E-reader statisfaction study shows 93 percent of users are happy, just not you

The wind sure changes very quickly, eh? Just a week ago the University of Georgia revealed that many of its study participants — Athens residents who were given a Kindle to play with — weren’t happy with their e-reader experience, but yesterday a new study reported something fairly contrasting. Rather than doling out touchscreen-less e-readers to a group of people, the NPD Group surveyed more than 1,000 e-reader owners in late November last year, and found out that 93 percent of them were “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with their devices, while only 2 percent “expressed any level of dissatisfaction.” The report also reveals that wireless access is the favorite feature for 60 percent of the users, while only 23 percent chose the touchscreen. Compared to last week’s report, this probably shows that consumers who actually buy e-readers don’t really care about the touch feature, whereas those on the outer circle are mainly waiting for more — and no doubt cheaper — touchscreen e-readers. Seriously though, only 34 percent wanted color screens? Those guys sure are easy to please.

E-reader statisfaction study shows 93 percent of users are happy, just not you originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PC World  |  sourceNPD  | Email this | Comments

Apple iPad Raises the Stakes for E-Readers

ipad-ereader

Apple’s much-awaited iPad tablet is a good looking, multipurpose e-reader but it is no Kindle slayer, say publishing executives and electronic-book enthusiasts. Instead, the iPad is likely to raise the stakes and help traditional e-readers evolve into more sophisticated devices.

“The iPad is for casual readers and people who favor an all-in-one type of device, while dedicated E Ink-based e-readers are for avid readers,” says Wiebe de Jager, executive director with Eburon Academic Publishers, a Netherlands-based publishing service.

“The iPad is a great device for casual reading, especially magazine-like articles and textbooks, and to a lesser extent for e-books, but there is no way you can compare the iPad’s backlit LCD screen to low-power e-readers’ screens today,” he says.

Apple on Wednesday launched the iPad, a lightweight tablet with a 9.7-inch touchscreen display that brings together web surfing, books, movies and music in an easy-to-carry device. The iPad, which will start shipping in about two months, ranges from $500 to $830 depending on storage and connectivity.

But that’s still almost twice the price of a 6-inch e-reader with half the convenience, says James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research.

“Now that we have seen the iPad, we don’t feel that the e-reader market is going to be hampered by it,” he says. “Smaller sized e-readers are half the price of an iPad and great for reading.”

But McQuivey expects the iPad to hurt the large-screen readers category, which includes the Kindle DX and the Plastic Logic Que. The Kindle DX features a 9.7-inch black-and-white screen and is priced at $490, while the 10.5-inch Plastic Logic Que with E Ink costs $650 or $800 depending on the storage offered.

An iPad Screen for All Seasons?

The fundamental difference between digital-book readers and their electronic peers, such as laptops and phones, is display technology.

Smartphones and laptops use LCD screens that offer vivid color images but are difficult to read in sunlight. Electronic-ink displays, as seen in the Kindle and other e-book readers, are currently stuck in a black-and-white world but they claim a better reading experience. Take a Kindle or a Sony Reader to the park on a sunny weekend and you could have a daylong picnic with just the e-reader.

The iPad can’t offer the same advantages. Vinita Jakhanwal, an analyst with research firm iSuppli say an LCD screen is not as sunlight-friendly as an E Ink display.

The LCD screen also consumes more battery: An iPad promises 10 hours of battery life compared to a Kindle, which doesn’t have to be charged for at least a week. The Kindle’s E Ink screen consumes power only when the page is turned; turn off the wireless and you can go for a week without plugging it in. By comparison an LCD display is said to drink anywhere from 40 percent to 60 percent of the device’s overall power consumption. Backlighting in LCDs can drain power, though companies are trying to use LEDs for the backlight to save on power.

An LCD screen can also be harsher on the eyes. “Reading for a few hours on a handheld LCD screen can be quite a strain,” says Jakhanwal.

Where the iPad does score is in its ability to offer a color display and the ability to embed audio and video files in books. That may not be an advantage for too long. Both E Ink and Qualcomm are working on offering color screens that consume very little power and can be used both outdoors and indoors. At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, Pixel Qi showed a LCD display that can switch between a full-color video mode and a low-power black-and-white display.

