Can PC’s ever be e-readers?

I think we need to be careful not to extrapolate our personal device preferences (and prejudices) to assume what the majority of people prefer.

Personally, I don’t want a dedicated ebook reader. And I don’t want a PDA. What I want is a general purpose, portable PC (that can run either Windows XP or Linux), with an 8” 150-250 dpi color screen that can be viewed in either landscape or portrait mode, and with a detachable keyboard (so at one time it may serve as a “pad,” and another time like a traditional laptop — it would be a lot like some TabletPCs.) It should have built-in WiFi. I hope it would even have the ability to accept cellphone and GPS plugin cards (although I will likely use an ordinary cellphone most of the time.) It would be able to play video and audio (on DVD and CD, along with video/audio files.) 50-100 GB hard drive, 512 meg memory, etc. For power, it would use either the 10x “super batteries” now being researched, or a refuelable fuel cell, although I’d probably use a wallwart most of the time. Such a device would clearly be ebook capable, in my “book” at least.

And for those who even want to know, I cannot read ebooks on traditional PDAs — tried it but can’t do it. Nope. No way, Johann. I’ve also tested a few dedicated ebook devices, and even though I liked them, would prefer to have a full blown PC as noted above.

But I know that other people have their own preferences which are quite different from mine — a lot different. Many people love to read ebooks on legacy PDAs, for example. I scratch my head on that one and have concluded that maybe I’m the oddball here. Fine. So I’m in the minority. <laugh/>

Maybe the question we should be asking is what form factor(s) and feature sets for ebook-capable devices would maximize the penetration of ebooks into the public arena? To answer this requires a very carefully conducted poll of a properly chosen and suitably large cross-section of the book-reading public. A marketing survey! A partial list of things asked would include: dedicated vs PDA vs. full-blown PC; device size; screen attributes; battery/fuel-cell-life; would plugging it in with a wallwart be satisfactory for most ebook use?; etc., etc. For this survey it would be nice to have the survey participants actually play with a range of existing devices and even some experimental prototypes.

Only then can we answer the real question that I think is behind a lot of ebooker’s minds: what magic formula for ebook-capable devices will launch ebooks big time for the general public?

We should be prepared to accept that the answer may still be a few short years off as we wait for various components to improve in capability and more importantly to come down in price — approaching what John Terpstra calls “commoditization.” No matter the answer, it would be nice to know this information. I surmise that no one has actually conducted the proposed survey, and this may partially explain why the landscape is so littered with failed ebook hardware device attempts since each one assumed what a slice of the public wanted and didn’t hit the target.

Jon, the Fujitsu Lifebook P1500 comes awfully close to what you are looking for. I have not yet had the time to write up a detailed article on the device, but it is a lightweight tablet, around 2lbs, the size of a hardcover book, and while it does not have a slate form the screen does rotate into a slate form factor. It comes with a 30 gb hard drive, 8.9″ screen, 802.11b/g wireless. If you’re willing to go over 2 lbs, there is an extended battery that will last 5-8 hours depending on your network usage.

I currently run Palm eReader, Microsoft Reader, uBook and Adobe Acrobat on the thing, as well as my regular applications (Office primarily). I carry it to work every single day and it works nice.

Cool!

The Fujitsu Lifebook P1500 appears to show a trend towards full-power PCs in a little package. The price is fairly step, but over time devices like this should come down in price. The screen resolution is o.k. for ebooks (I calculate it being about 133 dpi) but does indicate a trend towards higher and higher dpi resolution.

(I predict a push to produce screens to fully display HDTV at the native resolution of 1920×1080, which on a 8.9″ screen would be a whopping 247 dpi, similar in dpi to the Nokia device Roger is excited about. After using my curent laptop, a Dell Inspiron with a 15″ 1920×1280 screen with a 154 dpi screen, I simply won’t use anything with less than this dpi resolution, especially for reading ebooks. I’m spoiled, I guess.)

Both the Nokia and Fujitsu seem to come close to hitting some personal sweet spots. Not mine. 6-8 hours battery life doesn’t work for me. If I take my E-reader with me on a quiet weekend I like to have 16-18 hours battery life without needing to recharge. My trusty “old” Nuvomedia Rocket qualifies on that score. I admit I am a hold out for dedicated reader. But there should be room for a dedicated reader and a pc that functions well as a reader. But do you really expect a pc type reader to be cheap? I’ll take my chances on an inexpensive dedicated reader to appear first. A pc type reader with an E-ink screen might solve power consumption problems.

I would like to see both devices. I seem to be in a minority in preferring a dedicated reader but I don’t want to be forced into buying a device taking the swiss army knife approach.

Dana

Many don’t realize that if one starts up a company to build a new electronic gizmo of the complexity of a dedicated ebook reader (which is not as complicated as a multi-purpose portable pc), one needs at least a few million dollars to do it right. David and I, a while back, talked with some seasoned experts in this area, and came away with some numbers. If we had $10-12 million, we could do a first class bang-up job and succeed in getting something out that would really work (we could hire first class engineers with successful experience in doing this.) If we had $6-8 million, we could do an o.k. job but now uncertainties and compromises creep in. The bare minimum would be about $3 million, and one would have to cut every corner, and hope the engineering will work out. Even $3 million is a big chunk of change — definitely not for the faint of heart!

A full-function computer will not come near the battery life of a dedicated reader that’s built like the rocket/gemstar devices. Not having to power a lot of memory or spin a hard drive seriously reduces power draw.

I thought the fujitsu’s battery life would be an issue for me, but it is not. I rarely use the thing for more than an hour or three during the day, and I plug it in at the end of every day to charge.

A PC on the order of the Fujitsu will always be more expensive than standard issue laptops on account of the proprietary nature of some of the components and their lower sales volume. But I do expect to see a device like this hit the $1000 mark in the next several years.

