Are B/W e-ink readers becoming out of date?

[SteveEisenberg]

Being out of date is not always a negative.

I imagine the usefulness of 6 inch eInk readers for reading news could eventually decline, such as if we lost very different kinds of newspaper support provided by calibre and Amazon/B&N. It would be comparable to what happened to Palm PDA's when AvantGo.com news support died.

But it would take a lot for today's eReaders to become obsolete for reading books. There would have to be some great advance in DRM that may be technically impossible and won't come soon. And if -- and I know this is controversial -- Mike Shatzkin is right about the future of publishing, I may not want to read many books published in the 2020's.

If I live long enough, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be using the same kind of reader twenty years from now, buying good condition used devices when mine wear out.

I didn't switch from black and white to color, in movies, television, or computers, of my own will. Maybe this time I will just say no.

I've already said no to current music, although Robert Lopez isn't bad.

[speakingtohe]

If I bought the book for the pictures I would read it on a tablet or computer. Mostly my ereader emulates the paperback books I used to read pretty well. Not many had full colour illustrations. And if they did they were clumped together in a section on a different paper type that sometimes made the book a bit unwieldy.

Not saying that I would not buy a colour ereader if it was easy on the eyes and worked well, just that I do not feel a void in my life in that area.

Helen

[GeorgeH]

I can't see how color e-ink would enhance my enjoyment of books. I too read mostly fiction and other than pretty covers there isn't much that color can add to a book that is, for the most part, words.

I also prefer to have a device that is exclusively used for books and not for other media applications. Maybe I'm just a new-age luddite

[soundwaves]

I think it's all about different consumer bases, and what people need. Even if something is out-of-date, however, that doesn't mean that it's useless - just that there's something else out there to appeal to somebody else! After all, I still prefer DVDs because they have prettier cases, even though they're out-of-date compared to Blu-Rays!

I think that eink is something that's always going to be improving and adapting to the market, not something that will necessarily be phased out in favour of tablets. I really do believe that coloured eink is only just over the horizon, but even if it's not, all of the books that I read on my Kindle are simply black text on a white background, even in the paper format, with the exception of the occasional book that features a few (greyscale) maps.

So I guess I don't think that eink is going out of date - it just isn't as versatile as a lot of the current consumer market would like it to be, and that's a big technological drawback, but it's also something that "they" can always work towards improving. c:

[HansTWN]

There are two ways B/W e-ink could become obsolete for me.

1.)Color e-ink becomes so cheap that a device with color e-ink is just $30-50 more than a B/W.

2.)New display technologies make color screens so good that the same device can work equally well for reading, browsing, and video.

My guess is that B/W prices will continue to fall, so they will be around a long time. And this is not a good environment to bring expensive new display technologies to market. So we will be stuck with what we have now for a few more years, at least.

[charmian]

I don't think they're commercially non-viable, as long as they're cheaper than tablets and possess longer battery life.

I agree technology can still be around even if it is "out of date," such as calculators.

It is unfortunate that e-ink is advancing much more slowly than LCD screens, where we see many types of improvements coming to market, though. I believe eventually there will be either Pixel Qi-ish LCD screens or e-paper with high saturation color (not enough people are going to want to pay $100+ for something that looks like newsprint), but not in the near future. So far the most impressive color e-paper (not e-ink) has been Fujitsu's Flepia cholosteric LCD screen (2011 prototype): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VmCrblDMlc.

[JoHunt]

Thanks everyone for your input.

The books I purchased weren't anything special - just biographies. They are beautifully formatted and presented though. I can distinguish the color parts on my KT as a lighter shade of "grey" and it just seems as though I am trying to view a color TV program on a B/W set (hence my reference to out of date).

I guess as it stands now, my only choices are to stick with e-ink and forgo the color or switch to LCD

[WatchAdam]

Why not do both? I have a Kindle for novels and a Kindle Fire for comics and magazines. Works pretty well. A Fire or the new Google Nexus is much cheaper and lighter than an iPad and probably perfect for the few instances where color makes a difference. If you've got a Kindle already, the Fire might be a good choice since it will sync up with your existing account and you can easily decide which book you want to read it on.

[TulseLuper]

If black and white e-ink is ou of date, tell me that i´ll buy some more spares before it becomes a classic ! hehehe...

[hidari]

any real examples of good color eink? Every one i have heard of is less than steller...I have no interest in color but just curious for those that do. Black and white TV is fine for me even.

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by WatchAdam

Why not do both? I have a Kindle for novels and a Kindle Fire for comics and magazines. Works pretty well. A Fire or the new Google Nexus is much cheaper and lighter than an iPad and probably perfect for the few instances where color makes a difference. If you've got a Kindle already, the Fire might be a good choice since it will sync up with your existing account and you can easily decide which book you want to read it on.

This is what I decided to do (I don't need much encouragement to buy a new gadget ) I bought a Samsung Tab 2 7.0 because I wanted a tablet with an SD card slot.

I'm pretty impressed with it so far. I have my book app working with Calibre, so I'm all set. And yes, seeing the colored bits does add to my enjoyment while reading the book.

[Barty]

Eink is sadly not out of date. I say sadly because there's nothing better out there yet.

I want a paper sized, reflective, high contrast, print quality display I can fold up and shove in my pocket. Grayscale is fine.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Barty

Eink is sadly not out of date. I say sadly because there's nothing better out there yet.

I want a paper sized, reflective, high contrast, print quality display I can fold up and shove in my pocket. Grayscale is fine.

Nothing wrong with that, although I am good with a 5" reader for may pocket and a 6" reader forreading at home.

I am sure your wishes will be granted soon enough, but I have to consider carefully before folding up anything and putting it in my pocket. Things tend to disappear on me that way. To many pockets probably.

Helen

[WatchAdam]

Originally Posted by joehunt

This is what I decided to do (I don't need much encouragement to buy a new gadget ) I bought a Samsung Tab 2 7.0 because I wanted a tablet with an SD card slot.

I'm pretty impressed with it so far. I have my book app working with Calibre, so I'm all set. And yes, seeing the colored bits does add to my enjoyment while reading the book.

Hooray, I've helped the economy!

Glad you're enjoying the Tab!

[QuantumIguana]

Not that long ago, e-ink was the stuff of science fiction. E-ink is still a very young technology, and we'll continue to see much more advanced e-ink displays in the future.