Has Sony lost the e-book battle against Amazon?

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by Alisa

Maybe Sony would do well to get a lock on customers some other way. I wonder if they could make a go of romance subscriptions.

I really hope they don't lock us into their store because they have some serious issues with the way they format their ebooks. Not sure why they can't get them to look nice on the reader.

I also agree that genre fiction readers are overlooked.

I also agree that romance readers make up a large portion of the book buyer market. However, I think it's kind of like the pot calling the kettle black, for sci-fi/fantasy readers to make fun of romance readers...None of these genres is considered high art/literature by universities or critics.

[jerryleejr]

Ok I have been out of the loop a bit but I will try and get back on topic, I have said since joining this board that this should not be a device war. There is plenty of room in the market for all the devices to exist, What this should really be about is a Format war once a universal standard is accepted it will then be up to the manufacturers to entice the masses with the features of their device over that of another. I think that Amazon has hands down beat Sony on the marketing Front, but I believe it is yet to be seen on the Sales front. What I would like to see in the future is if a Universal format emerges regardless of which device supports it, All the others should release a firmware update to make use of the adopted format. Everyone has their own reasons for purchasing the device they have. Lets not get into a mine is bigger contest because of it.


JJ

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

It depends on your audience. Ask a twenty-something male if he'd rather read about the attributes of Miss August.

Then ask a sixty-something male the same question (about a well written account). The wonderful thing about books is that one's own imagination comes into play. Many twenty-something males (of today & maybe always) seem not to have very good imaginations. Maybe it's lack of personal experience.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by lisreed

Well I see from the replys on list list is is ok to insult and mock people. Excuse me for posting. I didn't know romance readers had no right to read books and not be laughed at. I have read a lot of sci fi and fantasy that isn't all that well written but thats ok.

And ecuse THE HELL OUT OF ME for saying the SONY had too many buttons, I see buttons numbered all along plus 2 sets of controls plus installing software. Yeah the average paperback reader is going to give up reading paperbooks for that.

lisreed, you will find that for some people, the very mention of sex equates to porn. Remember the US Supreme Court Justice who said, "I may not be able to define it but I know it when I see it." For some, love scenes (or sex scenes) in a book make it porn, for others it just makes it more "life like".

Just forget the "porn" is a four letter word. "Love" is too, as is "this" and "that". Go with the "flow" as you see it and enjoy reading.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Seems to me the book clubs ought to be getting into this, but when I wrote to Science Fiction Book Club a year ago, they didn't seem interested. That might be a good avenue for Sony or another vendor, though. (Astak, maybe?)

I agree & you'd think the "SciFi Book Club" would be out in the forefront of technology. I wish they would start with ebooks. I'd consider rejoining.

[jakewastaken]

I think Sony would fare far far far better to focus on their hardware rather than the books.

Not merely as many iPods would sell if you could only use iTunes bought music on it.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I really hope they don't lock us into their store because they have some serious issues with the way they format their ebooks. Not sure why they can't get them to look nice on the reader.

I think lock was a bad choice of words on my part. I think they've done well for customers by opening up the formats they support. I think they'd do well to give customers a reason to regularly use their store like Amazon has, not force them to use it. There are other ways to buy books for a Kindle but Amazon has made it really attractive to use their store through convenience. Apple did that with iTunes, as well. It's not your only choice but it's an easy choice. If Sony wants to stay in content, then they need to give people a good reason to use their store rather than someone else's.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by lisreed

I also have to wonder with kindle being a sucess, how long will they bother to keep mobipocket around.

That's an amazingly short-sighted viewpoint, given the fact that 95% of the world's population can't buy a Kindle. MobiPocket, on the other hand, sell world-wide. Amazon would have to be crazy to do anything other than promote the MobiPocket market all that they can.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I also agree that romance readers make up a large portion of the book buyer market. However, I think it's kind of like the pot calling the kettle black, for sci-fi/fantasy readers to make fun of romance readers...None of these genres is considered high art/literature by universities or critics.

