Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Ebook reader vs iPod is a specious argument for two basic reasons:
1) Everybody listens to music. Everybody doesn't read.
2) Music is often a background activity, done while also doing something else. Reading is (and must be) a foreground activity.
Ebook readers will never achieve iPod like numbers. The market isn't big enough, and the price is unlikely to get low enough.
Of course, pointing this out to the folks who make such comparisons is likely a lost cause.
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Dennis
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Never say never. Remember, iPods and their ilk can be very expensive. The iPod Touch with 32GB costs more then a Sony Reader PRS-505 (for example). Also, we don't know what people will purchase in the future or what the eBook devices will be like. I think what is holding back eBook devices at the moment is the tower of eBable, DRM, and wildly inaccurate pricing. Once these issues are solved, I think it will pick up big time.
I have to agree it's a lost cause to compare eBook devices to an iPod. Totally different devices bought for different reasons. Yes, I know my 505 and others can play mp3/aac. But I don't use it for that. I use to to read electronic content to which it works quite well. I've tried my wife's Touch with one of the sample eReader format eBooks and while it is readable, the screen is quite small for that.