What Do E-book Readers Need to Catch Fire?

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  dcflorida10/28/08 Report as spam
  1

  RE: What Do E-book Readers Need to Catch Fire?

  I love books, shop at amazon (among other places) and download e-books. The issue with Kindle is that it is yet another expensive gadget which is only good at one retailer. If they lower the price they might get more buyers.
  
  The product is unproven and still has a high startup cost. The Kindle may be likened to the iPod as a portable, updatable media server, but iPod and MP3 player technology were at least similar to the already established Sony Walkman. The buyer looks at the price and thinks about all those once "must have," now unused gadgets in their closet.
  
  I would be more interested in downloading entire books to my laptop. The thing they are trying to tap into is "getting it now" and bringing it with you. I like that idea, and frequently utilize their "search inside this book" function for this purpose, just make it work with my existing technology. I don't want a backpack full of gadgets to carry around with me. Also, make it searchable - this is a significant improvement on book "technology."

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  gwdbnet10/28/08 Report as spam
  2

  RE: What Do E-book Readers Need to Catch Fire?

  I am an owner of an e-book and really like it. But what really blows my mind is the e-books are the same price as regular books. One could argue you can actually find bargins for books that you can't for e-books making them more expensive. Since the cost of ebooks has to be less, no printing, no shipping, no inventory.... I would say if they would pass the savings along to consumers then more people would look into ebooks. People alwasy ask me about my reader when they see it and the first question is are books cheapr.
  Greg

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  bwehrman10/28/08 Report as spam
  3

  RE: What Do E-book Readers Need to Catch Fire?

  I publish magazines and have a vested interest in print on paper. However, I love my Sony Reader and take it everywhere. As I always am reading at least three books, with at least one being 800 or more pages, the capacity with portability is a great benefit. The eInk technology is much easier on the eye than backlighted computer screens. Bookmarking is easy. Despite other posts, my purchases are half or less what they are at Barnes & Noble. I can share my books with up to five others if we're all under one account name (works for families or a group of friends who read similar titles). I prefer the Sony method of a thinner device with books downloaded to my computer versus Kindle's cell-phone network downloads. It keeps the device cheaper and smaller, and I control my originals and sharing (and can read on the computer if I want). The battery charge lasts for what seems like forever. I've gone two weeks of heavy reading on vacation and not charged it. I can jump to any page and back and hold a cup of coffee (which I couldn't do with three fingers stuck in a book). The only thing I missed at first was being able to display my books in a bookcase. That's pride, pure and simple. My hope is that device makers will adopt one digital book format so the marketplace can choose Sony Reader, Kindle or whatever and not be forced to buy books from one source with proprietary file formats.

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  avguy196910/28/08 Report as spam
  4

  RE: What Do E-book Readers Need to Catch Fire?

  Disclaimer: I haven't checked the technology available on these e-books, but:
  
  I simply love the feel of holding a book, or magazine, or newspaper. I love the texture, the smell, and even the ink wearing off on my fingers at times. I'm 39 and male.
  
  Like "bwehrman," I also have "pride" in displaying books on my bookshelves...but I also would love to own an e-book if the prices were cheaper for the readers and the titles. I am finishing up a Master's degree and several of my $100-$200 textbooks also had e-versions available...at basically the same retail prices as their printed counterparts and NO discount for having already purchased the printed copy. That, I think, is a major crock. I should have the ability to have a e-version for next to nothing if I've already purchased the printed version.
  
  With that said, here is what I would like in an e-book:
  
  [[[KINDLE HAS THIS]]] The ability to highlight text...AND...add notes of my own (via pen and QWERTY keyboard)...so that I can reference them in my writings. This would be invaluable in research.
  
  Then, the ability to wirelessly, or via wires, send the text--and even selected sections--to a printer. [[[KINDLE CAN IMPORT/EXPORT VIA USB AND E-MAIL]]].
  
  The ability to take the selected text (including my notes) and copy/paste it into a Word (or other word processor or publisher) file. [[[KINDLE DOES THIS]]].
  
  And, with a wi-fi connection, be able to e-mail these sections and notes to others. [[[KINDLE USES CELL PHONE 3G TECHNOLOGY]]].
  
  Finally, possibly adding a program similar to Microsoft OneNote to the package so that all these articles, books, notes, etc. could be referenced together. [[[WOULD STILL BE A NICE FEATURE TO HAVE???BUT WOW, LOOK WHAT THEY HAVE ALREADY]]].
  
  OK. I lied. One more thing--and it probably is already included in these readers--connection to the internet...so that I can do even more research on the move and add it to the above compendium of notes. [[[KINDLE HAS THE POTENTIAL???AS IT CONNECTS TO WIKIPEDIA AND AMAZON???BUT NO COMPLETE INTERNET ACCESS FOR RESEARCH???THOUGH THEY HAVE A FREE SERVICE WHERE YOU TYPE IN A QUESTION AND ANSWERS GET SENT TO YOU. AWESOME.]]].
  
  Well...if I asked for all that...then a version should also be capable of .mp3's and .mpg's so that audio and video lectures, interviews, etc. could also be referenced...with the ability to take notes live as I listen to the audio, and the ability to quickly swap back and forth between the video and the notes without losing my place in the video [or leaving a couple of lines of text space available at the bottom of the screen to take notes while watching...or reading]. [[[KINDLE CAN PLAY AUDIO FILES???BUT AS I UNDERSTAND IT???THE FILES PLAY RANDOMLY. THIS SHOULD BE AN EASY SOFTWARE FIX TO MAKE THEM SEARCHABLE AND SELECTBLE FOR AUDIO BOOKS (AND MUSIC). NO VIDEO PLAYBACK YET???WHICH I WOULD BE HAPPY WITH EVEN IN THE CURRENT MONOCHROME ePAPER RESOLUTION]]].
  
  Oh, and those notes I was talking about; they should be linked to the page/paragraph/ sentence I am referencing. [[[EASY ANNOTATION]]]. Build in APA and MLA (etc.) referencing software, too. [STILL WOULD BE A NICE FEATURE]]].
  
  WOW. I WISH I WOULD HAVE HAD THIS THROUGHOUT MY MASTERS. WELL???I WILL BE FINISHING A SECOND ONE NEXT YEAR???AND STARTING A NEW CAREER (AND TRAINING FOR IT)???AND POSSIBLY TAKING MASS TRANSIT???SO I THINK IT IS SAFE TO SAY THIS COULD BECOME MY FRIEND.
  
  Thank you.

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  avguy196910/28/08 Report as spam
  5

  RE: What Do E-book Readers Need to Catch Fire?

  Oh...and here is a potentially good use:
  
  I was watching on TV the other night about how some airports are rolling out the option of letting flyers use their Smart Phones to act as boarding tickets for their flights. Flyers receive the traditional e-ticket from the airline, containing a barcode, that can be printed and used at the gate. Only now, airlines have scanners capable of reading that barcode directly from the screen of a flyer's wireless device. So, their Smart Phone acts as an e-ticket.
  
  "So what?" you ask.
  
  Well, the Kindle can receive e-mail. So, send the e-ticket to your Kindle e-mail account... then read the Kindle on the subway to the airport; kick back and relax at the gate while perusing your favorite books and magazines or that just-composed business letter; listen to some music through the built-in MP3 player; purchase a less expensive e-book of the overpriced title you saw at the airport bookstore...AND THEN just show your e-ticket to the agent at the gate on your Kindle and board the plane. Ahhhhh...now continue using your Kindle for that annotated bibliography you were working on for your thesis paper.
  
  Bon voyage!