MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Sir Stringer on the Reader: "We're not making enough..."

bob_ninja · 01-18-2007, 05:08 PM

Radley,

That is your interpretation. Mine would be simply that they are encouraged with the initial feedback/sales and are now looking to expand/promote to specific market segments for which this device is especially well suited. It is the standard procedure. Many companies have been doing the same.

I am astonished how little appreciation there is for eInk (as opposed to LCDs that are dominant today). I starte at a monitor 8 hrs/day and my eyes hurt. I love meetings simply to get away from monitors, take a break. Active displays such as LCD are fantastic for the initial 1-2 hours and then eyes become very tired. Everyone needs glasses these days (although I admin there aremany factors causing eye strain).

All eInk devices are far superior to LCD based devices in terms of eye strain. Anyone reading pBooks and newspapers as opposed to LCD monitors knows this simple fact. I consider PDAs and other Reader like gadgets to be suitable replacement for short term reading, such as reading at a bus stop, checking some info, etc. but not suitable for 4+ hour reading, be it books or whatever.

LG,
May I remind you that eInk devices are only now showing up and still slowly. When Gutenberg built the 1st press we weren't flooded with pBooks the very next year!!!! Of course, eBook availability is still a significant problem and of course it will take some time to be resolved. Concordantly I don't expect every last student to switch tomorrow.

The point is that there is already a significant body of books, magazines, scientific papers and other text in electronic form. My guess that today a scientist can obtain just about any scientific paper in elctronic format. PDF documents are ubiquitous today. So there are many people who already use and work with eText that can immediately take advantage of the Reader. The majority can access only 50% or 30% or even 10% of text in electronic form. So be it.

Here is my example. I probably cannot find all books I'd like to read in the Sony format. True. However, I both need to learn new standards (RFCs and specs) and refer to them from time to time. Most are published in either TXT or PDF format. For me having a library of these docs in a Reader available at any time without lugging around massive amounts of paper is VERY USEFUL. Sure I am usually close to a PC and can lookup using it. However it would be much more comfortable to lookup and read the info on the Reader. Is it worth $350? Is avoidance of eye strain and resulting fatigue worth $350? Hell yeah.

People seem to be fixated on the trivial use case when you read 1 or 2 paperbacks. Who cares about those cases???? There are many others. In particular, Sony is smart and recognizes that students are far bigger text consumers and thus far more likely to appreciate Reader's features. There are many others. Many people deal with great amounts of info that they need to lookup/reference on a regular basis.

01-18-2007, 05:08 PM	#11
bob_ninja Addict Posts: 208 Karma: 582 Join Date: Aug 2006 Device: Zire71	Radley, That is your interpretation. Mine would be simply that they are encouraged with the initial feedback/sales and are now looking to expand/promote to specific market segments for which this device is especially well suited. It is the standard procedure. Many companies have been doing the same. I am astonished how little appreciation there is for eInk (as opposed to LCDs that are dominant today). I starte at a monitor 8 hrs/day and my eyes hurt. I love meetings simply to get away from monitors, take a break. Active displays such as LCD are fantastic for the initial 1-2 hours and then eyes become very tired. Everyone needs glasses these days (although I admin there aremany factors causing eye strain). All eInk devices are far superior to LCD based devices in terms of eye strain. Anyone reading pBooks and newspapers as opposed to LCD monitors knows this simple fact. I consider PDAs and other Reader like gadgets to be suitable replacement for short term reading, such as reading at a bus stop, checking some info, etc. but not suitable for 4+ hour reading, be it books or whatever. LG, May I remind you that eInk devices are only now showing up and still slowly. When Gutenberg built the 1st press we weren't flooded with pBooks the very next year!!!! Of course, eBook availability is still a significant problem and of course it will take some time to be resolved. Concordantly I don't expect every last student to switch tomorrow. The point is that there is already a significant body of books, magazines, scientific papers and other text in electronic form. My guess that today a scientist can obtain just about any scientific paper in elctronic format. PDF documents are ubiquitous today. So there are many people who already use and work with eText that can immediately take advantage of the Reader. The majority can access only 50% or 30% or even 10% of text in electronic form. So be it. Here is my example. I probably cannot find all books I'd like to read in the Sony format. True. However, I both need to learn new standards (RFCs and specs) and refer to them from time to time. Most are published in either TXT or PDF format. For me having a library of these docs in a Reader available at any time without lugging around massive amounts of paper is VERY USEFUL. Sure I am usually close to a PC and can lookup using it. However it would be much more comfortable to lookup and read the info on the Reader. Is it worth $350? Is avoidance of eye strain and resulting fatigue worth $350? Hell yeah. People seem to be fixated on the trivial use case when you read 1 or 2 paperbacks. Who cares about those cases???? There are many others. In particular, Sony is smart and recognizes that students are far bigger text consumers and thus far more likely to appreciate Reader's features. There are many others. Many people deal with great amounts of info that they need to lookup/reference on a regular basis.