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156 Comments
- Eiknujrac, on 02/08/2009, -2/+77I disagree that phones will replace ebook readers in the future. Maybe for casual readers, but if you spend any decent amount of time reading, you will understand what a pain it is to read on an iphone/laptop.
The whole reason I have an ebook reader is due to the eye-strain I get while reading ebooks on things like my iphone or laptop, mostly due to the backlight, but also due to the size in the case of the iphone. This is just a personal thing really, but I have talked to alot of people that feel the same way.
But as a side-note, a single charge on my ebook reader lasts 3-4 weeks. You could never get anything remotely close to that out of a non-Eink display. Also, E-ink has a 180-degree viewing angle with an unreal contrast, unlike an LCD. - Xiru, on 02/08/2009, -2/+77I doubt it, unless they start making cellphones which create holographic projections of pages. Why would anyone want to read whole books on a 3-4 inch display?
The tablets would be more useful in this regard, but I don't think they'd get away with using e-paper on those - meaning less battery life. The main advantage of dedicated readers is their stamina. - SeaweedWater, on 02/08/2009, -6/+41I fail to see how this is irony.
- browwiw, on 02/08/2009, -1/+30FTA:
5. A rise in books written for electronic reading. The shift from print to electronic will change the nature of the book itself. Many books will be shorter. They'll be more timely and culturally relevant. They'll be more colorfully and engagingly written. And they'll go after young readers like nothing before.
So, what you're basically saying is: e-books will encourage ***** literature. - kinseyincanada, on 02/08/2009, -0/+23strain on your arms? what the hell are you reading?
- MelvinSchlubman, on 02/08/2009, -0/+22FTA: When asked by The New York Times a year ago about the quality of the Amazon Kindle, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, famously, that "it doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore."
- Nerys, on 02/08/2009, -3/+20Exactly. they all suck. What I want is a sony reader with a 10" screen so I can view full 8.5x11 inch content pdf clearly.
why the sony reader? well I never thought I would say this about sony but there reader is OPEN non proprietary and well featured.
Standard Power plug. Standard USB plug standard SD card slot and STANDARD FORMATS are readable UNCONVERTED directly from the memory car without ever having to contact sony and without even having to install any software the device or the memory card are usable as mass storage I can even use my own "reader" to access the SD card and put my files on it.
this makes the sony reader the winner hands down.
this makes the kindle the loser hands down.
cell phone? your dreaming right. even the PDA phones have far too small a screen and far too low a resolution. even the new HTC's with the 640x480 are not quite enough ESPECIALLY at 2.8 inches.
until we have phones with 8+ inch screens no phones goona work very well for anything but very short casual reading like "clips" off google etc..
Sony has one other advantage. AFFORDABLE and SMALL
the Iliad for example is much better but more than twice the cost of the sony so its a non starter.
The sweet spot will be a player will all the features of the sony readers at $200 and a 10 inch unit at $300-$350 - whatthefu, on 02/08/2009, -0/+17FTA:
"People are already circumventing all this by self-publishing. The self-publishing industry is the only area of paper-book publishing that's thriving right now. Soon enough, a huge number of authors are finally going to get fed up with the publishing industry and just self-publish electronically"
There is a reason the book publishing process takes time. No one wants to read fan fiction-quality writing, and the huge majority of self-published books aren't very great to begin with. - whatthefu, on 02/08/2009, -1/+16Also FTA: "And, finally, the newspaper industry is dying. The old method of physically delivering blog entries on dead tree pulp is obsolete."
Blog entries? Most blogs don't have any journalistic integrity, and are far too fueled by opinion. At the very least, newspapers are bound to at least attempt to look unbiased. - eramos, on 02/08/2009, -1/+14How will libraries cope with eBooks? The only reason I have no interest in an e-reader is my current reading costs are $0 thanks to the wonderful entity that is the library. New releases, obscure books, having access to two really awesome libraries lets you get anything.
