A real page-turner? No, but it may change the way we read
Thursday, 24 July 2008
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An electronic gadget capable of storing hundreds of downloadable "ebooks" that could do for the written word what the iPod did for music is to be launched in over 300 stores across Britain
For months, rumours have raged that the Sony Reader – already a hit in America – will be coming to British shores.
Waterstones announced that it would be taking pre-orders from today, ahead of its sale in 205 stores from September. It will also go on sale at an additional 130 Sony stores. Tens of thousands of ebooks are expected to be on offer on Waterstones' website to coincide with the arrival of the Reader. Downloads will be cheaper than their physical equivalent.
The biggest publishers are already said to transforming their material into ebook format, including Penguin, Random House and HarperCollins, after taking its lead from America's success. Random House has seen a 100 per cent increase in its year-on-year sales of ebooks across the Atlantic.
It is the first time an electronic reader has been available on such a scale in this country along with book downloads, and it could mark a "tipping point for ebooks", according to industry experts.
Borders launched its own electronic iLiad in May for £399, initially in seven stores, but many felt that such a gadget would only be a commercial hit if sold at a far cheaper price.
What makes this launch significant is the considerably lower cost of the Sony Reader, marketed at £199, twinned with the easy availability of downloads.
Smaller in size than a hardback book and written with E Ink to resemble a traditional book page, it can store up to 160 ebooks.
But while Ian Hudson, president of the Publishers Association and deputy chief executive of the Random House Group, regarded the Reader's UK launch as an important moment, he thought the ereading revolution would not happen "overnight".
"My view is that this offers a real opportunity for consumers who won't have to pack 10 paperbacks because now they can carry around 150 ebooks. In my view, this is the best piece of equipment out there. But research has found that people have a high emotional attachment to physical books... so the industry is likely to be slower to change than the music sector," he said.
A hundred "classic" ebooks such as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Charles Dickens' Great Expectations will be on offer alongside contemporary titles such as Richard Branson's Business Stripped Bare, Jodi Picoult's Harvesting the Heart and Toby Young's How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.
Is the ebook the future?
YES:
Fiannuala Duggan, director of Random House Group Digital
"The first thing you notice is that there's no glare. I wasreally surprised by the screen which is not like any other, there's no reflection so you can read it sitting in the sun. I was surprised because it was so simple to use, you just press a button to move to the next page. The screen offers a very immersive reading experience. It also looks nice. It's got no flashing lights and shiny bits so it doesn't feel gadgety. It's a calm, sophisticated kind of device."
NO:
Tom Tivnan, features editor at The Bookseller
"I was not completely blown away. Aesthetically, it does the business: it is sexy, slim with a surprising bit of heft. The reading experience is surprisingly pleasant. The screen is nothing like a computer monitor, there is no backlight and you need other sources of light to read it.
There are technical aspects that are annoying. Flipping between "pages" is maddeningly slow and when you move between pages the entire text disappears and the next page reappears, which for some reason I found disconcerting."
What in the name of sanity is "a very immersive reading experience" ? Is the contrary "an unimmersive reading experience"? Would you get that from reading a dry book ? What utter claptrap from Ms Duggan. And there's the idiot from the Bookseller "not completely blown away" . Wish to god he was. "Sexy" indeed.
Posted by r.h.scott-jackson | 25.07.08, 05:43 GMT
Nothing can compare to the feel of a good thick book in your hands. The texture, the sensation of turning the pages. This could never replace the tactile qualties of a book.
Posted by M | 25.07.08, 03:27 GMT
The iPhone or iPod Touch works much better and has an e-book reader app available for FREE. Why wouldn't someone purchase a much more functional device for approximately the same amount of money?
Posted by James Steinman | 24.07.08, 22:40 GMT
I've been using the latest model, the PRS-505, for several months and I have mixed feelings about it. Incidentally, as stated, it will hold about 160 books in its internal memory, but it will hold literally thousands if they are installed on one of the new and relatively cheap large capacity SM cards.
Unlike previous ebook readers, e-ink technology readers such as the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle rely on ambient lighting just like a paper book. This is both an advantage and major drawback in my view. Because e-ink lacks the high contrast of printed paper it is best used in fairly well lighted settings. Readers that use back-lighting, such as the RocketBook and Palm PDAs, wash out in bright light, but are perfectly suited for use even in total darkness.
The Sony Reader is considerably cheaper in the US. I paid $299 at the local Borders Books and could have gotten it for $269 online. But even at these prices, I feel it is overpriced.
Posted by Ron | 24.07.08, 20:30 GMT
Consider: You can buy a notebook PC fully loaded with Linux for 400 dollars, roughly the same price as the reader. The notebook will do everything the reader does and a lot more.
When ereaders are $100 and have wifi capability built in, then will be the time they will take off.
Posted by Clive | 24.07.08, 19:29 GMT
There's a guy at work with an ebook, spends all the time gawping at it and sometimes bursts out laughing and everyone thinks he's a loony. He's supposed to be working, but his eyes are constantly glued to it and so he does very little of the work he's supposed to do. I suppose this could happen with a paperback too, but somehow it's more difficult to imagine. However, ebooks are probably a good idea, but only as a way of undermining the present booktrade, which I think has become completely corrupted by commercial values. Novelists, poets and other writers could bypass the intermediaries completely, if they organised themselves well enough via the Internet. After all, it's getting read that matters, not making money. Anyone up for it?
Posted by Oxymoron | 24.07.08, 19:14 GMT
Hmmm. Spend £199 just to be able to pay more for a book that I could buy for a few Pounds? That makes no sense to me. And if I lose or drop the book I'm only out a few Pounds. Do the same with a fully-loaded ebook reader and I'm out the £199 plus the cost of 160 books. Financially, this makes no sense.
It may, as Ms Duggan points out, have no glare, but with a book I see a reflection while with the ebook reader it is light shinning directly into my eyes. This fundamental difference in reading results in a fundamentally different experience. Until this difference is ameliorated, people in large numbers will never accept ebooks and their needed readers.
Posted by Don | 24.07.08, 17:10 GMT