[Zack Mahdavi]

Originally Posted by xendula

My nephew is 2 and crazy for books, but whenever he approaches our ppcs we have to make sure we're faster. He can't even handle the poor paper books correctly, so good thing they are cheap to replace. :mrgreen:

Hahaha.. very well put..

[Zack Mahdavi]

Originally Posted by xendula

My nephew is 2 and crazy for books, but whenever he approaches our ppcs we have to make sure we're faster. He can't even handle the poor paper books correctly, so good thing they are cheap to replace. :mrgreen:

Hahaha.. very well put..

[bjornkeizers]

We'll see, we'll see... fifteen years is a long time. At my school, most of the students already carry laptops... and PDA's are getting cheaper all the time. In ten years, everyone will have one, linked wirelessly to computers or direcly to the net. You can then buy books or check them out of a on-line library. In essence, you'd have a library in your hand, containing every book out there.... And since these devices are (of course) cheap to make and very durable and don't even require a powersource... well, see where I'm going with this?

These devices will do to books and papers what Email is doing to handwritten letters, delivered by a friendly mailman...

[foebea]

I am waiting for this online repository to open up and get formatted.
I want my device to wirelessly sync up overnight with the major database of recent stuff, and then get news flashes or flagged message board posts as they occur sent to me. Maybe we could call it The Guide in rememberance of DNA. I miss that crazy briton :cry:

But anyways, I use my current ppc for reading all the time. I have about 100 books from gutenburg on there right now, and a bunch of other more recent books. I get in maybe 2 hours a day reading. I also make use of audible.com for a little over a year now, for the books I want to get read as quickly as possible, or for road trips.

PPCs really are great for this type of thing, and with great free programs like µbook out there, i can control the font size and amount of screen space taken up to get the most out of 1 screen before having to press a button, or just set it to scroll the page. I'd like to see a dead tree book do that
</rant>

[Kevin C. Tofel]

PLEASE tell me that this Brighthand article is wrong.

It confirms the $375 price tag of the LIBRIe e-book device by Sony. It looks beautiful. Looks like I'll never see the device though. The problem I have is the following quote from the story:

"All the ebooks for this device come from Sony. They are only about $5 each, but expire after 60 days. "

I figured this would a propriatary ebook format, but the books will EXPIRE????. There is no way as a consumer that I will plunk down $5 for a vapor-library. I'm paying to view the content for my personal enjoyment at a time of my personal choosing....not within a time limit! :evil: If this is Sony's approach to DRM, shame on you Sony! I'll stick with my Palm Digital Reader on my PPC!!! 8)

I'm hoping this story is wrong....if not, any thoughts?

KCT

[xendula]

Yep, Kevin, incredible but true. I found this on Teleread

Sony Librie: $5 e-books vanish after 60 days

I love what I've heard about the sharp-as-print screen of the Sony Librie. But Japanese readers will have to pay as much as $5 per book for Librie-format files that vanish after 60 days. This is a most consumer-hostile business model. At least here in the States, people typically want to own books they can't get for free at public libraries. Further details from the New York Times (reg. required):

Sony plans to begin selling the reader next month in Japan for about $380. Users will be able to download electronic books for less than $5 each from a Web site set up by Sony and a group of Japanese publishing companies. At least initially, the works will be rented rather than purchased and thus will disappear from the device after 60 days. The idea of renting the books is a concession to publishers who are worried about unauthorized copying.

Sony says it will wait to see how well the Librié sells at home before deciding whether to offer it in the United States and Europe.
Hmm. Next month? I'd been thinking that the Librie would reach consumers in April. Oh, well. The cosmos has waited long enough for E Ink hardware for e-books, and what's another few days? Best of luck to Sony with the Librie--but another business model, please, especially for us here in the States. Otherwise U.S. consumers may shun the Librie the way they did the Gemstar hardware. Ritzy tech is no excuse for old-fashioned consumer ripoffs. I just hope that if the Librie bombs in Japan due to the stupid rental model, this won't prevent the release of U.S. and European version of the hardware. Will Sony's marketers take this into consideration at all?

Detail: Can't the Times grasp the implications of forcing the rental model--at any price--on readers? This is a great example of the disconnect between newspapers and the public.

[xendula]

I would not buy a device that brings yet another proprietary format to the market, but I would definitely not buy a device that only lets me rent content. And for 5$ you should own the book!

BUT, Sony might offer a (free?) conversion tool, we will just have to wait and see.