Do we really want e-ink devices?
September 13th, 2007 | 
Author: 
I read over at Mobileread and Teleread that Amazon’s Kindle reader is due out on October 15th. By that time we should also have the Cybook. So is e-ink now the de facto standard for e-book devices and is this what we want? I ask because I know the first thing out people’s mouth will be that there is no back light. Then others will attempt once again, to explain the technology and why there can’t be any backlighting. It seems that someone has decided that e-book device screens have to look exactly like a book. Now e-book advantages are reduced to being able to carry a full library around and immediate gratification. That’s not enough for me. I want a full digital experience. If I want my device to be exactly like a book, then I would never have bought an e-book device. E-ink has its place. It’s great when I am outdoors, but I tend to do most of my reading inside. I don’t want to pay $350 or more and then buy a book light. I tried searching for the best light and ending up spending a small fortune before I gave up. I found some that were good, but I spent more time adjusting than reading. Really, I just don’t get why everyone is so excited by this technology. Personally, I would rather have read that E-book Technologies is debuting a new reader this year complete with a LCD screen. Ideally, it would be a thinner and larger screen EBW1150, SD card memory, and in color like the REB1200. Also keep the stylus!
Then there’s format. I have come to accept DRM since I know this is a battle that I can’t win. So if it takes DRM to be able to read a bestseller then, so be it. What I don’t like is any reader having only one format. Forget being able to convert documents to fit the reader. I don’t want to do that. I want my reader to do it for me. At the current prices they should. I want to read books for Palm ereader, mobi, MS lit, etc. I want to read a pdf file without using a magnifying glass. So far not one of these e-ink, or LCD devices can do that. At least with the EBW1150 I can use a dictionary, search, highlight, and annotate. Plus I don’t have to pay three times the cost. I remember that the Rocket e-book not only had the features of the EBW, but it also had a graffiti like handwriting input system. I think it was called Allegro. It’s like the new devices are going backwards instead of forward. Then when they fail, it’s because people prefer paper. Give me a break. The saddest thing of all is that I know I will buy the new devices one by one. I am addicted.
Posted in Devices
I totally agree with you. After posting my concerns about the subject of a backlight at MobileRead, several people were rude to me because they are e-ink fans. Most of my reading is done at night, in the dark. I need a backlit device period. I have to wonder how much these e-ink folks actually READ. I can’t imagine having to lug around a light all the time just to see my device. On the plane? In the hotel room? In bed? At my desk in my office at night? Give me a new generation ebook reader with a backlight and more format options!! Please!!!!
Heath,
So it isn’t just me. People do get rude as if e-ink is the best thing since sliced bread. It isn’t. Like you, most of my reading is done at times and places that e-ink misses the mark. I too wonder how much people read. By the time they get the content, convert the content, when do they read? I am lucky to read 30 mins a day and most of that is at night. Surveys keep saying that most people don’t read. I only hope that the trend towards e-ink doesn’t stifle innovation in other types of e-book devices.
Ellen
I agree as well. The main benefit for me is having a perfectly lit page everywhere (barring overly bright or sunlit places). I do much of my recreational reading on my Pocket PC at night in bed. What a pleasure it is to not need to have an external light and then have to position myself in relation to it. I’m so hooked on e-books, I have skipped paper tomes I wanted to read for the electronic competition. This is EASY people…make an e-ink device with either a backlight or perimeter lighting. Don’t say it can’t, because it can be done! p.s. A smart vendor would license several formats. Then make it so it reads in many formats and outputs to the format you prefer. P.P.S. Okay, you have to tell me what WP Plug-in does this realtime preview, wow, that’s cool!
I would love to have an eInk reader like the Sony Reader (alas not for sale in Spain as far as I can see), but won’t pay more than something like $50-100 for it. If it has DRM, it should be subsidized like mobile phones. But I am happy to continue with my PDAs as I have read ebooks on small screens since the early 90ies (Psion 3a).
Ellen, from one addict to another, what did you do before ebooks arrived. Paper books are not back lit either. I admit that I like the back light on my Palm T/X and when I’m going to read in limited light I use it. But guess what, I can’t see it if I’m sitting outside on my swing. That’s when I use my Sony reader. An yes those of us with a Sony reader do read, else why pay $350 for it.
Think about how long LCD devices have been on the market as opposed to e-ink devices. No, it is not the cure all, be all device. Yes, it cost too much (but I also have an HP-35 calculator that cost $395 – it still works & I could get something better today for about $20 – but at the time it was the only portable scientific calculator in existence.)
