" A Guide to All the New E-Readers"

[basschick]

from u.s. news
http://www.usnews.com/money/business...ers.html?msg=1

seems like once again they're throwing all these heavy, expensive or multifeatured items at the public, but at over 2 pounds or with a bright screen, they're not actually great for... well... reading.

[calvin-c]

One of the biggest problems with articles like this is their focus on 'executives'. As this says "Busy executives, for one, have smart phones and notebooks but still carry stacks of newspapers, magazines, and their own work documents". And it's true, but very few people are in this category. Designing a product for these people basically ensures it will be a niche product.

Of course some people argue that dedicated readers are a niche product anyway-and they might be right. Although I've seen studies that reading is increasing, none have convinced me in light of the large number of people I've seen entering the work force who have trouble reading. ("Here's the manual about how to operate the equipment." "You mean I've got to read all that? Don't you have a training video or something?" "No." "OK, I'll just push buttons until I figure it out, then.")

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

Of course some people argue that dedicated readers are a niche product anyway-and they might be right.

I would agree with those people. In their present incarnation dedicated eReaders only appeal to those strange, quirky people that frequent sites like this and would rather carry a book reader than a cell phone. Unfortunately to get more people to purchase them they'll need to do more than just let people read. That may be a good thing from a price of eBooks view, but it might spell the death (or significant shrinkage) of dedicated readers if the market for them is that much smaller than what most other people are buying.

[Ben Thornton]

Many many millions of people have bought Nintendo DS consoles, both for their children and for themselves. These cost a similar amount to an e-reader. In my view, some usability improvements, slick marketing, and focussed content (e.g. [in UK terms] material for children aligned to key stages) would make reader devices suddenly take off.

Advertising that said "simply install adobe, register your reader, install some freeware that's better than the bundled software, download a book at more than the paper price, install python, some extras, learn a little programming, find where we hid your download, copy to the reader - and away you go!" is unlikely to work.

[Ben Thornton]

Originally Posted by basschick

seems like once again they're throwing all these heavy, expensive or multifeatured items at the public, but at over 2 pounds or with a bright screen, they're not actually great for... well... reading.

but I agree these are too big for the mass market

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

Advertising that said "simply install adobe, register your reader, install some freeware that's better than the bundled software, download a book at more than the paper price, install python, some extras, learn a little programming, find where we hid your download, copy to the reader - and away you go!" is unlikely to work.

how true!!

[SCION]

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

Advertising that said "simply install adobe, register your reader, install some freeware that's better than the bundled software, download a book at more than the paper price, install python, some extras, learn a little programming, find where we hid your download, copy to the reader - and away you go!" is unlikely to work.

[asjogren]

When will someone make an eReader with an e-Ink like screen that allows the user to check-out, download, and read any of the books from the Public Library (Overdrive.com) and Project Gutenberg without first using a different computer or knowing anything about formats, folders, and DRM? Add to that the ability to purchase, download, and read from at least one major eRetailer (more is better).

Many of us can handle the complexity of the current environment. But, the typical buyer is not ready for the current complexity without one of us as coach and facilitator.

Until such an eReader comes to market, the eBook Reader market will be dominated by Kindle and Nook - because they make it easy for the part THEY want the buyer to do.

All of this is technically possible. It is just automating processes we already do manually.

[fugazied]

That article is a shocker!

It seems to be written by a guy who has never used a real e-reader device with e-ink. Also he puts in the JooJoo instead of the iPad? So we can assume he simply hates Apple, Sony and Amazon so doesn't want to mentioned their obviously superior devices.

[susan_cassidy]

If they are carrying around a laptop, why are they also carrying around physical documents? Many magazines and newspapers have digital editions (although often via the internet), and work documents are usually originally Word or PDF files, anyway. Seems like a lack of forethought, or something.

I'm not saying I enjoy reading on a laptop, but if you have one with you, anyway, why not use it?

[chedva]

Many of us can handle the complexity of the current environment. But, the typical buyer is not ready for the current complexity without one of us as coach and facilitator.

I'm among the latter, and even then, I can't figure it all out! I tried to use python with the instructions on a thread, and couldn't even figure out how to save the script!

All I want to do is download a book, put it on my PRS-600 and read. Is that so darned hard?