MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

Jake · 11-16-2006, 08:36 PM

You know, I'm grateful for the Reader hardware - I enjoy it more than I can say.

But in terms of software and support, historically, Sony = absolutely clueless. Really, it's almost frightening. I also would be more than glad to pay $$ for software that created great full-functioning e-books viewable on the Reader. Did all of this catch Sony by surprise? After the Reader appeared, that people would actually want to have a large selection of books available to purchase and would enjoy purchasing them via sophisticated. functional competitive software? People would actually want to create their own content that included illustrations and that could be in other languages than Western ones! It reminds me so much of the SonicStage fiasco (-remember the MiniDisc?). Great hardware. Horrible, horrible restricted, ill-functioning software. Laughable support.
Marketing .. say what?

And the ironic thing is there is a great deal of money to be made in content and content creation tools. Folks can discuss Apple and Amazon.com from here to eternity but you've got to admit they know how to market and they make a *whole lot* of interesting stuff easily available. Sony grudgingly doles out scraps of information to developers. The developers that hang around here at Mobileread are absolutely incredible - I am in awe of them, truly. I can't express that enough.

But does it have to be this hard to do some of the simple things folks are asking about? Sony is not some new kid on the block startup! Where are their development folks?
Connect is functional I guess but it could be so much better. At the very least we could all receive teaser form e-mails that said "We're working hard to correct problems, and make your book-buying experience the best in the business! We're busy adding 10's of thousands of fascinating titles for you to buy! We're forming Sony Reader clubs and creating online forums and RSS feeds... Look for the Reader on Oprah..." Sigh. Ok, ok, I'll be patient - just on a rant today I guess.

I do enjoy reading on this thing and off to go do the same after a walk....

11-16-2006, 08:36 PM	#20
Jake Renaissance Man Posts: 45 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Seattle Device: Sony Reader	You know, I'm grateful for the Reader hardware - I enjoy it more than I can say. But in terms of software and support, historically, Sony = absolutely clueless. Really, it's almost frightening. I also would be more than glad to pay $$ for software that created great full-functioning e-books viewable on the Reader. Did all of this catch Sony by surprise? After the Reader appeared, that people would actually want to have a large selection of books available to purchase and would enjoy purchasing them via sophisticated. functional competitive software? People would actually want to create their own content that included illustrations and that could be in other languages than Western ones! It reminds me so much of the SonicStage fiasco (-remember the MiniDisc?). Great hardware. Horrible, horrible restricted, ill-functioning software. Laughable support. Marketing .. say what? And the ironic thing is there is a great deal of money to be made in content and content creation tools. Folks can discuss Apple and Amazon.com from here to eternity but you've got to admit they know how to market and they make a whole lot of interesting stuff easily available. Sony grudgingly doles out scraps of information to developers. The developers that hang around here at Mobileread are absolutely incredible - I am in awe of them, truly. I can't express that enough. But does it have to be this hard to do some of the simple things folks are asking about? Sony is not some new kid on the block startup! Where are their development folks? Connect is functional I guess but it could be so much better. At the very least we could all receive teaser form e-mails that said "We're working hard to correct problems, and make your book-buying experience the best in the business! We're busy adding 10's of thousands of fascinating titles for you to buy! We're forming Sony Reader clubs and creating online forums and RSS feeds... Look for the Reader on Oprah..." Sigh. Ok, ok, I'll be patient - just on a rant today I guess. I do enjoy reading on this thing and off to go do the same after a walk....