Personally
Personally I find my Kindle to be a bit big and happy... I like reading off of my Nexus S the most. You get about 10 lines to a page.
I have just wasted half a day at the London Book Fair, hoping to discover some new e-book readers with a view to reviewing them for El Reg. Expecting to wade waist-high through stacks of competitive continental European brands, I was disappointed to find that the exhibition's Digital Zone was dominated by companies offering to …
Eventhough I have a kindle..... I have to say it is dinky and I like it.
But I have a lot, a huge number of books, books that when it is my turn to go up to that big library in the sky
I can leave them to friends and family, and what they don't want they can pass to a charity or sell.
And here is the flaw of the ebook, when you die your account dies with you, so instead of something tangible, the hundreds of pounds you have spent is worth zero in every respect. Zero books, zero money, zero enjoyment for someone else. Only the publisher and writer gain from this. Same thing can happen to your mp3 collection.
So in view of this I will stick with a paper version.
Just as pertinent is to ask why on earth should I use your proprietary DRM to tie myself to particular devices when a DRM free copy is readily available? A follow up question would be to ask if it's ethical to buy the DRM'd copy but read the non-DRM'd copy to hedge against the almost certainty that some day no devices will exist which will read the DRM'd copy.
Possibly not allowed by copyright laws in different countries, but (at least in the US) Kindle users can lend books to other Kindle users, depending on whether the publisher has enabled the feature. Basically it copies the book and transfers the 'license' to read it to the recipient's Kindle for a couple weeks. The loaner's Kindle will refuse to open the book while it's on loan.
I know, the caveat about whether or not the publisher allows the feature is a little ridiculous, but at least the feature exists...
"What I was looking for at the London Book Fair was a competitor to Amazon Kindles."
There are plenty of good competitors to the Kindle. The Kobo, the Sony for example when you talk hardware, Kobo and Google Books when you want to talk content. EPUB format is WAY bigger than the locked in AMZ/Mobi format.
I love how this article talks about tablets being crap ereaders (which they are), but then goes straight on to praise the Kindle Fire.
Sounds like this was the usual drivel written by a Kindle owner that can't open his eyes to anything but Kindle.
I agree that the function is great - I have a Kindle app on my ASUS Transfomer and Galaxy S2, as well as a Kindle. I like being able to pick up where I left off regardless of the device I'm using. Also have a generic e-book reader (Kogan Touch) and would like the same function on that...
While I appreciate the function, I'm not happy with the DRM'd approach and I buy only V. cheap books <$2 or get ones that are free or reduced to free.
I'd buy more e-books if the whole DRM rubbish was scrapped. I'd even consider paying more if i could on-sell, loan properly or give away my e-books. Until then, I'm selective in a way that reduces my assistance to an industry which wants to rort me while trying to gain some benefit for myself.
I am quite happy to pay people like Cory Doctorow (and Louis CK for his videos) as I know I'm not subsidising people who are trying to restrict my use of the things I buy from them. No DRM, no rip-off. Robert Llwellyn is someone else who when he has control over the product appears to want to make it more freely available (great show on youtube called carpooling).
How did you get your bed onto a tower PC? I didn't think even servers were that big nowadays. Or is your 'Personal Prose Projection Pooter' in fact an old Cray II...
This gives me an idea for watching telly in bed, with it projected onto the ceiling, for the ultimate comfy TV position. The only downside being you choke on your popcorn, and drown when you try to drink... Perhaps a straw, and Wallis & Gromit style robot-feeding-arm is in order?
Back when my bedroom was also my computer room, I hacked my Atari ST to have a separate keyboard with an extra long cable and used to compute from the comfort of the bed.
No projector though. Just a 19" TV.
These days any PC and standard wireless keyboard will do. No challenge in that at all.
Followed by the next sentence referencing the Kindle Fire - a tablet.
Well Done! /SlowHandClap
What was the point of this article apart from the fact that you believe the only valid consumption device is dedicated ebook reader, and that you deliberately ignored the other Ebook sellers outthere?
