Books are having their iPod moment this holiday season. But buyer beware: It could also turn out to be an eight-track moment.
By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER
While e-reading devices were once considered a hobby for early adopters, Justin Timberlake is now pitching one on prime-time TV commercials for Sony Corp. Meanwhile, Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-reading device has become its top-selling product of any kind. Forrester Research estimates 900,000 e-readers will sell in the U.S. in November and December.
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Getty Images Barnes & Noble announced its Nook e-reader in October, but you won't be able to see it in stores until Dec. 7.
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But e-reader buyers may be sinking cash into a technology that could become obsolete. While the shiny glass-and-metal reading gadgets offer some whiz-bang features like wirelessly downloading thousands of books, many also restrict the book-reading experience in ways that trusty paperbacks haven't, such as limiting lending to a friend. E-reader technology is changing fast, and manufacturers are aiming to address the devices' drawbacks.
"If you have the disposable income and love technology—not books—you should get a dedicated e-reader," says Bob LiVolsi, the founder of BooksOnBoard, the largest independent e-book store. But other people might be better-off repurposing an old laptop or spending $300 on a cheap laptop known as a netbook to use for reading. "It will give you a lot more functionality, and better leverages the family income," he says.
For gadget lovers, several factors are converging to make e-reading devices alluring this holiday season. More such devices are debuting than ever to challenge Amazon's Kindle, notably the Nook from Barnes & Noble Inc. Sony also recently launched three new versions of its Reader, which will be sold—along with devices from smaller makers like Irex Technologies BV—in dedicated e-book sections of Best Buy Co. stores. Already, these devices are beginning to sell out: Barnes & Noble says people who ordered the Nook after Nov. 20 won't get one until the week of Jan. 4, and Sony says that it can't guarantee delivery of its high-end wireless Reader by Christmas.
There's also more selection of books for the devices, with most popular publishers now selling e-books. Also, library-scanning efforts by Google Inc. is producing more than a million out-of-copyright books like "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" that people can download free. There are only a few holdouts against e-books, including "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling.
Prices for e-book readers are also dropping. Amazon recently cut the price of the international Kindle to $259 from $279, while Sony sells a new entry-level model for $199. A refurbished first-generation Kindle retails on Amazon for $219. Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores are also discounting prices on best-selling e-book titles to $10 to lure more readers.
Still, it's unclear how—and on what sort of device—most people will be comfortable reading e-books. Many people seem perfectly happy reading books on their PCs: Reading Web site Scribd.com, which offers millions of amateur and professional works, is attracting 50 million readers each month. LibreDigital Inc., a distributor of e-books for publishers, says the overwhelming majority of e-book buyers are women who read e-books on an ordinary computer screen, mostly between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. A growing number of readers are also perusing books on cellphones.
Most of the current crop of dedicated e-reading devices try to replicate the traditional reading experience with a screen that's about the size of a paperback novel that displays black-and-white (or, rather, dark grey and light grey) text and graphics. You turn the page by clicking on a button, or using your finger or a stylus to touch the screen. You can buy books online and transfer to them your device with a cable or, on some models, download them directly via a wireless connection. Most e-books, which cost about $10 for popular new titles, are yours at least for the life of your device, though some models let you borrow books for a short period of time from libraries or a friend.
But Ms. Broughton says she can't recommend the Kindle to people who aren't technically savvy and might want to purchase their books anywhere other than the Amazon store. That's because the Kindle doesn't read copyright protected files from other bookstores or libraries. It also makes it tough for parents to monitor what their children are reading, if a child has a Kindle that is registered to his parent's Amazon account.
"The parent's entire e-book archive is accessible to that child's Kindle–individual titles can't be locked out," says Ms. Broughton. "Parental controls are one of the most wished-for features." There are technical work-arounds for some of these issues, but they require downloading unofficial software.
Indeed, many e-book readers place limits on how and where consumers can use them. Only the Nook allows people to share some of their books with a friend by wirelessly transmitting them—and even then, you can share each book just once and only for 14 days. And only Sony's Readers make it easy to check out free books from Overdrive Inc., the e-book service used by many public libraries.
The e-book market is also caught up in a format war, with different companies limiting their devices to certain kinds of e-books, with file types such as .azw and mobipocket on the Kindle and .epub and Adobe Digital Editions on Sony. As a result, there's no guarantee an e-book bought from one online store will work on devices sold by a competitor.
Sony has tried to differentiate itself in e-books by supporting an open industry standard called Epub and digital-rights-management software from Adobe. Barnes & Noble recently said it will do the same. But Amazon, which dominates the e-reader market, has so far shown no signs of changing from its own proprietary format.
