Sony
Enters The Book Reader Market
We
are the market for whom book readers are intended.
I read (or try to read) a book every day.
I never go anywhere without a book (or two or three).
My worst nightmare is being in a non-English speaking country
and running out of books.
We
have tried out lots of book readers.
None of them have been very exciting.
- They cost too much.
- They weigh too much. I routinely end up rebuying books I already own in
hardback in paperback so I can actually read them on airplanes.
Weight matters.
- Their batteries run out.
Books always work.
- It’s too hard to read the print.
- It doesn’t feel like reading a book.
This is a two-edged sword.
If it’s a business or technical book, electronic, with
its search and annotate capability, might be better.
If it’s an art book, forget it!
- Not everything is available.
This model doesn’t work until I can get anything – in
print or out – on my book reader. We’re not there yet.
- Acquisition costs too much.
Publishers need to understand that I know that when I buy
a physical book I can keep it or share it or donate it.
Those things have value.
And
yet, we keep looking. Sony
is trying again, taking advantage of the E-Ink technology which
Philips Electronic Paper Display, a 600x800 170 dpi screen, offers.
The Sony Librie 1000-EP weighs less than 7 ounces and is about
5x7”; it includes a USB 2.0 port, a Qwerty keyboard, speaker, and
earphone socket. The Librie is sufficiently frugal that 4 AAA
batteries will supply enough power to view 10,000 pages.
The unit contains 10Mb of memory and can use an optional
Memory Stick Pro with an additional 512Mb of memory.
(About 500 books would fit on that memory stick.)
It
is lighter, higher resolution, better battery life, and more storage
than anything we've tried before.
But
the estimated price of 40,000 yen (about $376) is still pretty
pricey. Content, on the other hand, is priced at an enticing $1.98
all you can read per month subscription fee.
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