Re: [tlug] Netbooks (sony reader)

[Ai Ling <alchow@example.com>]

On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 4:39 PM, Darren Cook <darren@example.com> wrote:

Has anyone seen these in a shop in Japan?? I've tried Bic Camera
(twice), Labi and a large book shop (because Bic told me they are only
sold in bookshops), and they are not stocked anywhere it seems. Any
e-book reader, not just the Sony Reader. It is like the market for them
is just non-existent?! ("e-book reader" in katakana seems to be the
correct term; the girl in Labi looked them up and said they only seem to
be for sale online.)

Sony used to sell them in Japan some years back, a student of mine in publishing said. Sony made some horrible choices, though, including DRM that _rented_ the book out, not sold it, and so they never caught on in the market, and they discontinued it.  I guess the Japanese bigwigs have decided to blame the product for its failure in the Japanese market and just decided that Japanese didn't like e-readers, rather than re-consider the other choices they made.

 

Curt, and others, have said the e-ink screens are good for reading, and
so I'd like to look at one for myself, so I can get a feel for the value
of a dedicated e-book reader vs. a more general-purpose netbook.

I have one if you want to meet up and take a look at it.  I don't mind; I'm becoming something of an e-ink evangelist.  A colleague has the International Kindle, and the screens look similar (his is a little lighter than mine).

 

-- 
Ai Ling Chow | alchow@example.com