eBooks were somewhat late '90's. Project Gutenberg was revolutionizing the world of e-texts and it felt as if every book would soon be an ebook. While Project Gutenberg is still going strong (and I am a big fan) readers quickly discovered that a computer was not always the most comfortable to read at (especially in the days were laptops were not nearly as ubiquitous as they are today) and all screens blazed away at one's eyes.
When a friend of mine, Andrew Vogel, told me he had a Sony Reader I laughed. Why would you do such a silly thing I asked him? He insisted that it was different. I borrowed it for a bit and it was. Somehow (I don't know how) the Sony Reader seems as easy on the eyes as a book. There is no backlight - yet the text appears clearly as if it was printed on a page.
Still, I haven't bought one. Why? Well, we'll get to that in a moment, but first let's talk about the salient features of this product which you can also read over at Sony's Reader website.
- "Easy Reading" - As I noted above, the greatest feature of this unit over previous portable e-readers is its display technology which is so easy on the eyes. Its difficult to describe - you have to see it. You can get a vague idea by visiting Sony's site and viewing the photos they have there.
- "Perfectly Portable" - As opposed to dragging your laptop (or desktop) around. For those of us who carry a laptop around, it might not be that big of a deal...But still you have to boot it up and shut it down.
- "Holds Volumes" - One of the great advantages over a text volume is that it can hold multiple volumes in one paperback sized reader. This means you can bring several dozen books and journals along - for fun, profit, or academia - without the bulk.
- Other Features - The other features I don't consider very interesting, so I won't rehash them here.
Now that we've talked about why this is a good unit the question is - why won't I run out to buy one? Its quite simple actually.
No matter what I am reading I like to take notes while I am reading. This is very simple with a physical book. I can take along a pen and write in the margins, underline or circle. However, with the Sony Reader there is no method of inserting one's own commentary on the book. So, if Sony wants my business they need to add an input mechanism and this mechanism should preferrably be pretty good at handwriting analysis so that when I go onto my computer I can automatically OCR my handwritten notes into typed text.
Secondly, it needs to tightly integrate with my main computer. I should be able to transfer books back and forth easily along with notes (preferrably wirelessly) and it needs to have some sweet software that allows me to organize, sort, bookmark, and share my information - especially my notes.
When these features become available we will be moving one step closer to less books, more e-texts. Do you hear me Sony?