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E-book reader news and releases round-up

By | October 28, 2009, 5:57am PDT

Summary: The last two weeks have been especially busy for the e-book reader industry (and probably pretty frightening for Amazon). Here’s a quick round-up of what’s been released and what we have to look forward to this holiday season: 1. Barnes & Noble Nook: The Nook has gained the most buzz lately, especially after some of the [...]

The last two weeks have been especially busy for the e-book reader industry (and probably pretty frightening for Amazon). Here’s a quick round-up of what’s been released and what we have to look forward to this holiday season:

1. Barnes & Noble Nook: The Nook has gained the most buzz lately, especially after some of the e-reader’s details were released by the Wall Street Journal the night before. With a price tag set at $260, some e-book lending abilities and running on the Google Android OS, BN.com’s Nook will surely provide some competition to Amazon. Furthermore, users will have availability to more than one million e-books online, twice that of what is available on Amazon.com. Also, after a bit of confusion over where exactly the Nook could access Wi-Fi (previously thought only in B&N stores after a mistake at a press conference last week), the Nook can work on Wi-Fi networks in stores and at home for downloading books.

2. Plastic Logic Que: Plastic Logic, which also partnered with Barnes & Noble for an e-book reader to be released in 2010, announced plans on October 19 for their own touchscreen e-reader named Que. Targeted towards professionals for business uses, supporting PDFs and Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents. Less than a third of an inch thick and apparently “shatterproof,” the letter-sized device will be able to connect to the Internet via AT&T 3G and Wi-Fi. Price and release dates should be announced at CES 2010 on January 7.

3. Spring Design Alex: Trying to steal Barnes & Noble’s thunder a bit the day before their release, Spring Design announced plans for the dual-screen Alex. Also powered by Google Android OS, Alex comes with a trademark feature, Duet Navigator, which lets the reader cut and paste content captured on the color touchscreen and send it back to the black and white EPD to save battery life. A price hasn’t been given, but its scheduled to be released by the end of 2009.

4. Amazon Kindle: While it’s still the dominant leader in the e-book reader market, who knows how long the Amazon Kindle will remain king? Amazon is stepping up its game, with announcements of Kindle software coming to both Windows and Macs and a $20 price cut on the international version to $259, making it and the U.S. version both the same price as the B&N Nook. It has also switched from Sprint to AT&T’s data networks for wireless capabilities.

Is the Kindle just trying to keep up by basically copying features from the Nook? Personally, I still refuse to pay over $200 for any e-book reader. It’s just not that necessary a gadget to me yet. But if the prices could come down, I’d reconsider.

Do you plan on buying any of these devices? What you like about them? What do you think is missing?

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Topics

Amazon.com Inc., E-book Reader, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Inc., E-books, Wireless And Mobility, Personal Technology, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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Nothing to "break"
mwilliams58 3rd Nov 2009
My ebooks are downloaded to my PC and then loaded onto my reader (smartphone). I've transferred these books (which have DRM) from two different Palm PDas to a Windows PDA and to a Windows Mobile smartphone. No problems! And even if I lost the files on my PC hard drive, I could still download them again for free from my account library with the ebook companies I bought them from. The same is true for the audiobooks I buy from Audible.com and load into iTunes for listening on my iPod during my daily commute. All of them are stored in at least 3 places, so they can't be "lost" with the failure of any hardware.
View in thread
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Why e-books ?
marinechief@... 28th Oct 2009
Using a "normal" paperback book I have indefinite battery life and extreme portability. I have no need to carry a hundred books at one time and can take along a few books (for an extended read time) just about anywhere and in any travel bag. I just can't justify the price of using electronic gadgets to replace simple tasks.
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Why Paper Books?
islesfan Updated - 28th Oct 2009
I've been reading eBooks exclusively for over five years. I have hundreds of books on my Treo. Why? Simple, convenience. The books are always with me. Sure a paperback might fit in a pocket, as long as I don't sit down, but my Treo is always there. I pay less for the books (in most cases). The pages never fall out or tear. My Treo remembers where I left off, so no fumbling with bookmarks. One handed reading. Smaller pages, so I don't spend time looking for where I left off. Adjustable fonts. More comfortable on the eyes. Reading without a nightlight. Integrated dictionary. Highlighting (that I can erase later). No shipping charges or sales taxes. No waiting for the book to be delivered.

