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7 reasons not to give an ebook reader now
November 27, 2009 | 10:34 am
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By Paul Biba
Mike Elgan, of Computerworld, has an excellent article on why it is not a good idea to buy an ereader at the current time. I think some of his points make a lot of sense and we all have to realize that anyone buying an ereader is an early adopter and should expect their reader to become obsolete in a matter of months.
Here are Mike’s reasons:
We’re on the brink of radical change in how people read ebooks
Ebook readers are the least discounted gadgets on the market
There are so many other ways to read ebooks
Giving an ebook reader may involve committing a person to a specific technology
Ebook readers are old and busted
Everyone who really wanted one already has one
One of the best choices is unavailable
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Comments:
Funny how this meme is suddenly spreading at the same time that Amazon and Barnes & Noble are listing their ereaders at the top of the sales charts. Is it really these columnists who are so brilliant or, perhaps, they’re speculations are just a little too way out there?
Some of these are just stupid (everyone who wants one already has one??? One of the best choices is unavailable???) while others are sort of true but irrelevant for a HUGE portion of avid readers (lack of hardware discounts, other ways to read ebooks, locked in to one format).
And then the elephant in the room that’s been in the room for over a year now, the Apple tablet. I’m just not sure how you can factor in this kind of vaporware, with price and features unknown, when considering ebook devices that offer a pile of cool features right now.
I’d like to echo Aaron’s comments. It was a lazy and pointless article, esp. with regard to the apple tablet. Any speculation as to its functionality is complete guesswork.
What’s that? within a year of buying any device there will be a better cheaper option? No sh*t Sherlock.
I bought my first Kindle at the full price of $399 in Dec 2007 and have not regretted a minute of the two years I have been reading from it. If I were this reviewer I would still be waiting for color or animation or a battery that lasted two years on one charge. I wonder if this guy is driving a Model A automobile?
I wonder if “one of the best choices is unavailable” is the Sony Reader, the nook, Apple tablet, or the one that uses butterfly wings to generate color which should be available sometime in the next decade.
An idiotic article. Ebook readers are old and busted?? Everyone who really wanted one already has one?? One of the best choices is unavailable?? The author’s preferred readers have not been reviewed and haven’t been available for anyone’s trial and examination (B&N Nook) or haven’t even been announced yet (Apple iWhatever). And what the author called the best choice last year and the year before (Amazon Kindle) was sold out and unavailable for Christmas purchases in either year. And this is supposed to be technical journalism?
My main problem with giving an ereader right now is the format wars. I’d hate to bind some not-tech-savvy relative or loved one to a vendor or a DRM-scheme, after all, they get the reader but will have to buy the books.
Right now there’s some risk of ending up like the guy giving an HD DVD-player for Christmas in 2007…
I’m echoing everyone here but I wanted to add my 2cents. The article says that everyone has one, you mean your pc? Uh yeah, I don’t think I can carry a desktop with me on the bus.
I still have and love my 2nd gen Dell DJ that I got in 2005. It still works despite the fact that it doesn’t have a color touchscreen, after all, I’m not looking at it, I’m listening to it.
If I had an ebook reader and it isn’t in color (like the Kindle) I can live with that because the book I’m currently reading is not in color so there isn’t any real big deal there.
I do want an ebook reader but I will wait for them to become affordable for me.
I don’t think that any one of the reasons by itself is necessarily a showstopper. But together a lot of silly reasons do add up.
The more I read books on my iPod Touch, the more I realize that I really don’t need a full-fledged e-book reader. It would be nice to have the Internet connectivity of a Kindle, or the ability to read eReader books like a Nook, coupled with the larger e-ink screen.
But on the other hand, my Touch does that sort of thing so well already, and I’m only reading a line at a time anyway.
Of course, on the other hand, there is always going to be something better if you wait a few months or a year. Prices will fall, tech will improve. It’s the same way with desktop computers. The agony of the geek is to watch the machine you spent mumble-mumble dollars on start depreciating at a rate of about a dollar a day.
That’s not necessarily a reason not to spend, if you can live with that agony—but everybody’s agony threshold is different, and that’s something people have to decide for themselves.
Format. That’s why I tell people to wait on an ereader. It’s just too early in the game for those of us who aren’t early adopters. Boy would it suck to get stuck with a few hundred dollars of useless ebooks.
yeah,I still have and love my 2nd gen Dell DJ that I got in 2005. It still works despite the fact that it doesn’t have a color touchscreen.