I haven't seen anyone "making fun" of romance readers on this thread. Just the opposite - people have said that romance is the #1 bestseller fiction category!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I also agree that romance readers make up a large portion of the book buyer market. However, I think it's kind of like the pot calling the kettle black, for sci-fi/fantasy readers to make fun of romance readers...None of these genres is considered high art/literature by universities or critics.

Are you intimating that other people don't take sci-fi and fantasy seriously?

No, MR members by and large do not pick on romance readers/writers OR sf/fantasy readers/writers. And yes, we are pretty much in the same boat, so there's no point to picking on each other.

In fact, if those two (three?) groups could get together on common ground to take to e-book publishers and reader makers, they could make up a pretty good-sized segment of the reading public. Respected or not, lots of readers is lots of readers, and nothing for a publisher to sneeze at.

[Milarepa]

I have skipped a few pages of the thread (at 12 pages I just don't have the strength) so I apologize if I am bringing up something that has already been discussed, but it seems to me that no discussion about the merits of the Sony Reader could be complete without mentioning the value that Kovid Goyal's Calibre program adds to the reader. It seems to me that if Sony wants a shot to stay competitive they need to contact Mr. Goyal and start packaging his software with the device. I am a Mac user, but because of Calibre I haven't had any compatibility issues, admittedly I have used parallels from time to time if there is something I really want from the sony store, but over all the added value to the PRS readers is huge because of Calibre.

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I haven't seen anyone "making fun" of romance readers on this thread. Just the opposite - people have said that romance is the #1 bestseller fiction category!

It was just a vibe I got from some earlier comments which pretty much equated romance novels with porn. Having read both, I can say there is a BIG difference between the two.

Someone also mentioned hentai but can't recall how that got worked in the conversation...however thinking about it there probably would be a lot of money for whoever bundles those types of mangas and sells them for the ebook reading population. Okay at this point, it's rather frustrating that no one sells manga (not just Hentai) for the Sony PRS-505 in a format that is actually readable. Not sure how the Kindle is doing on that front.

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Are you intimating that other people don't take sci-fi and fantasy seriously?

Sadly, I think most people don't take these genre's seriously at all. but on this forum it seems like most readers read genre books.

In fact, if those two (three?) groups could get together on common ground to take to e-book publishers and reader makers, they could make up a pretty good-sized segment of the reading public. Respected or not, lots of readers is lots of readers, and nothing for a publisher to sneeze at.

It's just a shame we don't get to read stuff like Midshipman's Hope in English Lit instead of books written over 100 years ago.

[lisreed]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's an amazingly short-sighted viewpoint, given the fact that 95% of the world's population can't buy a Kindle. MobiPocket, on the other hand, sell world-wide. Amazon would have to be crazy to do anything other than promote the MobiPocket market all that they can.

Well it happens to be something I have read quite a few places on why the kindle has mobipocket books but changed the format. Once they go international. I didn't say it would happen tomorrow. Once place I read it was implying this would eventually happen and its bad for devices like the Cybook to be so mobipocket dependent. Don't know if it will happen, not sure I care if it does but I do know that Amazon is getting quite a bit of books to be in kindle only format. I think its mainly publishers who in the past haven't been interested in formating ebooks. Soho Press is an example. I have found they have started having kindle books, but not mobipocket books as of yet. A few of my favorite mystery writers are published through them.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

It was just a vibe I got from some earlier comments which pretty much equated romance novels with porn. Having read both, I can say there is a BIG difference between the two.

Someone also mentioned hentai but can't recall how that got worked in the conversation...however thinking about it there probably would be a lot of money for whoever bundles those types of mangas and sells them for the ebook reading population. Okay at this point, it's rather frustrating that no one sells manga (not just Hentai) for the Sony PRS-505 in a format that is actually readable. Not sure how the Kindle is doing on that front.

If you can download manga in CBR/CBZ form, its trivial to read on the SONY reader.