When LCDs first came out they were not back lit (used mainly for small displays like watches because they couldn’t make them any bigger then). People complained & back lighting was developed. Now we take for granted that they will be back lit & have touch screen capability. In time, I imagine that e-ink will also have these as well as being cheaper or else they will disappear like 8-track tape players & 8″ floppy disks.
Personally I am not willing to give up the ability to read in bright light in order to have a back light & read in the dark. Actually reading in total dark with most back lit devices gives me eye strain. Luckily my Palm T/X does have some degree of control on the back light intensity.
Remember, “All things come to she who waits.” We have become an instant gratification society like the woman standing in front of her microwave saying, “Come on, I haven’t got all minute.”
Don Slaymaker: Paper books are not back lit either. • And because of that I read fewer paper books. My reading rate went up sharply when I got an ebook unit with integral lighting. It’s easier – cosier – to have the unit do it than to deal with awkward booklights or waste energy flooding a whole room with light.
I am not willing to give up the ability to read in bright light in order to have a back light & read in the dark. • OLPC screens read well in sunlight, and also work in darkness (and in color). They’ve more dots per inch, as well. And nothing prevents a manufacturer from adding integral sidelighting to an eInk screen. It’s just that none have bothered to so far.
Don,
Before e-books, I seldom read. I like my Sony reader, but find myself using it less because I read mostly at night. So my N800 has become like my best friend. I don’t feel as though I am wanting instant gratification. I have been waiting since 1996.
Ellen
Dhamu,
I have my doubts about regular people getting their hands on the OLPC laptop. Hopefully we will and it won’t seem so toyish. Then again if it does what I want, I won’t care if it is bright green. Anything has to look better than the Kindle. Personally, I think it will look nothing like the photos. Well I hope so.
Ellen
If subsidized like cell phones, then wouldn’t that tie us to one vendor for a specific amount of time, at least in part. Such as we have to buy x number of books to fulfill the contract? Even then I doubt if we see prices at $50-$100 for quite awhile if ever.
Ellen
The plug in for the comment preview is “Live Comment Preview” and I also have “Sexy Comments” Plugin
Ellen
Ellen, if what you said to me is correct, then ebooks are never going to become popular. “Normal” people (if such exist) will have to buy Sony books if they buy a Sony reader (and Mobi books if buying a Kindle) and will expect a hefty discount on both reader and books; they know that their Sony books will stop being readable, if they change to non-Sony hardware. Normal people are anyway not likely to buy ebooks, if they have to spend more than $100 on a reader. And, probably needless to say, only very few people are going to read books on their computer.
Jorgen,
I believe that e-books will become popular. Especially as Baby Boomers age, and I think that children of Boomers (Boomer Echo?)will embrace it in time. That’s when the manufacturers and Publishers will get even more greedy. Look at the Ipod. It is still expensive, yet people find the money to buy them. So why lower the price? Then again there are a lot of cheap mp3 players around now. So maybe there will be cheap almost disposable readers in the future. When I say normal I mean mid to late tech adopters. Believe it or not there are still people who don’t have a mp3 player, let alone an iPod. They are still hanging on to their 8 track tapes
Ellen
I have my doubts about regular people getting their hands on the OLPC laptop. • The screen can, and likely will, be licensed to commercial companies for other products. Imagine an eBookwise-styled unit with OLPC screen. In B&W mode it out-eInks eInk, yet it also has lighting, color, even video. And it should meet the $100 price the OLPC laptop won’t for some time, since you can get tablet-style portable DVD players for that price, and this is much the same thing with a different screen that happens to be both better and cheaper. But I also expect OLPC laptop clones, if not true OLPC laptops, to be available to the public some time next year, since the government route isn’t working well for OLPC.
This is a comment requesting info on the DT375 which you have written much about!
I would like to use the USB port on the 375 and you have indicated that you have
found the drivers! I would appreciate any info you have.
You also indicated that you have a wireless card that works-what is the type and model number of this car?
I hve bought the DT375 mainly for use as an eBook reader and am fighting my way
through activating the MS READER.
Any help on the aforementioned items would be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks
Irv
Will send file
Ellen
The best place in the world to get help with a DT375 is on http://www.dt375.com
I’ve got one too and I absolutely love it. There are quite a few pcmcia cards Wireless network cards that work for it but there is a certain cisco model that the machine has drivers already installed for. Find out more at the website above.
Irwin,
Heath is right. Andy’s site has the best information around for the DT375. The wireless card I use is the ambicom CF wireless.
Ellen