01-21-2010, 10:00 AM | #1 |
Grand Sorcerer
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When will the press get it right?
I was reading an article on PC Week's website about the Kindle development quote and right at the beginning of the article we find:
"The success of the Amazon Kindle has legitimized the concept of an electronic book-reading gadget and led to an explosion of competing devices like the Barnes and Noble Nook, and the Sony Reader." I'm sorry, but the Sony Reader came out will before the Kindle. After reading a sentence like this I have to question anything else said in the article. Does anyone fact check this stuff any more? BTW: Here is the link to the article: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...n_gadgets.html BOb |
01-21-2010, 10:03 AM | #2 |
Literacy = Understanding
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Bob,
The short answer is no, no one checks anymore. Fact checking is an editorial process (and when done, it is done by a special editor) that has joined developmental editing and copyediting in the publisher discard pile. People don't realize the bad editing until they have bought/read an article or book, that is, after the publisher has already gotten your "money," so when trying to increase profits, they decrease editorial. |
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01-21-2010, 10:20 AM | #3 |
Wizard
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What rhadin said.
The problem is that the kindle is now becoming synonymous with the digital reader. Ugh. Therefore, everything must come after the kindle! |
01-21-2010, 10:31 AM | #4 |
Tablet eReader
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Bob, I think you're reading that wrong. They didn't say the Kindle came first. They only said that the popularity of the Kindle has sparked interest and acceptance of e-readers in general, thus increasing sales of other brands of readers. Sure they could have stated it better, but I did not get what you're sensing from the article.
It is much like saying the the iPhone led to an explosion of smart phones. It did. Does that mean the iPhone was first or best? No. It just means the iPhone was so popular people accepted the idea that they wanted/needed a smart phone. |
01-21-2010, 10:34 AM | #5 |
Grand Sorcerer
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I think the word "led" means came before.
But, if it means and explosion of "sales" then you are correct. But, it sounds to me that they said... Kindle LED to "new" readers like the nook and Sony Reader. That's the way I read it. BOb |
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01-21-2010, 10:36 AM | #6 |
Space Cadet
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What I get from the qoute is that the Kindle sparked the development of competing devices - implying that Sony developed their Reader after the Kindle in order to compete with the Kindle. Which is of course not true!
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01-21-2010, 10:38 AM | #7 |
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01-21-2010, 10:41 AM | #8 |
Connoisseur
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In my limited experience in dealing with the press (mostly as members of two small non-profit groups) there has always been at least one serious factual error in the article. It's admittedly a small number of data points, but the rate is 100%.
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01-21-2010, 11:15 AM | #9 |
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It would be interesting to see the sales numbers for the Sony Reader. Maybe the Kindle sparked (huh huh) an awareness and resulted in an explosion of sales for Sony, too.
The sencence that irks you is well written. It implies that the Sony came after the Kindle, but it does not actually say it. |
01-21-2010, 12:18 PM | #10 |
Wizard
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I'd also like to see Sony's historical sales numbers. I have no doubt the Kindle raised e-reader awareness but I'm curious if it was a win-win for both Amazon & Sony or just for Bezos.
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01-21-2010, 12:44 PM | #11 |
Nameless Being
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remember the Sony Bookreader
Way back in the early or middle 1990's Sony introduced a small, clamshell book reader that used the Sony MD (mini-disc) as the media type. You could buy a book on a MD and play it in the Bookreader (or whatever it was called). It had a non-backlit, monochrome display that displayed the book's text. This far outdates any eBook readers that I know of. Unfortunately, it was expensive, as were the books, and since sales never took off those of us who bought one wound up with a device that only had a few hundred books available for it initially and no new ones after a short period of time. it was typical Sony: cutting edge technology way ahead of its time, but too expensive to be successful. The screens back then were horrible and that helped to kill it as well.
On another note, it is nice to see another ham in this thread. Hi ac4lt de w5jck. |
01-21-2010, 12:52 PM | #12 |
Connoisseur
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Next you'll try and tell me that Apple didn't invent the mp3 player either.
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01-21-2010, 01:12 PM | #13 | |
exanimate ex post facto
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Quote:
now, the question is, who did... and who made the first commercial product? there's a good trivia question for the classroom better yet, the first hard-drive based product. ex |
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01-21-2010, 01:18 PM | #14 |
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Oh wow ... I have fond memories of the first iPod I bought. It was the 20Gb model and it was my present for my girlfriend (now wife). I also spent a lot of time digitizing ALL the CDs she had so as not to give her an empty device.
Hard drive based It actually made quite some noise when it was in use. So you're saying that was not the first MP3 player? Didn't Apple invent MP3 too? |
01-21-2010, 01:27 PM | #15 | |
exanimate ex post facto
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Quote:
point of fact, apple rarely [1] invents anythings. they innovate which is a fancy way of saying "late to market, but more polished" - they stand on the shoulders of the inventing types. [1] i said rarely, not never. i'm an apple fanboy too, just sip the kookaid, not guzzle it. ex |
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