christo930 said:
The Apple Newton is a GREAT ebook reader, as is ipaq ppc's. I have both and both of them are great for reading. The iPaq screen is incredible and works in any light conditions from pitch dark to a sunny beach. The 1/4 vga screen does make for extra page turns, but it's very fast. I bought a ipaq recently for $4.99 that's four dollars and ninety-nine cents. I got a Newton for 10. You just need to make sure to get one of the newer ones with back-lighting. You can't use pdf's with either unit, but that's a tiny price to pay. It works great.
There is no way in hell I would pay over $700 for an ebook reader. I won't even pay the 400 which I think is still way too high. They should be subsidized by the profit of the books which cost 0 dollars to produce. I wouldn't mind getting one for free with a contract saying I would buy X number of books over some period of time. But since that model doesn't exist, I'm quite happy with the iPaq or Newton.
Chris
The whole idea of an e-book reader like this is the large screen size (like a book size) high resolution, and better battery life. Since it only uses power while updating the screen the battery life is much better than squinting at a 3" low res iPaq for 2 hours before the battery goes out.
It is not made to be pocket size. But that is why you get the big screen.
The reason I don't like the Sony ones is the relatively small screen. This one looks much better though.
That's the advantage of an Apple Newton over the iPaq. It's screen is much larger and is 1/2 VGA (320x480) resolution (vs 1/4 vga for the ipaq). To me, cost is the number 1 consideration (and the fact that it's got to work and be comfortable for me). I just can't see spending hundreds of dollars for an e-book reader (let alone close to a thousand) and then paying a pretty high price for the books. Now, maybe if I could pay $400 for the reader and have $400 credit at the e-book store, or even a $200 credit at the e-book store, that might be worth it. But really, with the ipaq or the Newton (especially the Newton with it's long battery life and larger display) I'm willing to forgo the e-ink to get the reader hardware so cheap.
The main draw of an ebook reader, for me anyway, is the ability to have a lot of books with me wherever I go, cost concerns, instant dictionary and the clutter of real books. I do read a lot of older books, so I can get a lot of e-books for free, where no matter how old the book is, paper always costs money. I have noticed that while new e-books are cheaper, they are not cheap enough. Printing the book and knowing how many to print and shipping them and all of the other problems of a physical product make up a large percentage of a book's cost, and I feel like e-books raise the profit of the publisher, while giving the customer less. I also lend and borrow books with friends, which is something e-book sellers do everything they can to stop, so there is a loss of value there. There is also something intangible about buying something for which you receive nothing physical. Like a cd is a cd, you're paying for the music, but you get the cd. Games come on a cartridge or cd or dvd, books come on paper. To get a file e-mailed to you or wirelessly transmitted to you makes me feel like I'm not getting something tangeble. I can sell or trade a book when I get done reading it. What can I do with a used e-book that nobody else can use (that has been encrypted to my machine)?
The whole thing kinda reminds me of ATM's. There was something that saved the banks untold amounts of money in paperwork/records and teller/retail space and yet consumers are paying out the ass for it.