With all these advantages, I really cannot see why anyone still reads dead tree books.
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RE: E-book reader news and releases round-up
closerlookbooks Updated - 28th Oct 2009
I have been saving up for a Kindle, but want to see the Nook
before I make up my mind. Now I'm frustrated by the
news that Apple has something in the works. I am a
MacAddict. I have used Apple computers since the early '80s,
I have an iPhone. I have even called Apple to see if they
had anything in the works to compete with the ereaders on the
market. No comment. I wish Apple would make their
intentions known because I like every Apple product I've ever
owned and would not be with them. I cannot help but believe an ereader
from Apple would be precisely what I'm looking for with all the right
features.
0 Votes
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RE: E-book reader news and releases round-up
winesipper 28th Oct 2009
If one has an iTouch or iPhone, why would they spend all that money to read an e-book when they can do so already?
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The backlight drains battery reading on iTouch
Aragorn_z 3rd Nov 2009
I have the iPod Touch (iTouch as you say) and I do use a couple of different reader apps on it. It works very well, but if I were to read for long periods of time, the screen is on and the backlight is on, and there goes the battery. So I went out and bought the Sony Pocket ereader. I love it. I haven't charged it since day one, and I've owned it for almost two weeks. Because the screen has no backlight built in, and the way in which the e-ink works, it is far superior in battery life. Plus, it seems to be less tiring on the eyes for extended periods of reading. I also bought a cover with a built in reading light that allows me to read in bed with the lights out. And Sony sells there's for $200 and it is open book compatible too, i.e. Google books and any book without DRM. Plus the Sony ebookstore. There's my rationale for having both.
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RE: E-book reader news and releases round-up
winesipper 28th Oct 2009
If one already has an iTouch or iPhone, why would they want an e-book reader when they can do so now?
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...and the Mac Tablet to rule them all
drobinsondn Updated - 28th Oct 2009
I bet dollars to donuts that the screen will have some
innate "reduced eye fatigue" or perhaps a "e reader mode." So
we'll have to chose between a $300 reader and a $600 movie
playing, DAW controlling, 1million apps using, web surfing,
turn by turn directions giving, etc. etc. etc. computer that ALSO functions
as a reader ...tough choice
-1 Votes
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Master Joe Says...
MasterJoe 28th Oct 2009
I don't care if there are 5 or 500 comments to this article. Yours is, by far, the absolute dumbest thing ever. People won't buy the Apple product because it is better. They will buy it because it's an Apple product, and that is the "cool" brand to buy, just like with the iPhone, iPod, and a Mac computer. It's not about quality, features, performance, or anything else. It's about being "cool." So, before you make claims about a device that has little to no details released, proclaiming yourself a hopeless Mac lemming, take the time to look at what IS tangible evidence of the other devices. Apple spent the past 20 years being nothing, hoping for a come back. Thanks to the Starbucks crowd, they got it in being the "cool" thing to own. When enough people adopt it, and realize that there are better alternatives to almost every product out there (Windows and Linux to the Mac OS, the Motorola Droid to the iPhone, the Zune to the iPod, etc.) Apple will fall once again. Just ask Isaac Newton.

--Master Joe
1 Vote
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Neophyte Joe
garyam 28th Oct 2009
Dude, you're an idiot. If iPhone didn't have
the coolest User Experience ever, it would NOT
be big no matter what the brand. Yours is by
far the dumbest posting EVER! ;o)
-1 Votes
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Master Joe Says...Again
MasterJoe 29th Oct 2009
Wrong, period. The "coolness" of the user interface is relative. Also, it is a matter of preference. Different people want different things in a user itnerface, and focus on different things. With the iPhone, you are given a user interface, and that is the user interface you must use. With new phones, like the Droid, and others, you can customize the user interface to your liking. Or, let's look at a different product, the iPod. The iPod touch is JUST NOW getting an FM radio, from what Apple said it would do as a "refresh" of their iPod lineup. The Zune has had one since the beginning, and now had HD radio, as well as HD video playback, which the iPod STILL doesn't have. Yet, the iPod is much mor epopular than the Zune. Why? Brand. People buy Apple products because they are the "hip" or "cool" thing to own, nto because they are better, mroe functional, or in any other way superior to other products. I have seen people, talking on their iPhones, hold them in the most odd and ridiculous way to make absolutely SURE that everyone who sees them can tell that's an iPhone they are using. So, if you want to see what the dumbest person ever really looks like, walk to the nearest mirror, and stare long and hard.

--Master Joe
1 Vote
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Joe, what are you master of?
Narr vi 28th Oct 2009
This kind of vituperation serves what, do you suppose?

A better day to you, sir.
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A note of civility
SavageDoc 29th Oct 2009
Oh, yeah? Well, you're a stupid-head!
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Why an e-reader device?
bruceg@... 28th Oct 2009
When the Kindle first came out, I rejected it because my PDA works perfectly fine for reading e-books. Large-screen smartphones also can be used to read e-books. I didn't need a large device I couldn't put in my pocket.

