E-reader statisfaction study shows 93 percent of users are happy, just not you
By Richard Lai 
posted February 4th 2010 10:56AM
posted February 4th 2010 10:56AM
The wind sure changes very quickly, eh? Just a week ago the University of Georgia revealed that many of its study participants -- Athens residents who were given a Kindle to play with -- weren't happy with their e-reader experience, but yesterday a new study reported something fairly contrasting. Rather than doling out touchscreen-less e-readers to a group of people, the NPD Group surveyed more than 1,000 e-reader owners in late November last year, and found out that 93 percent of them were "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their devices, while only 2 percent "expressed any level of dissatisfaction." The report also reveals that wireless access is the favorite feature for 60 percent of the users, while only 23 percent chose the touchscreen. Compared to last week's report, this probably shows that consumers who actually buy e-readers don't really care about the touch feature, whereas those on the outer circle are mainly waiting for more -- and no doubt cheaper -- touchscreen e-readers. Seriously though, only 34 percent wanted color screens? Those guys sure are easy to please.
I don't understand why people make such a big deal about not having a color screen. Most books I read aren't in color, why should my eBook reader be?
@eawortman
in case you want to highlight (yellow/pink) something or make edits (red or blue) to the text.
@ummhello
if we're talking about bigger screened ereaders, the Kindle DX for example, then school textbooks sometimes need color.
if you're a doctor/medical student, looking at a picture of cellulitis in black and white isn't going to teach you much :p
@Precision I think if you are a doctor/medical student, looking at a picture of anything isn't going to be helpful, color or not. That's why they spend two years in rotations before they get a degree.
@eawortman
It's not the end of the world.
But the key is provided by yourself - "most books".
But without a color screen then that becomes - "no books".
Finally, I would be happy without color most of the time as well.
But if I have too choices which are similar in most every other way then why not have have color?
If they can make it comparable then it will outsell and make the non-colorized obsolete.
@afrovballpride
am actually a final year medical student. i'll be officially doctor in a couple of months ^^
so, yeah, i think good pictures are still useful, since unfortunately, not all symptoms and signs are common. some rare disease are just that, "Rare". you still need to be able to diagnose them even if you've never seen them in real life before.
@eawortman I think the reason people don't care about a color screen for an e-reader is because color screens are a lot harder on the eyes compared to e-ink when reading. So if the device is just for reading it works better in it's core mission with e-ink. I think the Nook is a good idea here. You get the best of both here, sort of. The iPad is a kind of jack of all trades not specifically an e-reader more a web browser, e-mail device with an e-reader and multimedia play back. So it's better served with a color screen. I wonder if the extended capabilities of devices like the ipad will kill products that use e-ink? That would be a shame as I see a place for both.
@eawortman I do agree with you for the most part but when I travel I like to read books and magazines, sometimes I think it would be nice to have one device for both but I think ultimately I'll get an e-reader as a replacement for my books and not worry about the magazine aspect.
@v6sonoma
i think when we say color screen ereaders, most people here are actually thinking color e-ink rather then LCDs or what not. so even though the technology isn't here just yet, when it is, it should still be easy on the eyes hopefully.
I've a Sony Reader for 3 years, and it's a great device.
Speed tops my list of desired features, but color is #2.
The reason I want color is that e-Readers can act as multi-function devices. You can read novels and other "linear" types of books. But there's a huge comic book market, and I would gladly buy color comics if they were supported. You also have newspapers and magazines... and trust me, surfer magazines don't really work in 8-level greyscale! :-)
So take it from a die-hard e-Reader lover, color is a necessary feature. And not just LCD color like the iPad, but actual e-Ink type color where you can read comfortably without being blinded by a backlight.
As a side note, E-Ink inc. is so slow at producing new versions of their Viplex screens, I doubt they will be the ones to get to color first.
-Pie
@eawortman Color pictures are important for textbooks (complicated medical diagrams, graphs, etc), and so is turning pages faster. That is why the people trying to use the kindle for textbooks weren't happy and the people using them for regular books were. I would recommend the Kindle only for a regular book reader, not for reading textbooks until it supports color and fast pages refreshes (like with mirasol). You don't read a textbooks like a regular book; there is much more flipping around the pages, which is painfully slow on the Kindle.
