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Ebook Readers: are they for you?

There is a lot of disagreement over the value of different ebook readers. This post is intended to help you:

1. Understand why you’d want one
2. Decide whether or not to buy one now or in the future

As a starting point, I took the product features set displayed on Amazon.com’s Kindle website and pasted the bullet-point feature specs below in bold, and inserted my own observations and research after each bullet in plain text and pictures.

Say Hello to Kindle ($299)

• Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines

This is Kindle’s version 1.0 and 2.0 in a side by side comparison. I’m not too impressed with the size improvement-1.0 was good enough as far as I am concerned.

• Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback

I’ll discuss this benefit farther below, but here’s a diagram of the unit’s functions.

• Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots-Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required

Only a few weeks ago Sony took the electronic book reader market by storm with its announcement of two new devices that undercut the popular Amazon Kindle by $100, but lack the wireless connectivity of the Kindle. Sony’s latest announcement of a wireless-equipped ereader shows that the Kindle pricing is actually reasonable.

Sony unveiled the 3G ereader today. It will be available in December of this year at a retail price of $399 — a price tag $100 higher than the equivalent Amazon Kindle. It seems that making a cheaper device than the Kindle is one thing, but that making a comparable device cheaper is a horse of a different color.

The 3G wireless feature is not very impressive to me. Reading a book is simply not like making a phone call. You don’t need to be permanently connected. The most avid book reader would get away with a once per week connection to the internet via their laptop, and load up the week’s reading. If you read blogs and news every day, leave it in a cradle overnight that downloads your text, just like itunes does for podcasts on your ipod to your favorite talkshows. If for some unique circumstance you must be able to download books lightning-quick, 60 seconds is a really long time to download a book! I can download the largest eBooks on my PC in 10 seconds or less.

• Paper-like Display: Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images

Remember the etch a sketch? That’s what they look like. No backlight for night reading either.

What bugs me is that Kindle touts the easy-to-read paper-like feature, but then has Kindle texts available for sale on any iPhone via their app. What is the value of a Kindle I ask you?

• Long Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging

There is a secret value missing here-you’re notes are stored digitally on memory, never tarnishing the original book, and as long as you keep a good backup of your files, you’ll never have to worry about damage to an old book-think digital cameras!

• Carry Your Library: Holds over 1,500 books

This has to be the biggest reason to switch to digital book formats-you’re saving the rain forest and your back at the same time! Plus your e-books are searchable, so you’re not spending hours flipping through pages. To give you an idea, the guy below is only carrying 25 books (I counted). Amazon’s Kindle 2.0 offers 1500 books in a petite 10.2 oz package.

• Read-to-Me: With the new text-to-speech feature, Kindle can read every newspaper, magazine, blog, and book out loud to you, unless the book’s rights holder made the feature unavailable

This youth shows us how incredibly easy this feature already is to do on your MAC for any type of text document to become an audio book, and their are many free software variants available for windows.

• Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.

There are free previews of almost every book available all over the internet, and not to mention the ability to paruse those available at Barnes & Nobles while checking out the nerdy librarian gals and sippin on a latte. Previewing a book is absolutely expected of any legit ebook reader’s purchasing gateway.

• Large Selection: Over 300,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs available

“During the night of July 16th, while Amazon Kindle owners slept, Amazon was quietly deleting their copies of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm. Most people who are upset about this were upset and surprised that Amazon would unilaterally delete their books. They’re missing the real points.

Whether Amazon had the right to do this is an argument for another day. There is no question that they badly mishandled it. At the very least, Amazon should have told their buyers that it had turned out they hadn’t the rights to sell e-copies of those books and that they were going to need to remove them. That appears to be what Amazon will do in the future, or that Amazon will let people who bought copies in good faith keep them while not selling any more copies in the future.

Fine, but none of that touches on the real problems. Amazon is telling you that you will never own any book you buy for your Kindle. This is the old DRM (digital rights management) trap that won’t let you make back-ups of your DVDs snaring yet another media’s users.”

• Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise

“As important as device components and competition are, a standardized ebook format is the Holy Grail that will ultimately determine the fate of electronic book readers. The Amazon Kindle has captured the imagination of some, but the high cost of the device itself, combined with Amazon’s proprietary Kindle book format make it a difficult purchase for the average consumer to justify.

The Kindle books are generally cheaper than their tree-killing paper counterparts, but even if each Kindle book saves $10 you have to buy 30 books before you break even on the investment in the Kindle. And, you have to hope that the Kindle survives and that the format doesn’t change or your Kindle collection will have to go in the attic next to your 8-track tape deck and your Betamax video player.

Dollar for dollar, it does seem like Sony is blazing new territory in terms of the functionality and value it provides with its e-readers. Sony has embraced the open standard e-pub format. The Sony readers can also read PDF and Word docs (the Kindle is capable through some convoluted process of emailing yourself the doc so it can be converted to Kindledom). Sony provides access to more than 1 million public domain documents available from Google, and an ability to check out books electronically from participating libraries.

Perhaps Sony or Amazon should explore either the subsidized device model of the mobile phone industry, or the subscription model of Netflix or Blockbuster. AT&T is providing the 3G wireless connectivity for the Sony device. Maybe they could also offer the device at a subsidized price under contract like an iPhone. Sony is providing public library access to check out books for free, but perhaps a model that lets users borrow two or three books at a time like a Netflix subscription would make an investment in the reader device itself easier for consumers to justify.

The battle between Sony and Amazon is good for the future prospects of the ebook market. The Kindle continues to be popular even with its proprietary format and $300 price. The Sony 3G offers more in terms of features and value, but at $400 it will still face an uphill battle against the Kindle. Eventually the format should standardize and the devices should be cheaper and everyone will win…except Sony and Amazon maybe.”

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