eReaders

[August1991]

I bought one of these small screen readers a few weeks ago and I have now used it to read one complete book while browsing/downloading a few more.

My general impression? This technology is not ready for prime time.

Some background. I used to be a hardcopy newspaper reader (in the morning over coffee, typically the G&M, La Presse or Le Devoir depending what was handy). I gave the hardcopy habit up a few years ago since reading the news online is so much better. Now, I have a custom Google news page with English, French and Russian headlines. I use various news aggregators and blogs too. IOW, I am willing to go digital.

Current eReaders however are a bad substitute for printed books. Let me list three key ways.

1. You cannot quickly flip to a random page in an eReader as you can in a real book. In fact, in an eReader, you are more or less stuck where you are unless you want to move back to the Table of Contents and navigate from there.

1a. You cannot flip through an eReader as you can through a real book. If you want to check a detail in a real book, you can quickly flip through the pages to find it. In an eReader, you're SOL.

2. eReaders depend on a technology that rewrites the screen each time you turn the page. This means that there is a pause, the screen goes briefly "black", before the new page appears. Irritating.

3. eReaders show one page, not two. I would design an eReader to open up (as a book does) with two screens showing alternate pages. This would also naturally protect the screens when closed.

Other criticsms? The book that I read had diagrams. These diagrams were not part of the ePub version on my eReader.

In general, used real books are cheaper than ePub downloads unless you download free, non copyrighted material.

ePub versions have weird formatting. There are widow/orphan lines and headings. Chapters have odd beginnings/endings.

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The great advantage of eReaders is that in the space of a small notepad, one can have several hundred books. In fact, I am astonished how small ePub files are. I downloaded "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote and the file is about 300 KB or 0.3 MB. File size depends on formatting but even "legal" purchases are small. A legal download of the English translation of Les Miserables, all five volumes and 1500 pages, is about 6 MB. IOW, memory is not the problem.

I would look for faster processors in future eReaders.

[kimmy]

I've also been using eBooks lately. I've found an excellent eBook reading application for my Android cellphone. (

, website here) and have been using it a lot. I've read 3.5 novels on my cellphone in the past 2 months... I have probably not read that many paper novels in the whole year prior.

Current eReaders however are a bad substitute for printed books.

I would phrase it differently.

In some ways, they're a terrific substitute for printed books. The convenience of being able to carry the book you're reading (and 1000 more) in your pocket wherever you go, for me, is an advantage to this format that allows me to do far more reading than I would otherwise. And the ability to read with one hand, in light or dark, in wind or rain, is something that likewise you can't do with a paper book. In return for this convenience, you sacrifice the ease of navigation and tactile experience you have with a paper book.

I don't think an ebook reader provides an adequate substitute for the feeling of sitting in a cozy chair with a cup of tea and a nice book. Then again, that's something I seldom made time for myself to do anyway, and I don't actually have a decent cozy chair in my furnishings.

1. You cannot quickly flip to a random page in an eReader as you can in a real book. In fact, in an eReader, you are more or less stuck where you are unless you want to move back to the Table of Contents and navigate from there.

1a. You cannot flip through an eReader as you can through a real book. If you want to check a detail in a real book, you can quickly flip through the pages to find it. In an eReader, you're SOL.

Agreed. Navigating through ebooks is a chore if you're doing anything other than reading front to back. My application does allow me to place bookmarks, but you never know what detail you're going to need to go back and re-read, so you didn't know to put a bookmark where you needed to.

2. eReaders depend on a technology that rewrites the screen each time you turn the page. This means that there is a pause, the screen goes briefly "black", before the new page appears. Irritating.

Mine is fairly quick. I do a "swipe" gesture across my phone's touch-screen, and the old page scrolls off the left of the screen and the new one scrolls on from the right, real-time. It's a minor point, but from a look-and-feel standpoint, it makes things fairly seamless for the user.

3. eReaders show one page, not two. I would design an eReader to open up (as a book does) with two screens showing alternate pages. This would also naturally protect the screens when closed.

Such an arrangement would be much more difficult to use one-handed, which for me is one of the best advantages of reading books on my cellphone.

Other criticsms? The book that I read had diagrams. These diagrams were not part of the ePub version on my eReader.

In general, used real books are cheaper than ePub downloads unless you download free, non copyrighted material.

But there's a vast wealth of free books out there that you never need rummage through garage sales again.

ePub versions have weird formatting. There are widow/orphan lines and headings. Chapters have odd beginnings/endings.

Agreed. As my eReader only supports one format (ePub, I think) I've had to use software to convert my eBooks into this format. The results have been mixed.

I would look for faster processors in future eReaders.

I'm not sure what's under the hood of a Kindle or a Sony or any of the other dedicated eReaders on the market right now. The processor in my cellphone is entirely adequate to the task.

Bottom line: it may not be as good as a real book if you have the time to sit down and read, but that's more than balanced out by the convenience of being able to read your book whenever and wherever you like.

