Comments on: Hello, Sonystyle? Hello? http://www.teleread.com/robert-nagle/hello-sonystyle-hello/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:24:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: David Rothman http://www.teleread.com/robert-nagle/hello-sonystyle-hello/comment-page-1/#comment-891518 David Rothman Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:50:30 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/01/hello-sonystyle-hello/#comment-891518 Mike, as Robert noted, the surveys are hardly scientific. But they certainly jibe with the discussions here, including one from the leader of NAEB, who experienced a failure with her Cybook screen. And then Robert himself has with his. Similarly other people have told of problems with other brands. The other interesting thing is that even though the failure percentages differ a bit for various brands, they're still within the same general range. So in the end we're really talking about hundreds of E Ink users. Even allowing for the self-selection factor---which we tried to reduce by encouraging people with no problems to participate---the failure rates appear to be higher than they should be. The good news is that bendable E Ink should soon come out and reduce the failure rate. Sorry about your Canon problems. Thanks, David Mike, as Robert noted, the surveys are hardly scientific. But they certainly jibe with the discussions here, including one from the leader of NAEB, who experienced a failure with her Cybook screen. And then Robert himself has with his. Similarly other people have told of problems with other brands.

The other interesting thing is that even though the failure percentages differ a bit for various brands, they’re still within the same general range. So in the end we’re really talking about hundreds of E Ink users. Even allowing for the self-selection factor—which we tried to reduce by encouraging people with no problems to participate—the failure rates appear to be higher than they should be.

The good news is that bendable E Ink should soon come out and reduce the failure rate.

Sorry about your Canon problems.

Thanks,
David

]]> By: Mike Cane http://www.teleread.com/robert-nagle/hello-sonystyle-hello/comment-page-1/#comment-891471 Mike Cane Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:13:41 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/01/hello-sonystyle-hello/#comment-891471 >>>But it should indicate a general dissatisfaction General?! General would be a large number of owners. I doubt the polling population reflects any large percentage of owners! I once owned a Canon CAT WP machine. At one point, it just died. I found out, serendipitously, from a Canon service agent that the motherboard was prone to spontaneous failure. Perhaps this is also the case with an X-percentage of eInk screens. I just hope that's not a percentage as large as the suiciding Canon CAT! >>>But it should indicate a general dissatisfaction

General?! General would be a large number of owners. I doubt the polling population reflects any large percentage of owners!

I once owned a Canon CAT WP machine. At one point, it just died. I found out, serendipitously, from a Canon service agent that the motherboard was prone to spontaneous failure. Perhaps this is also the case with an X-percentage of eInk screens. I just hope that’s not a percentage as large as the suiciding Canon CAT!

]]> By: Robert Nagle http://www.teleread.com/robert-nagle/hello-sonystyle-hello/comment-page-1/#comment-890446 Robert Nagle Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:07:16 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/01/hello-sonystyle-hello/#comment-890446 There are dangers of overinterpreting a self-reported non-random "straw poll" (especially when we can't verify identities). But it should indicate a general dissatisfaction with the technology and an unpublicized "gotcha" that consumers may not be aware of. An ebook reader may be marketed as a book when in fact it is a delicate device. I suspect these failures result more from mis-education of consumers than the technology itself. All the more reason for companies offering extended service plans to spell out their terms. There are dangers of overinterpreting a self-reported non-random “straw poll” (especially when we can’t verify identities). But it should indicate a general dissatisfaction with the technology and an unpublicized “gotcha” that consumers may not be aware of. An ebook reader may be marketed as a book when in fact it is a delicate device.

I suspect these failures result more from mis-education of consumers than the technology itself. All the more reason for companies offering extended service plans to spell out their terms.

]]> By: Mike Cane http://www.teleread.com/robert-nagle/hello-sonystyle-hello/comment-page-1/#comment-890423 Mike Cane Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:22:30 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/01/hello-sonystyle-hello/#comment-890423 Oh, and as for SonyStyle -- yeah, what does Howard Stringer know about how much that company *doesn't* work when dealing with its actual customers? Oh, and as for SonyStyle — yeah, what does Howard Stringer know about how much that company *doesn’t* work when dealing with its actual customers?

]]> By: Mike Cane http://www.teleread.com/robert-nagle/hello-sonystyle-hello/comment-page-1/#comment-890421 Mike Cane Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:21:03 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/01/hello-sonystyle-hello/#comment-890421 A proper statistician will tell you these numbers are meaningless and scientifically invalid. I'm not one, but I do know that much. If we knew the total population of each machine over a spread of time, you could begin to have something of meaning. Plus, we don't know the screen manufacturer's MTBF stats or what they tell their customers regarding the defect population. A proper statistician will tell you these numbers are meaningless and scientifically invalid. I’m not one, but I do know that much.

If we knew the total population of each machine over a spread of time, you could begin to have something of meaning. Plus, we don’t know the screen manufacturer’s MTBF stats or what they tell their customers regarding the defect population.

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