And yet another UK Paper article: The Guardian

[LazyScot]

The Guardian has an article on page 5 about the Waterstone's launch, and another panel about some experiences with it.

The main article is a little bit light, but does indicate that the journalist was at Waterstones, and doesn't mention Apple...

The experiences article is short, and generally concentrates on the negatives, but they are mostly fair points.

[Flub]

They mention the iPod and iTunes in your first link.

[LazyScot]

Originally Posted by Flub

They mention the iPod and iTunes in your first link.

Well spotted. I read it twice and had to search to find it -- something in my brain just edited out that sentence.

[Flub]

I think they're just trying to find a reference point people can understand and identify with.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Flub

I think they're just trying to find a reference point people can understand and identify with.

Doesn't matter. They still did it and still ruined what might have been on OK article. The bit at the end about the Kindle was also uncalled for. Is it me or have we not really gotten any good articles on eBooks/readers in a while now?

[LazyScot]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The bit at the end about the Kindle was also uncalled for.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is it me or have we not really gotten any good articles on eBooks/readers in a while now?

I'd disagree. I think it is a fair comment, and a useful comparison. After all, most reader won't know (or know very much) about the Kindle. It is a key design difference between the Reader and the Kindle, and one that may matter.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is it me or have we not really gotten any good articles on eBooks/readers in a while now?

I think the various UK articles (Mail, Telegraph, Times, Guardian) are all in response to the press departments of Waterstone's and Sony pushing them. This isn't bad, but it means that the story, from the journalists' perspective is about the release of the Reader, rather than about e-books and e-book readers. Also, I suspect the articles were fairly quick turn-around, rather than a piece that would involve significant research and trying lots of devices.

It's a pity we don't have more detailed articles, but at least the visibility of e-books and their readers is being raised. And I think it pushed HSmith into their price drop on the Cybook -- which is good, so I'm not complaining!

I also wonder if all this UK publicity is making Amazon twitchy...

[Peadar Ó Guilín]

Originally Posted by LazyScot

Also, I suspect the articles were fairly quick turn-around, rather than a piece that would involve significant research and trying lots of devices.

That is definitely true. The negative points raised in the article are very valid -- I experienced all of them myself... at first. But after you've spent a few days, rather than a single hour with an e-ink device, the screen turning black is no more likely to induce a migraine than the flicking sound made by a real page.

[zelda_pinwheel]

i thought this was very interesting (emphasis mine) :

Ben, 31, was happily slumped in an armchair immersed in a copy of Piers Morgan's autobiography. "I love opening a brand-new book - I'll never read anything else - and the way the feel of it changes, page by page, as you get through it. I can't see the appeal of ebooks. Then again, when newspapers first went online I thought the same thing, and these days I only really ever read them on the internet."

jswolf, i believe that the ipod and itunes are actually a very pertinent simile when trying to explain these concepts to people who are unfamiliar to them, so i don't think the article is "ruined" by them, on the contrary, it probably will be more comprehensible to the majority of the public. i regularly use this simile to explain what is a liseuse to my friends. "it's like an ipod, but for books" and instantly they say "aaaah, NOW i understand."

the article is nothing new for those of us who already are familiar with the technology but we are the tiny minority. it explains using references people are familiar with, which is a useful method.

[JSWolf]

What I think is quite nice is that readers are getting to be more known outside the USA.