Amazon says it is working on making Kindle books play on more devices, including iPhones, BlackBerrys and PCs.
"Our goal is to create the best possible reading experience for customers," says Amazon's vice president of Kindle, Ian Freed. "Along the way, we have figured out that it is pretty important to do that with a range of devices."
For now, the lack of interoperability in e-books has tripped up readers like Maria Blair, a 61-year-old lab technician in Baltimore. She decided to switch from the Kindle to the Sony Reader last year, because she preferred the weight and feel of the Sony. But now, "I'm not able to read the books I bought for the Kindle on my Sony," she says.
Future e-book readers may be a lot more interactive. Plastic Logic says it will launch a business-oriented reading device early next year that will offer the largest screen yet (8½ inches by 11 inches), along with tools to help business people manage their documents on the go. And while all of the dedicated e-book readers on the market this holiday season use black-and-white screens, color screens are coming late next year.
Next year, Apple Inc. is also expected to debut a tablet device that can be used for reading, watching movies, surfing the Web and other interactive tasks.
Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com
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7 reasons why e-book readers make lousy gifts
e-reader seems like a sweet, substantive and long-lasting gift. But so is a fruitcake.
By Mike Elgan
November 27, 2009 06:00 AM ET
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Computerworld - Two years ago, the best holiday gift was an Amazon Kindle -- if you could get your hands on one. They were hot, new and sold out hours after going on sale. Last year, the Kindle made an awesome gift as well.
This year, all the e-book readers on the market, including the new Kindles, are better devices than last year's Kindles. (Amazon announced this week that it has improved battery life by 85 percent, and has added a native PDF reader. These improvements are software-based, so most older readers will get them automatically over the wireless network.)
And there has never been more choice in e-readers. In addition to the Amazon Kindle, you could buy a Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook, Hanvon N series, Bookeen Cybook Opus, Elonex eBook, Endless Ideas BeBook, Interead COOL-ER, Samsung Papyrus, Foxit Software eSlick, iRex Digital Reader, Jinke Hanlin or others.
The e-book market has never been better. But that doesn't mean you should buy one as a gift. Here's why e-book readers make lousy gifts this year:
1. We're on the brink of radical change in how people read e-books
The elephant in the e-book living room is the rumored Apple Tablet. I believe the device will ship by summer. It will probably succeed wildly, and hammer both the e-book and netbook markets.
Copycat devices will also flood the market. What that means is that any old-and-busted e-book reader you give this year will seem horribly old and hideously busted when the new smartbook-style tablets (tablets that run cell phone, rather than desktop, operating systems) hit. Everyone will have one, and they'll all be brilliant e-book readers. Buying an e-book reader now is like buying a non-cell phone PDA a few years ago. We're on the brink of leaving those gadgets behind, and integrating their functionality into a multi-purpose device.
2. E-book readers are the least discounted gadgets on the market
The Great Recession has sparked the most discounted, low-price holiday season in history. Other gadgets in nearly every other category are slashed to near or below cost. E-book readers aren't really getting swept up in the cost cutting. While some stores are actually paying you to take free BlackBerry phones, for example, e-book readers still cost hundreds of dollars. And there aren't a lot of deals to be found on them, at least anything that compares to the prices of other gadgets.
3. There are so many other new ways to read e-books
The purpose of e-book readers is to read e-books. But there are so many other ways to do that now. You can read them on mobile phones and on PCs, for example. (Even many Kindle owners these days read most of their books on their iPhones. Amazon gives away free applications for both phones and PCs.) You can borrow e-book readers now from the library. Your loved one may not have an e-book reader, but they have a world of access to e-books.
4. Giving an e-book readers may involve committing a person to a specific technology
When you buy someone a Kindle, you're committing that person (assuming they use it) to a specific and, in the case of Amazon.com, proprietary format for future book sales. That's really a decision each person should decide for themselves. It's like choosing a wireless carrier, or a college, for someone.
5. E-book readers are old and busted
Two years ago, the Amazon Kindle was the new hotness. This year, it's old and busted. The Kindle and its major competitors have pretty much the same screen technology. And everybody knows about them, so they're just not an exciting gift anymore.
6. Everyone who really wanted one already has one
It's well understood that e-book readers pay for themselves with the lower price for books. Anyone who really wants an e-book reader would have bought one by now. By buying one for someone who doesn't have one, you're forcing a gift on them that they have already decided they don't want.
7. One of the best choices is unavailable
Even if you're not persuaded by all my arguments, and insist on giving an e-book reader, you should know that one of the best options is unavailable. If you order a Barnes & Noble Nook reader today, for example, it will arrive on January 4.
