How would you change the Sony Reader?

So we were noodling around the laptop section at Best Buy the other day, semi-shocked at the relatively frenzied activity at the big box retailer, when we happened to glance over and notice a very lonely device being ignored by the throngs of shoppers. That poor, unloved gadget was none other than the Sony Reader, which saw a fair amount of hype prior to its (perpetually-delayed) release, but now seems to have basically slipped off most people's radar. Are people buying this thing? Has it developed a following? Is there a community devoted to software and hardware hacks? We're honestly not sure, which lead us to wonder how Sony could have changed things up to make the Reader -- in general, a solid concept -- a more desirable purchase for the mass market. Since it's surprisingly format agnostic for a Sony product, we don't expect to hear too many suggestions in the compatibility department, although there will understandably be some folks seeking support for WMA, non-BBeB protected content, native DOCs, and the like. That being said, should they have loaded it up with more flash, or at least made it compatible with memory cards bigger than 4GB? Would out-of-the-box support for Mac and Linux users help? How about a non-crippled RSS reader? (Hey, at least they hooked you up with Engadget, though). Help us out here, people, what would it take to send you home with a brand new Sony Reader?

[Daniel Foster @ Aug 24th 2007 5:19PM]

The price should be changed. I wouldn't spend more than $100 on any ebook reader. Who would spend hundreds of dollars to adopt new, unproven technology? Not to mention the thought of a book not being available for the device. Printed books have been the norm for centuries and people will need a good reason before making such a big switch.

So I guess the answer is because no one wants an ebook reader.

[David @ Aug 24th 2007 5:28PM]

The price. I have torrented enough books to pay off the 300$ investment, but i still cant bring myself to pay up. 60 panda express meals, or an Ebook reader?
Opportunity cost will supress popularity of the reader until a more affordable one is available.

[illured @ Aug 24th 2007 5:28PM]

I, for one, would love an e-book reader, and I would spend more than $100 on it. However, for me the Sony device lacks the contrast of the screen to make it easy on my eyes, and it lacks the ability to download periodicals, such as Financial Times Mobile.

[Anthony @ Aug 24th 2007 6:55PM]

I have one (well- two- as I just purchased a replacement for my lost one). The price is significantly less than when it was released. I paid full price originally (350) but now it's 299 plus you can get up to 180 back plus 150 in "classics" (these are out of copyright books @ 2.00 a piece- meaning 75 books total).

I find the contrast fine, the functionality fine, the battery fine, etc.

My real complaints are:

1) The menu is weak - you can't quickly move around in the book. If you're on page one & want to go to page 200 there's a lot of button pushing, even w/ the 1-9 on the bottom of the Reader
2) Navigation is poor (multiple clicks to get back to the main screen) from the 1 usable part of the circular wheel.
3) Buttons are actually useless (there's a joystick that does basically nothing w/ a circular pad that literally does nothing)
4) Startup's slow (more than 1 minute if you've let the thing die).
5) USB won't really charge like they claim it does. I've left mine on the USB to PC charge all night. Know what? Still not charged.
6) Bring other companies on board. netLibrary owns the ebook business (small as it is) & Adobe builds their platform. Work with them for greater content.
7) Teach flight attendants that you don't use electricity unless you're changing pages. I always have to stow it when we take off & land. There's 10 minutes out of every flight.

Other than those things, however, I really like it. I've probably ready about 40 books on the thing & find it convenient to carry.

[nerrrrrrd @ Aug 24th 2007 5:26PM]

I would add Divx.

[John @ Aug 25th 2007 12:19AM]

Isn't that what PMPs, laptops and tablets are for?

[Abdul Quraishi @ Aug 25th 2007 11:33AM]

How the HELL would you be able to watch movies on that book?

[Will @ Aug 28th 2007 8:00AM]

With a screen update of around a second or so, I think video might be a problem!! ;-)

[Acceptable Risk @ Aug 24th 2007 5:27PM]

Agreed. As soon as a decent reader is available for less than $100, I'll buy one. I don't need it to play music or have wireless internet access or make toast. I just want good battery life and wide format compatibility.