A Better Look for E-Books

The Kindle and the Nook’s black-and-white screens may have reduced eye strain but they also stripped the aesthetics out of books. Shorn of the usual typographic tools, e-books on these devices have turned into monotonous blocks of characters.

The iPad will offer publishers a chance to come up with enhanced e-books that contain images, links, background material, embedded audio and even video. It’s a move that’s likely to prompt other traditional e-reader makers to offer tools that will improve the layout of books, says McQuivey. And upcoming color screens for e-readers could help level the playing field between the iPad and other e-readers.

“What the iPad does is say that you don’t have to give up the reading experience when you get the device,” he says.

But some die-hard e-reader fans like Len Edgerly, who hosts the weekly Kindle Chronicles podcast, say pretty e-books aren’t as big a draw as some would think.

“When I am reading, I don’t want to be too distracted,” he says. “It’s about the words, and when I read the Kindle, it seems to bring me closer to the author’s words. That’s essence of reading to me.”

Publishers Battle for the Best Deal

Ultimately, the fight for dominance in the e-reader market is likely to be fought among two giants: Apple and Amazon. And the key to this war will be pricing.

Amazon has been battling publishers to offer electronic best-sellers in its online store for $10. So far, though, Apple hasn’t announced pricing for books in its iBooks store. Reports indicate that it is likely to be in the $14 to $15 range.

“It’s going to be a titanic struggle with publishers trying hard to get Amazon to abandon the $10-bestsellers pricing,” says Edgerly. “But they are unlikely to succeed.”

For Amazon, the success of the Kindle as a hardware platform is secondary to the company’s desire to sell more books, and pricing is the key to the latter.

As a consumer, Edgerly says even if Apple books come with a few extra videos or audios, he won’t pay for it.

“Why would I pay an extra $3 to see a video or hear audio when I get the same book for much less on Amazon?” he says.

Reaching Out to the World

Though Apple’s Steve Jobs has said that books in the iBooks store will be based on the open standard EPUB, which is supported by all e-book readers but the Kindle, he hasn’t talked about digital rights management (DRM).

For now, iBooks are expected to be available only in the United States. That could be because Apple may be using its own DRM system, Fairplay, says de Jager. The iBooks DRM will not be compatible with that of Adobe’s.

“So all those people, mainly in Europe, buying Adobe DRM’ed books will not be able to read them in the iBooks app and vice versa,” he says. “It seems that Apple is trying to create their own e-book ecosystem, just like Amazon did with the Kindle store, Kindle e-book format and Kindle DRM.”

The future of e-reading lies in open e-book systems without DRM, and it is not clear how Apple or Amazon will take to that.

ipad-ereader-comparison

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

See Also:


Nook becomes Colorware’s latest victim

Look, we know we give Colorware a hard time — mostly because it regularly spits out miscast creations like the abominable Kindle or the unlovable DSi — but in the case of the Nook we’re a lot more ambivalent. Sure, on the one hand you can concoct clashing color schemes like the one above that only someone from Portugal can truly appreciate, but if you slide past the break you’ll find tasteful color combos are possible as well. Perhaps it’s the Nook’s simple logo on the back and straight-line color separation, but this is one instance where we might actually be willing to shell out the $125 asking price for a fresh paintjob. Hit the source link to try your hand at designing a prettier Nook yourself.

[Thanks, Kent]

Continue reading Nook becomes Colorware’s latest victim

Nook becomes Colorware’s latest victim originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceColorware  | Email this | Comments

Gallery: E-Readers Push Boundaries of Books

<< previous image | next image >>







Electronic-book readers are red-hot. After a blockbuster 2009, during which an estimated 5 million devices were sold, a new batch of e-readers are waiting to burst into the spotlight.

The latest generation of devices are easy on the eye, lightweight and packed with some nifty features such as the ability to take notes, make lists and — for some — even watch video. They also offer far better battery life than any netbook or notebook, often come with an unlimited wireless connection for downloading new books, and give you access to libraries of e-books that can top a million titles. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year, there were so many e-readers that they had their own special section carved out on the show floor.