So why would I consider an e-reader now or in the near future? Already, many magazines I read are available in electronic form. An e-reader that supports PDF files with reflow and/or zooming will allow me to read the magazines without the paper that will eventually be thrown away and lost. A few newspapers are available electronically. Most papers already have free or paid websites. I don't think it's too far away from the time that I will get my paper each morning on my e-reader rather than thrown in my yard.

It may not be the current Kindle or the Nook, but in the not too distant future, some form of e-reader may be one of the main ways we access information - the smaller smartphone being the other main one. When I compare my MP3 player to my stack of '60s LPs, I know that the future will be different.
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Cell Phone As e-Reader? I think not!
Suptapong Updated - 28th Oct 2009
Is there anyone who would actually attempt to read a 600 page novel on
an iPhone screen?
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Not Bad at All
bruceg@... 28th Oct 2009
My Dell Axim PDA has the same size screen as the iPhone and iTouch - 3.5" diag. I have read a number of books on it. I'm reading "SuperFreakonomics" right now. Even with my eyeglasses and "advanced" age, I don't have any problems reading a book. Of course, I don't read for long stretches of time - 20-30 minuets at most. I agree that the smaller screens on most smartphones aren't practical for extensive reading.
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Reading on phones and PDAs
jimfrost 3rd Nov 2009
I've been reading on PDAs since 1998 and have followed the progression of e-books closely since. Currently I read them on a mix of the iPhone and Kindle.

Given nothing else, the iPhone is a decent reading device. Unfortunately the type has to be tiny or you're paging all the time ... and paging by swipe sucks relative to the simple push-button of my Palm PDAs. Worse, get them in bright light and color LCDs are difficult to read, even the semi-reflective iPhone.

Given the choice between the iPhone and Kindle I will take the Kindle pretty near every time. The only exception to that is content with color illustrations, not so common in the fiction books I tend to read. Textual content is much easier to read on the Kindle, and readable across a much wider range of lighting conditions. Paging is not awkward.

The difference in readability is not minor; I carry the Kindle with me almost all the time, and revert to the iPhone only in cases where I have left the Kindle at home.

Another place the phones fall down hard is in battery life. Optimistically I can read for 8 hours with my iPhone before its battery fails; that's approximately the duration of a cross-country airplane trip. In contrast, a month ago I went on a week-long camping trip far from electrical outlets. The Kindle made it through on one charge (with cellular service disabled) -- without ever turning the unit off, and reading for three to five hours per day.

Much better battery life and better readability are two big advantages if you read a lot.

jim frost
jimf@frostbytes.com
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Cell Phone as eReader? Sure!
mwilliams58 3rd Nov 2009
I started reading ebooks on PDAs about a decade ago (started with two Palms and then went to a Dell Axim) and graduated to a smart phone two years ago. I'd guess I've read several hundred ebooks by now, mostly full-length novels and many in the 600-page range, without any problems. BTW, I'm over 50 and wear bifocals. I'm sure I'll bite the bullet and buy a dedicated eBook reader soon, but I have no complaints about reading ebooks on my cell phone.
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iPod Touch and iPhone
kirt@... 28th Oct 2009
With my iPod Touch, eReader app, and fictionwise.com or ereader.com, that is all you need. Thousands of books at an affordable price.
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RE: E-book reader news and releases round-up
hunter2im 28th Oct 2009
I have had reading disabilities from the day I can remember. I just truned 24 and my family got me a kindle2 and it has text to speech. I love that thing and take it everywhere I go! I have never had the chance to read for fun and now it's all I do. I think that whatever my family paid for it was well worth it! Not because I got it for free but because it has opened so many doors in my life now and giving me freedom! Thank you Kindle
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I want a reader, but they still don't get it...
BillDem 28th Oct 2009
First, publishers need to stop charging more for a copy of a digital file than they charge for a paperback book. Paper, ink, printing, warehousing, and shipping are all costs you don't have with an eBook. Stop ripping us off! EBooks should always cost less than a paperback. Period.

Second, I want to be able to read any eBook I own on any device I own, without the hassle of removing copy protection, doing conversions, or whatever.

The company who does both of these things, will get my money. I own many hundreds of books, and I really want to switch to eBooks. Give me what I want and I'll be your customer for life. Treat me like a criminal or rip me off, and you will never see another dime from me.
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e-Book Mobility a Reality - Sort Of
bruceg@... 28th Oct 2009
I can read PDB format books from B&N (which now owns eReader.com and Fictionwise.com) on my PC, my PDA, an iPhone (if I had one), and the new Nook if I buy one. Granted, I have to unlock the book on each device - a one-time effort that takes 30 seconds. In the future it would be nice to download the unlock key, along with the book, when I log into the online bookstore and download the book to a new device. The Nook or the Kindle will not show my Microsoft Reader books, but I still have reader apps on my PC and PDA. I just won't buy any more books in that format.