[sooperman23 @ Aug 24th 2007 5:27PM]

Definatelty must have flexible E-paper.

[miller @ Aug 24th 2007 5:29PM]

yes, there is an online support group that even uploads books for people for this fantastic device....

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=100

[Hoover @ Aug 24th 2007 5:28PM]

Considering that part of the enjoyment of reading is being able to escape a computer for a little (especially for us office drones), mixing the two concepts just seems unnatural. Like a fishing pole cell phone.

[Phil @ Aug 24th 2007 6:07PM]

LOL

Totally agree with you! :-)

[rahul @ Aug 24th 2007 5:28PM]

y buy a ebook reader at all?? most the gadgets v use can read text.. waste of bucks if u ask me. all u get is some relief from small font and screen. i'd include some media capabilities if at all i wer to buy the book. and a wi-fi or bluetooth connectivity to share all those pirated books... lol

[EatingPie @ Aug 24th 2007 5:57PM]

E-Ink is completely different than an LCD. It's completely static text, just like printed paper. No flashing... the only refresh is when you turn a page.

Your comment is exactly why it's not selling. The technology is subtle (but awesome) and most people don't get it.

-Pie

[pcosmos @ Aug 27th 2007 10:04AM]

Notably, you also need to be able to read in order to utilize an e-reader.

[Acceptable Risk @ Aug 24th 2007 5:29PM]

I agree with Mr. Foster, that is. Video support is close to the very last thing I want in a book reader. It's impractical and entirely contrary to the design and intention of the device.

[Harkonian @ Aug 31st 2007 12:31PM]

I read. A lot. I have boxes and boxes and boxes of books sitting in storage. I would love never to have to buy a paperback/hardback book again. If I could get every single book I want to buy in an eBook version, I would buy the thing--even at $200. When it first came out I wanted to buy it, but I did a search for the 8 or so books I had in my list of things to read and none of them were available.

But aside from that, here is what I woudl improve:

1. Design. The design is god-awful. They need to work with Apple designers or some top notch design firm to get this thing up to snuff. Really. Just terrible design. It needs to be sleek and sexy--not a clunky looking throwback to device design from 10 years ago.

2. UI. The physical user interface (this goes hand and hand with the design) is also terrible. Too many buttons, wheels, joysticks...this needs to be rethought. The best solution (although perhaps not pratical in terms of price) is a touch screen display.

3. Better screen contrast. The current black text on a light gray background doesn't have enough contrast. It's readable, but I still find myself wishing I had a book in my hand because of it.

4. Graphics. It would be nice to see the cover art for books in color. This isn't a deal-breaker for me, but anything that gets my eBook experience closer to my printed book experience is a plus. And I also read technical book with color inserts--photoshop how-to books and the like. Without color graphcis I would still need to buy these in print version.

[m16 @ Aug 24th 2007 5:29PM]

add a color screen, wifi, core2 duo and Vista....and make it cost less.

Basically make it a UMPC, but cheap. fin

[The Grand Master @ Aug 24th 2007 5:39PM]

They asked how you'd make it better, not how you'd ruin it completely.

[The E @ Aug 24th 2007 5:30PM]

They need to make it clear that the screen is equal to reading a piece of paper. Screens, in general, are notorious for being hard on the eyes for long spans of reading, causing people to blink less, etc. Is this screen THAT different, basically a type of "ePaper". The screenshots don't really reflect that. The screenshots make it appear like a typical greyscale LCD screen (i.e. old Palm), which is not reader friendly like good 'ol paper.

[Jamar @ Aug 25th 2007 10:03AM]

Exactly- the Reader is lacking in that regard. I wish they just sold the Librié (their Japanese e-book reader) here instead of making another product. That did a far better job of imitating paper than the Reader does- plus it had a full keyboard.

In fact, you can probably find a place online that sells the Librié to the US- I recommend it over the Reader.

[Will @ Aug 28th 2007 8:00AM]

... Actually the Librie and the Reader use the same version of media from E Ink. There aren't many products using their newer "Visplex" media yet.

