-fi, hand writing, mp3 player, video player but being able to open and refresh quickly the screen and supporting open formats will be able to sell millions of devices. I really hate to read on the computer screen and I like to read in bed. I hate the feeling of the laptop on my chest and the heat and noise is making. That is why I paid 300 USD on the Sony Reader and thanks to the pdflrf convertor I am very happy with it. But this is showing me another thing. The hardware reader is only a part of the job. The other part is the software and the possible future developments. Here the companies are reluctant to give control to the masses. It may end in a total new direction than the company intended. We, as consumers, are lucky though, because on the web are enough enthusiasts whose passions are producing tools to enhance some products that short minded designers created with a lot of limitations. Will the existing readers disappear? I will answer with another question. Will e-ink as technology disappear? Since now the two are related we have an equation with two variables. And to make it more complicated, will electronic e-book stores evolve? Only the future will tell us, but for now I am going to continue reading my book on the Sony Reader. And I am happy that I can do that.