Re: Reading hardware

On 3/14/2010 10:39 AM, berylgorbman wrote:

> How do people choose readers? Do most eBook users read on their computers?

No one really knows the answers to this questions, as no reliable, 
statistically significant studies have been conducted (or if they have, 
the data is being horded).

The data will also be significantly impacted by the type of the e-book 
file. For example, if you consider PDF files to be e-books (FWIW, I do 
not), then you can assume that the vast majority of them will be read on 
desktops, laptops, or other large-screen devices; I have yet to see a 
hand-held device that can adequately deal with a PDF file.

If there are more TPM-encumbered Kindle files in circulation than any 
other type of file (only an assumption, I do not assert that it is 
true), then the vast majority of them are being read on Kindles.

For a data set of one (me) I can tell you that I do /no/ recreational 
reading at my desktop computer, and probably 75% of the reading I do 
/is/ recreational reading.

[snip]

> where can the Sony reader download from?

With my son's Sony (a few years old now) we simply copied HTML files 
(easily extracted from .epub files) to a SD card and plugged it in. Voilà.

> How will people make decisions about hardware and to what extent does
> that drive the way people read?

Some people will want an experience that mimics a book (this type of 
decision will become rarer as the actual experience of the paper book 
fades into the past). For these people, the Sony or Kindle or Nook, will 
be good choices.

Some people will need to do a fair amount of technical reading or 
research, and will primarily be accessing PDF files. These people will 
need hardware with a large enough display to deal with PDF's 
page-oriented design. For these people, a desktop, laptop, or tablet 
(such as the iPad) will be good choices.

Some people will want to do mobile reading, and will want a single 
device to carry with them. For these people a smart phone (of which the 
iPhone), iTouch, or similar hand-held device will be best. If you only 
create PDF files, and call them e-books, you will not be catering to 
this market segment.

> If Amazon has the biggest available library, and Kindle (and your PC)
> are the only way you can download from it, that will make Kindle
> predominant.

This statement presumes that people buy devices based upon the size of 
the corpus of available titles; I do not think this assumption is 
correct. People buy e-books from the Kindle store because they own 
Kindles, not vice-versa. I frankly think the Kindle, and its imitators 
(many of whom actually came first :-) ) do not have a significant 
future. They are transition devices for those people who still feel a 
need for a link to the past.

> And where should we, as writers, market our books? Shall we put them on
> all the source sites?

Absolutely. As Tim O'Reilly is fond of pointing out, for virtually all 
writers obscurity is a much greater threat than file sharing. If you are 
losing 20% of your sales to file sharing, that means that 80% you are 
not, and that is significant.

> What kind of reader would you buy?

I have an older model smart phone, 3.5 inch screen, back-lit LCD display 
at 200+ dpi. I read almost exclusively using the µBook software, 
available at www.gowerpoint.com.



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