Quote:
Originally Posted by Robertb
Dear Lady Fitzgerald:
You seem to be well tuned in with the situation.
I work for a company that makes eBook Readers and has a new eBook Store( www.EZread.com). Books do break actually. I have busted a few bindings.
You are very right that devices need to be cheap, light, reliable, easy to carry, and no worry about batteries. I cannot advertise on here for my device and will not. But I can say that certain 5 inch devices weigh 5.8 ounces, fit in a clutch purse or suit jacket pocket, have user-replaceable rechargeable batteries where popping in a spare takes maybe 30 seconds, come with the protective case included, and are selling for $199 now and dropping in price. That would be with 20 formats, 36 languages, text-to-speech, SD card slot to 8,000 eBooks and your MP3, and choice of colors.
My point is not to talk about a device but to say that some device manufacturers have heard you and are indeed trying to put out exactly the device specs you name. Some will argue they want the price even lower and we are aiming there... but reading on a good 5 inch is excellent with 9 font sizes and 20 choices of font style.
You are right that all statsitics point to people over 45 being the early-adapters to eBook Readers. The young seem to not have much time for reading and never found the joy and adventure of a good book. |
Pardon me for laughing right now but your kind response struck me funny because you're preaching to the choir. I recently ordered an Astak 6" Mentor from NewEgg. It should arrive tomorrow (or so they claim; more likely Friday). They had slashed the price down to $130. Even with $2 for shipping, that's a smoking price for a 6" reader (I wasn't expecting to see that kind of price before Black Friday) so I had to go for it. If it doesn't work out, I can always send it back and go back to waiting for the technology and prices to reach points I can accept. Based on what I've read about Asteks, if it doesn't work out it will be more because I'm using PDFs that are just images of pages which won't flow and have to be viewed as is than the reader itself.
I've broken a few bindings, too (mostly older hard backs). At least they were still readable (even though it was a pain in the neck). Paper backs seem to be way more robust (unless left in the sun in a locked vehicle in my neck of the woods in summer).
I have never doubted that e-Book manufacturers are developing their product and trying to lower prices since that has been happening. I've just been waiting for the quality to increase and the price to lower to a point I find acceptable. It just may be that is now. I'll know when I get my reader in the next few days.
As far as saying it was the 45+ demographic that are the early adopters of e-books goes, I never actually said that although I have seen statistics supporting that (I'm an old fart at 61). The 45+ crowd may be the early adopters (probably because they have more money) but it's the younger generations who will make e-books and readers a success, even if they don't read as much as us old folks do (btw, both of my kids are in their midthirties and read voraciously). Traditionally, they adopt new technology more quickly than us old fogeys because they grew up with it and haven't developed the hard to break habits and attachments to older technology us older folks have. In my case, I much prefer paper books to e-book technology but I'm adopting it from necessity. I have roughly 1100 paper books that I refuse to give up but I'm moving into travel trailer in a year or two and there is no way I can cram them all in there unless I digitize them. I've already done that with my CDs and will with my old photos (I use digital cameras now, thank God) and DVDs. Pity I can't digitize my tools (Daddy was a machinist and I inherited his love of tools).