-k

[Bonam]

As kimmy said there are some uses, but I definitely agree it's nowhere near the point where it can broadly replace physical books. Besides the navigation issue, the contrast and display quality on these devices is still frankly nowhere near real paper. Even on a large, high quality LCD screen (at my desktop), reading anything for long stretches is annoying and a strain compared to reading it on paper, and these small portable screens are much worse in that regard.

[August1991]

Besides the navigation issue, the contrast and display quality on these devices is still frankly nowhere near real paper.

On this point, I disagree.

My eReader (Kobo) is better than a printed page. It even has a font magnification button.

The problem with eReaders is not contrast/display quality. On the contrary, this is their strong point. The weak point of eReaders is their navigation.

IOW, if you know an older woman who likes to read Harlequin romances, buy her an eReader. Her only navigation will be straight - unless Harlequin has a new collection.

Edited June 5, 2010 by August1991

[Michael Hardner]

Very interesting thread - thanks, I have been curious about these.

But kimmy stated that they're convenient because you can carry them anywhere, and this is different than books ? That confused me.

I do think that it would be great to download periodicals, newspapers and magazines on the fly and at the cottage would save you having to drive into town for the NY Times...

[Bonam]

On this point, I disagree.

My eReader (Kobo) is better than a printed page. It even has a font magnification button.

The problem with eReaders is not contrast/display quality. On the contrary, this is their strong point. The weak point of eReaders is their navigation.

I really gotta disagree. Sure you can magnify the text and the thing glows, but it is still a computer screen; the resolution and contrast and the way it looks are nothing like a printed page, nowhere close. Not to mention the way the screens look under glare (especially outside in sunlight), or from a non-ideal viewing angle. It's not like I haven't looked at these devices.

[kimmy]

But kimmy stated that they're convenient because you can carry them anywhere, and this is different than books ? That confused me.

My eReader is an application that runs on my cellphone. It fits easily inside my pocket, it's incredibly convenient, and it's with me all the time anyway. If I was a big purse type, I suppose I could carry a paperback with me all the time, but even at that you have to have both hands free.

A book, even a paperback, doesn't fit conveniently in a typical pocket. It requires both hands to use. You can't read it if it's dark or if it's windy. Do you take a book with you whenever you leave the house? If you're in a lineup at the grocery store, can you pull it out and read a few pages while you have a spare minute to kill, or do you have to settle for the Inquirer? I can take out my book and read a few pages without even setting down my basket of groceries.

-k

[August1991]

I really gotta disagree. Sure you can magnify the text and the thing glows, but it is still a computer screen; the resolution and contrast and the way it looks are nothing like a printed page, nowhere close. Not to mention the way the screens look under glare (especially outside in sunlight), or from a non-ideal viewing angle. It's not like I haven't looked at these devices.

eReaders don't glow.

My eReader is an application that runs on my cellphone.

The screen of an iPhone or Blackberry works differently from an eReader.

eReaders work in B&W and are similar to an old etch-a-sketch. For a brief instant, electricity aligns black/white cells/pixels on a screen and then they stay in this position without any further charge. IOW, an eReader only uses power when you click the page. My eReader always shows the last page read and requires no power to do this.

Moreover, you cannot read an eReader in the dark. It requires ambiant light to read the screen.

Kimmy's motorola screen is a different technology. It aligns cells/pixels but requires a backlight (and more power) to show the screen. Frankly, I prefer a large low-power screen to a small high-power screen. My eReader Kobo is about 12cm x 9cm. No cellphone offers such a screen size.

I do think that it would be great to download periodicals, newspapers and magazines on the fly and at the cottage would save you having to drive into town for the NY Times...

You can download and save pdf files to an eReader (or at least, a Kobo) but I don't think reading a pdf (eg. NYT) file is convenient.

As I (and Kimmy) noted above, eReaders are designed to read, for example, a Harlequin novel. You start at Page 1 and, in 12cm x 9cm pages, you read straight through sequentially to the last Page 237.

eReaders are not for people who like to leaf through a book, or cheat and jump to the end to discover the conclusion.

Edited June 6, 2010 by August1991

[Michael Hardner]

My eReader is an application that runs on my cellphone. It fits easily inside my pocket, it's incredibly convenient, and it's with me all the time anyway. If I was a big purse type, I suppose I could carry a paperback with me all the time, but even at that you have to have both hands free.

A book, even a paperback, doesn't fit conveniently in a typical pocket. It requires both hands to use. You can't read it if it's dark or if it's windy. Do you take a book with you whenever you leave the house? If you're in a lineup at the grocery store, can you pull it out and read a few pages while you have a spare minute to kill, or do you have to settle for the Inquirer? I can take out my book and read a few pages without even setting down my basket of groceries.

-k

The answer is that I can't read print that small... maybe the phone has easy-to-read apps. I don't lose books, but I suspect I would lose a phone. Your reasons do make sense for you, though.

[M.Dancer]

I hear it's hard to lend a book with a ereader...