If I buy a Kindle, I'd have to shell out $350 + extra cash ($5-10/each) for any non-public domain book. Way too much for not much of an upside. - JohnFlux, on 02/08/2009, -1/+14Ah yes. The sad days of being able to carry around 1000s of books, searchable by keywords. What a sad day that will be.
- KaiUno, on 02/08/2009, -5/+17Bit of a dick aren't you? There's loads of people reading on the iPhone/touch. I switched completely myself and it's honestly not as bad as you make it out to be. And those 99% - 1% figures, I'm pretty sure you just pulled them straight out of your pooper. You're just a a bit sore you can't do it is all. That doesn't make it impossible to use.
I find my reading experience on the touch to be perfect. I'm using Stanza for it, I found a nice site where I can get a lot of reading material to my taste and I haven't looked back. I do two hours worth of commuting per day. On top of that I read an hour in bed every day. Sure, the battery is half gone every day, because the WiFi is always on as well and it's syncing my mail and my calendar constantly. You know what though? That doesn't matter at all. I come home, I dock the thing anyway and it's good to go again before I get to bed. And all the while that I'm reading on it, I listen to music to shut out the other passengers. I don't know if you have one, but maybe you should try it again. Just make sure you use a black background with white text for longer comfort. - inactive, on 02/08/2009, -4/+16I read my books pretty comfortably on my iPod Touch. It doesn't require me to carry it around in a bag or anything. I just slide it into my pocket when I'm not using it. I honestly can't imagine a better eBook Reader than this little device. Sure, you can get ones like the Kindle with nice big displays, but like I said, I don't have a problem with reading on this smaller screen at all. And it fits in my pocket when not in use. Let alone all the other things it does.
Its a hell of a lot cheaper than the Amazon Kindle too. Its truly the best bang for the buck, unless you have HORRIBLE vision. I have bad vision and require glasses, but I don't require them when reading on my Touch. - cadmiumpaint, on 02/08/2009, -1/+12yeah he's basically cheerleading for the dumbing down of our society and content that is disposable and empty.
- jericko, on 02/08/2009, -1/+12.Hey, I already download all my music, movies and games, why not my books.
- Dumbledorito, on 02/08/2009, -0/+10I have a phone that currently plays MP3s as well as has the capability to display PDFs. I will either bring an actual book to read with me, or I'll load an audiobook onto the phone's memory card.
Besides, keeping the display lit on current phone platforms will eat your battery life like a great white shark that's happened upon a menstruating ocean-going swim team. - SemiSarcastic, on 02/08/2009, -1/+10Come on! Those Gay-Love anime fan-fics have so much to offer! The misspellings, the abrupt change of pacing, the sentence fragments, the gratuitous use of exclamation points.
Also, those books talking about how the Vatican and Aliens committed 9/11 can't write themselves. I mean, reading those books are a persons real test in their ability to suspend their disbelief. Though I learned a long time ago that before I sit down to read one of those, I have to suspend mine by murdering it with a ***** shotgun. - djgreedo, on 02/08/2009, -1/+10I disagree in terms of the main advantage of ebook readers. To me the main advantage is the e-ink display. Battery life is also pretty damn important, of course. Imagine reading a book on a device with a few hours of battery life...
- inactive, on 02/08/2009, -1/+10I love the presence of books... I've found out now that I have a bookshelf where I can just have them all hanging out together. They're beautiful. Furthermore I underline my favorite quotes for future reference... These two reasons are why I'm keeping my pages tangible. Although who knows if my e-life will spread to books. Hope not.
- B3000, on 02/08/2009, -2/+10The Audiobook revolution is happening at TPB.
- iericg, on 02/08/2009, -0/+8I'm waiting for the day when I could plug in a cable directory from my computer to my brain. Then with in five minutes I would instantly know kung fu or how to fly a helicopter.
- Chaulis, on 02/08/2009, -0/+8Have you ever used one? Your argument is flawed sir. I put my kindle on my table, and press the next page button when I'm done with the page I'm on. It's a wonderful way to read the paper, as I can eat my breakfast and not have to mess with folding a paper up, making it sit right, or worry about it getting blown away when I eat out side. And I hate to point out that if your arms are getting strained from holding something less than a pound, perhaps you shouldn't be reading as much as you are anyways.