But will the category remain as hot as it is now?

E-readers, as we know them now, are at a crossroads. Next week, Apple is expected to announce a new tabletlike device that could also be used to read digital books. It’s expected to have a color screen, not the monochrome E Ink display found on most e-readers. Apple is reportedly talking to publishers to bring e-books and magazines to the device.

Meanwhile, other computer manufacturers are showing tabletlike devices, which are also based on color LED or OLED screens.

A device with a color screen could really change the landscape. Add the ability to watch video, play games or download apps — which most e-readers can’t do — and e-readers could start to look pretty primitive by comparison.

Still, e-reader manufacturers have made a lot of strides in recent months. Amazon has even added an app store to the Kindle.

But before you decide to buy a Kindle, Nook or Sony Reader, flip through this gallery to see what will be in stores this year.

And keep in mind that an array of touchscreen tablets just might render the entire category obsolete overnight.

Above: Plastic Logic

The Cadillac of e-book readers, Plastic Logic’s Que proReader is a gorgeous but expensive device that promises to give you a “paperless briefcase.” The Que, which is targeted at business users, has an 8.5 x 11-inch touchscreen display and the ability to handle a range of documents such as Microsoft Word files, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, digital books, PDFs, magazines and newspapers.

The Que can even sync with your Microsoft Outlook account to pull in e-mails and calendar for display on the device. Feature-wise, it’s difficult to beat the Que. But the price tag is enough to make most people gasp.

But if you want one, be prepared to open your wallet wide.

The 4-GB version of the Que with Wi-Fi and storage for about 35,000 documents will retail for $650, and an 8-GB version, which includes 3G connectivity from AT&T, will cost $800. The Que will start shipping mid-April.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com


The Ultimate Guide to Ebook Readers We Care About

There are too damn many ebook readers and it’s tough to figure out what’s worth buying and which reader will even survive the market. To make things easy, here’s our guide to the readers that matter—for now. Updated.

Of course we’re skipping some of the many ebook readers floating around, but quite frankly we can’t really stomach all of them. We decided to focus on the ones that matter to us—whether because they stand a shot of surviving the over-saturated market, or simply because they are examples of what we think matters about these gadgets. Feel free to let us know if you disagree with any of our survival odds or if you think we missed a significant device.

Barnes & Noble Nook

When we reviewed the Barnes & Noble Nook, we decided that it was pretty damn good all around. At the time, we mainly focused on pitting it against the Amazon Kindle, but even without that limited comparison the Nook remains a rather good device:



It’s got a second screen which actually serves a useful purpose


Expansion and evolution possibilities of this very device are great, especially with touchscreen and Android OS


Lending and in-store Barnes & Noble action will be huge


Native ePub support


A little thicker than Kindle, but as a tradeoff, it’s a little smaller footprint


Wi-Fi doesn’t seem to matter now—hopefully it will prove to be an advantage later


LCD and other features mean less battery life than Kindle, but still adequate, “measured in days”


Current software is buggy and sluggish in spots; hopefully fixes and optimization will come soon


Second-screen possibilities are great, but current implementation is cautious and conservative

Taking all those features and shortcomings into account, we think that the Nook’s survival chance is 80%— if it can fix its firmware and get production up to speed.

Entourage Edge

A hands on of the Entourage Edge left us hesitant about whether there’s actually a market for something that has the price tag of a good netbook and barely more features than most readers:



It does have two full screens on which actual work can be done


Can run Android applications and be used to browse the web


Wi-Fi built-in, so you’re not stuck relying on 3G


Two built-in microphones for noise-cancelation, but unfortunately no synchronization with notes


Note taking can be done using a stylus


Switching between the screens allows for websites to be loaded on one screen and “pushed” to the other


Just as with most other readers, you can highlight, annotate, and bookmark


It’s three whole freakin’ pounds and ridiculously bulky


$500 price tag.

The Edge shows us what happens when you try to make a reader into what it’s not—a pseudo netbook or tablet. We think the device’s survival chance is 0% and consider it pretty much DOA.