Ebook readers are for *reading* not for viewing p0rn images.
Thats why you don't need color. You need a 200DPI+ display 5" or bigger thats all.
@Markus Golser You are correct, and I think that is the major problem with the E-reader. It's a niche device, and currently the kindle specifically does a very good job of catering to that select group, mainly people who read a ton of books. The kindle does everything it needs to do for those people, however the problem companies are finding is that the group of people who just want something to read a lot of books on is not large enough for huge profits. As a result they are trying to make it more mainstream by adding fancy things like color and a touchscreen to reach the casual reader or tech fan that just like something shiny. My concern as a kindle lover and feverish reader is that the new features take away from the core that is just a device to read books, in a fast easy and portable way.
@Markus Golser
I wouldn't mind having such a device too. Er, I meant about the 200+ DPI screen part ! :P
@Ameen http://www.bookeen.com/specs/ebook-CybookOpus.aspx
I'm not sure why you're calling it a "nice device."
Was the MP3 player a "niche device"? The iPod still basically does one thing, plays music (and now teeny tiny movies! :D ). It's never listed as "niche."
And people who read typically carry around these large self-contained devices that are often quite cumbersome and hold a single piece of content. They're called "books." An e-Reader with e-Ink mimics the printed page very well, and allows you to carry around tons of books. The iPod offered the same functionality -- no carrying around tons of CDs and a player, you just use this one device and you're off.
E-Readers are not "niche" by any means; no more so than the iPod anyway.
-Pie
Oops... I meant "Niche Device"!!
It IS a Nice Device, but not a Niche Device!
-Pie
I think a convergent device on Magazines, Ebooks, and newspapers would do fantastically well with a colour ereader.
Just so that the images are in colour, specially for publications like National Geographic.
This totally verifies my experience with my Kindle. I love not having to tether it to my computer if I feel the urge to buy a book; wireless delivery is awesome. Touchscreens consume power and reduce legibility, and they don't add a huge amount of usability that's missing elsewhere in the hardware design. Color is nice for magazines, but since I bought it to replace the huge number of paperbacks I was buying, I don't miss color in the least. If and when color eInk displays become available, I may upgrade, but it's not crucial to me. And yes, even though I splurged on a device that cost several hundred dollars, I'd love the cost to come way down on these devices.
@myopiczeal In that case you'll love the iPad where you can also buy e-books wirelessly, and donøt have to sync it with a computer :-)
I wonder how this would correlate with the Princeton project/study where nearly all the students (who were given Kindles, not purchased) didn't like them.
I would bet that this study hits on casual readers, not academic readers (who want to highlight, markup, etc.)
@mmalsed
You also have to bear in mind that the brain is a powerful machine. The fact that you've coughed up several several hundred dollars for a device, your brain will make sure that you're satisfied with the device rather than feeling guilty of having wasted your cash.
@mmalsed If I recall, one of the biggest complaints from the college user was that the Kindle doesn't use traditional page numbers, so citing a reference was pretty much impossible.
@srxdba right - forgot to add that!
@srxdba Agreed, pretty much my only complaint is the lack of standardized page numbers.
@mikehaskew It would seem difficult to me for page numbers to be accurately done on a device like this. Especially since the number of "pages" changes depending on how big or small the text is. Locations seem to be enough for me. Then again I am not in college anymore.
@srxdba
That's the price you pay for having scalable fonts + re-flowable layout...
@archie4oz
maybe our reference system should be changed to reflect the 21st century instead of the other way around? Perhaps these new readers could provide a "word count" function when you highlight text?
Ex.:
Last name, first name, title, chapter #, words 6,432-6520.
Or the ebook metadata could be modded to include "standardized" page numbers for any highlighted text?
Just brainstorming... :)
Just sayin...
I've owned a Kindle since they first came on the market, and I haven't missed a color screen. I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and to Analog Science Fiction magazine, and have bought well over 100 books, and still haven't missed a color screen.
As much as I like my Kindle, the one glaring defect has nothing to do with the reader, but with the transformation process from book to e-book. While photos come out looking beautiful, clear, and detailed, line drawings come out looking blurry and incomprehensible. I've commented on this to Amazon several times with no response.