There has been so much change and excitement in the e-book market since the last holiday season, you might be tempted to think this is the year for giving e-books. Resist the temptation. An e-book reader is one of the worst gadget gift ideas of the season.
Mike Elgan writes about technology and global tech culture. Contact Mike at mike.elgan@elgan.com, follow him on Twitter or his blog, The Raw Feed.
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7 Reasons Why eReaders Make Great Gifts This Year
Some people think eReaders like the Kindle are nothing but a blip in the technology timeline. I beg to differ.
by Lance Ulanoff
I just read a column by a guy whom I know, respect, and, typically, agree with. However this time, I think Mike Elgan over at Computerworld got it wrong. His post, "7 reasons why e-book readers make lousy gifts this year" sounds reasonable, but here are seven reasons why he's wrong.
Form Follows Function
I love when a device is so perfectly modeled after its purpose. Currently, Amazon's Kindle is the apex of the design imperative for e-readers. In fact, I'm not sure Barnes & Noble's Nook will outdo it, even with that nifty energy-sucking LCD color screen (which, of course, has nothing to do with the act of reading). The current crop of e-readers from Amazon, Sony, and others are thin, easy to hold, and, especially in Sony's case, exceptionally easy to use. All e-readers should have a touch screen that recognizes sweeping a finger across the screen as the gesture for "turn the page." Let's also not forget how thin most e-readers are. The Kindle is thinner than a book, much thinner than three books and two magazines, and sits comfortably in your pocketbook, backpack or hand. I don't think we could say the same of a laptop or tablet.
There is No better Way to Travel with All of Your Reading Material
Most e-books hold 1,500 books in their flash memory. The typical reader will travel with three or four tomes of varying sizes. You can also, as I have, move magazine subscriptions to the platform. Recently, I started getting my New Yorker on the Kindle. The reading experience is, to be honest, different and a little weird. I no longer have the interstitial experience of seeing cartoons sandwiched inside a massive article on the coup in Honduras. All the cartoons are in a section at the end of the digital magazine. On the other hand, when a magazine of this density arrives every week, it's impossible to keep up. I have been known to travel across the country with no fewer than five issues in my backpack. With my Kindle, those days are over. I could keep a dozen issues on the device and never feel the weight.
Access to the Digital e-book Store is Free, No Matter Where You Are and Books are Cheaper, Too
It's true, there are no discounts or subsidies when you by an ereader from Amazon or Sony. But Amazon's 3G Whispernet cellular service is 100-percent free. I can peruse the Amazon bookstore from wherever I am and even do a little web browsing (though the browser is awful) if I want, and I never pay a thing. This also means that when my latest New York Times or New Yorker is available, I don't have to look for an open Wi-Fi network or hook up to my PC. I just turn on the free connection and download. Many of the books are cheaper than their physical counterparts and magazine subscriptions can be cheaper, too.
E-books are the Best Way to Read the Old-Fashioned Way
I know a lot of people who stare at a computer screen all day and complain of about eyestrain. E-ink, a technology that's significantly different than LCD display technology, is fixed (no refresh), reflective (like paper), and it doesn't introduce eyestrain unless you need new glasses or are reading without enough light. I can read on my Kindle for hours and never feel anything but delight. Yes, I have tried Kindle for the PC and reading e-books on iPhones. Both experiences were somewhat less satisfying. In fact, the iPhone was, for me at least, a total bust: The screen is just too small for reading a lengthy novel.
E-books Are for Sharing
Yes, it's true, DRM constraints make it impossible for me to share my Kindle books with someone who owns a Nook (Oh, wait, no one does yet) or even someone with a Sony eReader. That's not great. On the other hand, if I buy everyone in my family a Kindle and then give Kindles as gifts to my relatives over the next few years, we can share books. The reality is that I almost never share books with anyone. I used to buy them at Barnes & Noble, read them, and then put them on my shelf. Eventually, I might try and sell them at a garage sale for 50 cents each. It's easier to have virtual books that I either keep on my Kindle or eventually discard.
Lots of People Still Want e-books
Mr. Elgan says everyone who wants an e-reader already has one. That would make sense if Barnes & Noble hadn't just sold out of a device that it can't even deliver in time for Christmas, and Amazon's Kindle hadn't just broken a sales record. I think the demand is still there and, in fact, growing.
E-reader Technology is Still Cutting Edge
2010 may be the year of the tablet, but no one really knows what the age of tablet will mean for consumers. Are tablets the upgrade to e-readers or, because they'll use LCD technology, be heavier and probably a lot more expensive, will they be something completely different? Plus, with the sudden demise of Michael Arrington's CrunchPad, the future probably just got brighter for the e-reader market, didn't it?
What do you think? Are you—or were you—planning on giving someone an e-reader for the holidays?
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