Kindle was the first e-book reader

[HarleyB]

Originally Posted by robko

And on another note: In my opinion it wasn't the Nook or IPad that caused the price to drop - the Kobo at $149 caused the original drop in prices for all the readers which then caused Kindle to follow suit.

Certainly that was my experience. When I started thinking about ereaders I couldn't find one anywhere in Australia that I could look at or use before I purchased. I wasn't prepared to pay $300 - $500 to purchase something on the internet that I didn't even know I was going to want to use.
Then in May 2010 the Kobo was released. It was over $100 cheaper than anything else AND it was in a shop so I could try a demo model before my purchase.
Within a few months the Kindle and Nook (neither of which you can buy in a shop in Australia) dropped their prices to try and compete.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Bgalbrecht was posting *a joke*.

There has been serious academic criticism (in the sense of literary criticism) of sf since at least the 60's.

I remember the 60s.

The joke works because that attitude proloferated before the late seventies.
Had the bias against the genre not been widely and vehemently held within academia, the joke would not have been conceived, nor would it have found an audience.

There are several old threads floating around about the bias against science fiction in days gone by.

[JSWolf]

The Sony PRS-500 is the first dedicated reader with eink.

[benham]

Since I have been reading ebooks on my Palm since at least 2003, I hope Kindle is not making this claim.

[DJHARKAVY]

Originally Posted by OneandonlyDoc

If he had said "Dedicated portable ebook reader" I'd have agreed. Alas...I cannot agree because Palms and IPaqs had the ability to read ebooks long before the Kindle.

I read my first ebooks on my Ipaq around 2002 or 2003.

I started reading on my Handspring Visor with CF adapter module in the late 90s.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by Phogg

I remember the 60s.

The joke works because that attitude proloferated before the late seventies.
Had the bias against the genre not been widely and vehemently held within academia, the joke would not have been conceived, nor would it have found an audience.

There are several old threads floating around about the bias against science fiction in days gone by.

The point of my joke was that the academics were arguing the genre became legitimate coincided with the time that they started reading it, whether the genre is/was always "legitimate" is irrelevant. The same joke may very well apply to Gardner Dozois setting the date of the first eReaders to coinciding with the arrival of his eReader. I think there are plenty of ebook naysayers who have been announcing the arrival of the ebook market shortly after they've broken down and purchased one.

[taosaur]

The statement might stand if he'd interjected an adjective like "successful" or "significant," but as-is it looks like no one bothered to fact-check an assumption that could have been debunked with one google.

Whatever you think of Amazon's current business practices, you can't deny they brought coherence and widespread adoption to what had been a bafflingly stilted market. They are to e-books what Starbucks was to espresso (and decent coffee in general) in the states; they're far from the best in the market now, but the market would hardly exist without their initial success.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by robko

And on another note: In my opinion it wasn't the Nook or IPad that caused the price to drop - the Kobo at $149 caused the original drop in prices for all the readers which then caused Kindle to follow suit.

I would have to agree, though the Kindle was becoming competitively priced to Australians before the Kobo was released. The main advantage was that Kobo was available for hands on investigation and the Kindle was not.

Once the Kobo began to carve a market share, prices began to fall further.

[FatDog]

Does nobody remember the Sony Bookman that they sold in 1991? I was interested because I was doing a lot of train commuting and hitting up the local used bookstores for paperbacks back in those days.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by benham

Since I have been reading ebooks on my Palm since at least 2003, I hope Kindle is not making this claim.

Your palm was never a dedicated eBook reader.

[Dulin's Books]

dynabook 1968



ebookman 1992



rocket ebook and softbook 1998

NuvoMedia and Softbook Press removed a large barrier for ebook reading devices by being the first device manufacturers to establish content distribution agreements with publishers. Along with the distribution agreements, additional copyright protection systems were established to prevent individuals from freely distributing content across the internet.

those two were really the first "significant" dedicated ebook readers

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

The point of my joke was that the academics were arguing the genre became legitimate coincided with the time that they started reading it, whether the genre is/was always "legitimate" is irrelevant. The same joke may very well apply to Gardner Dozois setting the date of the first eReaders to coinciding with the arrival of his eReader. I think there are plenty of ebook naysayers who have been announcing the arrival of the ebook market shortly after they've broken down and purchased one.

True.

But academics of the past are always worthy of an additional barb whenever the subject comes up, since they were so self righteous.

Or I am getting old and crotchety.

Or both .

[kjk]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The Sony PRS-500 is the first dedicated reader with eink.

Sony Librie, actually.

[benham]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Your palm was never a dedicated eBook reader.

"Dedicated" does not appear in the title of the thread. The operative term was "e-book reader", which the Palm definitely is.

[OneandonlyDoc]

Originally Posted by benham

"Dedicated" does not appear in the title of the thread. The operative term was "e-book reader", which the Palm definitely is.

^ This.