I stopped telling my friends about ebooks

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Alfy

How do I sell ebooks to my friends???

Ever since I bought a liseuse, I've been trying to sell ebooks to my friends. First, because I love to show off my newest gadget! But also because, heck, the more people have liseuses the better. But when I look how things went since I bought the device, I realise it's a tad difficult to sell it to friends, at least if I want them to remain friends… Here is how it went:

There's your problem right there in the first line of the second paragraph! If you had simply gone out and bought an e-book reader - say a Sony PRS-505, Bookeen Cybook Gen3, Amazon Kindle, BeBook or other such e-ink device, you'd have had no problem at all! But NOOOOooooo. *YOU* had to go out and buy a "l*s***e".

Now that you know what your problem is, in the name of Literature I command and abjure you to Go Forth and Sin No More!!!

Derek

[pshrynk]

I thought he could use liseuse, since he's in France?

[ahi]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

I thought he could use liseuse, since he's in France?

Nope. Linguistic imperialism knows no borders.

- Ahi

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by ahi

Nope. Linguistic imperialism knows no borders.

- Ahi

Sheesh, Ahi! Your tough!!

[jankovicgood]

Originally Posted by Alfy

Ebooks, as of now, are only easy to deal with and cheap if you live in the US (and if you own a Kindle, it's even better). For the rest of us, it's an expansive and/or complicated proposition. I've stopped telling my friends about how great my liseuse is: if they get one, I would have to spend hours with them providing support...

That was one of the reasons I haven't bought and e-reader yet. I'm still reading free ebooks in my desktop and is really anoying, but the other options are not very pleasant either.

[Elfwreck]

Cutting-edge, glitchy high-tech marketplace, suitable for (1) reading fanatics who will put up with almost anything to avoid carrying a backpack of books everywhere they go and (2) technophiles who are going to enjoy new gadgets no matter how glitchy they are.

Not so good for casual readers. Not a good replacement for comfortable reading of leatherbound hardcovers for an hour or two a couple of times a week, nor for replacing the trade paperback that lasts for a month. Good for people who are usually carrying two books with them, not so good for people who already limiting their reading to times & places where they have comfortable seating, good lighting, and quiet surroundings, unless they're well-off or retired enough that that's more than an hour a day.

In another 3-5 years, we should see useful-for-the-masses ebook readers.
Hard-to-break plastic screens. Folder support. Wi-fi, with bookmarks to a handful of free ebook sites. Color. Good ergonomics. A backup CD that will blank the drive (& memory card, if desired) and re-install the firmware. A useful instruction manual on the device itself. Compatibility with Windows, Mac & Linux. And so on.

In the meantime, the reading fanatics & technophiles get to work with troublesome devices as we try to sort out which features are important to us, which features would be important to not-us (I'm on the computer ~9hours/day as it is; wireless is unimportant to me), and which features sound good when described but aren't actually useful on a device.

And we get to try to shove that info down the throats of publishers of ebooks & makers of ebook readers. Bleh.

[GA Russell]

This thread puts into perspective the problems some of the guys who bought blue Pocket Pros are having with the paint or the battery.

I guess we all want our eBook reader to be perfect according to our own specs, and for many people there isn't one yet.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

This thread puts into perspective the problems some of the guys who bought blue Pocket Pros are having with the paint or the battery.

I guess we all want our eBook reader to be perfect according to our own specs, and for many people there isn't one yet.

yeah but those are defects when talking about the Astak Pocket Pro, not (well before now anyway) issues which one is aware of before buying that allow for a rational decision of what features any given reader has compared to other devices.

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

yeah but those are defects when talking about the Astak Pocket Pro, not (well before now anyway) issues which one is aware of before buying that allow for a rational decision of what features any given reader has compared to other devices.

Yes, they are occasional manufacturing defects with the Pocket Pro, as was Terisa's Cybook battery problem. That gives one hope that in regard to the Pocket Pro the defective units can be replaced with perfect ones.

[Alfy]

Originally Posted by lunged

I'm not sure where you and the OP are coming from. Calibre can transfer ADE eBooks to a Sony reader, can't it? I know it can transfer LRX (DRM'd BBeB files) eBook just fine. And it has worked on a Mac as long as I have known about it.

Also, the Sony eBook Library software is available for Mac now, too. Since this was posted today, I don't know what time frame you were talking about, but the Mac software has been out for a few weeks (or at least over a week) now. [oops, missed the line where the OP mentioned the Mac software]

Lastly, you were always able to load books onto the Sony Reader from a Mac. Just plug it in and drop files on it like a thumb drive. I think you may have had to register it first from a PC with the software, but as I said, there is Mac software now anyway.

Well, if you had bothered to read the post, you'd see I am talking of my experience over one year, and I DO mention things got better for the Mac recently. Jeez, I know it's a long post, but still, you could have read it all... This is a forum about reading after all!