Plastic Logic Que

We liked the feel of the Plastic Logic Que when we got our hands on it, but we didn’t like the price tag. The device is mainly aimed at business folk who want to carry a notepad-sized device instead of a stack of documents, but it could make a rather nice reader if you crave for a large screen:



At 8.5 x 11 x .33 inches, its about the size and thickness of a standard notepad. It weighs about one pound. Like a heavy notepad.


The screen is huge—and I mean huge. Over ten inches.


Because of Plastic Logic’s obsession with its namesake material, the Que is light as a feather


Formatting from magazines and other publications is maintained on the screen


The interface seems snappy and intuitive


Que Mail and Que Calendar services allow email and calendar updates to be pushed over WiFi and 3G networks


While odd to look at, the wide bezel actually makes the Que a lot more comfortable to hold than some other readers


The back of the device is a magnet for fingerprints. It’s annoying, but not unusual for shiny toys like this.


$650 for the 4GB model with Wi-FI and $800 for the 8GB model with WiFi and 3G are quite the prices to swallow

We think the Que’s features, design, and business as well as consumer appeal leave it with a survival chance of 70%—higher if businesses feel like spending so much on a device that will certainly help cut back on paper use. Or if Plastic Logic manages to cut back on that price.

Spring Design Alex Reader

Our hands on of the Spring Design Alex Reader left us thinking that the Nook might have some serious competition, but even on its own the Alex is a rather good device:



It’s thin—we thought we’d break it just by holding it—but it turned out to be surprisingly sturdy


You can run any Android app including the browser, email client, and music player apps


The interaction between the two screens doesn’t seem fully worked out


No news about whether there’s a data provider secured for the device


$399 makes the Alex a wee bit pricier than the nook

Assuming that a data provider is secured for the Alex, we could see its survival chance being 80%—higher if there’s a price drop to bring it closer to the Nook’s.

Sony Daily

When the Sony Daily Edition reader was announced, we got a bit excited about its electronic library program and wide screen, but alas, we’re still waiting to actually get one of these devices into our hands to check out all the features:



Sony’s got plenty of partners for this device to provide content


The on-screen content is rotated automatically to allow viewing in a nice, comfortable, and super wide landscape format


Native EPUB support


The electronic library program will let you borrow books from your local library’s electronic collection


Free 3G service is included—but limited to accessing the Sony Store


$399 is a bit much for a device with so few tricks up its sleeve

Until we actually take a Daily for a test run, we’re deeming its survival chance as 40%—mostly because the library program is appealing along with the push for EPUB formatting.

Kindle

In our review of the Amazon Kindle 2, we discovered that it’s not too different from the original model, but we still liked all the features:



The rounded design makes the device appealing to hold and look at


Zippy interface, decent refresh rate


Plenty of internal storage and long battery life


Text-to-speech book reading


Crisp, sharp display


It’s hard to read longer, more complex books

While the Kindle 2 wasn’t a huge leap from the first generation, we still think the device about a 80% chance of survival, especially if Amazon works on improving the interface and how the device treats flipping through book sections.

Notion Ink Adam Pixel Qi

When we got our hands on the Notion Ink Adam Pixel Qi, we discovered that it’s more of a tablet than it is a reader and that it tries too hard to be both:



The device runs on Android 2.0


There’s a snappy Nvidia Tegra 2 processor lurking inside


10.1-inch panel that can switch between backlit LCD mode and low-power electrophoretic reflective mode


3G service, which is becoming fairly standard among readers


LCD colors aren’t as vivid as a plain LCD

Despite having “ink” in its name, the Adam falls too far into tablet territory for us to take it seriously as a reader so we give it a 40% chance of survival in that particular market. As a tablet device though, it might actually do rather well.

