Speaking of e-books

[yendi]

This review of the new Sony E-Reader (link ganked from pnh over at Making Light) contains the line, If saying "pigment balls" makes you giggle, you probably don't have the money to buy one anyway. So it's worth reading for that reason alone. But it also makes the e-book concept a lot more appealing than it ever had been. Mind you, I'm not ready to go there yet, but before we ever worry about things like media availability, the technology itself has to make the words readable, and it sounds like we're close to being there. With the advent of CC-licensed books online and the ability to import them into a reader, it's an idea that intrigues me a lot more than it did when I snarked about it at a Macworld some ten years back.

Mind you, the price point will need to drop a ton, but I'm happy to see the technology itself moving along.

Comments

[litch.livejournal.com]

I am fairly satisfied reading from my treo, though the screen is too small for efficient saccades so it build up eyestraing fairly quickly.

[sparkfrost.livejournal.com]

You listen to Cobra Starship. If you weren't already claimed I would totally ask for your hand in marriage.

[yendi]

Hee! Since my lovely wife is the person who first introduced me to Midtown (long before CS started as side project), she's pretty much responsible for my listening to them.

Well, along with Snakes on a Plane.

[museumfreak.livejournal.com]

i've heard quite a few bad things about the compatiblity of this reader with almost anything other than sony ebooks

[jerel.livejournal.com]

"If saying 'pigment balls' makes you giggle, you probably don't have the money to buy one anyway".

I don't doubt it's out of my price range. However, there is nothing wrong with allowing your inner 12-year-old some release. (pigment balls--hee hee!)

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I'm willing to pay for ebooks- but not the same as hardcover or even mass market paperback prices.

I see them as more akin to taking books out of the library. In that sense, $1-2 might be reasonable (my cost for books through Paperback Swap is about $2.50 each), but anything more than that- no.