The perfect ereader

[barryem]

I think the idea of a perfect ereader from such an imperfect system is a bit silly. What is needed is real competition. We need lots of companies who aren't trying to sell us books to try to design the perfect ereader for us. Of course they can't because there's no such thing but that way we'll get whatever we want.

That could also lead to something else that would vastly improve ereading: a universal syncing service. What if you could read on your phone using whatever app you choose, get home and read on your Kindle and then at the office read on the Kobo or Sony reader you keep there, and always begin automatically where you left off. And any of those devices could download and read any book you got anywhere. That's a perfect system and it could lead to much more perfect ereaders.

We just ain't got no competition. What we have is a lot of book sellers giving us good enough ereaders to sell us more books. They're doing a decent job of it within the limitations of the system but it's a bad system.

Barry

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by barryem

I think the idea of a perfect ereader from such an imperfect system is a bit silly. What is needed is real competition. We need lots of companies who aren't trying to sell us books to try to design the perfect ereader for us. Of course they can't because there's no such thing but that way we'll get whatever we want.

That could also lead to something else that would vastly improve ereading: a universal syncing service. What if you could read on your phone using whatever app you choose, get home and read on your Kindle and then at the office read on the Kobo or Sony reader you keep there, and always begin automatically where you left off. And any of those devices could download and read any book you got anywhere. That's a perfect system and it could lead to much more perfect ereaders.



If you look at the music industry, I can listen to my music on just about any device with no problem. I can buy music from a number of different companies, some of whom specialize in high quality Classical music, while others focus of easy of shopping and listening.

We just ain't got no competition. What we have is a lot of book sellers giving us good enough ereaders to sell us more books. They're doing a decent job of it within the limitations of the system but it's a bad system.

Barry

In an ideal world, ebook sellers would sell ebooks that couple be read on any device and they would focus on improved selling experience and let the eReader vendors focus on the reading experience. That way, everyone would have plenty of choices to find what fits their needs. Certainly we would be closer to that without DRM.

Take a look at the music industry. I can listen to my music on a wide array of devices and buy my music from a wide array of stores. I can get very high quality Classical recording from a company in Europe and can buy music from either Apple or Amazon, and play music from all three without having to worry about where it came from.

[AnemicOak]

Even with DRM there are ways we could get closer. Something similar in concept to UltraViolet or Disney Movies Anywhere (buy once, use through multiple vendors) or how a book bought from Pottermore can (or at least could, it's been years since I bought there) be populated to multiple vendor libraries.

[Wearever]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

In an ideal world, ebook sellers would sell ebooks that couple be read on any device and they would focus on improved selling experience and let the eReader vendors focus on the reading experience. That way, everyone would have plenty of choices to find what fits their needs. Certainly we would be closer to that without DRM.

Take a look at the music industry. I can listen to my music on a wide array of devices and buy my music from a wide array of stores. I can get very high quality Classical recording from a company in Europe and can buy music from either Apple or Amazon, and play music from all three without having to worry about where it came from.

Absolutely !

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Even with DRM there are ways we could get closer. Something similar in concept to UltraViolet or Disney Movies Anywhere (buy once, use through multiple vendors) or how a book bought from Pottermore can (or at least could, it's been years since I bought there) be populated to multiple vendor libraries.

We can get closer. Both Pottermore and Baen support multiple vendors. However, neither uses DRM.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

We can get closer. Both Pottermore and Baen support multiple vendors. However, neither uses DRM.

Pottermore does use DRM (watermarking), just not Adobe or Kindle style DRM. Not sure how Baen really supports multiple vendors in this sense though?

[Salgueiros]

A Sony T3 with the margin and spacing options of the Kobo.

Small bezel

NO Front light!

[theducks]

You do realize that if
anyone doe make the PERFECT e-reader,
The World will end.

(Theory comes from the short story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ni...n_Names_of_God )

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

In an ideal world, ebook sellers would sell ebooks that couple be read on any device and they would focus on improved selling experience and let the eReader vendors focus on the reading experience. That way, everyone would have plenty of choices to find what fits their needs. Certainly we would be closer to that without DRM.

Take a look at the music industry. I can listen to my music on a wide array of devices and buy my music from a wide array of stores. I can get very high quality Classical recording from a company in Europe and can buy music from either Apple or Amazon, and play music from all three without having to worry about where it came from.

Yes, I agree.
You would think that stores like Amazon and Kobo would want to be able to sell their books to readers who use other kinds of reading devices.

As for my perfect ereader - my Sony PRS-T1 has everything I want - small size, direct Overdrive library access for when I am away from my home computer, and good dictionaries - if only the dictionaries didn't lock up

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

You would think that stores like Amazon and Kobo would want to be able to sell their books to readers who use other kinds of reading devices.

Amazon wants you reading on their device/app so that when you reach the end of a book you get a helpful pop-up prompting you to purchase the next book in the series.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Amazon wants you reading on their device/app so that when you reach the end of a book you get a helpful pop-up prompting you to purchase the next book in the series.

well, I'm not buying any book in any series as long as they don't sell epubs.......

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Pottermore does use DRM (watermarking), just not Adobe or Kindle style DRM. Not sure how Baen really supports multiple vendors in this sense though?

DRM from the stand point of having to remove the DRM in order to format shift it. I have no desire to get dragged into the watermark is DRM debate. I have my own dragons to slay!

When you buy an ebook from Baen, you can download it in any of their supported formats, just like Pottermore. In addition, since they don't use DRM, you can format shift it so you can read it on whatever format you wish.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Pottermore does use DRM (watermarking), just not Adobe or Kindle style DRM. Not sure how Baen really supports multiple vendors in this sense though?

From Baen, I can download an ebook in Kindle (mobi), epub, Sony LRF, Rocket eBook, Rich Text Format, Microsoft Reader (.lit) and HTML. No DRM on any of the formats. At times, I wonder how often they have someone downloading a format other than .mobi or .epub. No problems with format shifting or editing.

They also have their Free Library which allows you to download various books -- often the first book in a series in the hopes that you will purchase more books in the series.

[cvkemp]

I am not sure there is such a thing as perfect anything. It all depends on what works for you.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

I am not sure there is such a thing as perfect anything. It all depends on what works for you.

My mom says I am.