[Will @ Aug 28th 2007 8:07AM]

Additionally, E Ink is nothing like an LCD and screenshots do not do the product justice. The contrast isn't huge, white reflectance is around the 30-40% mark, but the contrast is larger than the FT newspaper.

[Sizer @ Aug 24th 2007 5:33PM]

There were two things that made it bad for me.

First, the contrast was very good, but the screen was quite shiny and introduced a significant amount of glare and probably reduced the contrast further than what it could have been.

Second, the abominable refresh rate doesn't matter at all when you're just reading, but when you're trying to find something or change some settings it's maddening to have to wait a full second between button presses.

Still, I could live with the second if the screen were better.

[Anonymous Coward @ Aug 24th 2007 7:52PM]

I agree. The delay on the page refresh is acceptable when reading a book start to finish. But if you are trying to jump to a page you might have been reading on the computer, it takes far too long. In general the navigation is crippled by the slow refresh rate of the e-ink screen.

I think it would also be good if more zoom was provided. Sometimes a book will have tons of white space on the outside and tiny text. On the computer I can zoom in and ignore it but on the reader I am stuck with the tiny font and tons of blank.

[Lumptoe @ Aug 24th 2007 5:33PM]

I agree with Daniel except I am willing to go to $200 but with no rebates or signing up for a BS Sony Credit Card.

Make PDFs legible. I have a co-worker who purchased one for $99 (refurbished) and the PDF fonts render were the worst. I think my treo did a better job. Faster refresh or at least a cleaner refresh. These are all features which are available from other e-book readers that use e-ink display technology.

[Tom @ Aug 24th 2007 5:36PM]

They need to improve the firmware. I own one, and I'm actually using it recently. However, there are quite a few problems that need to be addressed, both about the device, and about the software.

First of all, books need to be able to be categorized better. Unlike the iPod, Sony's eReader doesn't have the ability to create folders. It makes finding the book you want extremely painful. It seems like a huge oversight on Sony's part.

Second, books cannot be renamed. This may not seem that big of a deal, but when you have ebooks downloaded with strange names and numbers and characters in their titles, it becomes extremely irritating to see them in the menu.

Also, the device is very slow at times. This isn't a problem when flipping the pages, but starting up the thing takes over a minute, maybe even two. That's completely unreasonable, in my opinion.

Otherwise, it's a very solid device. I really enjoy having all my books with me in one place. If these issues were fixed, I think there would be more demand for me.

[Nicholas @ Aug 24th 2007 5:36PM]

Actually...

I love it. I just can't afford one...yet.

[The Grand Master @ Aug 24th 2007 5:37PM]

Call me old fashioned but I just don't think you can replace a book with a computer.

Sure there might be plenty of advantages to using a reader over just buying a paperback, but it seems to me that people who like reading novels, are just going to go buy the book instead of shelling out on one of these.

[thethreepercent @ Aug 24th 2007 7:06PM]

There is absolutely no question that when all of us old folk are dead, the next generation will wonder why the hell we needed to read things on dead tree. My e-reader is perfectly good on the eyes, no flicker, reads in sunlight...all that...and it feels as good to hold in the hand as a book. But flat out it pisses me off when I go to the connect store, ready to shell out whatever it costs for the newest Harry Potter on a format that the thing can readily read only to discover I can't get it. And it pisses me off a whole lot more when I find a book that actually is in electronic format but isn't in Sony's Connect list. That alone makes me want to throw the thing - and every Sony product I own - out the window.

The space is still waiting for the general feeling among users that when you go looking for a book, you will reliably find it in the electronic store and format of your reader.

One other problem with the reader...doesn't charge reliably with USB, and there is a battery problem that causes it often to drain when unused.

[Linda @ Aug 25th 2007 5:08PM]

I agree that the printed book will likely not be replaced, nor should it. However, there is a definite need for more available and flexible alternate formats for reading. Many people are unable to read traditional printed books - because of low vision, dyslexia, motor impairments, etc. Digital books offer a solution. The challenge is making them widely available and flexible in their use so consumers have a choice. The many comments referring to features needed (reasonable refresh rate, ability to enlarge text....) and the issues with availability (compatibility of formats, timely release of new titles) hit the nail on the head.