Are you the mutant offspring of Matt Assay and Lewis Page? More mono-focused than Lewis and even less relevant than Matt?
My personal preference, I know, but then I don't forget charging cables & adapters when going on holiday as dipping into free wifi services to find stuff out is a rather useful function.
I'm not dissing the dedicated eBook reader - it just doesn't suit me to have that many devices, so the article is a bit too frothing at the mouth for my taste. I've stuck an e-reader on my phone that has adjustable font size, so I do get more than one line of text on the screen (and it's still readable without a magnifying glass) - you might want to look into your software settings if that's all you're getting...
Having been reading ebooks since I had a Handspring Visor, reading books on my iPhone is no problem though I would like a proper ebook reader. Speaking of which, Amazon's failure to launch the Kindle in the UK is most annoying. Why the hell would they think I'd buy one of their existing models when they've made something a bit more useful?
I'm currently reading out in the sun on an ipad1 no problem. The problem is not so much the glare on screen as the choice of bright white t-shirt you see in the reflection. Wear darker colors and its grand - unless you got your pasty white moobs out. Then you just gotta fry them critters till you get nice black crusty freckles. Sorted
Urm, Shane, reading outside in the dark doesn't count :)
Or, as Australian's would say "There's not sunshine in Britain anyway" - not that I believe the buggers.
If you have to worry about what you wear when you're reading I'd say THAT'S a problem.
Compared to e-ink readers there really is no comparison. I used to think differently until I started using an e-ink reader regularly. I don't have to worry about the angle I hold it at...nor what colour my clothes are :))
You whine and moan about there not being any competition but whinge about Digital Editions. I quite like Adobe Digital Editions (if I *must* have DRM). It works across my PC, phone, Sony Reader and the cheap-o Bebook Neo I picked up at AMS for €50.
True, there is a serious lack of choice, but it's mostly about the dearth of cross-border selling online bookstores. If you live in country 'A' but want a book in language 'B', you're buggered. Even most of larger english-language bookshops won't sell across borders.
I'm happy with the hardware I can get. I'm just waiting for the publishers to get their thumbs out and give me access to the content.
> I can understand why people never like it when I ask what will happen if they go out of business, but it annoys me that they haven't considered the possibility.
We all already know the answer to this: they'll just disappear, along with the company (and your only recourse for complaint). it's not that they haven't considered the possibility, it's just that they have nothing to gain from telling you that all your investment in virtual goods and chattels are just that: virtual. They don't really exist, except in the benevolence of the supplier. And when that goes away, so does all the stuff you've paid them for.
Actually, not quite...
In the case of ePub, even if Sony, Kobo AND Adobe all go bust (which is roughly what would need to happen for Digital Editions to stop working) the books will continue to work on your licenced readers and PC.s.
Kindle - not so sure...
But this is why people strip the DRM off their books - so that they DO keep them if the worst comes to the worst.
'What kind of loser sits in front of a computer to read a book, for fuck's sake? The same Johnny-no-mates that boots up in order to play Solitaire?'
Hey, screw you! My 70 year old mother likes to sometimes quietly boot up her laptop and play a few rounds of spider solitaire during a quiet evening.
I know you seem to write to get a rise out of people, but you also tend to show an extremely narrow vision of the world and the myriad people out there. Perhaps you should run for parliament.
I read books on my desktop computer sometimes, generally a chapter as a break from whatever work I was doing at the time. I have a big comfy office chair, a high quality monitor and the font size is adjustable.
I really can't see what's so bad about it but then again I think going on holiday and doing nothing but reading a book that you could have read at home is a complete waste. Maybe I'm just strange?
...when there's not much else to do? For the last 4 weeks I've been reading Anna Karenina on Bartleby.com in the quiet times between panics. The book's short chapters, and the monochome Bartleby reading window make for a very good slacking experience.
Excellent pithy article that tells it straight.
I have a Sony ebook reader from several years ago which is all an ebook should be.
Vast battery life. Black and white 'epaper' passive screen about the size of a paperback. SDCard storage for hundreds of books.
