I've been watching the eBook space since the late nineties with much disappointment. Plagued by inadequate battery power, display technology that causes eye fatigue, and tethering requirements to get content on and off, take up in the consumer market has been slow to non-existent.
Two companies have recently introduced new eBook readers that have made significant strides in overcoming the challenges of past generations.
Sony's 2nd generation Reader and Amazon's all-new Kindle are the two bright spots in this market space. While they're both based on MIT's E-Ink, there are definitely some significant design differences.
So what's the low down?
The Sony Reader is physically smaller and is three ounces lighter than the Kindle but they both have the same screen size. Why is the Kindle bigger you ask? Because it has a full keyboard at the bottom of the device.
The Sony Reader does partial page refreshes where as the Kindle always refreshes the full page when any content changes.
Being based on the same E-Ink technology both eBook readers have no back light, are not color displays and create no noticeable eye fatigue.
Both units are mountable on your PC as a USB storage device so you can transfer files and the like.
The Kindle offers six font sizes to the Sony Reader's three. Changing them on the fly is a snap and is a great convenience.
Some other little goodies are the Sony Reader's music player and jpeg viewer, along with the Kindle's embedded speaker for listening to audio books.
Sony's eBook Library software is a must for downloading titles from Sony's Store and implies tethering and the use of a PC.
Amazon's Kindle on the other hand comes with a built-in Sprint EVDO modem allowing you to purchase and download book titles directly from Amazon no matter where you are (presuming you have coverage). This is where the full keyboard comes into play. By the way, there's no charge for the EVDO service. I would venture to guess that Amazon is subsidizing this via royalty payments to Sprint for every sale of an eBook title.
Ready for prime time? Almost!
The EVDO modem in the Kindle makes it “the killer device." There are a few short comings that will likely be addressed either through a software update (that's right the Kindle is a Linux device) or a 2nd generation Kindle (new hardware). The key stroke lag when typing on the keyboard is painfully slow. There are also some file conversion issues that need to be worked out to facilitate getting content on and off the device. And the Web browser needs some work.
What content works best on an eBook reader ?
I'm not sure I'll be reading large novels on them but certainly content with a shelf life (what I like to call disposable content), and/or reference material would be my first choices. This includes my morning New York Times, manuals, and other stuff I'm generally interesting in booking up on!
Will the consumer consumption model change ? Over time, yes. In the near future, likely not. Device limitations like the lack of a color display, combined with the fact that human beings are change adverse will help to stall this transition.
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