What device do you use?
To read on, I mean? Do you use a PDA, Pocket PC, smartphone, or dedicated ebook reader?
For me, the discovery of electronic books was a wonderful thing. In the early days of motherhood, I read a tech magazine that featured the Gemstar Bookstore and their dedicated readers. The reviewer sang praises and heralded ebook devices as the wave of the future. I was captivated. A voracious reader, I had found that the trials of working and motherhood severely limited my reading options. I was resorting to the supermarket selection for reading material.
I brought the magazine home, plunked it down in front of my husband, and promised never to buy another paperback again if he’d buy it. He ordered it and before I knew it, my REB 1200 was my newest bright and shiny toy.
Then the bottom fell out. Less than three months after I bought it, Gemstar announced they were closing their doors at the end of the following quarter. Their reason? The ebook venture had proved not to be profitable and their warehouses were full of readers that they said the public had no interest in due to the high cost. “Why buy a reader when you can zip down to the bookstore?” was the rationale.
I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if they’d justified muscling through for another year. Back then, all the major publishing houses were onboard with the effort to modernize the industry. Any book I wanted to read was available at the click of my reader. I was in heaven and hooked.
Six months after I purchased my last Gemstar download, handheld devices surged in popularity and Pocket PC’s hit the market.
Now, the unanswered questions are if epresses would have evolved as they have or if the mainstream print presses would have just expanded into the digital world without any significant competition if Gemstar would have stuck the low tide out.
As for me, I waited six years for another dedicated ebookstore because I loved the convenience of the Gemstar. My husband searched the entire Metro DC area to find one when he realized the Sony Store was backordered until well after Christmas that first year. I was so excited that I cried.
Now, I wished I’d held out another year for the Kindle.
Why? Because when Amazon.com acquired Mobipocket, they also acquired the full range of mainstream, epress, and small press titles for the device all in one location to be maintained from the same library.
The Sony? Well, they SAYS it’s *.pdf friendly and that epress titles are easily loaded and enjoyed…but they lie. It will load *.pdf titles from the epresses, but the type is so small that you can’t read it. I’m sure there is a way to manipulate it, but I don’t want to have to fight with a book for an hour to read it. The same can be said for epresses. Some of them sell the Sony *.pdf format and they work great, but the rest…well, depends on how the tech guys finalized the format. Sometimes they work, sometimes they act just like regular *.pdf files. At this point, I only buy from epresses that my reader will read easily.
The Kindle? All from one library without having to keep track of a dozen sites or receipts or accounts…and guaranteed to work. And if you didn’t get the title through them? They’ll be glad to convert it for you, no questions asked.
My email to Sony about the *.pdf issue took a week to get a response. “We are aware of the problem and regret to inform you that there is no available solution at this time.”
Sony? Are you listening? This is why the Kindle is making the Sony Reader look bad – because their support staff is eager to make it our number one choice as consumers. And just because I shelled out over $300 for your reader does not obligate me to patronize from your sometimes limited bookstore. I love my reader, but it’s only as good as the content I can get for it.
And what makes it worse? I’m back to buying mainstream books and reading them on my Pocket PC from sites like Fictionwise and Ereader.com because they load titles faster than the Connect store. There are some books I want to purchase on release day, but the Connect store doesn’t get it up for a month. It’s frustrating. In fact, my Sony hasn’t been turned on in so long, I’m not sure the battery has enough charge to power it on. The only books I actually go to the Sony Connect store to purchase are from authors I know I will reread more than once…or from an author I know or want to support.
For those authors? I buy it everywhere I can find it…because you never know just how many books are being passed around and every little bit helps.
So tell me, how do you read? Print? Ebook? With a PDA or a reader? Or just on your computer? And how do you like it?
