So for now, I’ll keep reading my eBooks on my Treo with eReader and Mobipocket.

For those who don’t like reading on a PDA – try it with the brown screen and cream text. Very easy on the eyes, and much easier to read in bed without disturbing your partern with the bright backlight.

You say it should be a multi-function device? I don’t need no stinkin’ multi-function device. I don’t listen to music when I read. My phone has all the wi-fi I need. And why in creation would I want the ability to one-click purchase books wirelesly through my Reader? That way lies trouble of the “kid-in-a-candy-shop” variety. If I had any will-power, wi-fi might be nice, but I don’t, so, Thanks for watching my back, Sony!

What I need is a lightweight reader with a long battery life to take the place of the several pounds of print-outs and books I lug to and from my classes. It’s an ergonomics issue. Yes, the price is still high, but with my reading load it will save money in the long term, and it will save me some back pain. I can not wait until this device comes out.

Really, I can’t wait. My back is killing me…

***I think the real winner of the ebook “chase” is going to be the company who makes their device available around the world. With mass market prices at anywhere from $20-$30 or more in countries like New Zealand and Australia, if a company can make an ereader accessible to people there, it would actually be cheaper for the avid book reader (TM Keishon :P) to buy a dedicated ebook device so they can download a $5-$10 dollar ebook, rather than paying the outrageous prices in their local bookstore.***

I would love it if there were more device options available in New Zealand – I guess the market is too small! The ridiculous price of mass market books here is what eventually led me to eBooks (and the fact that I don’t have the ability to ‘share’ books and therefore have books returned to me in a less than satisfactory condition). Having the ability to buy eBooks has opened me to a huge number of authors that I would never have discovered otherwise. I love being able to carry my library around with me. I definitely spend more money now than when I bought paperbacks, especially when the exchange rate is more favourable for me.

‘Cause I’m doing what I can:

1. Keeping abreast of the news, talking about it, opening the door of digital to the other corners of the internet I inhabit,

2. Buying ebooks about as fast as I can get Roboform to drop my cc numbers into the forms,

3. Making my voice heard to the right people with regard to things that can be bettered.

I’d sure like the evolution to go faster, though. Just today I wanted to get Sara Reinke’s books Dark Thirst (#1 in series) and Dark Hunger (#2 in series), but guess what? Dark Thirst isn’t available in E and Dark Hunger is #2 in a series and I so am not going to leap-frog a series. (And unfortunately, something has gone awry with #3.) Since this was today’s ebook misadventure, I haven’t gotten around to contacting Kensington about it, but I was not a happy camper, so you can bet I will.

In any case, I think the push is going about as well as can be expected, particularly with publishing being the lumbering behemoth that it is. I don’t know what more can be done at this point by us regular joes, except to preach the Gospel of Digital.

Let me know what I can do and I’ll do it! ;)

I agree that we are moving forward in the ebook industry and clearly publishers seem motivated to promote digital initiatives. I am just wondering if we are doing enough.

I’d certainly agree that the iPhone isn’t “niche” — I see other folks with those all the time, even in small-town Tennessee, but for all I know, I could be the only schmuck in Jackson that has a Reader. (shrug)

I very much want to see e-reading catch on just as you do, and for mostly the same reasons. It ain’t there yet by a long shot, but there’s a lot more movement now than there was even three years ago, and most of it has to do with e-ink. The publishers are a dinosaur industry, and it takes a while for genuine consideration of new concepts to penetrate those tiny little hind-brains of theirs. :(

They are starting to come around, though, Sony had five fairly big ones (Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Harlequin, and Penguin) represented at their event last week. There’s some reason to hold onto hope. :)

(reference on the publishers: http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/sony-reader-prs-700-part-one/)

It seems that until ebooks are less a niche item (and I would argue that iPhones aren’t niche) and more mainstream, my needs as an ebook reader won’t be met.

