New Sony Reader Impressions

No, not from me - they *still* don’t sell the thing down under. But over at the teleread blog, they’ve posted Mike Cane’s impressions of a first fondle. Overall, it seems like a slight improvement over the original device - and as Mike points out, the existence of a version 2.0 product suggests that Sony is a bit serious about ebooks. As usual, it’s not the technology itself that’s problematic, but the culture surrounding it. The killer quote is this:

But, man, those e-book prices have to drop. I mean, they should be like five dollars, tops. Really. Sony is basically asking me to risk my money on a locked-up file format that might go away, making my purchases worthless and me left feeling like a sucker.

OLPC and ebook readers

A quick link today to David Pogue’s New York Times review of the One Laptop Per Child program, Nicolas Negroponte’s pet project to build and deliver $100 laptops to all the world’s children. The arguments for and against the idea can be found elsewhere, but Pogue’s review suggests a couple of things that are relevant to ebooks. Firstly, here’s his take on the machine’s screen:

the XO’s color screen is bright and, at 200 dots an inch, razor sharp (1,200 by 900 pixels). But it has a secret identity: in bright sun, you can turn off the backlight altogether. The resulting display, black on light gray, is so clear and readable, it’s almost like paper.

And then, there’s the larger point that if we can design and build tough, general purpose computing devices that will sell for the price of a meal at a Sydney restaurant, then there must be a way to deliver a more affordable e-reading solution. But what do I know, I don’t have an MBA!

A new(ish) Sony Reader

Sony just released what appears to be an incremental improvement to the Sony Reader. The specs don’t appear to be all that different from the original, and the main changes appear to be in the layout of the buttons. The thing hasn’t shipped yet, so reviews won’t be in until later. I’ve also yet to come across definitive sales figures for the Reader. Given that it’s been critically well received (as far as ebook technologies are concerned) and been on the market for around a year, the Sony Reader’s lack of mainstream impact can probably be put down to a few things which I identified in my book; cost of hardware, cost of ebooks and lack of titles. It’s really a technological solution in search of a problem - a problem that ordinary book readers and publishers don’t think they have. Until readers perceive actual advantages to ebook devices (in the way that they have embraced the actual and perceived advantages of downloadable music and ipods), nothing will change. As I said, technological change is much easier than cultural change. And it will take brave companies to drive that.

Broadcaster buys Book Publisher

No it’s not a headline from that satirical gem, The Onion, having a go at old media eating itself. It’s real. Hot off the presses, the commercial arm of the BBC has bought the travel guide publisher, Lonely Planet. Of course, Lonely Planet has probably been the most progressive of book publishers; being at the forefront of a number of digital innovations. (I never could figure out their maps though!). As Tony Wheeler is reported as saying:

We realised we’re obviously no longer just a book publisher… As far as the reality of the business is, a lot of it is now digital…

Watch what happens…

A newsagent without newspapers

From The Times Online, a piece that reflects the slow demise of the print newspaper. The author seems surprised that her local newsagent no longer sells newspapers.

I wanted a Times, a Post and hell, why not push the boat out another 25c a Daily News. There was nothing there. Nor was there going to be, ever again. My local newsagent doesn’t sell news anymore.

When I asked in a state of shock where the papers were, he told me his days of selling newspapers were over. It was “too much bother” and “not worth it”, he said.

It’s probably not a surprise to those of us who live on the intertubes - just another small milestone on the road to the end of print.