Sony's New PRS-500 E-Book Reader

For nearly twenty years, futurists have been predicting the imminent demise of printed books. The “conventional wisdom” has been that digital “e-books” were on the verge of replacing paper books. There are many reasons why: lower expenses, ease of ordering and receiving books, reduced storage space, and more. There's only one problem: none of the predictions have yet come true. Now Sony finally has a new device that may hasten the demise of paper-based books.

Sony's new PRS-500 has just gone into production and a (very) few have already appeared in the hands of companies producing material for the new devices.  Looking a bit like an oversized Palm Pilot device, the Sony PRS-500's monochrome screen is said to be easier to read than a paperback book. Unlike the screen on other handheld devices, this one reportedly is easy to read and produces no glare. It also plays music, replacing an iPod.

I'm keeping an eye on this one. I have no doubt that genealogy books will appear before long on the Sony PRS-500 or some similar device. However, I don't think I'll rush out and buy the $350 device just yet.

You can read more about the Sony PRS-500 at http://tinyurl.com/82bbn

Comments

[Sheila Ruth]

I'm very excited about the possibilities for this new technology. From what I've seen, the iLiad e-reader looks like a better device, although it is bigger and a lot more expensive.

https://www.irexshop.com/product_info.php/products_id/28

As much as I'd like to have one of these, I'm going to wait a while, too, and see how things shake out.

[Sally]

Does anyone know what file formats these readers can display? I assume it will read plain text and HTML, but the description for the Sony reader mentions "other supported documents." Anyone know what they mean by that? I'm intrigued to say the least (especially if they can get rid of the glare issue -- which is so tiring on the eyes) but plan to wait and see what's coming next. I don't want to get stuck with the equivalent of a Betamax, ya know?

[Lorenzo]

I was on a committee several years ago that worked on e-books for our library system. To cut to the chase, they were a failure. Patrons wanted to hold a book in their hands, not have to worry about losing them, not have to worry about batteries, and so on. They are a widget or toy, nothing more, nothing less. They will never replace real books. Who is gonna digitize all the books anyway?

[Dick Eastman]

---> They will never replace real books.

As the price of printing continues to climb, how will you ever pay for books? I suspect that a printed paperback book will cost $50.00 or more within 25 years. Hardbound books will cost still more. Yet the same books will be available for a less than five dollars in electronic format. (Those numbers ignore possible future inflation.)

To be sure, the technology for handheld book readers is still primitive today. Obviously, that will improve. The latest Sony reader is reported to be a significant improvement but I am certain it is still short of what we need. Technology will continue to improve. I suspect that reasonable book readers that are easy to use and have glare-free screens will become common place within the next decade. These will have far better display screens than anything available today, screens that are as easy to read as a newspaper.

Printed reference books are already dying out. When was the last time anyone you know purchased a PRINTED encyclopedia set for use in their home? A generation ago that was common; parents often purchased printed encyclopedias and even bookshelves to hold them in order to provide the necessary tools for their children's' studies.

Who does that today? Nobody I know.

When was the last time saw or even heard of an encyclopedia salesman?

Reference books of all sorts are already being released in digital format today and are selling well, usually being viewed on Windows or Macintosh computers, often as web pages. As improved handheld readers become available, sales in electronic format will only increase.

Technology improvements coupled with rising costs of printing on paper plus lowered costs of electronic publishing are inescapable factors.
It will take another decade or two for other books to transition in the same manner that encyclopedias already have but I think that is inevitable. I suspect the LAST books to become digitized will be novels.

- Dick Eastman

[dbReader]

Interesting to read this discussion now, after 3 years after original post. The industry is developing even more fast that anybody could predict.