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Hearst To Launch E-Reader For Newspapers
thefickler writes "The credit crisis couldn't have come at a worse time for newspapers, which were already suffering at the hands of the Internet. Now it seems that the Hearst Corporation is planning to launch an e-reader later this year to try to save its dwindling newspaper readerships. Apparently the e-reader will have a bigger screen than the Kindle, helping it to accommodate ads. It's not clear whether Hearst will go it alone, or try to gather wider industry support for its venture. As one pundit observed, 'it seems a slender thread on which to hang the entire American newspaper industry.'"
After borrowing a Kindle I for a weekend, I'm almost sold on the device, but not quite. The screen quality was simply amazing. The only thing I can't quite get over is that the sensory experience is very, very bland. I don't know if all the cool technology can win me over with the lack of a more sensory-rich experience.
I was simply amazed at how clear the epaper screen was and how easy it was to read in almost any light. If the light was adequate for reading a book, the kindle did great. The button layout was weak and I kept changing the page when I didn't want to. At least the update was speedy. I just can't quite get into a book on the Kindle the way I get into a real book. The rough feel of the pages, the smell of old binding glue, or the waft of a woman's perfume in a library book are great. Even the sound of turning a page, or the satisfying crackle of the fabric binding on a brand new hard cover are fantastic.
Similarly, the smell of newsprint and the act of folding and unfolding each section is very much tied up in my overall experience of reading the paper. I don't think that any e-reader, no matter the spiffy features, could replace all that.
On the other hand, I could probably learn to love an e-reader for other reasons. For example, the mass of paper waiting to be recycled in the corner of my kitchen would not be missed. I love the idea that distributing news paper electronically would save thousands of tons of trees, CO2 emissions and eventual landfill space.
If the Hurst e-reader is easy to use, inexpensive and isn't as locked down as the Kindle, I would give it a chance. I would even consider switching my subscriptions to full-week instead of Sunday only if they were cheaper and I didn't have to haul off 3 tons of newsprint each week. I hope it actually makes it to the market at a price well under $300.
This one's tricky. You have to use imaginary numbers, like eleventeen... --Hobbes
If 2 gigs is enough for your "library" than I would guess you are not using handbooks which can encroach 400 megs a piece. If I had to wait for a handbook of that size to download over and over again with no way of offloading it unto media I would throw the fucking thing against the wall. My Sony PRS-700 has 16 gigs of memory at all times and I carry 6 8 gig SDHC cards with me when needs be. My library spans over 20,000 volumes of public, pirated and paid for e-books and the Amazon Kindle 2 is simple inadequate for anything beyond a few hundred books, imho.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
Disclaimer : I don't work for Sony but I have a PRS-505. Been reading almost exclusively on it for almost two years now.
1/ You can buy ebooks from Sony. Or get the from Gutemberg. Or Baen. Or anywhere else you want.
2/ No GSM in it. But it means they cannot revoke any licenced/copyrighted material remotely. And hell, who really needs a gsm in their book ? Remotely downloading a newspaper ? I'm too cheap to pay both for the news AND the data download. I got a computer doing that for me already...
3/ Converting books/manga/newspaper tools available for Windows/linux/Mac. I even got a linux script to mass tranform mangas in a pdf to read on the PRS-505 (using Gimp scripts to sharpen/resize...)
4/ nice, well placed buttons.
5/ Nice and pretty body
6/ Customised firmwares exist ...
7 / takes SDHC and Sony memory sticks
8/ recharge using USB or a wall wart (the dedicated one or a psp charger works)I read everyday 1-2 hours on it and recharge once a week.
Only problem I have is I cannot "shuffle" the book, flipping pages to find a chapter I want to re-read as easily I Ican with a paper book.
Compare both, make your choice. I hade both the kindle 1 and the Sony to choose from, and the PRS-505 won, not even a real match. Seen the kindle 2...well : let's just say I'm still very happy with the Sony.
I took it to extended trips in on 4 continents, and nothing beats having 400 books on a card and 800 mangas when the place you go to has neither tv nor radio...the music player isn't very good, but you have the option.
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
I was wondering, could a newspaper sell ther editions on Amazon? If so, they could still charge their normal rate but by bypassing all the messy printing delivering and recycling, wouldn't they need fewer or no ads? Also as all of your Amazon books are still available for you to download even after you have deleted them from the Kindle, you could still go back and read stuff that is older, and not have to worry about all that paper left lying around the house 8)
Mybe there should be another class of download for the kindle, the kindle-cast! Browse an RSS feed to know when new editions are ready to read, download them, and keep only the latest two or three. then delete the rest.
Shit, I should patent this idea now and stop anyone actually doing it.
The same NDS who does the CA for bskyb, directv, and many others.
The device may be hackable (depends on how well it's secured), but the content will probably be securely "protected"