I’m an early adopter and will be buying another ebook reader probably within the next twelve months but I do think that there needs to be some kind of low priced entry level device for readers who are interested but don’t want to yet take the plunge with a high priced device. (another note, the PRS500 was never an entry level device in my opinion. It was the first generation of the Sony Reader and was replaced with the PRS 505. The PRS 505 is still sold by Sony Reader along with the new Sony PRS 700. Given that the SONY PRS 700 is the more expensive and feature rich of the two, I figure that the PRS 505 is considered “entry level” by Sony).

Seriously though, you’re not far off on the LCD display idea for bottom, bottom end devices. There are several reflective LCD displays that aren’t much harder on the eyes than e-ink, but the trade-off there is of course, battery life. Same goes for laptops, but you get to add in weight. At 10 oz. and ~3 weeks of use per charge, the PRS line makes a pretty solid case to those who are focused on those points.

There’s some good news on the e-ink front. One of the things that came out of the news Event on October 2nd is that there are now multiple companies licensed to make e-ink, instead of only one: PVI. There’s about to be some competition in the area, which should serve to drive the cost of the displays down … as much as they can be driven, of course. (shrug)

As for those who’ve expressed the view that what they already have works fine for them: excellent! The important bit is that each person find something that works for them. And if it’s something already mainstream (as most of these other methods seem to be) then surely those methods are in no wise threatened by the advent of these e-ink readers, are they? :)

Don't any of you find it curious that the price for e-book readers keeps increasing? It's been my experience with electronics over the years that the first couple of generations with new technology the prices are fairly high. Then it begins to come down. This has been true for everything from DVD players to cell phones to iPods. Why does the price of e-book readers keep going up?

One factor is that e-readers are, effectively, still in the “first couple of generations” of the technology. New functionality is still being added, and the population using these devices is still tiny. In that sense, e-readers aren’t like DVD players; they’re like iPhones. The new iPhone has more functionality; the device came down in price, but the service plan went up: net increase in cost. And that’s after Apple has sold 10 million iPhones worldwide–massive for a niche device, but nothing compared to the phone market.

I have no idea what sales are like for e-readers, but they’re probably still in the phase where they’re hoping to milk the consumer surplus. Early adopters are willing to pay high prices; the seller wants to balance the price with the number of buyers so the price can come down and still bring in a profit. The chicken-and-egg question is when the price comes down: early to lure more buyers, or later after finding more buyers.

That’s all for conventional self-contained goods, though. For a media device, I wonder if the math could work to make the device itself a loss leader for book sales. I’m sure that’s the case for the Kindle because Amazon profits from both device and content; I’m not sure whether other e-reader-makers can pull off the same math.

start yourself a subscription service. Either a reasonable monthly fee (like 10 or 15/month) or a yearly subscription (maybe a hundred bucks) gets you an e-reading device and either a monthly or yearly amount of included ebooks at a proprietary store to start you out, or a subscription to an electronic mag/news service, *along with* the ability to purchase additional ebooks and e-articles from any store in just about any common format.

I would *love* a subscription service, but I wonder how many others would. I’m baffled by how small the market is for streaming audio subscription services. I pay US$79/year for unlimited streaming music that I can play on PC or MP3 player. Compared to buying each track at $.99 apiece, or even $.10 apiece, it’s a SCREAMING deal. But those services struggle with low subscribership.

OTOH while subscriptions aren’t popular with avid listeners, they seem to work for parts of the avid-reader population (e.g. Harlequin). What makes the difference?

But I’m also fond of plugging in at cafes for net and stuff, too. In fact I am plugged into the wall at the Starbucks near the hospital right this second.

<– leech :)

I own a Kindle and I don’t buy any of my books from Amazon. I buy all my books direct from publishers or at alternate online stores.

Another issue in the swim is proprietary formats versus open source initiatives. Most of these lower-end readers and smaller computers like the eee were powered by Linux (free as in speech AND beer, so they could be customized to the device), and the price could be kept down without adding in licensing costs or software vendor partnerships. But people keep wanting Windows. Linux is catching up (Ubuntu Hardy, Gnome, and KDE 4, along with Web 2.0 apps are making platform OS choices less of an issue, but there’s still a long way to go), but the early adopters are the only ones at the party so far. Until more comfort in open-source is present in the general public, there will be that extra cost of proprietary software built into the cost of the device, and crippling the uses of that device.