As for why my experience has been less than seamless, I blame the publishers a lot more than Sony. First and foremost problem is simply DRMs. If publishers had agreed on a standard (and epub is getting there but there is a way to go), I would not have had such a hard time buying content. Even today, most of my content comes from mobi format. And come on, we know it is not Sony's fault there is no mobi on the PRS! DRMs, geographical restrictions, overpricing... The usual suspects on mobileread!

[Alfy]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

There's your problem right there in the first line of the second paragraph! If you had simply gone out and bought an e-book reader - say a Sony PRS-505, Bookeen Cybook Gen3, Amazon Kindle, BeBook or other such e-ink device, you'd have had no problem at all! But NOOOOooooo. *YOU* had to go out and buy a "l*s***e".

Now that you know what your problem is, in the name of Literature I command and abjure you to Go Forth and Sin No More!!!

Derek

But I did not buy a liseuse, I bought an electronic reading device! But then Zelda came and changed the world, and people over here who do not follow her command get burned on the stake...

[garygibsonsf]

I get the impression people are missing the real point of Alfy's post: it's not about Alfy's experience, it's that unless you're a book-crazed technophile who wants to read books published later than about 1900, you'd have to be crazy to buy an ereader device based on the stated experiences.

I too used to recommend the devices, but do so no longer, despite still being deeply enamoured of my Sony Reader. The immense hurdles of drm-stripping, geographical restrictions, ridiculous prices and formats compatible or not compatible with different pieces of hardware would send any reasonably sane person running unless, like many here, they might actually get a kick out of figuring out how to read the books they want to read and pay for them.

Most people I know who like to read aren't nearly so tech-minded, and they get by browsing online with a generic laptop and Internet Explorer (I'm betting the vast majority in these forums use other browsers), and their eyes are going to start glazing over the minute anyone so much as mentions file formats, let alone how to strip files, use command lines etc.

I couldn't in my right mind recommend any such machine to anyone who cared in the least about actually being able to retain copies of their purchases and still be able to read them even five years down the road, if they, like most people, have no interest in screwing around with grey-net cracking software. And let's be clear: I like reading ebooks. I like my Sony Reader. It's great. I think everyone should have one - but that won't happen until the market achieves some balance of sanity.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by garygibsonsf

I get the impression people are missing the real point of Alfy's post: it's not about Alfy's experience, it's that unless you're a book-crazed technophile who wants to read books published later than about 1900, you'd have to be crazy to buy an ereader device based on the stated experiences.

I too used to recommend the devices, but do so no longer, despite still being deeply enamoured of my Sony Reader. The immense hurdles of drm-stripping, geographical restrictions, ridiculous prices and formats compatible or not compatible with different pieces of hardware would send any reasonably sane person running unless, like many here, they might actually get a kick out of figuring out how to read the books they want to read and pay for them.

Most people I know who like to read aren't nearly so tech-minded, and they get by browsing online with a generic laptop and Internet Explorer (I'm betting the vast majority in these forums use other browsers), and their eyes are going to start glazing over the minute anyone so much as mentions file formats, let alone how to strip files, use command lines etc.

I couldn't in my right mind recommend any such machine to anyone who cared in the least about actually being able to retain copies of their purchases and still be able to read them even five years down the road, if they, like most people, have no interest in screwing around with grey-net cracking software. And let's be clear: I like reading ebooks. I like my Sony Reader. It's great. I think everyone should have one - but that won't happen until the market achieves some balance of sanity.

Technophiles? I'm sorry, but what part of having to open a cover, flip pages, find and place bookmarks, buy/build/use bookshelves does NOT require an appreciation and possibly a complex understanding of technology? Heck, just about any efficient use of information storage and transfer requires technology and advanced learning. (After all, just what do you call years of schooling in writing, grammar, syntax and reading?)

I guess real technophobes draw pictures on rock walls using charred sticks.

Derek

[pilotbob]

I don't bother trying to sell anyone on ebook readers. It is certainly a want rather than a need.

I personally don't understand why some people pay $50k for a car when a $25k one will get you were you are going just as well. But, some people want to drive a Mercedes where I am happy with a Toyota.

Some people spend $8 for a cup of coffee every day.... to me, that is a total waste of money. Heck, I don't even drink coffee at all.

I'm sure that people think I am crazy to spend $300 on an ebook reader when the ebooks aren't any cheaper than pbooks and sometimes harder to find.

That's life... to each his own.

BOb

[lunged]

Originally Posted by Alfy

Well, if you had bothered to read the post, you'd see I am talking of my experience over one year, and I DO mention things got better for the Mac recently. Jeez, I know it's a long post, but still, you could have read it all... This is a forum about reading after all!

Geeze, I must have been totally zoned out or something. The fact is, I did read it, but somehow missed the important bits. I mean, you mentioned 2008 in the first point you made.

Edit: I'm here more as a technophile than a reader. I'd love to read more than I do, and I'm waiting to get the right eBook Reader to start on my long backlog of eBooks. So file me under the technophile section. I love my gadgets!