Is the E-Reader Dead?

[trackerzsuk]

Rubbish. I can read for 12 solid hours on my Paperwhite. My tablet will only go for 4-6 hours before it needs a charge. secondly, I don't want Amazon or anyone else reading over my shoulder so I will always have a device dedicated to books only. Thirdly, I read a lot of non fiction. Tablet apps simply don't handle illustrations, maps and graphs the way my kindlefire can. The author of this article is NOT a hardcore reader.

 

[trackerzsuk]

e-readers will stay. no doubt in that. the experience of reading a book comfortably without the strain of carrying it is by itself is great.

Or the strain of carrying THOUSANDS! I take 1200 books to work with me every day on my Paperwhite.

 

[drachemitch]

eReader technology has stagnated something fierce. The only changed have been to screen size and backlighting.

What happened to colour e-ink like the Pebble Watch had? Even without that, why is the contrast still so bad? The displays still look closer to medium gray than page white.

If Amazon really is doing so well with their eReaders, Mr. Bezos should invest a little more in their technology.

 

[regor1972]

I guess you can't argue with sales numbers, although the 'facts' seem a little sketchy at best. Its true that the readers evolution is hard to see and they do their jobs very well. I don't see Erica Kudisch as a representative voice either. I think the big difference here is the ability to read uninterrupted and without impacts to sleep patterns. Most phones etc even if just reading with no notifications have screens which stimulate the brain, while e-readers do not.

 

[regor1972]

Delighted that so many people disagree with the pretty tenuous points in this article. Erica Kudisch who I am sure is a good author (but I haven't read her work, so I wouldn't know). Is not very representative with limited empirical evidence. Reading on a phone or tablet not only fries your eyes. In my experience it is not conducive to restful and relaxing reading.

 

[michaelpwille]

Books and e-readers are both awesome. If they come up with some new medium for reading I'll probably buy that, too.

 

[jeff.w.russell]

Clickbait troll topic.

 

[koenig.haunstetten]

The danger of reading on LCD screens is not about hurting your eyesight. Its about the color spectre that you get in your eyes. Computer screens have a huge amount of blue light and this prevents you from deploying the sleep hormone melatonin to your body. So computer screens have a bad impact on your ability to fall asleep.

The other problem with PCs, tablets and smartphones is that they can distract you quite easy by presenting lots of notifications. A dedicated eBook reader is helping you to focus on what you want to do, in this case reading an eBook without getting distracted by social media and incoming mails. On the "smart devices" those distractions are just around the corner and always waiting for you to fall for them.

 

[dhuber48]

The unquestioning acceptance of the consumer model foisted on us by major vendors is the reason innovation is stifled. EReaders are viewed as a platform for sales from a walled garden and what we have is adequate for that. B&N's slogan for their Nook was "Carry Barnes and Nobel in the palm of your hand" and they stayed true to that vision, ignoring the treasure trove of market research volunteered by their users. While the same model plagues the smart phone industry, competition demands higher performance and broader functionality which just happens to overlap with the desires of consumers as well as content providers.

Tablets have suffered perhaps more than EReaders from the content consumer model. A tablet with acceptable performance is hard to find under $200. Now you will point to the Kindle Fire and prove my assertion. Please try to find a decent tablet under $100 and let me know if you do; I've experienced the decline in Nextbooks first hand.

I don't want a device lacking expandable, removable storage. But I bought a refurbished Kindle Touch because Amazon's content delivery platform (store) is robust and as a Prime member offers spiffs.

What do I want? For Apple to release the Newton OS as open source and an updated e-ink MessagePad...