For my 700bn pence, if you want to make money off e-reading, first make something that’s very basic, $99, and durable, and market it to libraries and schools, to get people used to the idea from childhood and without heavy investment (and save some kids future chiropractic misery, thankyouverymuch says the mother of a 7 year old with a standing appointment).

Then, start yourself a subscription service. Either a reasonable monthly fee (like 10 or 15/month) or a yearly subscription (maybe a hundred bucks) gets you an e-reading device and either a monthly or yearly amount of included ebooks at a proprietary store to start you out, or a subscription to an electronic mag/news service, *along with* the ability to purchase additional ebooks and e-articles from any store in just about any common format. Every two years, trade in the device for a more modern one. Fed up with the device? Send it back and cancel your sub. Love the thing? An extra handful of clams gets you outright ownership. Offer options for device-only rental or device-plus-ebooks subscription at differing levels of included ebooks or subscriptions (ie, “casual reader” to “bookslut-gimme-gimme-gimme-NOW!”).

I’d already have a kindle if I knew I wouldn’t be limited to making my purchases only through amazon. I like to buy my ebooks directly from publishers when I can, because I know the author usually gets the most royalties from there. Being stuck to amazon means that I’m subject to their whims and their stock and their format. I want options, man. Options!

The main trouble with the UMPC and the small notebooks was battery life. Dedicated ebook readers, (not counting ebookwise, but I wanted something more up to date) don’t have back light, which has become a required feature for me. And PDAs don’t come any larger than 4 inch screens.

I eventually settled on the HTC Advantage which is kind of a hybrid umpc/pda/smartphone. It has a 5 inch screen. Long battery life and I can use any ebook reading program that can run on wm6, (mobipocket my preferred one right now). Lots of storage space on it with a 8gig micro drive but some of that room is taken up by maps for TomTom as it has a built in GPS, very handy. It was kind of expensive but no more so than the iRex iLiad and a multifunction device was my preference.

It’s pretty difficult to find anything that fit all my requirements, The Advantage was the closest I could get at the time. The Advantage has a lot of bells and whistles I could of done without which could of brought the price down.

I’m hoping the longevity of it will hold me in good stead as I find the 5 inch screen just about right for me. No way would I be looking to update for anything else anytime soon.

I would still buy the HTC Advantage over this new Sony, because of the multi functionality of the Advantage. Yep, ok, I’m a sucker for gadgets, maybe the back light issue was just an excuse.

Different readers have different experiences–so an unhappy consumer is not necessarily just an ignorant one.

I’m so not going to drop $400 for an e-reader. It’s not even a multi-functionality issue for me anymore. It’s simply not practical. Especially given all these freaking format restrictions. I prefer my electronics to be of a simple variety. If I’ve got to spend time hacking around and reformatting stuff I simply won’t bother. It really is unfortunate that these people, who seem so clever with other devices seem totally clueless when it comes to readers.

An interesting question is how “success” is measured for ereader. Every couple of years the NEA does a study that shows levels of fiction reading on a sharp decline (then other folks chime in that digital reading– the internet – has replaced traditional reading). So what do we want the ereaders to do? Get a larger share of that dwindling number of readers, or actually entice new readers?

Also, the NEA and other studies show that the declines are slower among women. Women read fiction more than men, way more. But are these ereader folks marketing to women? Nope. I have read a number of comments in this thread about “fitting the ereader into a purse” and other gender correlated needs, but no response from the makers of ereaders.

Ditto! I love my Ebookwise and it’s a great way to dip your toes in the water with ebook gadgets. Sure, there are some format limitations (unless you start getting into doing file conversions which I have done a time or two) but so far I’ve been more than pleased with what I’ve been able to load on to it. I love the backlight feature – and so does my husband because I can read and he can sleep. I travel a lot and I love being able to read on a plane without also being in the spotlight (hate those reading lights!)

I admit to not being the most adventurous with gadgets – I am *considering* getting a Shuffle for myself someday :) – but it you are looking for an economical way to try out ebooks, I think this is the most reasonable option at present.