I, of course, am with Dana. I don’t think that ebooks will take off until we get an affordable reader that can replicate the book reading experience. This would include a screen that won’t cause you to go blind, and a battery which won’t require you to recharge the thing every few hours.

Of course, maybe I would be proven wrong by a study such as John proposes. But I’m willing to bet that the rugged individuals who have so far suffered through the poor offerings so far available aren’t a very reliable indicator of the general public who we’re hoping will buy these future devices and take up ebook reading.

ryanramseyer makes good points. In essence, we sort of are working in a vacuum since the current ebook enthusiasts don’t appear to represent the general book-reading public. At this time we can only guess what the general public wants/needs to embrace ebooks.

A properly done survey is definitely called for. Something for IDPF to do?

Thanks for including my comments, Roger. I agree that if you can add features to a device without comprimising the performance, then there’s no reason not to. However, I remain skeptical about some of these things – the screen on the 770 has got to draw a lot more power than an E-Ink screen, and I know that WiFi is a big drain on laptops, as well. What’s the battery life of the Nokia while reading a book?

The other big thing I forgot to mention in my original comments is the cost issue – the new readers coming out promise to be around $300, which is probably too much to ask people to spend. The 770 is at least $400, which is reasonable for its features, but far more than the ideal cost of a dedicated ebook reader.

I’m certainly willing to admit that I don’t know what most readers would prefer, but everyone I’ve talked to about ebooks has made some complaint like “But I can’t read a book on my computer screen!” … I don’t think people want to read on portable computers, either, just as they don’t want to listen to music on portable computers.

“but everyone I’ve talked to about ebooks has made some complaint like “But I can’t read a book on my computer screen!” … I don’t think people want to read on portable computers, either, just as they don’t want to listen to music on portable computers. ”

…except people do listen to music on portable computers. They’re called “iPods”.

I got into a a small argument with an early-adopter e-book punter on another web forum with the proposition that e-books just don’t solve problems most people have. You want to carry 1000 songs in your pocket because each one only takes a few minutes to listen to. But how many books do you really need to carry around day to day, special circumstances excepted? I can just throw one fiction novel into my bag and I’m good to go wherever.

I always seem to get answered by students with bulging backpacks. But that is a short term situation, not a permenant lifestyle.

Richard,

Good question, do e-books not solve problems most peope have?
I don’t know. It does for me. My Rocket is used to read in bed, to read while walking, curled up on the couch, in the car (not when I am driving), on an airplane, sitting in a waiting room.
In many cases ye old paper book is not as comfortable to read in these places, or to carry around. I said earlier I can take it with me on a weekend, without the charger, and read 16-20 hours over three days. Nice too if I’m near the end of one book while preparing for a trip I don’t have to pack a second book. (warning, I’m one of these people who feels real weird if I have a few spare minutes on my hands, and no book in my hand.

Then there is storage. I have thousands of books in my house, nearly all packed in boxes. I have about 60 books on my Rocket currently. A reader supporting external memory let’s you store a “large” bookshelf’s worth of books in a “very” small space.

Then I can annotate, search, bookmark, immediately access a reference work. I hate to mark up books so electronic annotation is a godsend. Search is helpful as if having reference books easily at hand when reading other material. Changing fonts is a nice trick also as I am seeing age-related changes in my sight.

So e-books solve problems for me… but I have a feeling I am not a typical user. PDAs and scaled down notebook computers and tablets don’t fit my needs nearly as well as the dedicated reader.

Dana

Richard,

By “computer”, I meant a general-purpose PC-type machine, rather than a dedicated device… In fact, I’m arguing that we need the iPod of e-readers! I think the e-ink screen will get a lot more people interested than the idea of reading off a small LCD.

As far as e-readers vs. print books in general, I see a lot of benefits. I’ve been very mobile in the past few years, and have had to deal with tiny living spaces such as dorm rooms and Bay Area apartments. I simply don’t have room to keep around my large collection of books, and it would be a hassle to move it with me everywhere I go. I’m very much looking forward to the point at which I can switch almost exclusively to digital books.

I also think that this is a situation where once the capability exists, people will take advantage of it. Previous to the Walkman, no one took their music with them on the go. Now the iPod has made it almost ubiquitous. If people could carry books and magazines easily with them, they might also leap at the opportunity…. I know there exist many points in my day where I would love to have something to read, but it’s not worth carrying around a heavy book, much less an assortment of things to read.

I’ve got one book in my back-pack because that is a practical solution for whenever I have to wait somewhere. But waiting in line is not the only place and time to read books. You take books with you on holiday, you take books with you when going fishing, you take books with you for long hauls on public transport.

I annotate my ebooks. Mostly for Project Gutenberg, so that I can report any errors I find, but there could be other reasons. I sometimes read several books at a time. I like to have a book around for a while after I have read it, so that I can go back to interesting bits, for instance when I want to show friends what I just read.

All this and more is why the ability to carry more than one book with me is important to me. Not all important, but enough that I would be annoyed at an ereader that would only contain one book at any given moment.

And I don’t mind being an atypical user. Manufacturers of many computing devices have been able to cater for esoteric needs.

You know what I like about this site? The blogs and comments are equally intriguing and very nice reads. This is quite unlike the usual flaming comments and junks I see in some sites.

Is it because the surfers here are more literate? 😉

In any case, I’ve enjoyed reading the blogs and comments all these while, keep it going. 🙂

Thanks, Snappy.

The TeleBlog commenters are very much part of the show, and in fact, most of the contributors started out as commenters. In the end this a vastly better blog than if I were doing it alone.

This is a great example of why many and perhaps most books–not all–should be annotated. – David