Sony To Launch E Ink-based eBook In April

Holly Gates writes "Sony will launch an ebook based on E Ink technology in Japan in late April. The screen is about as big as half a paperback book and has a spatial resolution of ~170ppi. The device includes various edictionaries and audio playback functionality. I am a hardware engineer for E Ink by the way, but I figured slashdotters might be interested." An anonymous reader notes that it is supposed to "display over 10,000 pages on a single set of batteries."

Comments

E Ink?

[Neil Blender]

That's a marketing department gone bad.

100.000000000 pages

[Leffe]

"display over 10,000 pages on a single set of batteries."

I wonder how fast you have to read then ;)

OK, I don't know what the hell E-Ink is :(

Re:100.000000000 pages

[AllenChristopher]

You don't have to read fast, because the display doesn't disappear when you turn the device off. The energy is only expended in changing pixel states.

Re:100.000000000 pages

[mahbidness]

E ink involves tiny spheres with magnetically charged particles inside that are either black or white. See here.

Re:100.000000000 pages

[miles_thatsme]

Ahh, yes, the patented etch-a-sketch technology. Frustrating when your book gets jostled on page 453 and the ending disappears like sand in the bottom of your e-book.

Great!

[Bishop, Martin]

"display over 10,000 pages on a single set of batteries."

Great! Now I don't have to recharge my batteries in the middle of War and Peace!

Neat device, but the price had better be good....

[xwinter]

Good viewing in direct sunlight (or so they claim) might make this the first ebook platform worthwhile. The only problem is, if it costs more than $200 it will probably be a tough sell. I can get a lot of books (especially used) for that, and not have to change to batteries. But for those who like to take their entire collection of books with them (sort of a book iPOD) this might a neat device. The biggest question in my mind, is just how much support are publishers going to give this thing? Judging from ebook platforms of the recent past, probably not much.

Can it display PDF's?

[DAldredge]

Can it display PDF's? Lack of PDF support is the only thing that stopped me from buying one of the current Ebook readers.

Personal vendeta?

[MyFourthAccount]

I am a hardware engineer for E Ink by the way

And the sysadmin just blocked all P2P ports, so I'll get him back this way.

"See how you like a good ole slashdotting, bastard!!"

DRM Enabled?

[Blorgo]

The article is more about the display hardware - which could be neat. Its success depends on the operating system, and how books are sold and stored.

All the DRM-enabled e-book devices (Rocket) and formats (Palm reader) introduced so far have failed. No one wants to buy an e-book that is tied to a specific bit of hardware, or one who's access disappears if you lose your Passport account (MS Reader). Some devices won't even *permit* unencrypted data.

I hope that the designers realise that. Actually, the designers probably do, but the marketing guys or the managers will insist on it.

"...this novel e-Book reader offers users an enjoyable experience and the freedom to access material at their convenience."

My convienence does not include intrusive DRM, thank you.

Not that I will get my hopes up...

Re:Battery life?

[zeux]

Let's do the maths.

Assuming what you call "trillions" means 1 trillion.

That's 1 000 000 000 000 pages.

One microsecond/page means 1 000 000 000 000 / 1 000 000 total seconds for the whole thing.

That's 1 000 000 seconds or 277.8 hours or 11 days and a half.

If your 486 laptop can stay on batteries for 11 days and half then I would like to know what kind of battery you use :)

Ok, that was a nerdie post, you can mod me down now :)

Price, more pictures

[zmcnulty]

None of the press releases are saying it, but:
All three of the Impress Watch articles say it will cost around 40,000 yen - approximately $400 USD. And this is just for the reader, subscribing to the e-book service costs $5-10/month. They do, however, have the option of just purchasing single books for 350 yen, about $3.25.

PC Watch article

K-Tai Watch article

Internet Watch article

There are also MANY more pictures of the device available at the above URLs. There's even some showing a manga on the screen of the thing, for those of you interested in that sort of thing.

I do have a few pictures posted in my article as well, but it's really nothing you couldn't have found yourself.

Before you buy any eBook device...

[dpbsmith]

hear my tale of woe.

I bought a Nuvomedia Rocket eBook in the year 2000. This is essentially the same device (and is content-compatible with) the Gemstar REB1100. I have bought approximately $400 worth of content for it.

All of its technical and usability characteristics are quite good. I can read for pleasure on it for extended periods of time and get lost in an immersive reading experience.

Gemstar has folded their eBook operation and pulled the plug on their servers. The DRM-protected content is keyed to a hardware serial number. When the device finally fails (and its battery life is now down to about half what it was originally), I believe that to all intents and purposes I will lose all access to that paid content.

Meanwhile, I have 25-year-old paperbacks that continue to be perfectly accessible.

What is needed to make eBooks popular is not any technology breakthroughs, but something that will hit greedy publishers over the head with a clue-by-four. When strangers see me reading on this thing it is often a conversation-starter. The conversation usually ends when they ask me what eBooks cost. I say "About the same as a hardbound for books that are only out in hardbound, and about the same as a paperback for books that in paper," they stare at me in disbelieve and the conservation ends right there.

And that doesn't even speak to the issue that I can't lend these books to my wife or my son, and couldn't even if they owned compatible eBook readers.