- InfernoX, on 02/08/2009, -0/+7My kids are totally going to be in awe when they're digging through all my old WoW characters!!!
- StanleyKoolPrik, on 02/08/2009, -3/+10Who THE ***** wants to read a book on their cell phone? If you answer "me" to this question, congrats: you are retarded.
- RobotBuddha, on 02/08/2009, -1/+8Depends on the subject. When it comes to science, the vast majority of mainstream news sources aren't putting any work into seeming like they have any idea what they're talking about. Blogs kick their ass on science reporting. To an extent that's downright depressing.
- nmanguy, on 02/08/2009, -0/+6I prefer e-ink screens for prolonged reading. I couldn't imagine spending 3 hours reading a book on my Treo, but something like a Kindle is easier to read and doesn't bleed my eyes.
- Barackalypse, on 02/08/2009, -1/+7A 6" electronic ink display at 600x800 resolution has over 3 times as many pixels as a 3.5" iPhone screen at 480x320. They aren't even in the same league when it comes to reading and anyone that claims they are really needs to see them side and by side and spend a weekend reading with each.
- cadmiumpaint, on 02/08/2009, -1/+6agreed. Having a shelf full of books that i can constantly go back to is comforting and enjoyable. I have books on my shelf that were owned by my grandfather. Good luck passing PDF's down through the generations.
- worknman, on 02/08/2009, -1/+6I want to know when the AUDIOBOOK revolution is going to happen?
In terms of ebooks, not sure why you would want to sit around and read, when you can always LISTEN at times when your hands are busy, but your mind is free. We need an 'all you can eat' Audible-like service where you pay a monthly fee and you can download and listen to as many audiobooks as you want.
I tried a snail mail audiobook rental service, but was $20+ a month, the selection wasn't that good, and you had to wait forever to get a new book. - CylonsOfTheLamb, on 02/08/2009, -1/+6I use my eee pc for an ebook reader. the 8.9 inch screen is plenty big enough, and I have acquired more digital books for free by googling for them than i can possibly read in a lifetime. i've cleared off my bookshelves at home and acquired the complete works of all my favorite authors in .doc or .pdf format.
- rolf, on 02/08/2009, -0/+5My dad is an Antique Appraiser and dealer. He currently has over 5,000 expensive reference books on all different topics. He is also messy. That means:
1. When he goes somewhere, like a business trip or convention, he cannot take his information with him other than a book or two and that is already getting weighed down. Yet, this doesn't even help as he's not psychic and doesn't know what he needs ahead of time.
2. Most of this info isn't on the net.
3. He spends sometimes several hours looking for the book he needs. Then he needs to flip through the books, no way to search them conveniently.
4. His last move, it took more trips to move these books than it took to move everything else. 2 very packed rooms full.
So yeah, a device, with future flash advances, that could store every newspaper, magazine, and book you read, search them like google, and thanks to e-ink battery life is conceivably measured in weeks, not hours, in one slim design and with e-ink has absolutely very little potential for upside. - B3000, on 02/08/2009, -2/+7The PDFs will likely suffer far less wear and tear.
- inactive, on 02/08/2009, -1/+5I read a book almost every week on my iPod Touch. I have no complaints and I do not have very good vision. I wear glasses to see things more than 5 feet away. That said, I don't need glasses when reading on my Touch.
Side note: Tilt the iPod on its side and you can read half a page to a page comfortably. If the text is too small for you to read, then I don't know what to tell you. Even my parents can read just fine on it and they're 50+ years old.
I'm not a fanboy at all by the way. The only products that I'm "fanboy-ish" with are Logitech, Mozilla and Windows XP. I'm just telling you guys my experiences with reading on the Touch because I think there are a lot of people out there who say BS about it and they don't even own an iPhone or Touch. - writ, on 02/08/2009, -1/+5"I believe that cell phones will quickly outpace the dedicated e-book readers, including the Kindle, as the platform of choice for e-book readers. Leading the pack? The iPhone, ironically. "
NOT irony. - RobotBuddha, on 02/08/2009, -2/+6Most books published today are on paper that's not going to last three generations.
