GoodEreader says there'll be a new kobo for Mother's Day!

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by Tony1988

Jesus they aren't the devil just because they have given dates in past or device info that didn't pan out...lol....

It's not just because they have made erroneous predictions or plagiarized material that they tend to be vilified. They have swindled people out of a substantial amount of money.

Just the other day, Michael was bragging in an article about how they had received over $400,000 in funding from their Indiegogo campaign. He also claimed to have shipped out over 400 of those devices to those backers, which seems highly unlikely given the number of backers who have posted complaints on the Indiegogo page.

In July of last year, he claimed to have sold about 5000 of Good Ereader's own devices.

However, a substantial number of backers haven't received either their device or a refund as can be seen from the comments section of the Indiegogo campaign page.

Michael and Peter routinely evaded simple questions and told a number of outright lies throughout that campaign from which they received close to $400,000US.

And now they have the chutzpah to brag about how successful their campaign was while former backers accuse them of fraud... Such people are not to be trusted, and there is very good reason to keep such information in the foreground so that others are not taken in by their scams.

[barryem]

I watch some of the Goodereader reviews and they are fairly thorough but they get a lot of stuff wrong. I've seen them refer to e-ink readers backlight more than once, for example. Reviewers just have to know better than that. Over half of their reviews have at least one little mistake. Watch the other reviewers reviews and you'll catch a mistake now and then but not often.

Yes I find their reviews useful but I have a tech background and I can usually spot their wrong information and benefit from what they get right. A lot of people can't.

Watch them long enough and you'll see the problems, too. They do some good things but they're often wrong and they're pretty dishonest. The problem is that I can't give you a lot of examples because I don't follow them. I focus on the more honest blogs and just watch some of their reviews. But I do read their blog from time to time and I've been shocked by their tactics more than once.

By the way, if you're going to read Goodereader read The Digital Reader and the Ebook Reader as well and watch how often Goodereader copies those two blogs stories the next day.

Someone mentioned they even copied an April Fools joke, reporting it as fact. I have vague memories of that but I don't really recall the details. It's the sort of stuff they do.

Also when you read the other blogs and you see one have a story and the other have the same story the next day, watch how they tell where they got their information, giving the other blogs credit. That's standard procedure; something honest people do. Goodereader doesn't.

You're entitled to love and defend them if you want to. But you might want to pay attention and see how much of the criticism is true.

Barry

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by Tony1988

....But again I'm still surprised that anyone would bother even spending so much time on reviewing this stuff. I just don't think the market is there any more....

I totally disagree with the premise that the ereader market is dead. Eink readers are still the devices of choice for reading: they're easier on the eyes and less distracting than tablets or phones. Perhaps you mean that reading is dead? I think that depends upon your level of education, culture and the circles you move in. The success of Harry Potter brought lots of new readers into the fold some of whom will still be reading. Many will have a preference for physical books, but an increasing number will see the benefits of ereaders.

Rant over!

Return to topic.

[Philippe D.]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I totally disagree with the premise that the ereader market is dead. Eink readers are still the devices of choice for reading: they're easier on the eyes and less distracting than tablets or phones.

I think the majority opinion on this is that the device of choice for reading is a book printed on paper. I much prefer my ereader myself, but it looks like most people around me (including my wife, who reads a lot) prefer old-fashioned printed books.

I regularly see people in public transportation (often crowded) with an ereader, but other than that, I'm not sure the ereader is still very much in the minority (it's also hard to determine when people staring at their phones are reading books, but I'm ready to dismiss the possibility in most cases).

[barryem]

I think it's true that the e-ink ereader is a minority device. Most readers use paper. Most ebook readers use phones. A lot use tablets. Enough use ereaders that the book vendors still sell them.

It's an excellent minority device and those of us who use them tend to be a bit fanatical about them. When someone in my retirement home tells me they prefer reading on paper I tease them about their 15th century reading habits. Not that it does any good but my fanaticism has to have an outlet.

So yes, there are and will continue to be reviews.

It's a sad thing, to me, that the blogs that focus on ereaders have declined. Those that focus on reading seem to be doing well. But there are still enough good ones that focus on ereaders that it's okay. And their decline seems to have levelled out in the past year or two.

Barry

Originally Posted by barryem

I think it's true that the e-ink ereader is a minority device. ... And their decline seems to have levelled out in the past year or two.

Barry

I think "niche" is a kinder word, but other than that, I agree. E-ink readers are for that niche of users who read a lot want a device that does one thing and does it well. The levelling of the decline in sales suggests that the niche may have achieved stability.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

I think "niche" is a kinder word, but other than that, I agree. E-ink readers are for that niche of users who read a lot,ant a device that does one thing and does it well. The levelling of the decline in sales suggests that the niche may have achieved stability.

It's still a pretty large niche. As for the "decline" and leveling, I think saturation has to be considered as a major factor. Just about everyone uses a smartphone now, yet iPhone and Samsung sales are also "leveling."

Originally Posted by rcentros

It's still a pretty large niche. As for the "decline" and leveling, I think saturation has to be considered as a major factor.

Yep, I tossed up whether to write "stability" or "saturation", the former won.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

Yep, I tossed up whether to write "stability" or "saturation", the former won.

I guess that is pretty much the same thing. Sorry for missing your point.

Originally Posted by rcentros

I guess that is pretty much the same thing. Sorry for missing your point.