I have a Kindle 2. All I want is apps, and a faster screen with a better contrast ratio. The titanium-greyish background of the e-Ink display could use some whitening (Yeah I know it won't be a simple task).
But if the light is good, its really looks like printed paper.
@TMC
Other than that I dont know what to add. I'm even satisfied with the book prices!
@TMC
I like the gray on black, I find it easier on the eyes ... a little whiter may not hurt, but I wouldn't want it 'paper white'.
@xnowimcoolx
I agree. Something more like a newspaper or a paperback would do nicely :)
I actually got my hands on a PRS-505 not too long ago, while my experience wasn't that great, I did like how dynamic (albeit slower) content was presented. The future of E-Readers holds much promise, 1000+ hours of battery life, Full color, various formats, 3G/4G, etc. I wish the future of E-Readers is more Kindle-ish rather like the iPad; which in my opinion is just a portable PMP with an E-reader app, nothing special, nothing tablet-like about it.
While the traditional E-Readers have baffled me, 200+ hours with 3G is unbelievable. There is no reason why satisfaction percentages shouldn't be higher !
Keep in mind that this is a survey on a device without touch. So, the fact that 23% of the users mentioned touch is not a small number. Imagine if you did a survey on a gadget and almost a quarter of the people mentioned a feature that in another competing device, then I think that's saying that more than that amount of people would enjoy it if it was actually implemented. Of course, we don't know how many of those 23% said they want it or if they said they didn't miss it.
@Hosermage I went 3 links deep to get back to the source of this information, but there is not one mention of which e-reader customers were polled. Was it mixed or was it all customers of one device?
I'm more than happy with my e-reader. I had the original PRS-500, and then switched to the Kindle 1. I want to have a ton of books with me, to read those books, get new content if I want it, add high lights and the occasional text note. I don't want to charge the battery more than once a week, I want it to act just like a regular book. I have a phone for apps and web surfing, I don't need color or touch screen on my book.
Sounds about right to me. I'm not an e-reader owner (yet), but a touchscreen isn't at all important to me. Sure, it'd be nice/cool, but not necessary to enjoy the reading - which is what the whole device is really about (or at least should be, IMO).
And color? Who wants color? E-Ink in classic paper colors is exactly why I want a Kindle/Nook over an iPad!
@MRCUR Who wants color? Ehm, quite a few I should think?
Textbooks, magazines, newspapers, comic books, childrens books illustrations. Is it really that hard to understand why color in an e-reader is the way of the future?
I don't see why this is surprising. I bought my nook for casual reading, not for anything that requires a color screen. I don't have a desire to read comic books on my e-reader. I also don't think digital comic books are going to outsell print because printed comic books are a huge collector's item. The only other reason I would want color is for my textbooks as a college student. However, I don't want to read my textbooks on a tiny 6-inch screen. When I need information from a textbook, I need to see more than I can on a tiny screen. If I wanted to read electronic textbooks, I would require a minimum of a ten-inch screen anyways, ideally about 12-inches so I can really get a good view of diagrams and see large mathematical proofs all at once, instead of flipping through multiple pages and getting confused with so many small pieces. I am very satisfied with my nook. People make complaints about it being slow, and yes the touchscreen at the bottom is a little slow at times, but no slower that I would be flipping through my book anyways. Also, the battery life is great on my nook, probably because I pay attention enough to make it great. I think that most people have bad battery life because they leave the touchscreen on full brightness and make it wait for long periods of time before going to sleep. My nook lasts through a week of use or more with the brightness reduced and when it is set to go to sleep after only a few seconds of not being used.
It's not too surprising.
In one study people who were interested enough to purchase the item themselves were polled.
In the other the item was handed out freely as I understand it.
It isn't hard to imagine the first group might be more invested and more inclined to use the product or even just to understand or know what to expect of it.
I got my Sony PRS-300 a week ago and absolutely love it. Bought it for the intent of reading PDF books and eBooks. It connected flawlessly via USB, used Sony software to load my books, it was no thrills quick and easy. For $179 on Amazon I feel I got exactly what I was looking for.
As a side note, I'm a geek at heart, but my book input has decreased substantially since my laptop and internet came into the equation. I almost feel like reading on a piece of technology is bringing me back to the book world. Book wise, I've read more in the past week than I have in the past few months.
