[Web4lib] e-Readers (electric paper)

[Craig, Emory]

Sony's eReader is excellent in terms of the readability (it really is
hard to put down when you try it), has great battery life and no screen
flicker. And I think it would cut down on the need for printing. The
bigger issue is that it suffers from a lockdown of content to a
proprietary format and (in my humble opinion) some basic design and
usability issues.

 

As always, Sony is ahead of the curve in innovative technology, but can
not seem to grasp the larger picture. They continue to fear the end-user
-- think of the root kit DRM disaster, their efforts to shut down sites
for hacking the Aibo robotic dog (now discontinued for lack of sales),
and their initial refusal to accept MP3s. Obviously, Apple's iPod also
has a proprietary format, but the device also plays MP3's, is intuitive
in its use and seamlessly weds content to hardware. 

 

Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate, summed up what we need:

"A reading device the size of a paperback with a good screen and long
battery life that can download book, newspaper and magazine pages. . . .
it should also have a wireless web connection and software that allows
you to listen to an audio version and readily switch back and forth
between reading and being read to." The quote is from
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1686600,00.html 

 

I would add that it should also play music (I may want something in the
background while I read (and don't want to also carry my iPod), handle
RSS feeds and offer some basic web surfing in case I need to look
something up (okay, probably on Google or Wikipedia, I confess). 

 

The eReader is a big step, but we're not there yet.

 

-e

 

Emory Craig
Director of Academic Computing
The College of New Rochelle
914-654-5536