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Re: The Daily Poll: Would You Buy an eBook Reader?

Frank Shin — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:46:10 -0000

There are many factors to consider here.
1) Are you a frequent reader (at least 200 pages a week)
2) Do you travel much? Or have your home relocated frequently? (Businessmen, leisure traveler, student who moves around schools)
3) Do you have a favorite genre you delve into? Or just like to read a book here or there that has something to do with your needs?

The point of an ebook reader outshines the PDA, Laptop, Desktop, and everything else if you answered yes to all the questions above. If you own a library of over 20 books or more, consider the trouble it would take to move the physical books with you everywhere you go. If you have a PDA, would you really consider it worthwhile to kill your battery and have it reduce its charge cycles just to read a book? Or carry a laptop with you and have it die after reading the first chapter? These assumptions might be exaggerated, but there is truth in it. Personally, I'd rather have a separate device to store all my manuals, word documents of notes, and ebooks. Displaying a page will consume NO POWER on the device, while it only consumes during the loading of the page. This will result in weeks if not months of power for a single charge. I'm not sure how long many of you read, but sometimes one session of reading can last around four hours for me. If I can spend $300 for an ipod and accessories, why shouldn't I spend $300 for an ebook reader? On a side note, I am a lover of books and find it annoying to pack all my books with me everywhere I go.

Re: The Daily Poll: Would You Buy an eBook Reader?

Vahe — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:15:51 -0000

Yes, I do read a lot from my smartphone and I am not going to spend $399 on this reader, unless the price drops, say, to $159, but the main advantage of eInk is that it consumes negligible power. A few hours reading drains all power from my smartphone or a PDA, you can't load it with books and read it long while you're on vacation, but with this device you can.

Re: The Daily Poll: Would You Buy an eBook Reader?

Cameron Chapman — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:41:37 -0000

I personally use my Palm Zire to read free ebooks that are in the public domain. Paid less than $100 for the Palm (actually, I got it for free, but it cost less than $100). If I'm going to spend $399 on something, it's going to be an iPod Touch.

Re: The Daily Poll: Would You Buy an eBook Reader?

Peter Schott — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:25:31 -0000

Why would I want to buy an ebook reader for $399 when I have a PDA that can handle that? Why would I want to buy eBooks for something approaching full Hardback retail when I can either buy the book cheaper or borrow it from the library? What if this device is no longer supported? How do I read my purchased eBooks then?

If eBooks are going to take off, the price needs to drop to something reasonable (like

Re: The Daily Poll: Would You Buy an eBook Reader?

Duke — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:08:16 -0000

I already did ;) Bought iPhone and use textonphone.com for free ebbok reading. iPhone makes for perfect ebook reader.

Re: The Daily Poll: Would You Buy an eBook Reader?

Collin LaHay — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:09:21 -0000

I am going to say no... I would rather spend $399 elsewhere.

Re: The Daily Poll: Would You Buy an eBook Reader?

Nick — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:17:03 -0000

Also, make it possible to download blog posts via RSS (portable RSS reader). In other words, make is possible for anyone (especially the owner) to put content on it with no restrictions, no exclusive content providers. If they don't do this, consider it dead already.

Re: The Daily Poll: Would You Buy an eBook Reader?

Nick — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:14:20 -0000

Bundle it with 1000s of books in the public domain (and not stupid DRM!!) to get people hooked, and then they should buy new books.