The market for e-readers, or "electronic books," continues to heat up. Amazon Kindle this week unveiled its newest version, which offers wireless connectivity not just in the U.S., but internationally (click-to-buy in the right-hand margin of this page). Borders has been offering the Sony equivalent (mundanely dubbed the "Reader") for quite a while, and now Barnes & Noble has one too, coming out in November under the name "Nook."
(What is it about this week, I wonder, that we get these new e-readers, Windows 7, and swine flu vaccine all at once? Our cup runneth over.)
I remain happy with my Kindle 2, about 9 months old now, and am unlikely to upgrade or switch any time soon. Kindle for me is a green choice; 90% of the books I read are not ones I want to keep or refer to later, so they just pile up (and up and up) until I get around to donating them. I'm just happy to have stanched this constant buildup, especially if it saves a tree or two. Any of the readers would accomplish this, so I haven't tried the latest models, but for those interested, here are a couple of reviews, one on the international Kindle, and one on B&K's Nook (both are from Wired.com/GadgetLab).
If I were shopping around, I'd probably still gravitate toward the Kindle, though their piecemeal updating of features one by one is getting a little annoying. The Sony Reader seems almost an also-ran. Borders's promotion of it has been halfhearted. The website doesn't feature it on a homepage splash; and even in a Borders store, I found I had to go looking for it; you could shop in Borders all day and not know the Sony Reader existed. Also, it's not clear whether Borders offers any price advantage on books; they don't say so, and you can't check out the e-books tab on the website until you download their e-reader software. Nook might be a great product, but it's not here yet, and the above-linked reviewer's main enthusiasm seems to be that Nook promises to make it possible to lend your e-book to others. I'm really not sure there are throngs of people out there who regularly lend books to others, and if you're not one of them, who cares?
I still think there is a future market for these e-readers (as opposed to reading things on your tiny cellphone screen) but there will have to be an effort sooner, rather than later, to settle on one format for e-books. Consumers won't put up forever with proprietary hardware/software that ties them to a monopoly for book purchases.
I will admit, I don't read A LOT of books, so for now I find myself not needing to get one. However, as you mentioned, I hope the eReader industry continues to develop, and I will be honest. If I had the opportunity to get one of the eReader without any cost, then I will probably pick any of them (Nook, Kindle, Sony's Reader), because they look SO COOL!
Posted by: Daniel Shin | October 24, 2009 at 02:51 PM