It doesn't have Wifi, colour, stereo sound, a keyboard and so on. It doesn't need them - it's a book facsimile and that's all it needs to be.
Easons in Ireland sell them for €99. They even have a display set up where you can mess around with an Elonex, iRiver and Sony device. The Elonex I saw had exactly the same display as any other e-ink device but the UI didn't look up to much and the device had weird kind of page control which is best described as a microswitch d-pad sitting under a circular bubble of plastic.
I would guess the kind that thinks that only a WANKER would title an article about flexible formats to be derogatory about being flexible. I like the idea that I can sit back in a comfortable place and read my book on my Kindle, then flip to my phone on public transport or just standing around and continue exactly where I left off, or flip to Kindle software on my Windows 8 tablet or Desktop to continue during a break or find a quote that I marked previously. I guess that sort of LOSER.
Since buying a Galaxy Note a couple of months ago, I haven't read a single 'traditional' book. I've read about 8 books on it so far, and love the portability of it. I can read it at night without having to turn the light on (changing the reader to white text on black background is perfect for this, and saves battery life as well!), I can read it whilst I'm eating my lunch at work, and if I'm picking someone up, or waiting for someone, I can just pick up my phone and carry on where I left off.
The only downside is I can only read books that have been released for Kindle...
"The only downside is I can only read books that have been released for Kindle..."
No so. I have a 7" Galaxy Tab (perfect size for an ebook) and I have Kindle on it but I also have the Kobo app and the default Samsung one (epub as well). All work fine, so I'd be extremely surprised if you can't get an epub app on your Note.
I have a Note too but haven't read much on it due to having a Sony Prs and only having time to read at night. But strip the drm using something like the Calibre plug-in (on your desktop), convert to epub and use FbReader, Moon+ reader or something else, there's plenty of good apps. You might not even have to convert to epub with some of these apps, can't remember.
I would hazard a guess that you wrote that article after wasting half a day at the book fair, then wasting* the other half in the pub, getting half cut and pouring your frustrations onto the page.
Well, despite the few inconsistencies pointed out above, Cheers!
*One could argue that spending half the day in the pub is a waste of time, but they are wrong.
What a load of shit. I've been reading ebooks for nearly a decade now on smartphone sized screens, starting with the handspring visor PDA, then Dell Axim PDA, and latterly an iPhone. They do a perfectly good job. I wouldn't touch one of those godawful eink devices with a stick, you can die of old age waiting for a page refresh.
The page refresh is alot quicker on an eink device than a tablet after 10 hours of reading...
I barely notice it any more - I'd just like to see an A5 screen so that at least A4 PDFs can be displayed in two halves at a legible size.
Other than that they're brilliant devices (even if they are single purpose)
Was this written by a man who needs a better smartphone or new glasses?
"Scratch smartphones too. I love them for a lot of things, but they make shitty e-book readers. Trying to read a book half a sentence at a time drives me mental."
My smartphone has an 800x480 screen resolution, same as most of the e-ink readers and the majority of 7" tablets.
The phone is damn near perfect for reading novels, and is with me all the time so I do not have carry the printed book.
First because it is the same size as a newspaper column. There are very good reasons for that size and format, that make reading easier. Needs reflow format (e.g. epub) rather than PDF.
If you have ebook lending library access, Overdrive can be installed on the phone and you can borrow books, but you cannot on most e-ink readers that have been sold (ie Kindle).
The phone reader programs allow touch-screen brightness adjustment, to match ambient lighting conditions.
The phone can easily be held outside at an appropriate viewing angle without direct sunlight affecting the screen, a problem sometimes with larger devices.
Apart from being completely without charging facilities, who reads for a straight 8 hours or more, except at home with a PSU, to exhaust the phone battery ?
Horses for courses of course . Textbooks as ebooks are usually better than the printed copy when used with multi-screen output. Annotating the book text on a netbbook/laptop with any diagrams/pictures separately and simultaneously displayed on a 1080p monitor is never going to be a dedicated ereader capability.