No apologies needed, "saturation" may indeed be more apt, especially since the most significant improvement to recent e-ink readers seems to have been waterproofing.

[ChrisHistorian76]

Originally Posted by rcentros

It's still a pretty large niche. As for the "decline" and leveling, I think saturation has to be considered as a major factor. Just about everyone uses a smartphone now, yet iPhone and Samsung sales are also "leveling."

IMO it's not just saturation, it's that consumers who purchase an ereader tend to keep them for a very long time. Unlike other products, ereaders don't have planned obsolescence. My original Kindle lasted for 6-7 years before it died. Basically, most people who want an e-reader already have one and they're likely to keep it for years. This is unlike a laptop, tablet or a smartphone where, at the very least, the battery life begins to degrade after a year or two.

I think the market has also achieved stability in large measure because the overwhelmingly dominant player (Amazon) has all but admitted they're just not interested in the e-ink device market anymore. Bezos and his Kindle team created the device to make selling e-books as easy as possible.

Since that point, Sony voluntarily exited the consumer ebook market, Borders is gone (which forced Kobo to partner with Walmart, and that doesn't seem to be going well) and B&N is a textbook example of how to screw up a corporation on a yearly basis while still not going bankrupt. There's no incentive for Amazon to innovate because companies like Onyx Boox aren't a threat.

[ChrisHistorian76]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

No apologies needed, "saturation" may indeed be more apt, especially since the most significant improvement to recent e-ink readers seems to have been waterproofing.

You're correct, but it's not the technology that's limited. It's that Amazon doesn't need to innovate. Amazon could put an Alexa speaker into a Kindle e-reader but why do so? In 2011, Time magazine reported that Amazon was working on the "Kindle Scribe." Amazon even registered domain names associated with such a device. I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon actually built prototypes, just like Microsoft built a working prototype "Surface Note" three or four years ago and a prototype Courier in 2009.

Unless Amazon gets competition in the e-book retail space again, they'll never take such bold steps. They don't need to.

Originally Posted by ChrisHistorian76

You're correct, but it's not the technology that's limited. It's that Amazon doesn't need to innovate.

I agree that innovation is largely unnecessary, and nearly said as much in my initial post. I couldn't care less about Amazon, having switched from Kindle to Kobo (who seem to be doing OK with their resellers in this Walmartless environment, btw) a few months ago, but I do feel the basic point is valid regardless of the vendor.
I'm one of the niche that is very happy to have a simple e-ink reader (now a waterproof one) that just lets me read. I have no Alexa (another Amazon-specific element) or any other similar product in my home, and never will. I have an allergic aversion to audiobooks, so don't want my reader to offer me that functionality. My Kobo is working so well for me that I now spend a lot of time reminding friends that (a) e-ink is far and away the best for lengthy reading, and (b) Amazon is NOT the only game in town when it comes to e-ink readers. The Forma is a nice example of that, even though it's not for me.

[BookCat]

With a so-called ageing population (the figures are scewed by infant mortality being included in the 'average') I believe the ereader will become more popular because of the ability to control font size

PROVIDED

that the companies keep making them, and improving on them. For example, the use of very large font would be best on a larger format reader. There does seem to be a current tendency for ereaders to be getting bigger, as in the larger Kobos and Kindles. But I hope they don't leave behind those of us who prefer compact readers, 6" and hopefully 5".

I have a very old Sony prs 505, which still works, but is very greyed out, so I rarely use it. My PW2 works just fine, but I would love to purchase another reader if the makers, preferably Amazon or Kobo, made either a 5" reader with a frontlight, or a 6" reader with reliable (no bleed) warm light AND TTS (through corded headphones) and also included an SD slot. Also, the ability to add and customise custom fonts. Last, but not least it should be waterproof (this doesn't matter much to me, but would to others.)

I'm sure this would sell well if priced reasonably.

The manufacturers are making a mistake. Ereader sales may have plateau'd, but this is temporary. Two new generations of ereader users are on the way: those young people who prefer them to paper books and phones; and older people who need large font but can't afford books printed with it.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by BookCat

...I would love to purchase another reader if the makers, preferably Amazon or Kobo, made either a 5" reader with a frontlight, or a 6" reader with reliable (no bleed) warm light AND TTS (through corded headphones) and also included an SD slot. Also, the ability to add and customise custom fonts. Last, but not least it should be waterproof (this doesn't matter much to me, but would to others.)

...and I want a pet dinosaur and a laser gun!

TTS, headphone jack and SD card are gone and are unlikely to come back.

An e-ink reader doesn't have to be a Swiss Army gadget or a phone, but with a worse screen.

The SD card would be nice, but that doesn't seem to play well with the also desired waterproofing. Internal storage has been bumped up to an average of 8GB with 32GB available. For ebooks, that seems to be plenty of space. Yeah, PDFs and comics are pretty big, but those seem better suited to a tablet anyway.

Audiobooks are also a mostly pointless addition to an e-ink reader. They are handled better on phones/tablets/laptops. If Amazon didn't own Audible and have a vested interest in cramming audiobooks down your throat, the Kindle's audiobook capability wouldn't make sense.

I do suspect the next batch of 6" readers will have both color-changing frontlight and waterproofing. Those both seem popular and have appeared on multiple devices, but for the most popular sized e-readers, it's an either/or choice right now.