Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

Make room for another e-reader as Creative shows off prototype

By Sam Diaz | November 2, 2009, 2:30am PST

Summary: Another e-book reader, this one from Creative, is apparently in the works. With Sony and Barnes and Noble already in this space, Amazon feels the heat of competition.

Be on the lookout for yet another e-book reader, this time from Creative, a company probably best known for its Soundblaster audio products and Zen mp3 players.

According to a post on Creative fan site, epiZenter (named for those Zen players), the company revealed a working protoype of the touch-screen reader, dubbed “Mediabook” for now. (Techmeme) The device will reportedly include text-to-speech functionality, an SD memory card slot and have Internet capabilities. There was no word on how that device would access the Web - either via WiFi or a wireless. Details on pricing and availability were also unavailable.

Still. it’s good to see Creative step into this arena. Creative, after all, was the brand behind one of the original portable mp3 players - the Nomad Jukebox. It’s long been understood that you don’t have to be the first one our of the gate to win the race - and Apple proved that to be true with its iPod.

E-Book readers are suddenly the rage. And while Amazon talks a good talk about the Kindle’s success, the company has yet to cough up actual data on how many Kindles have actually been sold. Sony recently upped its marketing campaign on its own e-book reader, including a TV commercial featuring celebrities such as Justin Timberlake and NFL quarterback Peyton Manning. Barnes and Noble entered the game with the Nook just a couple of weeks ago. And now, here comes Creative.

The market is still very ripe here. Amazon and its Kindle may have been first but that doesn’t mean it gets the market leader position. As we (and Creative) have seen before, you don’t have to be first to be the best.

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E-reader, Zen, E-book Reader, Creative, E-books, Keyboards, Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Hardware, Peripherals, Consumer Electronics, Sam Diaz

Sam has been a technology and business blogger for more than 18 years.

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Market is ripe

For Chinese factories to crank out more hardware and suck more dollars out of the middle class.

Clue in America.
croberts
2nd Nov 2009
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- Flag
Who needs to clue in?

When the cost and expectations of average standards of living gets down to about $5US/day, then we can bring up this issue of "Buy American". Until then, sorry, but the Chinese will continue to strive.

People can't expect to have these $50,000+/yr blue collar middle-class jobs with benefits and a pension fund anymore because China's just going to squeeze your employer out of the market. That's why GM failed.

That's not meant to be a joke, just that the joke's on you. It's a sadistic truth, and you can't spell sadistic without "sad".
Joe_Raby
2nd Nov 2009
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- Flag
Amusing - "People can't expect"

Expect what, 50k? That's nothing in today's dollars. If Americans can't expect 50k, then what? America becomes a nation of burger flippers making $6 an hour?

And China wouldn't squeeze your employer if three decades of governments hadn't sold out the country with ridiculous trade deals. Honestly, stop and think. If all those deals were so good for us, why is the country falling apart? Oh, because it would have been so much worse without those deals...sure.

Enjoy your burger. Maybe Rush Limbaugh can treat you.
croberts
2nd Nov 2009
- Flag
Simplistic and ignorant

I am not going to get into a lot of detail regarding macroeconomics and international trade. I will say the following however.

1. The US educational system is failing to prepare too many Americans for much beyond flipping burgers.

2. The US health care system with its very high costs puts the US at a significant disadvantage in international trade.

3. Wars do carry a very high price tag for the nation.

4. Politicians (and maybe more so in the US than in some other industrialized countries) are corrupt and are more interested in their own campaign funds and re-election than in actually solving the nation's problems.

Until you understand and acknowledge these facts, your tirades have no credibility whatsoever.
Economister
2nd Nov 2009
- Flag
apathy of Americans

Really you can't blame the American
politicians, it's the blame of apathetic lazy
Americans. I'm American... and apathetic by
realistic standards, and I blame me. Just look
at Obamas campaign messages, he basicly said, I
will do everything for you, everything will be
better, you won't have to work for it, just
elect me! And the American people elected him.

What is the problem with health care? Why does
it cost so much? Government restrictions. Point
to a completely free market that doesn't have
the best and cheapest products on the market at
the same time and I'll show you a hundred with
government restrictions and overpriced crappy
products.

Healthcare wasn't always broken in the US, but
it didn't always have restrictive government
mandates trying to control it.

As for China, again, American people. SOOO
worried about the envirionment they buy their
Prius manufucktured in china and shipped to the
US for assembly.

Its not jobs getting outsourced thats the
problem (nobody ever talks about jobs that are
insourced... American toyotas are generally
assembled in America) Its apathetic lazy
Americans. "I want to go to school to be a
reporter... crap I can't get the job I want and
I have $100,000 in loans. The job market sucks,
I blame politicians." How stupid can you get,
I've never graduated from high school. Crap for
that matter, I dropped out in fifth grade, and
I've always made more money than I can spend.
(of course I spend it right).

You can't expect to make money without
education in making money. (no collage
economics doesn't count, go read a book written
by somebody who makes money) You can work in
any field you want too, there is enough market
for everybody. (you might turn out not to be
what you expected, you still have to work your
butt off) You can't dump your money into your
government and expect a decent return. (nothing
makes money like a free market, thats where we
should be putting as much money as we can for a
decent return). Don't invest in one place or
cause your buddy gave you a really good tip.
(Read up on it, and diversify, then Enron will
never happen to you no matter how bad the
economy gets)

My "retirement" portfolio has almost tripled in
the last four years, recession my ass, the only
recession is in peoples imagination which
manifests in a lack of investment confidence.
There is always opportunity for investment even
in a recession.
shadfurman
2nd Nov 2009
- Flag
Transition product

I do believe that e-book readers are largely a transition product which will eventually be made more or less obsolete by advances in netbook/smartbook etc. technologies. Multiple devices that share a lot of common fundamental functionality just do not make sense to me. When done reading or wanting a break from it, I want to be able to all the tasks a netbook type device can also do. Netbooks have to become smaller, thinner, lighter and much more energy efficient, but eventually we will get there. In the meantime, if an e-reader meets your needs, it is at least nice to have a few choices to consider.
Economister
2nd Nov 2009
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- Flag
its just the eInk

I was quite surprised at the success of
eReaders, I expected them to be more of a niche
market at their price, but they really are
easier to read. I don't expect full integration
till refresh rates and color match that of
current LCD displays. When you can watch full
motion video and play video games on eInk
devices for a comparable price to LCD then they
will be integrated. Right now, what more can
you do with eInk and read and look at
monochrome pictures?
shadfurman
2nd Nov 2009
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- Flag
I'd like to see an ereader

that has Wifi so the cost of access to always-on 3G networks and essentially, a wireless phone modem isn't added to the cost of the reader (IMO, that would cut the cost by at least $100), MP3 playback, support for all major e-reader book content formats, some level of program extensibility that preferably, makes open source program addons easy to install.

IOW, I'd like something that's enough better than my Palm PDA I've been using to read e-books for the last 3 years to persuade me to switch.
A.Lizard
2nd Nov 2009
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- Flag
agreed, an open platform would go a long way for adoptability

Microsoft may not be an open platform, but the PC
is. Numbers speak volumes.
shadfurman
2nd Nov 2009
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- Flag
RE: Make room for another e-reader as Creative shows off prototype

Whhy would I spend another $300, for an e-reader that only reads and only black & white. When I go to overseas whether it is holiday/bussiness, why would I carry an extra baggage on top of my netbook & phone.

Give me a tablet PC which can do everythings like a netbook, listen to my music and reading my ebooks.
pamandua2@...
2nd Nov 2009
- Reply to
- Flag