One final thought, about ebook readers for kids. The under £100 7" Android 4.0.3 ICS tablets with a 1.2GHz ARM-8 GPU and dual-core Mali GPUs run appropriately coded games as well as any consoles. They are excellent used for BBC iPlayer. And as well as being able to be used for reading books in any format, they are needed for books with interactive video features, that do appeal to younger kids and encourage reading.
Mine's the Sumvision Cyclone Astro (from Ebuyer), but it's sold under various names. ICS features that early smartphone owners may not know, but will appreciate if they've rooted their phones, are that ICS invokes its own USB drivers when plugged into Windows (XP/Vista/Win7) - as it does for USB keyboards and mice.
Last year I read 7 books on my 3.2 in smartphone, all part of the Dune saga. Other than having to "flip" pages more frequently than I'd do on a physical book, I didn't have any problem with it.
In the end, the best e-reader, like the best camera, is the one you have on you when the opportunity arises.
OK, OK. I did that too last year.
Something to do while the toddler had his nap.
But I personally prefer to bring a few cheap paperbacks to a mediterranean beach resort rather than an easily nicked $100 e-reader.
Closer to home, though, I prefer e-readers in one form or another.
But I've never invested in a dedicated reader.
While I'd no doubt find a small e-ink reader the superior experience, it'd be yet another device to bring with me, as well as an additional $100 for a single-purpose device.
Back in the day, I found the Palm III xe perfectly adequate, and now I use my 10" tablet which, IMHO, is not at all too heavy for this. YMMV.
"Oh, touched a nerve, have I?"
Only your own.
In fact, when compared to the engagement and intercourse of actual journalism, it becomes clear that touching yourself is just what this sort of rant is all about. What sort of loser does _that_ in front of a computer?
Like the little girl said, "Because I am not one of your fans."
I tried reading on my phone. It too small. It's ok for smaller news articles, but I certainly couldn't read a book. And my eyesight is perfect so it has nothing to do with that. I find most tablets are too heavy and the battery is drained too much to use as an e-reader.
Kindles are ok, but there isn't much else out there. So I'm just going to stick to books for now.
OK, I guess you can fondle your kindle on a train (try that when it rattles through Clapham Junction!), but the kudos I got from having Spycatcher (bought in US, before legal here) and Satanic Verses on my coffee table was more than geekworthy...
Nah, can't beat a REAL book. Shows educashion.
I've read many a book on my veritable Palm 3e's good old grayscale LCD, alternatively backlit with Indiglo. While it now rests in electronic heaven, I routinely got up to two weeks of joy from a pair of AAA cells.
Although I couldn't care less for the author's attitude, I'm also a somewhat satisfied Kindle customer. Extolling the virtues of a passive reading screen to an opinionated crowd would be a completely moot point, so I'll mention another, often sidelined 'feature' of dedicated ereaders - their intentional lack of any other functionality.
While many smartphone users will argue that they can just as well use their 'precious' to read, I find having so many features at hand a huge distraction. It may be just my personal opinion, but know at least two other Kindle owners who think alike.
That said, the entire publishing and media industry should pull their collective heads out of *where the sun don't shine* and bring a reasonable offer on the table. Just how long will they continue to ignore that end users no longer perceive geographical location as the critical factor, especially when purchasing bundles of 1s and 0s.
Apart from geek-cool, what's the driver for an ebook?
The publishers claim that it costs the same to do a real book and an ebook, so its no real help to them.
If the retail price is similar, why would you want a fragile, expensive frame around your book content?
Once you've done reading your book, you can't hand it off to the local charity shop to help the aged.
Electronic devices could hold thousands of books... but is that what the consumer wants. To look at his entire library through a tiny window of a screen?
You shouldn't swat a fly with your kindle.
It seems the only useful content is magazine content which has a limited lifespan. Apart from that, ebooks really only exist to kill the second-hand market and reduce delivery charges for amazon.
