Comments on: Ebook Readers – They’re Getting There

By: Timberati

Timberati — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:38:35 +0000

Reed highlights the downside to any digital technology: format creep, the changing of storing/displaying digital or electronic media. Reel-to-Reel, 4-track, 8-Track, IBM punch-cards, Wang wordprocessors, etc. The encoded material degrades too. Where printed text on paper from 700 BCE is still quite legible. If I drop my book, it doesn't break. Try chucking an ereader across the room when the plot of the story stinks and see if you can read another book afterwards. .-= Timberati´s last blog ..Green, Inc. =-.

By: jorgekafkazar

jorgekafkazar — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:25:00 +0000

I , am a Luddite. I've hidden (ok, lost) my PDA carefully away. I have no plans to acquire a Grendl or whatever that new-fangled thing is. I'm prefectly happy with those other things. Books. Gutenberg must be rolling over in his whatchacallit. .-= jorgekafkazar´s last blog ..Watcher in the Night =-.

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:47:12 +0000

Scott, you’re way ahead of me… I’ll look it up. Thanks.

By: Gina-Narue Cheeseman

Gina-Narue Cheeseman — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:12:48 +0000

I am badly near-sighted and wear glasses/contacts. As a writer I stare at a computer screen for hours at a time and I know that is damaging for my already "weak" eyes. At the end of the day I have no desire to do pleasure reading on a screen as it gives me a headache and will do further damage to my eyes. .-= Gina-Narue Cheeseman´s last blog ..Coverage of the Armenian Genocide Commemoration =-.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:41:13 +0000

@Anne With my reader, anyway, I find that the best formats are MobiPocket and epub. .-= Scott´s last blog ..Write everything as if writing for the Web =-.

By: Reed Porter

Reed Porter — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:01:59 +0000

Mostly novels. I’ve read a lot of SciFi with a particular interest in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers series. One of the best new authors in the SciFi realm I’ve read in a long time is Randolph LaLonde. His First Light Chronicles is top notch and only available as an ebook until this year. He’ also in social networking and blogging so you get to stay abreast with the progress of the next installment. He’s just signed with Smashwords an ebook distributer that is new to me. http://spinwardfringe.blogspot.com/
I also like biographies, and non-fiction business books in the ebook format. Technical books seem do better on the screen or in print.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:00:56 +0000

So Scott, what format works best for ebooks… BeBook looks good… they are all in the high $200sUS it seems

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:56:17 +0000

I’ve actually come to appreciate ebooks, although I still love the paper kind best I think

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:52:53 +0000

Reed, what kind of books are your favorites?

By: Reed Porter

Reed Porter — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:46:45 +0000

I have read everything I can as an eBook for the last 8 years. I started with the Palm reader then replaced that with Microsoft Reader when I switch to a PocketPC. Microsoft Reader has fallen by the wayside, so now I use Mobipocket to read books. PDF documentsare the absolute worst choice for an eBook on a Pocket PC or SmartPhone. It just doesn’t scale properly.
I prefer using a phone or handheld computer to read my books because they are backlit making it easy to read anywhere but in glaring light.
Any more, I have to really want to read something to pick up a paper book. Sometimes even so, I’ll forgo the paper tome and read something else available electronically.