Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Alert
Duality. For many years I bought hardback after hardback until my shelves groaned under the weight.
Then I planned to relocate to a much smaller RV and full time in it. Certainly no place for all my books.
Along came the Sony PRS-500. So from then on, I bought only eBOOKS. Lets face it, you can store a ton of books on a single DVD.
As far as what bothers me is the reporting of Ereaders by mainstream press. You would think from their articles that the Kindle was the origin of Ereaders. They never seem to mention that the Sony preceded the Kindle and I know there were others that preceded the Sonys. I just don't know their names.
Ralph
|
It's annoying but important to remember that this happens during the emerging public awareness of basically every single important technological advance. I mean, look at iPod and iPhone. In both cases you'd think nobody had seen an MP3 player before, or a smartphone before.
It's just a matter of when that technology becomes relevant to consumers. Sony can take pride, assuming ereaders really take off in a meaningful way (they haven't yet though everyone predicts they will,) in the fact that they were "there" for years before the surge.
But, to be fair, Sony isn't doing a single thing to make themselves stand out from their competition. They are sticking with the same aged software with slight updates to their line. It's the same mistake they made for years in the MP3 player market while Apple dominated them on marketable merits and ease of use, despite not being technically superior.
Amazon has made the Kindle popular by adding free network access. That's the big deal with the Kindle. I have been watching tech for a long time and I never expected that from a company like Amazon. No strings attached. It's impressive and warrants attention. But yes, it does give the perception that they were the first. What's really important to remember is that they aren't the last. In fact, in my opinion, the entry of Barnes and Noble into this market is far more interesting because this is one of the very oldest booksellers, and a company that consistently outsells Amazon on books specifically over the last couple years or so. Such a formidable entity making an entry validates the market to investors and more conservative consumers.
So while, right now, people will wrongfully give Amazon credit for starting this trend, down the road you'll probably have even more confusing reporting about how Barnes & Noble is the progenitor of the market or some nonsense like that. Yay media! Yay non-critical sheepish masses that produced this "media!" heh