Forum Power - Before It's Too Late

[NatCh]

Hughdal, I understand, probably better than you might suspect. And if that meager offering helped, then I can only be glad of it.

[Azayzel]

I don't think Sony would drop the Reader this early in the game either, especially considering this is gen 2 following the Librie. As was pointed out earlier, embracing a more formal/universal format isn't such a bad thing considering it will result in wider adoption and grreater acceptance. Pointing to the Tiger Direct special, I think, as was pointed out, this was a 4th of July special and may have also been a way to gauge how responsive people would be to that price figure. While Sony probably spent a mint in developing the Reader, the actual costs for parts drops over time, so manufacturing costs drop and we may (read eventually) see price decreases in the consumer market. When the PSP came out it was $250, a while later it dropped to $199, and now it's at $169; the same can be said for the PS2, so we can see that Sony likes phased price changes.

I don't think the Reader is a goner for several reasons; a few are a) it's out there and you can put pretty much whatever you like on it without the Connect store, and b) it's flash-upgradable; meaning that when Sony wants to support a new format, after a bit 'o tinkering, a new update will come out and voila!

I'm happy with what I've got and I'm always the optimist, so we will see where the Reader takes us.

[aleks]

It would be very interesting to see the numbers regarding sales. Seems to me that a large quantity (10s of thousands?)has been sold rapidly in the "short" time that the PRS500 has been on the market.

Eink is here to say and will grow, we are setting the trend. The units we own are in the forefront and we as the user are performing as Beta Testers for Sony. Our units will not be forgotten.

I have no regrets with my purchase of a unit early on. Heck, it is like buying a computer, there is always something better or cheaper on the market right after you buy your PC.

[Hughdal]

I was a gizmo - gadget freak for 25 years but kind of lost the passion a few years ago when said gizmo's and gadget's didn't do much but give me 20 minutes of hope, 5 minutes of gee-wizz, dented my credit card and then ended up in my 'another useless blinking thing drawer'. So I was pretty cynical when I purchased my Reader. Well let me tell you, E-booking is so cool and 'right' that my passion is right back where it was 25 years ago. Bring em on......

Hughdal

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

I found the whole thing to be a marketing ploy 'gift to the public' on this 4th of July. I don't think we can identify any business moves from Sony by this.

I can think of one. Sony has been trying to make inroads with the mainstream publishers in order to expand the availability of content. They did a lot of face-to-face dealing with the publishing houses in setting up the online bookstore.

The larger the number of readers out in the wild, the more bargaining power they have with content providers.

[MustardJeep]

I could care less if the connect store goes up in flames or offers the library of congress next week for free download. My reader was cheap, and handles my class notes along with my rtf e-books fine and dandy.

Class notes without loose leaf going everywhere is so nice it's the only reason I bought it.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by MustardJeep

I could care less if the connect store goes up in flames or offers the library of congress next week for free download. My reader was cheap, and handles my class notes along with my rtf e-books fine and dandy.

I can't disagree. My own personal use isn't dependent on the CONNECT store, either. However, I have to keep in mind that what made the iPod take off, and what brought digital music into the mainstream, was the whole package: iPod-iTunes-iTMS. Viewed as a single product, it's a box that lets you buy music and take it with you, all packaged up.

That's the kind of thing that's most likely to get the numbers high enough for the economies of scale to tip in the direction of lower hardware prices and better participation from publishers. When Mr. and Mrs. Average Consumer can just plug in and grab the latest must-read NYT best seller or breathless bodice ripper, with zero sweat and no waiting, the market will have arrived.

[Azayzel]

Actually, what made the iPod take off was the intuitive user interface on the device and the ease of surfing around your music. There were quite a few MP3 players well before the iPod surfaced that ushered in the MP3 movement. If anything, we can thank iTunes for bringing about the pay-per-play concept and the whole micro-transactions movement to the forefront.

