I’ve just had an epiphany of sorts. A lab colleague of mine wanted to read the most recent draft of my second novel, still in manuscript form, but quite fancied trying out a shiny Sony PRS-505 electronic reading device that her husband had recently brought back from the States. We thought it would be fun to import my manuscript onto her reader so she could critique the draft and trial the new toy simultaneously. So I took the thing home for the weekend to see what it could do.
In short, I’m now smitten. Not necessarily with the Sony, which isn’t quite perfect, but with the entire e-reader concept. Whenever I thought about e-books in the past, I envisioned an ugly backlit screen inducing eyestrain and headaches. To say nothing of the fact that relaxation, for me, is an escape from the screens that already dominate so much of my waking life. Never mind the hype about Japanese schoolgirls reading novels on their mobile phones – could someone as traditional as I am actually curl up on the sofa with Bill Evans the cat and lose myself in one of these things?
The answer is yes: emphatically so. The technology, which I believe is called eInk and comes courtesy of Phillips, is amazing. The print is so paper-like that the page can only be read in the light – a complaint from some consumers but a distinct plus in my opinion, not being a big fan of reading in the dark. The text was also beautifully rendered, in all three handy sizes. After a few minutes perusing a sample e-Book, I found my right hand subconsciously floating towards the top right corner ready to turn the nonexistent page. To me this implies that my mind was completely fooled and thought it was a real book. Not being able to suspend disbelief would have been the death knell for this platform, but it was no problem at all.
For me, another key factor is convenience. The Sony is slimmer than a paperback and probably no heavier. I’m one of these sorts of girls who lug around too many things in a handbag, so lately my literary choices have been based more on width than on authorship and reputation. If I can’t commute easily with a book these days, it doesn’t get read. And imagine going on a trip with only one paperback-sized item instead of ten. Run out of material in a country that has no easy access to books in your language? You’re only a dodgy internet café away from topping up.
You can download your own documents onto the Sony as well, just by converting Word to rtf. It took me about five minutes to get my novel onto my friend’s reader, and the formatting was perfectly preserved. When I eventually buy a reader of my own, I will try to use it for my scientific reading. It will be easy to convert manuscripts and grants in preparation and those I’m helping to peer review, whereas I assume I can take the full-text version of a published paper, paste into Word and convert to rtf. No figures, of course, but I’m the sort of person who likes to go through the entire text first before examining the figures anyway. I’m already guilty about how much paper I waste printing out the literature (and often get a sore shoulder from the weight of my bag), so the reader could be a great solution.
If anyone out there has tried another type of reader, such as the Kindle, or has any reservations about the Sony, I’d be grateful to hear your feedback before I make the purchase.
In the meantime, I always thought I’d mourn the loss of paper books, a transition bound to be inevitable. But suddenly, I’m not so sure it will be as heartbreaking as I’d imagined. How many years away, do you suppose, are we from that world?
I too have been skeptical of these electronic readers, but after reading the account of your encounter with one I may have to give them a closer look.
One area where electronic readers probably won’t ever be able to match the printed page: the ability to shift quickly back and forth between sections of text, mainly for cross-referencing purposes. There have been many times in, for instance, journal clubs where the ability to peruse multiple pages (and figures) at once has been very helpful. Any thoughts?
There seems to be a useful summary of some of the newer models available here.
Hi Pete
Well, the page refresh is pretty quick, and you can key in pages to jump to – though of course you would need to know which page number you wanted in advance. No substitute for riffling through and letting the text you’re looking for catch your eye, I suppose. Actually, it’s a good point that I often like to spread multiple pages out on a desk when I’m reviewing papers—but I’ve always thought this must be psychological, because lots of people can do these sorts of things on-screen already.
What I’m thinking is that when I was younger, I could compose text much easier with a pen, and when computers came in in the 80’s, it was hard at first to create with a keyboard instead of a pen and paper. I could type easily, but brain just couldn’t cope with the format. Now, of course, creating with a computer is entirely natural. I suspect that if people grow up with e-Books, they will feel normal and the brain will cope with any organizational tasks that need to be conceptualized.
Thanks for that link – looks great!
I’ve been impatiently waiting for the e-book reader market to mature (i.e. get cheaper!) for several years. Now it seems things are finally moving a bit. I think many people will be surprised to see how readable they are – quite unlike the screens we are used to. I am convinced that widespread availability of such devices will have a very impact on the amount of paper we use.
But there are issues with both the Sony and the Kindle readers, as I understand it. Really you want to be able to read web pages and pdfs as well as any ebook or e-newspaper you purchase, but I don’t think either of them can handle all of those things. With Amazon’s Kindle you will be charged for reading blogs.
The other problem is DRM - Digital Rights Management – systems that publishers use to prevent you sharing ebooks. But if you decide to switch from one model to another, you may not be able to move content that you have acquired (even assuming that the formats are compatible). Hence, we are still waiting to see what will become the industry standard format, and waiting for more flexible purchase models.
