MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Sony Reader questions answered by Sony Reader Team

bob_ninja · 08-22-2006, 01:21 PM

rmeister0,
Economics certainly can/will make sense, but may take some time. Consider newspapers whose lifespan is 1-5 days! The cost of paper and printing is far greater than electronic delivery to a reader, so at some point newspapers will offer significant discount for e-delivery to a reader. Books individually may be cheap, but at least half of them are thrown away and/or collect dust in the basement. There is also the hassle of storing them, etc. Depending on the number and type of books one consumes, svaing from e-delivery can add up. Once again, publishers will eventually have to pass on a lot of the savings onto consumers (from not having to print, distribute, etc.) which may not be happening right now. So it may take time.

Keep in mind that there is also tangible benefit (that has certain $ value) of having quick and easy access to a library without computers and networks. You just cannot carry around many reference volumes in printed form, but you can carry them in a reader. For some/many professions that capability alone can be worth hundreds of dollars.

I agree that the fixed battery that cannot easily be replaced is a major. If I build a library of content on it over several years then I don't want to throw it away just because I cannot replace battery!?!?! It is very annoying to say the least. There should be a fairly simple procedure to be able to replace battery.
Also not mentioned is that battery looses its charge even while device is idle. If one can turn 7500 pages on a single charge over the course of 24 hours, that doesn't mean you get the same 7500 turns over the course of 1 year for instance. Even if you don't use it at all, between 6 and 12 months battery will be mostly empty. Not a big deal.

I don't mind an "end-user friendly DRM" that enables Sony and others to make money so long as non-DRM formats are also supported. Also would be nice to have a "backup to local computer hard disk" option as I don't want to depend on any remote store 100%. Also e-books pricing has to reflect the savings. For instance, if e-book version of a novel costs about the same as printed and I don't intend to keep it for a long time, then I would still purchase paper version.

Lack of HTML support is unfortunate but I hope will be fixed in the future.

Seems like a nice gadget, even if overpriced may be worth it. Still, I may wait for version 2 if they don't fix the major problems (battery replacement). Also I'd like to ensure that built-in memory is sufficient for a decent size library.

08-22-2006, 01:21 PM	#59
bob_ninja Addict Posts: 208 Karma: 582 Join Date: Aug 2006 Device: Zire71	rmeister0, Economics certainly can/will make sense, but may take some time. Consider newspapers whose lifespan is 1-5 days! The cost of paper and printing is far greater than electronic delivery to a reader, so at some point newspapers will offer significant discount for e-delivery to a reader. Books individually may be cheap, but at least half of them are thrown away and/or collect dust in the basement. There is also the hassle of storing them, etc. Depending on the number and type of books one consumes, svaing from e-delivery can add up. Once again, publishers will eventually have to pass on a lot of the savings onto consumers (from not having to print, distribute, etc.) which may not be happening right now. So it may take time. Keep in mind that there is also tangible benefit (that has certain $ value) of having quick and easy access to a library without computers and networks. You just cannot carry around many reference volumes in printed form, but you can carry them in a reader. For some/many professions that capability alone can be worth hundreds of dollars. I agree that the fixed battery that cannot easily be replaced is a major. If I build a library of content on it over several years then I don't want to throw it away just because I cannot replace battery!?!?! It is very annoying to say the least. There should be a fairly simple procedure to be able to replace battery. Also not mentioned is that battery looses its charge even while device is idle. If one can turn 7500 pages on a single charge over the course of 24 hours, that doesn't mean you get the same 7500 turns over the course of 1 year for instance. Even if you don't use it at all, between 6 and 12 months battery will be mostly empty. Not a big deal. I don't mind an "end-user friendly DRM" that enables Sony and others to make money so long as non-DRM formats are also supported. Also would be nice to have a "backup to local computer hard disk" option as I don't want to depend on any remote store 100%. Also e-books pricing has to reflect the savings. For instance, if e-book version of a novel costs about the same as printed and I don't intend to keep it for a long time, then I would still purchase paper version. Lack of HTML support is unfortunate but I hope will be fixed in the future. Seems like a nice gadget, even if overpriced may be worth it. Still, I may wait for version 2 if they don't fix the major problems (battery replacement). Also I'd like to ensure that built-in memory is sufficient for a decent size library.