Why is this study a surprise? Obviously the UGA students were supposed to evaluate it as it pertains to textbooks and educational literature, not as a reading-for-pleasure device. Not only that, these were given to people who weren't necessarily interested in an e-reader to begin with.
On the other hand, the 1,000 people surveyed who CHOSE to own an e-reader are probably more forgiving of its shortcomings because they spent their own money on it and they're using it almost purely as a pleasure device to read novels. If people wanted a device to read pictorials or something like National Geographic then you can bet more than 34% would want color e-readers.
I don't see why this study is surprising in the least, and in fact I think the UGA study probably holds more gravity regarding the e-reader market. The current state of e-readers almost exclusively caters to people who read novels for pleasure. People like myself who prefer to read informational books and periodicals don't want a non-color e-reader and would really be more interested in a device that would allow interactive elements (an example being Flash-like demos of physics principles). Once that is implemented (with a color, non-reflective e-ink display so that you could actually read it outside) I think it will be more appealing to everybody else.
The problem with e-readers is that they are one trick ponies in a market that is becoming more and more used to gadget convergence.
Even just the watch I'm wearing, it not only tells time, but its a fashion statement, can gauge depth, and has an 8-alarm functionality on it.
An e-reader can reproduce text in gray and black... thats it. The average customer buying one already knows its limitations in advance, and thus is happy, but that doesn't mean your average Joe would be happy with an e-reader.
I can totally see someone being very satisfied with there ebook reader, since someone that has purchased one is probably an avid reader and knew exactly why they were purchasing one. I haven't used a kindle but did try out a Sony e-reader and was very impressed with it. It is far superior to LCD for reading. However I would not use one of these devices for university texts, they are far to limited, and what I've seen of the potential of color e-ink I think it's a long way off. I would like to see it go the way of some form of e reader whether it's a kindle or an ipad as nothing was worse than lugging around engineering txts to classes, but you need color, ability to reference, highlight, note take which right these devices don't support. That's why you see the two polar opposites in the study.
E-reader are supposed to be a substitute for printed material and lots of printed material comes in color. If that wasn't true color printers wouldn't sell. People who visualize e-reader as nothing more than a device for reading the latest bestsellers should expand their vision and see that it can be used for so much more. E-readers could be used for newspapers, reports, magazines, textbooks etc all of which require color. As an example, imagine if in your workplace nobody printed out stuff anymore and instead downloaded them as pdf' files on their e-readers. Once people realize e-readers can be used as a substitute for paper, thats when e-readers will take off
@Xyned Totally agree. Imagine reading a newspaper printed in paperback format.
Just like the different formats in the print world, there needs to be different form-factors for e-Readers. The iPad, although trashed by just about everyone, may handle magazines and newspapers quite well.
I for one, need a paperback sized e-Reader for novels (black and white is quite okay) and a newspaper/mag-friendly version for my other reading habits. Colour is a must in the second case.
For those that can read on the iPad nano (aka iPhone), hats off to them.
Think about it. The need for different form-factor devices for different purposes is the reason netbooks came along.
@Xyned
yes and no.
Yes in that magazines will look a lot better, but most pictures in magazines are just aesthetics with some general point about the text below. In most cases, missing the pictures in magazines usually is not missing any meaningful content. Now, if a mag like National Geographic, for instance, got behind a color ereader I think the color would be vital (and they would probably sell fairly well) but that hasn't happened yet. There is very little meaningful content lost in a B&W copy of Time or the Economist
In my experience, people buy color printers just to print photos. I actually don't know anyone who regularly prints color documents. I've used a printer regularly and have printed only one color document on it.
Color could be nice, but I haven't missed it. And won't until the content proves otherwise.
Maybe I am the only one, but I like a dedicated device for a specific task, as long as it does that one task very well, so this info makes sense to me. If nothing else, it is more gadgets to play with...
I like the idea of a eBook reader, but I am still waiting for their "netbook" moment, where they become impulse buy affordable (for me, sub $200). Until then, I found this strange place the will lend you almost any book you want, and it is all free.
I would be satisfied too if I got an e-reader for free. Same goes for free magazines, toliet paper, cups, pencils, etc.
Problem with the market is that people don't know what they want. I'm sure some people would be happy with E-ink laptops.