eBooks - No Longer Way Too Early - Kindle vs Sony

I've had the Sony Connect Reader for the last six months or so, and have found it a useful way to lighten my load on trips.  I read about a book every other day, and more on airplanes, so I've always wanted a good eBook.  As some of you know, I'm Chairman of Franklin Electronic Publishers, which has sold almost 40 million eBooks - our electronic dictionaries, spell checkers, bibles, translators and other works. They make great Christmas gifts and can be ordered online :)  We tried a Digital Book System back in the mid 90s, and even published Nicholas Negroponte's ground breaking "Being Digital" on our eBook format.  But the screen size was too smal to make it work.

I've been watching the eInk technology for many years, and it is finally ready for prime time. it's the nonvolatile display technology used in both the Sony Connect Reader and the new Amazon Kindle, which I received yesterday.  I find it quite easy to use in sunlight, on airplanes and in taxis, although on redeye flights, my neighbors sometimes complain about the fact that I do need the overhead light on to read easily.  Here I am showing off both the sony and the Kindle at our 40 person Thanksgiving Dinner.

The consensus feeling is that the Kindle is a better product. And I must agree, even though it's only 24 hours since I put the first book on it.

The Sony has three font sizes, while the Kindle has six.  Family members from 8 to 95 looked at the book, and every type size had at least one champion, with both the 8 and 95 year olds liking the largest font. The Amazon product is based on MobiPocket technology, a company they acquired a few years ago, and one in which Franklin was a major owner. It's a bit cleaner and clearer than the Sony. The Kindle also has a better hand feel, with the ability to turn pages from either right or left sides. In the Sony you can use a rocker near the bottom right, or buttons in the middle of the right side, It just feels a bit more natural on the Kindle.

But the best feature is that the Kindle really is designed as a system and service. Using Sprint's EVDO network as the Kindle Whispernet allows books to automatically download in minutes. And it also lets me get the W all Street Journal or New York Times overnight, and ready for reading on the train to work in the morning, albeit at what seem steep prices, given that I can read them online for free (NYT) or less than half the Amazon cost (WSJ now - going to free once Mr. Murdoch finally gets real ownership).  And I can get the first chapter of any book free, to see if I like it or not.

So while it's still early, and I'm not sure how big the audience is for a $399 device (or Sony's $300), it's no longer Way Too Early. If you travel and read a lot, or want to keep your early adopter credentials, by all means get a Kindle.

Comments

[Martin Wells]

I've been using the Sony reader for about 6 months now and I'm a big fan.

It reminds me of CDs before MP3 players. All the same reasons pop-up for using a book over a e-reader: "I like the feel of it", "I like to easily share it", "How can I use it in my car"

And then I show them a library of a few hundred books and the excuses drop away.

E-readers aren't mainstream yet, but it's getting close. I wonder if the Kindle is the e-book equivalent of the iPod.

The other interesting aspect will be the rise of illegal book sharing. The DRM will fail, just like with music and video, and there will be an explosion of copying. A scan of any torrent network shows thousands of books available already. If anything, this will be the key driver for growth of ebook's (as it was with MP3's).

How do you think this will impact the publishing industry? Should they be rethinking their models sooner rather than too-later. Books aren't music, but you can still see a revolution coming.

[Alexei]

But will it work in London?

Not yet, since there's no EVDO there. But search amazon.co.uk for kindle, and you'll see the Franklin eBookman. [HLM]

[morgage]

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[Scott]

Great review Howard. I have been waiting around 8 years for a decent platform to read e-books on. I am finally sold on the Kindle, but I am also concerned about the DRM. I guess we will just have to wait and see how the market develops.

[Advanced Torrent Search Engine]

Well, these companies are trying to ring in newq formats and that will only help the consumers

[Aaron Wood]

Look out for Zinio they are an up and coming competitor to this market. Their current product is a bit buggy but the technology is amazing.

[calandar maker]

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