Deal Breakers for a New User

[Zach]

OK. OK. "Critical" is an overstatement, but it would be a powerful addition that would markedly increase the device's desirability to some of us. I do understand that inputting the text is a problem and that more processor power may be required as well. Perhaps a tablet would be a better fit for those of us who want this feature, but their low battery life limits their use as a reader.

[NatCh]

It's more a matter of the current model of the Reader not being aimed at 'serious' readers, in the sense of researchers or those studying a text. It's intended as a device for just reading books, leisure reading, if you will, which it does rather well, in my opinion.

I agree that there is a definite need for a more serious, work-oriented device. Something with an A4 display, pen input, and a more powerful application set that allowed things like annotation and searching (among others) would be a huge boon to any number of professional pursuits: academic (students and teachers), legal, medical, research, news media, and office environments of all sorts would be able to make great use of such a device.

However, the Sony Reader (this model, anyway) isn't that device, wasn't ever meant to be that device, and never will be that device -- it would require too different a hardware set to get there.

But, it's not the only device out there, and I somehow doubt it'll be the last one Sony makes, for that matter, however soon or not they get around to doing so.

[nekokami]

The iLiad could be that device, despite the A5 instead of A4 screen, if iRex would decide there's a market for such a device and support the functionality better.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Zach

OK. OK. "Critical" is an overstatement, but it would be a powerful addition that would markedly increase the device's desirability to some of us. I do understand that inputting the text is a problem and that more processor power may be required as well. Perhaps a tablet would be a better fit for those of us who want this feature, but their low battery life limits their use as a reader.

There are "compromise" devices available, midway between general-purpose computers and dedicated eBook Readers, such as the iRex Iliad, which does have text input facilities Again, though, battery life is also a compromise - I understand that one can, with care, get around 10h battery life from an Iliad compared with the Sony Reader's typical 3 week battery life.

I don't necessarily agree that faster processors are required. The Reader can "paginate" even the longest book in under a minute; it should certainly have the "muscle" to do text searches - the basic problem is how to get the text in there!

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The issue is data input. How would you input a text string on the Sony Reader?

Could the ten numbered buttons be programmed to double as an alphabet in the same way a phone does? That is if input is supported of course.

[athlonkmf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't necessarily agree that faster processors are required. The Reader can "paginate" even the longest book in under a minute; it should certainly have the "muscle" to do text searches - the basic problem is how to get the text in there!

not really. when paginating 6000 pages of a mangabook, sizing at 300MB, it takes the reader 5 minutes or more...

Although I'm not sure if it's the time needed to load the book in memory or really formatting it that takes that much time.

[kovidgoyal]

Paginating even a 1500 page book with embedded fonts of about 2MB can take 10 mins, so its certainly not memory load speed.

[Trenien]

Actually I guess that's the one area where the librie - because of its keyboard - has an advantage over the ereader: when you set bookmarks, you can enter any title you wish for them. It's a nice way to make somekind of references index.

Of course, there's no search capability as far as I know (stupid sony), converting to the only fileformat the librie understand is a pain in the rear and there won't be any further development for it, neither from (stupid) sony nor from third parties because of lack of specs (moronic sony!!!)

[BettyE]

Originally Posted by Zach

OK. OK. "Critical" is an overstatement, but it would be a powerful addition that would markedly increase the device's desirability to some of us.

I agree, Zach. It is not critical, but it would be very, very nice to have. I had the Rocket E-book and the Treo 650 with Palm Reader before I had the Sony Reader and, even for contemporary fiction, it is great to be able to check back on this or that character or event, especially in a mystery. I would say that, when I have the capability, I use it about 3 or 4 times every time I read a book.

One kind of work around in the Sony Reader is the history. It doesn't go back that far, but you can sometimes get back to an earlier place and find something.

Betty

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by BettyE

One kind of work around in the Sony Reader is the history. It doesn't go back that far, but you can sometimes get back to an earlier place and find something.

Or you can bookmark something that you want to return to, and come back to it later. Of course that only works if you know in advance that you'll want to come back to it .

[lloydt]

I'd like to point out that, with the most recent operating system (released in the last four days or so), iRex and Mobipocket have now made dictionary support available on the iLiad. What this means is that when I'm reading a Mobipocket book, I can look up any word I encounter with two screen taps.

The most common thing by far I want to search for while reading a book is a word's definition. The time saved in having to schlep over to my kitchen to grab the 15 lb dictionary is amazing. Even if you're used to reading with a large dictionary at your side, it's impossible that you'd be able to look up a definition more quickly the old school way. Oh, and a really nice benefit: when you buy a Mobipocket dictionary, you get to load it on multiple devices. Mine's on my Palm as well as my iLiad (and of course, also on the PC). I can look up a word on any of them faster than I could have grabbed the dictionary and flipped to the right page.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by lloydt

iRex and Mobipocket have now made dictionary support available on the iLiad.

Does it also do word search within the current e-book? The Windows version of MobiPocket Reader has both.

I agree, though, that for casual reading dictionary lookup is the most important word operation. It is also a money maker, I'm sure, for MobiPocket. I am less adverse to paying for a DRM-ridden dictionary than for other publications. The DRM prevents it working on all current and (more importantly) future devices, but I expect to buy a new dictionary every few years anyway.

[lloydt]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Does it also do word search within the current e-book? The Windows version of MobiPocket Reader has both.

I don't believe so, wallcraft. Although I'm just getting into this Mobipocket stuff, it appears to me that a book has to be a "dictionary" in order to allow searches in the first place. With my Palm, there are two ways to do this: you can either do a straightforward lookup, or you can search for occurrences of a word. This is most easily seen with, for example an English-to-French dictionary, where the normal (and fastest) mode is to enter a word in English. I can instead search on a particular French word, but it takes quite a bit longer (a few seconds), and I get back multiple entries, some of which contain only incidental useages of the word.

At any rate, the iLiad doesn't seem to offer any of this except a straighforward lookup of a word you type in. And as I mentioned above, it also allows for the looking up of a word encountered in any other Mobipocket book.