I dropped my Sony Reader from a height of about four feet. It flipped over and landed screen side down on a wooden floor. That’s the end. The screen is totally messed up, with only vague ghostly images appearing in random sections. Turning it on and off or using the reset button has no effect.
I need an e-book reader, so I’ve ordered a Kindle, which should appear tomorrow. I’ll report on the differences after I’ve used it for a while. While I like the form factor of the Sony much better, since I had to get another reader I figured I’d try something different. Luckily I have only three DRMed books on the Sony, so I’m not losing much. All my other books can be redownloaded in Kindle format or easily converted over.
I’ve been doing a fair amount of reading, by the way, on my iPhone, using Fictionwise’s eReader. I am impressed with how easy it is to use and how good the display is. I’ve even gotten used to changing screens by tapping. However the iPhone is not an universal reading device. Its battery is just not good enough for extended sessions. The same with my Palm TX. So a Sony Reader or Kindle becomes a necessity for compulsive readers like me.
Sorry about the catastrophe, Paul.
Enjoy your new Kindle. And when you write it up, don’t forget to make the pitch for Amazon including native ePub rendering in the next version! First-hand, you’ve seen the dark side of the Tower of eBabel.
You mentioned your iPhone. What e-reading program are you most often using with it?
I also wonder if you couldn’t switch off the wireless to extend battery life, at least when you don’t need the phone part.
Happy K-reading!
David
Why does everybody keep calling it “Fictionwise’s eReader?” Isn’t it eReader‘s eReader? I know Fictionwise sells books in eReader as one of its formats, but the format was originated by eReader (nee Palm Digital Media, nee Peanut Press), which is still in business and still selling books of its own.
eReader is a bit of a frustration for me. Now that my Clié has bitten the dust, and I have a Nokia 770 instead, the only way I can read my eReader books is on my desktop. On the bright side, at least they’ll wait for me to get another PDA or iPhone or whatever that can read them.
By the way, Paul, you might want to see if you can get the Sony repaired by the manufacturer at any reasonable rate. If nothing else, it would make a good lender, or you could sell it on eBay.
So far I’ve been using eReader because of its easy connection to Fictionwise, where I have 308 books. As a matter of fact I just bought a book from Fictionwise by your new publisher – The Thirteenth Magician by Stuart Byrne.
Yes, I could turn off WiFi and save some battery life, but since my iPhone is my only phone, and is on 24/7, I need to keep it with a reasonable charge at all times. Besides, nothing can compare with the battery life of a Sony Reader or Kindle using the e-ink screen.
We call it “Fictionwise’s eReader” because Fictionwise bought eReader – lock, stock and barrel.
Sorry about your disaster but it is a good reason why it would have paid to have purchased Sony’s extended warranty. I paid $70 for a 3-year warranty that includes accidental damage coverage. A lot cheaper, should I need it, than buying a new ebook device.
Oh? Huh. They must have done it when I wasn’t looking.
I wonder if they’ll let me re-download eReader books I bought from Palm in other formats? Probably not, but I guess I might as well ask.
Please add a “My” in the title, or small heart-attacks may occur when people read the title as generic instead of specific 🙂
Jim: good idea! Done.
Thanks for the change, and sorry to hear about your Reader mishap. My wife slammed her 500 in the car door last year. She is so used to having a eInk reader that she just went out and bought a new 505 before I even heard about it. I’ll post the gruesome pictures if anybody wants.
Paul, have you thought about taking advantage of the trade in offer announced today?
Nate: it’s a 505, so no go.
OMG! It was a *505* that died? Honestly, I don’t see how you can downgrade to the accursed K. I know the hassle of the Sony (I’ve linked to your post here!), but having the public library access is just killer, even if bothersome.
How do you synchronize the position in the book if you’re switching between your phone and a dedicated ebook-device? If both would show a percentage and had a “go to percentage”-function then you could do it manually. Hmm.. readers really should have some way of sending and receiving bookmarks (including the implicit “current position” one).
The Robotech Master (love it) asks:
“I wonder if they’ll let me re-download eReader books I bought from Palm in other formats? Probably not, but I guess I might as well ask.”
Nope. I asked. The answer was essentially that the rights were sold by that publisher to publish that book in that format. In order to get it in another format, e.g., Mobipocket, you’ll have to buy that book from that publisher again in the new format.
So, have I, since the expansion of the Fictionwise line, re-bought any books?
Nope.
Fred writes:
> the rights were sold by that publisher to publish
> that book in that format. In order to get it in
> another format, e.g., Mobipocket, you’ll have to
> buy that book from that publisher again
This supports my argument that publishers love DRM not because it protects content, but rather because it allows them to further monetize that content and manipulate the market.
“This supports my argument that publishers love DRM not because it protects content, but rather because it allows them to further monetize that content and manipulate the market.”
Under American style capitalism every business has an obligation to maximize profits for shareholders. The only valid question is how to strike the proper balance between short term and long term profits.
So yes, publishers are absolutely concerned with maximizing the profit to be made from ebooks. They don’t care about your convenience, about the good to society, about fair use or about anything else except making money.
Capitalism is a wonderful system for providing efficient flows of money and goods. But it breaks down when it impacts anything that is concerned with the greater public good, things like health care, education or culture.
Binko writes:
> Under American style capitalism every business has an
> obligation to maximize profits for shareholders.
No argument there. FWIW I’m a card-carrying capitalist myself. What I *do* object to is corporations that perpetuate the myth that their fondness for DRM is all about protecting content, which I don’t believe for one minute.
> The only valid question is how to strike the proper
> balance between short term and long term profits.
Again, I agree, but as I have argued in the past I consider DRM to be a crutch that’s used to prop up an outdated business model in an effort to maintain short term profits at the expense of long term market growth.
Well, anyway, I found one solution in the form of the Garnet emulator that I have since reviewed—and another, slightly shadier solution which a comment to that review informed me existed and I then sought out and found. So I’m going to have at least two ways to read that protected content on my Nokia 770.
The irony is, after going to all that trouble, I went back and looked at my eReader bookshelf and realized there realy wasn’t an awful lot there that I actually wanted to read right now. Heh. But at least I’ll have that option for the future.
I wish people would stop calling DRMed stuff “protected”, and instead would use the more appropriate term “restricted”, which is what it is.