Ok, I think there is a case for having an ebook reader on your tablet because it is an additional useful function. You can also read tablets at night in bed, resting them on the duvet so the weight is less of an issue. They also work as a light to find your way around the end of the bed in the dark.
However, I'm not particularly inclined to shell out cash for a reader for entertainment when I have a tablet anyway. It may not be as good, but I'm not packing my tablet and a reader when I go on holiday*. Tablets may not be the best readers, but I suspect they are good enough readers and better general purpose devices.
+1 for calibre
-1 for profanity
*my laptop (for me), a tablet (for my wife), two smartphones, the kids' dvd player (two screens), bluetooth adapters (car phone and generic audio for headphones/holiday-home stereo) and assorted mains and car-battery chargers.
Being over here on the left side of the pond I treated myself to a Nook Simple Touch back in January and love it. I found it less "gadgety" than the Kindle Touch and more like something that was just meant to be read on.
I plug it in to my computer, load it with oodles of epubs and off I go.
And of course now they just announced one with a built in LED lighting system, curses!
There I was, sitting on the loo/bog/dunny/head, reading your article on my Kindle Touch, thinking you got it pretty much right yet I wouldn't be out looking for new e-book readers, I'd be looking for development and enhancement of the top ones out there.
I should declare that the only thing I do with my mobile phone is make and receive phone calls! Strange, but true! I take that philosophy to the e-book device. All I want to do is read and, from my look-around, believe the e-paper experience is the best way to do that. So what Firmware can they provide that makes that experience better?
The recent upgrade to Kindle Touch added online translations and some formatting improvements - Nice! That works for me.
I've heard of too many that have purchased extremely ordinary, el-cheapo, devices only to be turned off of the e-book concept. Support the big players and ask (or tell) them how they can improve their offerings, remembering, at the end of the day, all you want to do is read a good book - AND - perhaps being able to easily comment on articles like this from them.
I also don't have issue with the .mobi format. PC software, like the brilliant Calibre, ensures that it matters little what format you start or end with.
Although I have been reading books electronically for many years I don't think I will ever buy a dedicated ebook reader . I have used Palms for years and now have an HTC Desire. Even though I am now 69 I find a smart phone is perfectly suited to reading books. Most books I read are royalty free which I mostly get from Memoware website or the Guttenberg Project.. I use a great little app called Ireader.on my Desire.
So you can keep your Kindles
You're 'avain' a laff.!!
I've spent a lot of time in Germany and Switzerland and have 'played' with some of the stuff you have mentioned, particularly the OYO. A useless piece of junk. Slow software, with massively delayed turn page, clumsy and slow hardware with sticky and poorly tacky buttons. If this is the example of the German 'advancement' then I'll stick with a Kobo or Kindle.
P.
I don't have a dedicated eBook reader as I don't need another piece of kit. I love the (almost) immediate gratification of being able to buy a book and start reading it a few minutes later.
In terms of functionality, my iPad meets all my needs with one exception. As the Peppa Pig episodes for my two year old are stored on my iPad, I'm increasingly finding that it's not my iPad, it's my son's and he'll let me use it only when he's asleep!
this is why we have so many crappy products. Idiots boasting about how they used a 4 inch mobile phone or 120inch projector to read a book ffs.
The idea is to duplicate the physical book experience as close as possible. so no reflective screen or 300watt power draw. but with light weight and long battery life.
some people will boast they can take a bath in boiling water ,so why have a cold tap?
Stop it please.
I don't have an iPhone but I have an iPod which has basically the same form factor. It fits around 150 words on a screen of text and is readable indoors or out. Battery life is somewhat lacking but portable chargers are not hard to find. Only real problem is display of pictures, but I mostly read novels anyway.
Key think is that it fits in my breast pocket and is light enough that I really don't notice that it's there. (Also plays games, movies and music if I don't feel like reading.)
Over the years I've worked my way through several Palm PDAs and a couple of generations of iPods reading books. If you find it hard to read text on such devices , the lack is not in the device.
Baen books has a very large collection of DRM-free ebooks purchasable at quite decent prices on their web site.