I would add that the ebook reader should have a text to speech option for the blind and dyslexic and well-conceived navigation options for those with motor impairments.

[Dragod @ Aug 24th 2007 5:41PM]

Pfft, we just need to get a reader on Zunes... That'd be great.

[AndrewNeo @ Aug 24th 2007 6:41PM]

You can read for three minutes, or you can read three pages!

[cc @ Aug 24th 2007 5:43PM]

I have the SONY reader. I much rather read books on my Nokia 770.

1. PDF is unreadable on the reader. It's slow and the rendering algorithm obviously didn't take into consideration that the display has only 4 color grayscale. So, for each pdf book, I have to manually rasterize and apply image filter and convert format to native format. It's a pain and eventually I just don't bother. Zooming is horrible. You can only zoom to half page.

2. Other open formats are much worse supported. I really need CHM.

3. The sony connect software also sucks and it doesn't support Windows 2000, which unfortunately is what i used in my desktop.

4. Charging from USB doesn't work sometimes.

5. Converting to rich text format is buggy like hell. I could see the rendering in SONY connect software but most rich text files refuse to render on the reader. This really pisses me off.

I have 13 mp3 players and i don't need another one on my ebook reader, but I expect not to be squinting in agony when i read on an ebook reader. Well for most PDF books, I have to. It's as useful as having a high end GPS loaded with the most primitive maps.

Conclusion: e-ink is a great technology, but SONY is a terrible software company.

[Adam @ Aug 24th 2007 7:03PM]

... why do you have 13 MP3 players?

[PDF_Pete @ Aug 24th 2007 5:43PM]

As a UK reader I would just like the chance to try it. When are Sony going to sell it in the UK? As for what a reader needs, e-paper screen, ability to take many formats not just Sony, compatible with Mac OS and in the UK under £100.

[Dylan @ Aug 24th 2007 5:43PM]

I loved this ever since I got it. If they had all ebooks for like $5 or less, I would definitely purchase more. Also, if they have a larger variety of mangas that would be great as paperback manga volumes take up a lot of space. A new generation ebook with a higher resolution color screen would be great.

[John Doe @ Aug 24th 2007 5:49PM]

Tie it to www.ereader.com 's service. I have about 2 dozen books that I've used with my iPaq 4700. If I could migrate those books over the Sony's Reader I'd snatch one up in a nanosecond.

Beyond that get rid of all the damn buttons. Companies still don't get why Apple is popular. Sure Apple eventually ends up being click but one of the OTHER reasons for their popularity is a clean design. That doesn't mean killing off features. Just decrease the number of needed buttons.

[Arthur Nonamiss @ Aug 25th 2007 9:01AM]

Amen to that brother! I have hundreds of eReader books. I have eReader for Windows, Windows Mobile and Palm. Plus, I bought the eReader publisher/creator program and taught myself the basic eReader syntax, and I've taken dozens of my favorite books (all in the public domain, of course, mostly from Project Gutenberg) and converted them to the eReader format. The syntax is pretty easy, so converting text files to really nice looking eBooks is a snap.

In general, I avoid Sony products like the plague. (I don't like their business practices, and until they demonstrate some more consumer-centric policies, I won't purchase or recommend a Sony product) If eReader came out with their own e-ink reader, I'd buy it in a second. (Assuming, of course, that it didn't totally suck.)

[Arthur Nonamiss @ Aug 25th 2007 9:14AM]

A few more things to crow about regarding eReader.com's service. I really like their copy protection mechanism. It's the most fair I've ever seen. You unlock the books with your credit card number. That way, I can still share a book with my brother or a neighbor if I want, just like a real book. It doesn't store the CC#, so if I'm letting a neighbor borrow it, I can just enter the number to permanently unlock the book on that device, and he still doesn't have my number. However, it discourages me from posting my stuff to a Torrent.

