CNET predicts dedicated ereaders are doomed technology

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

My husband and I have this argument fairly frequently. I get rather tired of it. He whines about how stupid a dedicated ereader is when I asked for one last Christmas. Obsolute, useless, dum, pointless etc etc etc

...

My argument back to him is always the same. You don't read. You don't understand getting lost in the story of a book and not wanting to be disturbed. I don't want to have some stupid instant message pop up or a phone call or an email notification or a BBM or what have you or the pain my eyes go through when looking at a backlit screen for too long. Leave me alone, I want to read my book!

...

And if I may add to the topic of GPS on phones...have you ever used your phone in another country? OMG! The rates are insanely high for phone calls nevermind data. I'll stick to my dedicated GPS when I travel thanks. I'm still recovering from the shock of using a Canadian cell phone in Walt Disney World during the per-second billing phase a decade ago. Hi hon! I'm here where are you? Ok meet you in 10 minutes. click Those were the extent of our conversations while there. Next month's bill was $700+. I'd go broke using data for mapping in the US or god forbid overseas. No thank you.

I don't see a need to defend or explain reading to anyone. And I sure wouldn't put up with repeated denigration of my interests, especially from my husband.

If you travel regularly, there's always the option of buying an unlocked phone that will take other SIM cards. This option is widely used by travelers. When I'm abroad, I pay less for unlimited data than I do in the U.S., using the same phone.

[ApK]

>>I don't see a need to defend or explain reading to anyone. And I sure wouldn't out up with repeated denigration of my interests, especially from my husband.<<

I'm still reeling from the idea of marrying someone who is disdainful of books.

But I'm sure her husband has many wonderful qualities. :-)

[Shopaholic]

He's pretty good but like all of us, he has his rather annoying qualities. I have a perfectly good reader and I keep bugging for the new one as soon as it came out. LOL

We're all bad in our own ways. It's just to what degree our partners tolerate it. Life is a trade off and nothing's perfect.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

like all of us, he has his rather annoying qualities.

I think my wife has told me that I have one or two of those, but I just block her out.

What?

[MikeFromHC]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

I don't believe in future 'cheap-eread only devices' remaining a niche product either
they 'll end up finally as schoolbook replacements.

You haven't checked he prices on school books recently have you?
Cheap ereaders will not fill that need, only something like the Kno will and you will be able to rent or buy your books in the $50.00 - $60.00 dollar range.

The idea just occurred to me that you could also subscribe to these books. Properly designed they could be both a textbook and a reference manual that is kept current for a nominal fee.

[Freeshadow]

I rather tought about - buy the reader whilst the school has mass subscriptions to books (high volume licenses) therefor the content 'd be cheaper - and PD literature for free of course.

even the better in edu fields where stuff needs to be frequently updated, like legal education.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

On January 24th CNET TV posted a video predicting their top 5 doomed technologies:

5. Blu-ray

Blu-ray is dead? That was quick. Didn't notice the buzzards circling.

What's the next video storage thingy? I better move fast if I want it.

[CommonReader]

CNET is faithfully toeing the Apple line. Apple is trying hard to convince people that DVD and Bluray are dead. After all, why should people be able to buy content anywhere else than via iTunes with Apple making a healthy profit? I'm sure that people who don't have exceedingly fast broadband connections have a different opinion on delivery of HD content, though.

As to ebook readers I am not wed to a specific technology. As long as I get a comparable reading experience I don't mind if the device can also do satellite navigation and predict the lottery numbers. However, I'm not too concerned about the immediate demise of ebook readers. With the Americas and Europe we are looking at a market of how many people? 1.5 billion? Plenty of potential costumers there to build ebook readers even if it is only a niche product.

[G J Lau]

Another point is that e-readers and e-books are two different things. As a newly minted writer, I am more interested in the future of e-books (is it ebook or e-book?) than e-readers. Anything that gains in popularity as an e-reader is good news for me as a producer in the e-book format.

Overall, though, CNet is probably right. My wife says soon we will all have a single device, our cell phone, that will pretty much do everything for us. Certainly the cell phone already CAN do pretty much everything it is just a question of ditching the other technology forms.

G J Lau
Check out The Magpie’s Secret on Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/36482
Visit my blog at http://www.windroot.blogspost.com/

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by G J Lau

... (is it ebook or e-book?) ...

For what it's worth:

oxforddictionaries.com

[CommonReader]

Originally Posted by G J Lau

Overall, though, CNet is probably right. My wife says soon we will all have a single device, our cell phone, that will pretty much do everything for us. Certainly the cell phone already CAN do pretty much everything it is just a question of ditching the other technology forms.

G J Lau
Check out The Magpie’s Secret on Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/36482
Visit my blog at http://www.windroot.blogspost.com/

I've read that the ebook market is huge in Japan and that people are mostly reading these books on their phones. However, I don't believe that having a mobile phone with a screen that is large enough to read books comfortably is a very attractive idea.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Blu-ray is dead? That was quick. Didn't notice the buzzards circling.

What's the next video storage thingy? I better move fast if I want it.

It will never penetrate like DVD did. The idea of having to go out to a store, or wait for the mail, for a fragile piece of distribution medium is SO 20th century.

There will be no "next storage thingy" in that sense.

HD video will more and more be delivered over the net and either watched streaming or stored on local devices.

This would be the case even if bluray's adoption wasn't additionally slowed by protection and player incompatibilities and other issues.

[tponzo]

Originally Posted by silasgreenback

Cooley says:

"A tablet is not a perfect reader, but we're also not a nation of bookworms either. For most of us, the tablet is going to be good enough, especially since our real love is video and the web."

Hope he's wrong, but as far as the U.S. is concerned, those two sentences couldn't be more correct. In my town, everyone's forgotten the rule about being quiet at the library...I guess it becomes trivial when 3/4 of the people there only show up to check out "Sex and the City" and watch Youtube.

or talk on their mobile phones - ugh!

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by tponzo

or talk on their mobile phones - ugh!

Technological progress, or regress?

[ApK]

Nothing to do with technology, just courtesy. When I was younger, people would talk too loudly in the library, and the librarian would silence them or eject them.
Now the librarian has no effect for fear of being sued or beaten up.