There are too many other sources available for eBooks to worry about Sony and their Connect store (not to mention, Sony has very deep pockets). Just wait, as more and more people see these devices in action, you'll become one of the same people as the early MP3 player adopters were (I actually had a few small players that took SD cards and were smaller than the Shuffle, that came out a year and a half before the Shuffle - and it had a LCD screen so it wasn't just random stuff playing... then there was the Rio Volt...) Cheers!

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by Azayzel

Actually, what made the iPod take off was the intuitive user interface on the device and the ease of surfing around your music.

Maybe, but I don't think so. The iPod's UI is actually one of the reasons I never bought one. (That, and no OGG-Vorbis support.) A lot of us were messing with digital music players before the iPod came out, but we were the early-adopters--audio nerds and gadget geeks--the folks who will gladly spend 12 hours fine-tuning EAC and their Plextor drives and tweaking audio codecs.

But the enthusiast market isn't a volume market.

[kelchm]

Originally Posted by KlondikeGeoff

To me, Sony's seemingly lack of interest in advertising or promoting the Reader gives me a horrible feeling that they will eventually do the same as Gemstar.

I'm a new Reader owner. And, I have to say I disagree with you. It seems to me that Sony is putting a good amount of effort into advertising the reader. I really had little interest in buying one until I saw an advert about it [I think it was in a newspaper.]

Also, as soon as I went to sony.com to check it out, the first thing I see is a big advert which says

"carry stacks of books in one hand"
"The Reader. From Sony."


So, I think that proves my point.

EDIT: Also, just want to add that I'm very pleased with my reader so far. Now I just need to develop my theory for archiving of books electronically. Could take me awhile.. took me almost a year to come up with a method I like for storing my audio collection.

My only complaint about the reader is the lack of a built in front light. I think it would have been reasonably feasible for sony to have integrated front lighting and it would have added significant functionality.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by kelchm

My only complaint about the reader is the lack of a built in front light. I think it would have been reasonably feasible for sony to have integrated front lighting and it would have added significant functionality.

Personally, I'd rather not have it built in, unless it could be done in a way that didn't add any thickness. I'm not sure any kind of edge lighting would work. As it is, I can slip the Reader into my back pocket while juggling a Venti S'buck's and negotiating the Soho sidewalks.

A clip-on works better for me.

[RWood]

Originally Posted by kelchm

I'm a new Reader owner. And, I have to say I disagree with you. It seems to me that Sony is putting a good amount of effort into advertising the reader. I really had little interest in buying one until I saw an advert about it [I think it was in a newspaper.]

Also, as soon as I went to sony.com to check it out, the first thing I see is a big advert which says

"carry stacks of books in one hand"
"The Reader. From Sony."


So, I think that proves my point.

EDIT: Also, just want to add that I'm very pleased with my reader so far. Now I just need to develop my theory for archiving of books electronically. Could take me awhile.. took me almost a year to come up with a method I like for storing my audio collection.

My only complaint about the reader is the lack of a built in front light. I think it would have been reasonably feasible for sony to have integrated front lighting and it would have added significant functionality.

Any lighting would decrease the battery life. As it is now people can go for weeks without charging.

[kelchm]

Originally Posted by RWood

Any lighting would decrease the battery life. As it is now people can go for weeks without charging.

Personally, I wouldn't mind only getting a few days worth of battery life if I could easily use it in poor lighting more easily. Using an external light is just really inconvenient in my opinion.

Front lighting was successfully used in many PDAs back in the late 90s as I recall. I think if it was implemented with a few LEDs on each side of the sceen it would provide enough lighting without killing the battery life.

[NatCh]

Part of the problem with a front light is that LightWedge's patent is ... pretty broadly written.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kelchm

Personally, I wouldn't mind only getting a few days worth of battery life if I could easily use it in poor lighting more easily. Using an external light is just really inconvenient in my opinion.

I find that in any "normal" light conditions the Reader's screen is just fine. Drastically reducing the battery life would - IMHO - take away one of the Reader's key benefits; the exceptional battery life.

Any light in which one can read a paper book, one can also read the Reader. It's a "book substitute", so that's just fine with me.