As to cost, I had a 40% discount coupon from B&N for a new bestseller. Even with the discount, the e-book was a little cheaper, not to mention it took me a minute to get the e-book. The costs are not totally eliminated. The publisher or seller is just substituting servers and networking for ink and paper.
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RE: E-book reader news and releases round-up
rpa@... 28th Oct 2009
My favorite e-reader would be a netbook with solid state drive and a screen from(http://www.pixelqi.com/products)still in beta but looks awesome.
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RE: E-book reader news and releases round-up
datrappert 28th Oct 2009
I'm sure Amazon is concerned by the release of all these new devices, but maybe they shouldn't be. It just legitimizes the market. eBooks have finally arrived and could become the next must-have gadget. And as a bookseller, Amazon could certainly offer books in formats for other readers if they see a profitable market.

As a Kindle owner, some of the features of the Nook and other readers look great. I have a lot of PDF books for instance that I would like to load to my Kindle without having to go through a conversion process.

As for eBooks vs. paper books, for me it is coming down to a matter of storage space. I'm close to deciding that once I've added a book to my Librarything collection, I don't need the paper copy at all.
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RE: E-book reader news and releases round-up
SavageDoc 29th Oct 2009
My biggest beef with all of the e-readers is that you have to spend at least $200 to get the reader, and then you spend just as much for the e-version as for the pulp-ware version! New releases are $10. Great, but the vast majority of the books I read and plan to read have already come out in paperback. So I can spend $200 on the reader just to worry that the hard drive will crash? (Shipping costs are easily avoidable, so don't go there.) My admittedly cheapskate price tipping-point is $100 for the reader, less than $10 for a new release, and less than $5 for an old release. I won't hold my breath.
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RE: E-book reader news and releases round-up
markrosoff@... 3rd Nov 2009
Hey- where are the Sony's!? For once Sony hasn't hobbled a product with proprietary crap. My PRS-505 takes SD cards. It reads PDF and doc files along with ePub and Sony's "lit" files. I load from my computer (standard usb connection) or from the SD cards. I don't need 3G downloads of books or magazines.
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RE: E-book reader news and releases round-up
lyn5289 3rd Nov 2009
I am an avid fan of reading online, but so far the ebook readers have turned me off with both price & proprietary software.
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Sony
davidr69 3rd Nov 2009
Doesn't Sony have a pair of readers as well? Why were those omitted?
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Re: Sony
wheres_my_stuff 3rd Nov 2009
I think the Sony reader was omitted, because the goal of the article was to present upcoming readers. The Kindle was mentioned because it is still the strongest of current technologies but it might be affected by the new entries.
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What if it breaks?
john_whitfield@... 3rd Nov 2009
From what I hear, the DRM still ties the book to the physical device. So if the thing breaks, do I need to go buy a new library?

My ancient Palm PDA lets me read books with loose enough DRM to allow me to back up my files and move to another device with little pain and no expense. I won't be moving to some other gadget any time soon.
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Nothing to "break"
mwilliams58 3rd Nov 2009
My ebooks are downloaded to my PC and then loaded onto my reader (smartphone). I've transferred these books (which have DRM) from two different Palm PDas to a Windows PDA and to a Windows Mobile smartphone. No problems! And even if I lost the files on my PC hard drive, I could still download them again for free from my account library with the ebook companies I bought them from. The same is true for the audiobooks I buy from Audible.com and load into iTunes for listening on my iPod during my daily commute. All of them are stored in at least 3 places, so they can't be "lost" with the failure of any hardware.
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RE: E-book reader news and releases round-up
lbryce7@... 3rd Nov 2009
Yes, in fact I am currently reading War and Peace (many thouisands of pages) on an Iphone and it is great....Ebooks are simply too convenient and easy to read to ever go back to physical books. It is actually easier on the eyes to read an Ebook than a physical book
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Which Devices support PDF Office LIT?
gavin.bollard@... 3rd Nov 2009
Sure, I want to read eBooks on the device but I've
also got a lot of business documents I'd want to keep
on there.

In particular, things like our Disaster Recovery Plan,
IT and Corporate strategy and spreadsheets.

Whatever reader I got would have to support these
things.

So far your article seems to suggest only one which
does this. Is this true?

A full comparison would at least include a chart that
compares features across devices.
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I already own a Kindle & Kindle DX
mwagner@... 3rd Nov 2009
I love them. The Kindle for it's compact size and store accessibility anywhere (in the USA) - no Wi-Fi required.

These devices need to be cheaper but in the end, this is a war between the giants of booksellers. No one else.

It's Amazon versus Barnes & Noble and Borders. Aside from Amazon, the variousl hardware vendors jsut want a piece of the pie.

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