Skiff Reader

When we got a hands on with the Skiff, we were pretty impressed by its size but uncertain about most features since we didn’t get to play with a final production model:



It’s big and thin: 11.5 inches of touchscreen space on a device only a quarter of an inch thick


Light and—quite importantly—solid feeling


Layout mimicks a real newspaper better than most readers


Can handle 12fps animation, which is pretty primitive compared to an LCD device


Reasoably responsive to taps and swipes


You can highlight and annotate content


Magazines feel awkward to read as they’re full page scans and any zooming feels slow due to the e-ink refresh rate

Once again: The Skiff unit we tried out was not a final version, so plenty can change by the time it hits shelves. But based on what we’ve seen so far, this could be a pretty great reader overall—despite its key focus being periodicals. Assuming that it’s price turns out to be reasonable and the interface is fixed up a bit more, we give it a survival chance of 70%.

Any Others?

Those are the ebook readers we think deserve some discussion right now. There are plenty we left out—super cheap ones, poor imitations of readers mentioned already, and some that just plain make us gag. We didn’t want to promote crappy products or those where “you get what you pay for” rings a bit too true. That disclaimer aside, we welcome discussion and mentions of other readers, simply because it’s always possible that we omitted something worthwhile—like the Skiff which has now been added—by accident. So let’s hear it in the comments.

There Are Officially Too Damn Many Ebook Readers

A couple years back, we condemned digital photo frames as the spam of CES—this year, in the wake of the Christmas of Kindle, every company has its own ebook reader. And that’s a bad thing.

There will soon be two kinds of happy ebook-reader owners. The people who paid a fair amount for a reputable ebook reader from one of the companies they already buy books from, and the people who spend like $50 on a no-name ebook reader that supports a lot of formats, who gets every book they can think of as a pirated copy over BitTorrent. Everyone else—both the buyers of tier-two ebook readers and the makers of them—are going to be screwed.

You know we have an ambivalent attitude about the big-name ebook readers. The Kindle is the best ebook reader you can buy right now, if you’re in the market, but it’s still hampered by a slow e-ink black-and-white display—not to mention a heavy reliance on Amazon’s own book sales operation, which bothers some people. We respect what Jeff Bezos and Amazon have done to teach the world about digital book reading, and we understand why Barnes & Noble has to get in this game in order to plan for the future—or simply survive.

But the introduction of e-ink-based readers by many big tech companies and a handful of feisty little ones threatens to sow confusion in the market place, encourage piracy, and screw over any company who gets in and then can’t really hack it against Kindle and Nook. And all of it will be a pointless exercise when long-lasting slates are a reality.

E-ink is an interim technology, a stopgap measure to keep our attention till we have full-color video tablets (slates?) whose batteries last for “days.” A flood in the market might ensure that everyone buys one by this coming Christmas, but it’ll become increasingly hard to distinguish the good from the bad, will emphasize cheap devices over quality of interface and service, and will render most people completely confused and off-put.

They will buy some $100 reader, then wonder why they can’t borrow books from their friend who has a Nook, or can’t get the same stuff that’s sold on the Kindle. While I assume most of these new ebook readers support the ePub standard, buyers will easily run into dead ends in the labyrinth of DRM (understandably) required by the publishing business.

Some of these people will give up on buying books altogether, even if they don’t stop reading. Yes, a flood of cheap e-ink readers will grow ebook piracy more than ebook sales.

In fact, cheap e-ink readers will essentially be targeted at people with libraries of pirated books, for people who read the fine print of file compatibility, and ignore all the wireless connectivity and insta-bookstore stuff that consumers are currently excited about. Many of you would say that’s not a bad thing, and I think piracy is as inevitable as publishers going digital—whether they like it or not.

The worst thing of all is that these ebooks will all struggle to get out the door (like so many ebook players “introduced” last fall), or will die on storeshelves, the stuff nobody wants. Price will move some units, for sure, but most of them will be also-rans, like so many MP3 players released this past decade that weren’t iPods.

Maybe this glut of ebook readers isn’t offensive to you—most of you don’t have to step over them on your way to cover 3D TVs that are also everywhere at this show—but there’s no reason for them, and the more we try to keep track of, the more annoyed we get. Your choices: Go Kindle, wait for a cheap-as-hell reader, pray for a slate, or buy a book. A real paper-and-ink book.

