For how long do you intend to use your DR?

[bob_ninja]

Year ago when Cybook came out I asked this question for it:
Poll

To me when trying to justify a certain price I want to know how long a product will last. If it lasts 2x longer I can justify 2x greater price. Of course, there are many other factors. Clearly DR adds several great improvements over Cybook, hence higher price makes sense. Still, if I cannot enjoy these great features for many years then is the high price really justified?

Battery and runtime is a hot topic these days. Few times I asked about the ability to replace it, yet no simple option has been offered by anyone yet. IRex simply states that a unit must be sent to them to replace battery. Of course, I have no clue how much that costs, plus shipping costs ....

By now it is clear that DR battery works hard, is often under considerable load. We have a powerful CPU, complex PDFs to render, Wacom. I won't even talk about wireless here. Therefore chances are DR battery won't last a very long time.

While there are many factors involved, I will attempt a very rough estimates. I assume standby/hibernate are implemented bringing the current 6 hour runtime up to say 12 hours. Again, this is a rough estimate so at any point if you don't like my factors just change them and recalculate.

Medium reader = 4 hrs / day = 3 days / battery cycle
365 / 3 = 121 cycles / year

It is very hard to tell how many cycles it will last, as there are again many factors and different Lithium chemistries used in batteries. I will go with a somwehat conservative 600 cycles:

600 / 121 = 5 years

This is the typical general rule that a battery will last about 5 years. Note that DR might still function thereafter if plugged in at all times. Of course, that defeats the mobility feature.

Thus I finally come to the point. DR100S costs "US$749.00" (I am in North America). If it is expected to last only about 5 years (again try different assumptions for your own case if you don't like these) then is the cost justified?

Personally I don't mind paying more (in comparison to other cheaper readers) when I am getting significant functionality I desire that I can enjoy for a long time (10+ years). I don't like changing my gadgets too often.

Assuming iRex does support DR for 10+ years and does offer battery replacement service, it would cost me:
Bookeen charges $45 for a similar battery
Shipping I am guessing about $30
Labor ?????
Taxes ????
Total over $100 every 5 years

If I pay so much upfront for the device then I really don't like having additional ongoing costs like this.

Anyway what do you think?

[HarryT]

I think personally that in a rapidly-evolving field such as this, I'd be highly unlikely to use any device for as a long as 5 years. Something better will always come along in the mean time and tempt me away from it.

[bob_ninja]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think personally that in a rapidly-evolving field such as this, I'd be highly unlikely to use any device for as a long as 5 years. Something better will always come along in the mean time and tempt me away from it.

Then why bother even looking at DR?????
Especially if resale value will be very poor when the next buyer is faced with having to replace old battery and discovers it is not easy? In other words, does spending close to $1K every 5 years for a new eReader make sense????

I understand changing technology argument and I can see it working for smaller $300-$400 eReaders. However this one is 2x more expensive!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bob_ninja

I understand changing technology argument and I can see it working for smaller $300-$400 eReaders. However this one is 2x more expensive!

It's the same price as the iLiad. I owned an iLiad for about 9 months and then sold it, because it didn't suit my requirements. I got what I considered a fair resale price for my iLiad, as I have with all the book readers I've bought.

Do I consider spending $1k in five years on book readers "excessive"? Personally, no. I've spent considerably more than that on them in the last five years, and I consider it to have been money well spent. I spend several thousand $ a year on books, an extra few hundred a year for a reader is (for me personally) inconsequential.

[axel77]

We are all IMHO within the first 1% of the whole product lifecycle of ereaders. The early adopters as the marketeers call that. Once in a life I want to be an early adopter, (I for one am usually none, that is being pretty sceptic until a new technology becomes into wide wide use, I for one was e.g. one of the last of my friends circle to buy a cellphone, I long doubted about LCD monitors to be aboth tubes) and of course being an early adopter comes with some disadvantages... And this is the device you buy today will be old technology next year. But one day you can tell you grandchildren, I was within the first who believed in this technology and helped it to embark.

[allovertheglobe]

The option for me would have been:
"Until something clearly better comes along."
(from any manufacturer, sorry no zealous brand loyalty from me...)

[Azayzel]

I guess the way I'd define the amount of usage and lifetime for any digital device of mine is in terms of if it still does what it's supposed to do and I'm satisfied with it. Regarding digital reading devices, I'm still not content with any of the offerings out there yet pertaining to large-format media; so until one comes along and meets my demands I guess I'll keep upgrading until one does (of course I won't spend an arm and a leg for one either!). Regrading small-format media; e.g., paperback books, I'm quite content with my Sony Reader and may upgrade one more time for added features, though it's tough to justify since I'm quite happy with it now.

As for the iRex product... I'm going to need something with a bit more durability that I'm not afraid will break if I handle it wrong and something with a better energy conservation mode.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Azayzel

I guess the way I'd define the amount of usage and lifetime for any digital device of mine is in terms of if it still does what it's supposed to do and I'm satisfied with it. Regarding digital reading devices, I'm still not content with any of the offerings out there yet pertaining to large-format media; so until one comes along and meets my demands I guess I'll keep upgrading until one does (of course I won't spend an arm and a leg for one either!).

That's very much my attitude too. There was a time, for example, when I'd pretty much automatically buy each new model of iPaq Pocket PC that HP released, because each was a significant improvement. Now that device has matured, I'm happy with the one I have and I no longer do that.

Book readers are still very much at the "developing product" stage of their life, and each new generation of device does generally have something new and worthwhile to offer. I'll probably be regularly upgrading my eBook readers for the next 5-10 years. My present "requrement" is that a book reader has good MobiPocket support, but even that may change at some point if some "killer device" is released which doesn't have Mobi support.