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Gemstar Ebook Crashes, Burns
Robotech_Master writes "In a lengthy announcement on its ebook catalog page, Gemstar, owner of TV Guide and the Rocket/Gemstar eBook, has announced it is going out of the ebook business. Gemstar will not be selling any new devices or ebook content after July 16th. Of particular interest to those who purchased the newer Gemstar eBook models that eliminated the ability to install free content directly on the devices: 'We will also continue to provide the newly released Personal Content feature available through the web bookstore at least through July 16, 2006.' It's too bad, really; I've heard that the Gemstar has one of the most legible displays of any of the ebook alternatives available. They could have done quite well as general-purpose reading devices, if Gemstar had not locked them directly to its own overpriced content in a stunning demonstration of self-proctology."
The publishers themselves seem to kill the goldeneggslayinggoose themselves due to absurd copy restrictions and non-compatible standards. Hell: Do you really want to buy three e-book readers at 500Euros a pop for the really meager catalogue out there.
I don't get their paranoia, though. What stops anybody of scanning a book in plain, good ol' ascii text and releasing it on the internet (else that this is illegal, of course)?
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
I've always had trouble finding a nice way of reading books on LCD screen. If outside the sun destoryed the contrast or if inside you had to be just right so there was enough light. Nightmare. This is why I just went back to normal books. If the sun is to bright, put on some sunglasses. If to dark, turn on the light or use a torch.
Now I understand the size concept but somehow it just feels better. Similar story with me and PDA's. Best PDA I found was a diary + pen
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
I'm not a fan of the DVD players you refer to, however the primary reason they are successful is due to battery life. A slimline standalone DVD player has enough juice for 8+ hrs of watching, compared to a laptops 3 hrs tops. For international flights I have a few colleagues who use and swear by portable DVD players, and carry them in in their laptop bags on all international trips.
An analogy is a screwdriver vs a swiss army knife - dedicated tools tend to do their job better, but lack flexibility.
If I ever decide to buy an eBook, I will need it to do two things: (1) cache and display any HTML I choose, and (2) cache and display any PDF I choose. Without these two features, no amount of other features is sufficient; with these two features, no other features are necessary.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
An AC asked:
What's the point... of ebooks when you've got handhelds?
Although I use a Handspring Visor for reading "ebooks", the dedicated readers are far superior from standpoint of their display quality. The Gemstar GEB-2150 has an 8.2" diagonal display. The resolution on the Gemstar models is typically (always?) over 100dpi. That's a lot of pixels and screen real-estate compared to the average handheld.
Pay $300-$700 for a locked and proprietary ebook device or for 30-100 books. Decisions, decisions...
It isn't, you know. I'm not going to compare it to other electronic devices, I'm going to compare it to its competitor - a piece of paper.
Paper has resolutions the IIIxe, or my PDF-based Powerbook for that matter, can't dream of. Paper's anti-aliased fonts are superb, unless you include my handwriting of course. Paper doesn't dim the screen to save batteries. Text on paper can be read in bright light. Paper is faster to boot as well, though admittedly the search times are longer.
No - I'm afraid legibility is one area that print is still miles ahead in.
Cheers,
Ian
Regarding proprietary formats, etc -- there's a simple rule to remember here, I think.
The more programmable your portable device is, the less likely you are to be screwed. Programmable as in, the end-user can write and load code into it that will alter it's behavior. If a consumer wants to find a device that's a good investment, this is practically all the information he needs.
That, and perhaps access to a few local geeks who will hack the device, in the event of a corporate meltdown.
Now here's the question: How can we keep each other informed of the real programmability of a shiny new device we may see in Circuit City? Is there a yardstick, or a website, or a consortium, or a forum out there -- that measures the hack-ability of new gear?
(Or should we all just chuck everything out and buy really good laptops instead? I've had one for a year now and it's replaced my desktop PC, my PDA, my television, my DVD player, my stereo, my Playstation, my Nintendo 64, my bookshelf, and my mixer... and obsoleted my CD burner, monitor, keyboard, remote controls, maps, slide projector, darkroom, modem, zipdrive, tape deck, cookbooks, and alarm clock. Mostly due to it's immense programmability.)
Any reccomendations for good freeware text to speech programs? I'm trying out freetts at the moment.
In my experience, this has been due to one thing: someone who thinks he or she is a visionary. At my former company, we had a marketing director who came up with a bizarro-world business model for our product. Everyone in the trenches knew it was a bad idea. Everyone above the low-level managers, however, thought this guy crapped gold (oddly, despite the fact that his former companies all tanked). Supposedly, they did do market research, mostly by asking clueless industry analysts (i.e. the Gartners of the world) if it would fly, and got back a thumbs up.
End result? Crash & burn. Granted, what we were selling is one of those almost-impossible-to-get-off-the-ground products, but the dumbass licensing and revenue model ensured failure. Had we used a standard business plan, we might have been able to get enough traction in the market to keep our head above water. I got laid off about a year ago. The marketing twit deployed his golden parachute, doubtlessly off to destroy another company and put more people out of work. The company still exists, but is on life support.