BBC's Bill Thompson Comments on the reader.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Flub

I think when people talk about wireless on the Kindle they're talking about Whispernet. How many ebooks have you bought on the Iliad directly on the device? While sat in a cafe perhaps. Mine certainly can't.

It can do if you install a web browser such as "Minimo" on your iLiad.

[Riocaz]

I think the point was that Amazon wern't the first with the idea. The fact that iRex has failed to capitalise on their device is by the by.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Riocaz

I think the point was that Amazon wern't the first with the idea. The fact that iRex has failed to capitalise on their device is by the by.

Sure - Amazon certainly weren't the first - you can buy and download books on any Windows "Smartphone", for example.

What Amazon have done is made it a slick and easy-to-use process, that you don't need to be a computer expert to use. Just like Apple did with buying music online - the iPod certainly wasn't the first MP3 player out there, but Apple brought the technology to the masses, and, with iTunes, made it easy for anyone to use.

What matters isn't being first, but being best.

[Flub]

Whispernet on the Kindle and Wifi on the Iliad are two different things. One can be used almost anywhere you can get a mobile phone signal and one can only be used at Wifi access nodes you have access too. You can't say "The Iliad did it first" because it *didn't*.

And installing a webbrowser on the Iliad is a little out of reach of normal people

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Flub

Whispernet on the Kindle and Wifi on the Iliad are two different things. One can be used almost anywhere you can get a mobile phone signal and one can only be used at Wifi access nodes you have access too. You can't say "The Iliad did it first" because it *didn't*.

And installing a webbrowser on the Iliad is a little out of reach of normal people

Even if the iLiad didn't, smartphones with web browsers have been around for years before the Kindle came on the scene, and they can certainly be used to buy books online and download them to the device.

As I said in a previous post, what the Kindle did was to make it EASY. They weren't the first, but being the first doesn't matter with something like this.

[A J Edwards]

I get the impression that commentators on eBook readers (not members of this illustrious forum) can only see as far as reading novels and classics. A great idea in itself. However, for me the real strength of an eBook reader is for technical papers, text books, and personal written material etc etc. Most professional people need a lot of reference material and text books are HEAVY. Keeping up to date requires a lot of reading and once you have the paper/document/book in one form then one can easily transcribe to another - there is a lot of software our there.

Notwithstanding the above, I still thin k that £199 for the Sony 505 is too high when one compares it with small laptop at around £165 to £185 whic can do much much more.

A J Edwards

[kesey]

Originally Posted by A J Edwards

Notwithstanding the above, I still think that £199 for the Sony 505 is too high when one compares it with small laptop at around £165 to £185 which can do much much more.

A J Edwards

The price is only too high if you tell the wife how much

Where I believe e.g. the Sony 505 scores over a laptop is
(i) superb print quality in a non-backlit machine which makes for great readability
(ii) great battery life
(iii) portability

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by A J Edwards

I get the impression that commentators on eBook readers (not members of this illustrious forum) can only see as far as reading novels and classics. A great idea in itself. However, for me the real strength of an eBook reader is for technical papers, text books, and personal written material etc etc. Most professional people need a lot of reference material and text books are HEAVY. Keeping up to date requires a lot of reading and once you have the paper/document/book in one form then one can easily transcribe to another - there is a lot of software our there.

Although I agree that the academic/technical/business use for eInk devices is potentially huge, it's a different field to that served by the devices currently on the market (with the notable exception of the iLiad). Those fields need large-screen devices, not the paperback-book size machines we have now, which are (IMHO) ideally sized for fiction reading. Having owned an iLiad, one of the reasons I sold it was the fact that it was too large to conveniently carry around with me everywhere, which I what I do with my CyBook.

Notwithstanding the above, I still thin k that £199 for the Sony 505 is too high when one compares it with small laptop at around £165 to £185 whic can do much much more.

That's very much a personal decision. For me, the £200-300 price range of the current readers is comfortably in the "impulse buy" range, and I have no regrets at all about buying any of the (many) readers I've had. They are very much in the same price-bracket as the upper end of the iPod range, after all.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's very much a personal decision. For me, the £200-300 price range of the current readers is comfortably in the "impulse buy" range, <snip>

If £300 ($527) is an "impulse buy" for you then you make alot more money than I do... or at least a lot more of what you make is disposable.

impulse buy: [SIZE=-1]Something purchased spontaneously, without planning or thought; To purchase without thinking or planning.[/SIZE]

BOb

[TheRealBillc]

Originally Posted by BlackVoid

I disagree. Its a battery drain for some minor convenience.

The issue for non tech people is not the convenience but their personal comfort level with being able to perform the actions needed to complete the task and their worry about what to do if something goes wrong. This is not a small issue if reader manufacturers really want their products to go main stream. I'd say for many "regular" people this is at least as problematic as DRM, maybe more so.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

If £300 ($527) is an "impulse buy" for you then you make alot more money than I do... or at least a lot more of what you make is disposable.

impulse buy: [SIZE=-1]Something purchased spontaneously, without planning or thought; To purchase without thinking or planning.[/SIZE]

BOb

I'm single. "Gadgets" are higher on my list of priorities than things like, say, food .

[jljones]

Originally Posted by TheRealBillc

The issue for non tech people is not the convenience but their personal comfort level with being able to perform the actions needed to complete the task

What if waterstone's provided a service where you take in your reader and they load the book(s) you're buying on the machine?

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by TheRealBillc

The issue for non tech people is not the convenience but their personal comfort level with being able to perform the actions needed to complete the task and their worry about what to do if something goes wrong. This is not a small issue if reader manufacturers really want their products to go main stream. I'd say for many "regular" people this is at least as problematic as DRM, maybe more so.

Hate to bring up the dreaded comparision to Apple, but here goes. Quiet a few people have gotten used to buying songs from Apple's Itunes stire and loading them onto their ipods. and i have to say that the majority of them tend not to be very technical inclined.

I have to admit that the experience currently is much more smooth and integrated then for any of the readers current workflow. but that is problem that should be reasonably easy to solve if taken seriously by the manufacturers.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm single. "Gadgets" are higher on my list of priorities than things like, say, food .

Lucky and unlucky you.

I am married, three kids one in college. So, for me an impulse buy is generally under $10! I have to take out a loan to put gas in my car. I only have my Kindle due to a lucky lottery win in the office pool. Last nights jackpot was $28mil, but I'm still working.

BOb

[astra]

Originally Posted by kesey

Where I believe e.g. the Sony 505 scores over a laptop is
(i) superb print quality in a non-backlit machine which makes for great readability
(ii) great battery life
(iii) portability

Well said.