Friday 9 October 2009

Reader, I couldn't find him...

So yesterday I started looking for an ebook reader in earnest. D'you know what--correct me if I'm wrong here someone who knows better, but, in the UK, unless you're happy to use an iPhone (which I'm--screen's too small and I don't use my phone enough to warrant the expense), I'd say don't bother. Sony's Touch looks okay, but it's not wireless, and is stupidly expensive, and you have to buy a separate memory card. The Blackwells BeBook has an MP3 player--groovy, but looks like you shouldn't pay more than about twenty quid for it (stick a nought on that for the actual price) and the Kindle, which I'm sure is very nice, looks too big and has that hulking pointless keypad on it.

I know there's likely to be a Kindle DX (the wireless version) in the UK next year, but I'm sure that'll be a stupid price too. We appear to be at the stage that laptops hung at for years, overpriced and underperforming.

Anyone know of a decent wireless reader available in the UK for under two hundred pounds? Even the internet is coming up empty-handed.

Personally, I'd love for Philips to produce an EPUB-compatible Iliad that isn't at a stupid price. No doubt if they do it'll launch in the US a year before we get a sniff of it over here.

And how about those of you in America? Do you have a reader? Do you like it?

And Borders Charing Cross Road--shame on you. You had about twenty display models and none available to buy, and wouldn't even let me try one properly.

2 comments:

mattfwcurran.com Web Admin said...

Hi Neil

I've also been tempted to pick up an e-reader, but have been dissuaded for these very reasons. They're way too expensive at the moment, and for a single use device, they're not viable. The Sony Touch is clunky, appearing like the ZX81 of PDAs, and the BeBook looks like it will break in less than a week. With Amazon being utterly unrealistic about the Kindle, I'll be waiting for the new Tablets to come out - devices that you can e-read, surf the net, play music and watch films etc. The screens will be bigger (about 8-9") so you won't strain the old eyes reading the latest Jane Austen, and yeah, it will probably cost a wee bit, but no more than the Kindle does now...

The e-book revolution is coming, but it definitely won’t be here until we get the Blu-ray of e-readers on the streets and it retails below the price of a standard netbook.

Unknown said...

It's a shame, Matt. I was hoping to bag one for Christmas. Will make publishing a hell of a lot cheaper in the future. Shame some of the publishers seem so wary of it at the moment. (I can understand why printers and print production staff would be.)