Of course, many businesspeople who travel already use their laptops as ebook readers. At under $400 (under $150 used on eBay), laptops are near ubiquitous now. If there is a demand to make them smaller and lighter so as to be more book like, the design of laptops will evolve in that direction.

Do I need to do this in adobe, or through my computer?

Andy

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EARLIER POST

Just as Sony is “a textbook example of a hardware manufacturer compromised by the conglomerate’s content executives”, Apple is a textbook example of a hardware manufacturer whose executive(s) gets the it wholly right.

Apple has the video ipod in production, which ought to be a very capable reading device. Apple has the market share, the track record of making deals that keep everyone pretty happy, and the software on people’s desktops, with e-commerce built in as well (as of this month, it’s no longer the “Music” Store either – just the ITunes Store). The biggest threat to Sony and IRex will be Apple.

I thought the whole reason Sony was pushing ebooks is due to having seen Apple’s success in selling tunes, which is why they decided to allow open formats. Should Apple enter the fray in 2007, Sony will really have an opportunity to show if they have wisened their act up.

Judging by every rumour site under the sun, it does. After all, Apple already has a half-baked video player with its current 5(.5)G ipod and the move to a full video player would be a no-brainer given all the other activity (ITV and movie downloads), as well as competition from Zune and elsewhere. Public patent information also provides evidence.

“which ought to be a very capable reading device.”
It would?

It would. The display will be as good as any modern full-screen PDA/reader, and the device will likely be more user-friendly and with excellent sync support and e-commerce thanks to ITunes. (btw I’m no mac fanatic http://softwareas.com/seven-things-about-itunes-that-are-just-plain-wrong, but they get things right more than anyone else.) The scroll-wheel in particular will be a nice way to browse.

Are you talking about the current iPods with their unreadably tiny screens, or about mythical future iPods with somewhat larger screens? If the latter, what makes you think there will ever be such a device?
The mythical edition.

Greg: If Sony has the guts to send me a review unit, I’ll test the ease of getting something converted from TXT. Perhaps Sony has done that right, and the masses can more easily enjoy public domain books, if they can find them. But keep in mind that most books from major publishers are DRMed, so that if they are not in Sony’s DRMed BBeB format, people are SOL.

Thanks,
David

Fact: I very recently bought a new Ipod Nano (8 gb) although could have purchased a new 30 gb 5G Ipod with vastly more storage and tons more capabilities for a mere $40 more. Why? Because it is and does *exactly* what I want. Form factor is perfect, battery life is fabulous, and plenty of space for enough podcasts, audiobooks, language lessons, and music to literally last for weeks. It is my ultimate audio educator/entertainer and feels customed designed for me . Really, hard to express how delighted I am with it.

1) It took a couple of tech generations to even be conceived. Although I had some general ideas, in fact I didn’t even really know *exactly* what I wanted until I found it.

2) What fits me absolutely perfectly may be totally un-acceptable to others: NO video, NOT enough storage, NO wifi etc.etc.

One size (or color or style) of paper doesn’t fit all – why should one e-reading solution? (was recently horrified to hear my very young niece say she didn’t like to check out library books because “they have boogers in them”, but I digress..)

I’m excited about digital books (and texts) in general because they can utterly revolutionize the reading (and library, and publishing, and education) paradigm. I want to see buried, dusty, crumbling old books (and authors) given new digital life, discovered by an enthusiastic new generation of readers!

So, whatever that takes: Sony Reader, Irex, oled, e-paper on cereal boxes – go for it! There have been and will be many, many “Edsels” along the way to the “perfect” e-reading solution. So what?

I know, because I’ve used and purchased a boatload of ‘em along the way and have no regrets, whatsoever. Onward, comrades into the brave, new reading world and let’s hope the money holds out… !

- Jake

It does?

“which ought to be a very capable reading device.”

It would?

Are you talking about the current iPods with their unreadably tiny screens, or about mythical future iPods with somewhat larger screens? If the latter, what makes you think there will ever be such a device?

Sony as a company is a mess right now. I expect this product to fall by the wayside within a year as Stringer tries to keep the PS3 from sinking the entire company.