[QUOTE=NatCh]Hmm, most folks seem to find the design pretty nice, though no-one says it's perfect.
What do you find so nonergonomic? Just out of curiousity, you understand.
Compare the Rocketbook/Reb- much more comfortable to hold, better placement of page-turning buttons.
I find the RTF option to be pretty suitable for my needs of putting my own content on my reader. Sure the PDF support is problematic, to put it mildly, but that's really more an issue with PDF's not being re-flowable. A problem, but not one that Sony really can control.
Well, is rtf a "standard?" Many times when I buy a hardcover tech book, I can download the book in pdf form because pdf is a "standard." Haven't seen any of these distributed in rtf, nor any scientific journals either....And the Connect software has crashed many times when I try to import an rtf.
As for the pricing, while I agree that it's still got a ways to go, the Publishers tell them what they have to charge, so there again, it's not really Sony's fault
I can think of one thing to do- ereader has tried it. Start offering older (not pd) books for sale at vastly reduced prices. How many publishers have books that have been out of print for years that would be willing to deal on the pricing? What I am seeing here is greed and shortsightedness. Gemstar tried this same thing several years ago, and Sony hasn't learned from their mistake.
I am waiting to see how Jinke does when they release their new reader. They understand the problems with pdf display, and know that readers want the capability because pdf has become a standard. If it's a bust, I'll probably end up buying a UPC.
BTW, I have seen statistics that the avergae person in the US reads less than 2 books per year. Avid readers are not of the mainstream. So how many books per year does the average Sony executive read? Do they truly understand their market?