Additionally, I think eReader.com has the most "universal" catalog of books. It's certainly not complete by a longshot, but there are a lot of good books on there, they support illustrations, fonts, etc. They run on most OSes, except Linux. :(

I don't work for eReader, or a company owned or paid by eReader. I just think having a more universal eBook format out there will benefit all consumers. Sure all companies want to get a piece of the action, but when there are 12 different formats out there, consumers lose the most because nobody wants to be the first to jump in the pool. (HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, I'm looking at YOU...)

[Dan @ Aug 24th 2007 5:52PM]

It doesn't look/act like a book and doesn't grab my attention. I'd want a better price point and a killer app - like a full Harry Potter boxed set, and a device themed to match. If epaper is so thin, why is this thicker than a cellphone? Why does it look like a Soviet-era tractor from the front? The border overwhelms the screen. I want to forget that I'm not reading a book. Why not touch a top corner to dogear the page and turn off the device? By touching bottom corners, the pages could turn. I want to turn it sideways and use it to read the newspaper, while I'm wedged into a train on my way to work. . .imagine never having to do that flip-and-fold thing again. People are still reading paper books. I don't know if Sony has the ganas to make _the_ device that will cause people to make the big leap. Not these days, anyhow.

[cc @ Aug 24th 2007 5:52PM]

Oh, and also,

6. It's horrible to "flip pages" because each page takes a couple of seconds to load. It also takes minutes to load a PDF.

[Michael Shaw @ Aug 24th 2007 5:52PM]

I just heard an NPR news report quoting a survey that showed fewer and fewer folks are buying or reading books. So why would folks rush out and buy an expensive gadget that allows them to (wait for it) buy and read books?

[Boynamedsue @ Aug 24th 2007 5:53PM]

I'm perfectly happy with my sony reader itself. 300 dollars is a small price to pay for instant access to every public domain book out there.

Is easy on the eyes, i've read over a dozen full length books.

Biggest thing to fix? A keyboard for search imput. Failing that, at least the ability to punch in a page number... there are number buttons after all.

Otherwise is great. very portable, astounding battery life, and i made a protective cover out of an old hardy boys hardcover.

[S @ Aug 24th 2007 5:54PM]

I use an old Palm Pilot to read books from and it is hands down better than the sony. The only problem with the palm is that it is a pain to get documents into the palm format so you can view them.

To make the sony worth it, they would have to make flipping pages quicker, and make it support and convert many document formats. I don't expect it to be able to display everything, but if I drop a txt, doc or pdf file on it, it should at least be able to display the text in a readable format. They would also need to make it small enough to fit in my pocket.

[mzitek @ Aug 24th 2007 5:54PM]

I've had one for about 5 months now. I would love to see more books available for it. I would also like to see it work with more formats along with handling the PDF's better. I agree with the charging being buggy.

I bought one because I'm in the military, and although I love to read books when I'm gone from home for months at a time, it is difficult for me to take a lot of books with me due to the amount of room they would take up, so having one is a great advantage to me.

Of course, making them cheaper would be great too.

[Boynamedsue @ Aug 24th 2007 5:55PM]

Oh. that was just for the reader itself.

As for the sony software. they could come up with something that isn't a complete piece of shit, and liscence the format to other vendors.

piracy is actually driven by lack of legitimate content. Publishers are afraid to make ebooks because people will pirate them, so pirates step up and create the content themselves.

[Chris @ Aug 24th 2007 5:56PM]

If there was a way to read and/or subscribe to magazines (Time, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, etc.) and newspapers (WSJ, NYT, Wash. Post, etc.), I would be all over this thing. I still don't understand why the content companies haven't gotten together with Sony and done this, it would make the Reader a huge device. Honestly, more people read newspapers and magazines daily than books, so this almost seems like a no-brainer.

The Reader does support a limited form of RSS feeds, but Sony completely underdeveloped this feature. I would almost guarantee that WiFi will be on the next model, or at least it should be.

[David @ Aug 24th 2007 6:56PM]

Re: "newspapers, magazines"
Check out the forums on Mobileread.com. There are many tools to get content. "web2lrf" has profiles for NYTimes, Newsweek, BBC. You can add your own profiles.