E-reader privacy policies compared: Big Kindle is watching you

It’s definitely shaping up to be the year of e-book readers: the Amazon Kindle is flying off (virtual) shelves, and we’d expect the Barnes & Noble Nook to start moving at a decent clip once the kinks get worked out. But any device with an always-on 3G connection to a central server raises some privacy questions, especially when it can broadcast granular, specific data about what you’re reading — data that’s subject to a wide spectrum of privacy laws and regulations when it comes to real books and libraries, but much less so in the digital realm. We’d say it’s going to take a while for all the privacy implications of e-books to be dealt with by formal policy, but in the meantime the best solution is to be informed — which is where this handy chart from our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation comes in. As you’d expect, the more reading you do online, the more you can be tracked — and Google Books, the Kindle, and the Nook all log a ton of data that can be shared with law enforcement and various other third parties if required. Of course, we doubt the cops are too interested in your Twilight reading habits, but honestly, we’d rather users weren’t tracked at all. Check the full chart and more at the read link.

[Thanks, Tom]

E-reader privacy policies compared: Big Kindle is watching you originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceEFF  | Email this | Comments

Nook fails to communicate, download purchased ebooks

You didn’t think the whole Nook saga was over, did you? After just succeeding in delivering devices to expectant pre-orderers in time for Christmas, Barnes and Noble is today cleaning up yet another mess courtesy of its ill-prepared content servers. Judging by customer feedback on its support forums, it appears a glut of download requests over gift-giving day jammed the B&N net pipes and left a great many disappointed Nook users. All attempts at downloading an ebook yesterday — even by those who got their Nook a little earlier in the month — were greeted with a “Queued: Will complete shortly” message, which apparently remained that way until early this morning when downloading finally resumed functioning. The biggest perceived failure here, though, is the book retailer’s silence on the issue, which illustrates the importance of communicating with your customers — most people seemed tolerant of the setback once they realised they didn’t have faulty hardware.

[Thanks to all who sent this in]

Nook fails to communicate, download purchased ebooks originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceB&N book clubs  | Email this | Comments

Nook shipping update assures pre-orders arriving on time

This should come as a relief to all you anxiously awaiting your Barnes and Noble Nook pre-orders. We’ve received a statement from Barnes and Noble affirming that all pre-orders which had an original pre-holiday ship date will be fulfilled, and that the rest of the orders will be filled starting on Friday. Here’s the full, reassuring statement:

“We’re happy to report that all customers who pre-ordered nooks and were given a pre-holiday estimated shipping date will be sent their nooks in time to receive them by Christmas. As you know, there’s been an overwhelmingly positive response and unprecedented demand since Barnes & Noble announced its new eBook reader on October 20th. Customer demand continues to be strong and new orders will be fulfilled beginning February 1, 2010. “

Happy, happy holidays!

Nook shipping update assures pre-orders arriving on time originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Nook Software-Only ‘Jailbreak’ Already Available

The Nook hacking frenzy seems to be as active as the first wild days of iPhone cracking, with new news arriving all the time. Now owners of the Barnes & Noble e-reader can “jailbreak” the device without having to open it up.

Previously, to gain full root access to the internals of the Nook’s Android operating system meant grabbing a screwdriver and physically popping out the internal microSD card on which the OS resides. Now, thanks to a tiny 7.5k download, you can do all the dirty work from the comfort of your computer’s file browser.

The file, called bravo_update.dat, comes in the soft-root package, and can be downloaded from the currently bandwidth-buffeted nookDevs site. All you do is pop another microSD card into the external slot, copy across the file via USB cable and eject. Switch the Nook off and on, immediately holding down both page-turn buttons.

This forces the Nook to run a firmware updater which does what the hardware hack did before (change a word in the operating system’s init.rc file). Now, after grabbing the Google Android developers kit to run on your computer, you are good to hack.

Needless to say, this will probably void your warranty, but it should work with all versions of the Nook firmware, including the two-day-old v1.1.0. The nookDevs team is also working on adding Nook-friendly software: first up should be an email application, coming in the next few days.

nookDevs root enabler for nook [nookDevs]

See Also: