09:26 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

Avid readers may have noticed a couple of changes @ MobileRead today: We're expanding our forums. What's new?

• Detailed Subcategories for the iRex iLiad and the Sony Reader
• Section for e-book reader newbies
• Section to discuss future e-book devices
• Section to discuss the Sony LIBRIe
• Flea market where MobileReaders can buy/sell/trade
• Some minor changes.

Throughout this weekend we will be moving old posts to the appropriate new sections and subcategories.

If you have any comments on the new forum layout, shoot!

10:14 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

There is a lot of speculation about the potential for success for failure of the Sony Reader. Let's face it, nobody really knows yet. Many of us hope for the best because we want to see e-book devices succeed. We are especially excited because the Sony Reader is the first e-book reader that has a really great display, at a somewhat reasonable price, and not only has the backing of a major electronics company, but also has an associated store with easily obtained content.

For Sony to be successful, it needs to be able to get past those that are eager to get one before it's really even introduced very much to the world. It needs to get past the rich, the tech lovers and the curious. It has to reach a base of regular people who like to read.

Experts already give four primary reasons why the Sony Reader will be a niche player and not reach the mainstream readers:

1. The price of $350 is a steep up-front investment when paper books cost nothing up-front.

2. There is no backlight

3. The e-ink display may be gorgeous, but page turns are slow, and it also restricts the interface functionality.

4. The Sony Connect store uses a DRM'd format controlled by Sony, and therefore without a huge discount on books, people will avoid the Reader.

Those are very convincing reasons on paper why success will be limited. They are hard to argue, because they are so self-evident. In fact, they are rock solid, and I don't even dispute that they will affect adoption. So why am I so upbeat and optimistic about the Reader? Simple, and here's why:

The Sony Reader provides a wonderful book reading experience that will win hearts away from paper books. Period.

I can tell you even by my limited reading opportunities already that for me there is no comparison. I can never go back. I love being able to choose the font size, and being able to get big print if my eyes are tired. I love the way it seems to have a calming effect on my eyes. I love the way I can lay it down and touch a button to turn pages, instead of having to handle that paper book and get hand cramps.

I'd rather read on this device than paper so much that for books only available at the Sony onine store, I would gladly buy DRM'd books for the opportunity to read them on the Sony Reader. And that takes into account the fact that I hate DRM'd e-books, and know they may or may not be available for me to read in the future if I switch reading platforms. But I realize that for now, it's the necessary evil if publishers are going to make the e-books available. It's not ideal, but that's basically the status quo. And until something changes significantly, it's what we live with (or protest against!)

To get that great reading experience and that compact and convenient form factor, people will find that it's worth the "evils" of DRM and prices that seem way too high. Book reading is an investment in one's self. We pay the price for golf clubs or tennis rackets or health club memberships. People are going to be a lot more willing to invest in their mental health than we give them credit for. We can complain all day that prices are too high and DRM is bad, but bottom line is that it's still a great option if the book reading experience is better.

Some will disagree vehemently with me on this, but I expect a lot of people will agree with me. It will be interesting to see, as devices start arriving, if others agree about this after using the Reader. I think that the more time one spends with the Reader, the more people will like it. It's not the sort of product that is going to be tried for a few minutes in a store and win hearts, but then disappoint them after they actually read a book. To the contrary, once they actually read a book on it, I think they will be hooked. And then the Sony Connect store is going to be like their best friend. We'll have to wait a while to see if this is true, but that's the way I see it.

Sony will ultimately have to share the market to some degree with competitors, but the opportunity is there for them to dominate in this new product category. Let's see if they can.

There will always be a thousand reasons why the Sony Reader will fail. And there will be just as many reasons that the device isn't perfect. But the simple bottom line is that the quality of the book reading experience will trump them all. Watch and see!

09:24 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

I was about to borrow my friend's microcassette voice recorder the other day when it occurred to me that the Treo microphone should be better at picking up meetings, interviews or conversations than previous generations of PalmOS devices. It might just be an upgrade from that recorder I was going to borrow.

After a little investigation and experimentation, I found that Call Rec works great on my Treo 700p, and the microphone actually picks up the sound better than the old fashioned microcassette recorder. In addition, I always have it with me, and it can also record calls, for example if I ever do a phone interview. It also works very simply as a voice memo application to record spoken notes to myself.

The application requires a Treo 650 or Treo 700p smartphone with memory card, and gives you these features:

* Adjustable one button recording.
* Adjustable recording sample rate.
* Direct saving to the SD card.
* Playback recorded files.
* Rename recorded files.
* Select and delete multiple files at once.
* 5-way navigation button support.
* Sort recordings by file name or by duration
* Share your recording with others by IR port, Bluetooth or e-mail
* Automatically record all your incoming and/or outgoing calls
* New, better and more user-friendly interface
* Transfer your recordings to PC with CalRec Conduit

If you have a Treo and a recorder, maybe it's time you consolidate.

02:20 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

Has anyone noticed that the Sony Reader has a funny "Q-like" symbol on it at the bottom, and on the cover? Nobody seems to have mentioned it yet, probably because it's subtle in pictures. But it's actually pretty obvious in person.

It could simply be an odd "E" for eReader. It could be a Q for something like "Quality Reader". Or maybe it's a reference to Q, the technology guru in James Bond movies?!

Let's have a little fun with this. Here's my question... can anyone make up a great story for what the Q "should" mean?

(If you don't know what I mean, take a look at the bottom of this picture, for example... Picture with the "Q".)

09:44 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

This week Sony sent a seismic shocker (a good one) across the e-book landscape when they finally announced the launch of the Sony Reader. And apparently they've grossly underestimated demand for they were now forced to push back US shipments to mid-November.

Sony, cannot you see the hungry masses here?

Related: Poll: How many Sony Readers were sold the first day?

09:27 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

There have been a lot of reports that the launch of the Sony Reader has been very successful, and that already the first batch of readers available on the SonyStyle web store is sold out. According to the web store, new orders will be shipping in mid-November.

Our reader, Greg G, has indicated after talking with a Sony customer service rep, that the rep told him on Tues 9/26 that "they had around 130 ready to ship and that there where around 50 left as of 2:30pm EST. They also told me that the retails stores would not be getting any for a couple of weeks." But unless Sony is different than every other company in the world, the information that is provided casually this way by a customer service rep over the phone is frequently wrong. It may not even be intentional, as it might be that they are just looking at local numbers, or they may be misinterpreting a number that is shown on a customer service computer screen, or it might have been incorrectly passed to them in the hall, etc. Or.... it could be right!

So my question for the poll is how many you think Sony sold on the first day? Let's say the first 24hrs after selling started. The web store started taking orders sometime very early in the morning of the 26th. Do you think 130 is the right number, or does that seem remarkably small for a major product rollout from Sony, even as a first run?

Use the comments in this thread for discussion, of course, because that's the most fun part!

By the way, I don't know the number, so this is purely for fun. Sony is unlikely to ever announce the number publicly.

07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

It seems Taiwan-based panel maker Prime View International (PVI) is the first to benefit from the launch of the Sony Reader. The company which acquired Philips' e-paper unit in 2005 and offers various ODM/OEM services to develop E Ink-based products has shipped nearly 10'000 e-paper kits in August, and mainly to Sony, says DigiTimes.

Currently, PVI is the only e-paper supplier for Sony, according to market sources. The strong shipments in August boosted PVI's revenues in August to NT$1.074 billion, up 72% from NT$624 million in July, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE).

Beside Sony, PVI also delivers displays to Jinke Electronics ("Hanlin eBook V2"), Amazon ("Amazon Kindle) and various other e-reader clients.

05:10 PM by Alexander Turcic in More E-Book Readers | iRex

While we've chattered ad nauseam about the Sony Reader these days, we don't want to forget that the iRex iLiad is an attractive alternative for any respectable geek. However, despite its superior screen and connectivity, the iLiad still lacks the ability to display DRM-protected e-book content, which is a deal killer for many of us. Well, unless publishers suddenly decide to abandon DRM. Nah, only in dreams.

So MobileRead editor Roland "CommanderROR" is calling for action to address the lack of commercial content delivery for the iLiad device. If not being able to read commercial e-books on your iLiad without breaking various laws leaves you a little unsettled, join the discussion and help us to find a working solution. And by solution I don't mean holding iRex developers captive in a dingy jar.

Regrettably, I failed to mention that the photo is under CC Attribution-NonCommercial 1.0, and that full credits go to Fred Benenson. It was shot during an anti-DRM protest at the Virgin Megastore on East 14th Street, NYC. If you're into cool photos check out Fred's Flickr stream.