Some reviews of readers I found last year were:
TidBits
Popular mechanics
BoingBoing
O’Reilly
Just what I needed, a librarian! Happy new year, Frank, and hope to share a pint with you soon.
Yes, I can testify that pdf’s look terrible on the Sony.
But this is a philosophical question…why should an e-reader do more than the medium it is trying to replace? We don’t ask our paperbacks to display newspapers or help us read blogs. It seems to me just getting books right is a triumph.
DRM…yes, this is an issue. Some control is needed, or authors will end up getting no money as their book rapidly clones into thousands of free copies around the world. I don’t mind not being able to share, but I would be irate if I upgraded to a new system and couldn’t take my library with me. Maybe we’re still in the midst of a VHS/Betamax moment…
Nice write up Jenny. How much are Sony paying you?
I got a look at a Kindle recently, and was similarly impressed at the quality of the screen. Such devices are still in there first versions, and will no doubt improve significantly over the next couple of years.
Vaguely related. I’m getting into audiobooks at the moment. I have a 40 minute walk to and from work each day, which is perfect for listening to books. I subscribe to Audible.com, which gives you one book download per month for £7.99 (whereas to buy them from the shops on CD, or hardback would cost at least twice as much in many cases). If you don’t mind the DRM, and do a lot of commuting/walking, I’d recommend it.
I just finished The God Delusion, which I’d have never gotten round to in print – read by Dawkins and his wife. It works well, and sticks in the brain longer.
I bet Audible are paying you more than Sony is me!
Wow, you are one of these mythical beasts who actually owns a Kindle. What’s the book selection like? My friend, the one who owns the Sony, thinks that it’s currently impossible to purchase books from their library without a US credit card. (The Sony 505 doesn’t seem to be for sale anywhere in the UK, either.)
I like the idea of Audible, thanks for the tip. I already listen to Radio4 podcasts on the commute (except Melvin Bragg, which is highly recommended if you want to sleep on the Tube!) so this is a logical extension.
Nah, I don’t own a Kindle. I was shown one. By a Librarian (natch).
I listen to the Radio 4 comedy podcasts. Then feel like a pillock when I burst out laughing in the middle of Camden High Street.
Oops, I just noticed you said ‘got a look at’ the Kindle, not ‘got’ (when are you guys going to enable editing one’s own comments?). Sorry. You probably don’t know much about the selection if you aren’t a regular user. But that’s something I can easily find out.
why should an e-reader do more than the medium it is trying to replace?
I think there needs to be a good incentive to change from something that works pretty well (i.e. a printed book). Especially when the readers cost $300 or so. If one device can be my portable reader for all kinds of electronic content it gives me a better reason to buy one.
If it can also double as an audio device even better! Or is that too much convergence? I note that some people suggest using an iPhone as an ebook reader.
Snap.
Hey, the same thing happened to me – I was listening to Mitch Benn sing one of his silly songs (about polar bear euthanasia) on The Now Show and started laughing so loud on the tube that the woman next to be got up and moved off.
All out of sync here with these simultaneous comments, sorry. Frank, the Sony also acts as an MP3 player and displays incredibly high-resolution photographs. I don’t know about ye olde Kindle.
I do take your point that it would be better if all platforms converged. I might just wait for the cybernetic implant!
The Kindle is definitely a nice alternative to hastily buying a novel only to have it sit on your shelf for all eternity afterwards. You take up far less space and have less crap to move! It has a great screen and is very easy to navigate.
But the kindle, to my knowledge (my mom just got one this Christmas and I got to play with it for a few days) is useless for reading pdfs or your own work. It’s like an ipod for the printed page—really cool but low on functionality. The Sony sounds like a much better alternative.
But in the ideal world, I would wait for the the mega hand-held idea with mp3/text/gps/phone/web all wrapped up into one. Maybe it’ll be a smaller version of those cool tablet PC’s that I’ve seen around?
The question always is, how long do you wait and when do you stop? I tend to be an early adapter, still lugging around the ten-kilo iPod when everyone else on the tube has shiny new nanos and shuffles. Yet for the first ten months I was the only one on the tube with an mp3 player. You see where I’m going: it will never be optimal, so should we deny ourselves?
Very true. sometimes one just has to suck it up and get something cool even if it becomes exponentially less cool within two months.
P.S. I just found out that you can email yourself Word docs and images files for viewing on the kindle!
it will never be optimal, so should we deny ourselves?
Quite right, Jen, so if you want to buy me a Sony or a Kindle, I’d accept graciously. :)
As it is, I can’t quite afford the money for one, so will stick with my new, secondhand and library trips for the moment…
I think it’s sweet you still go to the library, Scott. Don’t ever change!