The Word on E-Book Readers

Amazon

Things are moving fast in the burgeoning category of e-book readers, and a few experts with whom we spoke believe that these products will do no less than lead a transformation in the book-publishing industry that is similar to the one that hit music a decade ago.

“How the iPod changed how we listen to music, that’s the point we’re at now” with e-book readers, says Sarah Rotman Epps of market-research company Forrester Research.

NOVEL IDEAS. E-book readers are beginning to change in two different ways that could help to make the tablet computer-versus-e-book-reader purchase decision easier—or more difficult.

One change is the emergence of touchscreen capability for e-book readers that use e-ink technology, which creates a low-power monochromatic display that consumes little power. Instead of a screen that’s surrounded by a plethora of buttons on the frame, touchscreen technology simplifies e-book control and navigation. What’s even better, industry experts expect that all e-ink-based e-book readers, including touchscreen models, will drop below $100 this holiday season.

The second change is the appearance of hybrid models that give dedicated e-book readers some of the capabilities that typically are found on tablets. At least five manufacturers have rolled out these hybrids. For example, Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color ($249) and the Amazon Kindle Fire ($199), which was unveiled in September, are 7-inch Android-based devices that have LCD touchscreens instead of the monochromatic e-ink screen that you find on other Nook and Kindle models.

These e-book/tablet hybrids still fit into your pocket, but they are heavier than typical e-book readers are. The Nook Color, for instance, weighs nearly a pound, more than twice as much as the company’s e-ink Nook Simple Touch. And like bargain tablets, these hybrids use slower processors, which make their tablet operations slow and clunky.

Another shift in e-book-reader technology, color e-ink, likely is at least a year away. So far, color e-ink screens that we’ve seen aren’t as bright or as vibrant as LCD screens are. On the plus side, e-book readers that have color e-ink are expected to be just as light as the current monochrome e-ink e-book readers.

BY THE BOOK. The e-book reader all starts with the e-book. E-books typically cost around $10—some best-sellers cost more and many classics cost less. There also are millions of free public-domain e-books that are available.

Most e-book readers are affiliated with an online bookseller in the same way that Apple’s iPod is linked with its iTunes store. The Kindle, of course, is matched with Amazon, and the Nook uses Barnes & Noble. Sony’s Readers are paired with Borders and Google Books, and IREX and Plastic Logic also work with Barnes & Noble’s online e-book store. You buy the e-book online and download it either to your computer or increasingly directly to your e-book reader.

However, e-book reader interoperability remains a work in progress. In a marketplace that should look familiar to digital-music fans, e-books that are bought from Amazon will work only on a Kindle; the rest of the publishing industry uses a standardized formatting code that is called ePub. “Any device that supports ePub will read ePub files,” Epps explains. “If you buy ePub books today, you should be able to transfer them to another ePub-compatible device in the future.” For instance, e-books that are bought from the Barnes & Noble online bookstore can be “loaned” to anyone who has a Barnes & Noble-compatible device for 14 days (at which point the e-books disappear from the loanee’s device and return to the loaner’s).  

This brings us to one of the thorniest issues of e-book readers—one that should be all-too-familiar to exasperated music lovers—digital-rights management (DRM) coding. DRM defines how, how often and where you can move an e-book from device to device. For instance, let’s say you buy an e-book reader today and subsequently amass a sizable library of e-books. Then you decide to switch to a flashy new e-book reader that has an affiliation with a different online e-book store. Will you be able to transfer your library of e-books that were purchased from one source to your new device like you can with purchased music or movies?