- stewacide, on 02/08/2009, -1/+5I used to think eink ebooks were the future, but the last few years I've switched almost all my book 'reading' to audiobooks. I just wish the selection was better and the prices lower.
Even more recently I've started to use OSX's builtin speech service to read long web articles to me. Voice synthesis still has a long way to go, but it's perfectly understandable, and it's great to be able to do other stuff while 'reading' (playing video games, cooking, walking around, etc.).
Re: reading books on cellphones, I browse the web on my iPod Touch quite a bit, but I'd hate to read a book for hours on end; I'd go blind!!! - ryanknapper, on 02/08/2009, -0/+4The two biggest reasons for me is that you'd lose the right of first sale and you couldn't loan them to anyone without also loaning your reading device.
Unless you're talking about pirated content, which is already a superior product. - soogy, on 02/08/2009, -2/+6Considering the success they've had so far, this is only the beginning. Electronic paper is garnering a lot of support, so much more R&D is being put towards it.
As for comparing it to an iPod or other PDAs, their resolutions, DPI, and screen quality are VERY poor in comparison. Real ebook readers actually LOOK LIKE PAPER, it's much easier on the eyes. To top it all off, ebook readers do not use any power unless you turn a page. Just sitting there reading the same page on your PDA will drain a ton of batteries, whereas it does nothing on an ebook reader. - mrBitch, on 02/08/2009, -0/+4Agreed.
My wife only used her iPod Touch as a PDA and events scheduler / organiser. She kept telling me I should stop using my Touch as an eBook and pick up a regular book again.
That was until I loaded Stanza and Bookz on her Touch.
She now reads entire books on her Touch, and has retracted her original comments on the iPhone and Touch as eBook readers. - dazparkour, on 02/08/2009, -0/+4Since no one else mentioned it - I've been reading eBooks on my DS using Homebrew aps lately - I recommend it.
- JohnFlux, on 02/08/2009, -0/+4The irony is because Steve Jobs said that nobody reads books anymore and so nobody wants an ebook reader.
- Minivolt, on 02/08/2009, -0/+4The screen is not the perfect thing to display text, but convenience trumps all. You always have your phone on you. I don't see myself carrying a Kindle with me if I don't have my backpack or some kind of bag.
It will come to phones eventually, you're basically stating same arguments a few years ago on why would anyone need mp3 or video on their phones... just saying... - pensivewombat, on 02/08/2009, -1/+5My bookshelf is easily my most prized posession (well the shelf is from walmart, but I mean the books). That said, I really love my kindle for the ease of access, especially if you're the type that reads several books at once. Also, it allows highlighting and note-taking and makes the notes searchable for quick recall later.
- slyzxx, on 02/08/2009, -1/+4Reading a full page book versus my small iphone screen.Sticking with a book and slowly go blind rather than the Iphone and go blind faster,
- djgreedo, on 02/08/2009, -1/+4You can prop up an ebook reader if you like. I personally would rather get arm strain than eye strain, but I don't find books particularly heavy really. Maybe I'm just stronger than you :)
- pensivewombat, on 02/08/2009, -0/+3Clay Davis is a kindle user?
- Elsewhere42, on 02/08/2009, -0/+3If it has DRM, I won't buy it. I don't want my honest purchases to disappear in a puff of smoke when the DRM gods are displeased.
- Nerys, on 02/08/2009, -1/+4That's what torrents and rapidshare type stuff is for :-)
- internetcoward, on 02/08/2009, -0/+3so why are so many people disagreeing with the article, getting dugg up, but the article is on the front page too?
- rac1234, on 02/08/2009, -0/+3Perhaps because of this (from the article):
"When asked by The New York Times a year ago about the quality of the Amazon Kindle, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, famously, that 'it doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore.'"
So Apple showed no interest in e-books due to Jobs's attitude, yet will inadvertently come to sell the leading e-book platform. This may fall under the category of "historical irony": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony -
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