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?

Unfortunately, no one knows for sure. “The publisher gets to set all kinds of rights restrictions,” says Liza Daly, who is president of Threepress Consulting, which provides software and services for the publishing industry. “They can limit the number of devices it will work on. They can limit the number of times it can be re-downloaded [if, for example, your e-book reader breaks down or is lost].”

This DRM uncertainty came to the fore last July when Amazon electronically reached into Kindles and erased copies of (no kidding) George Orwell’s “1984” and a few other titles after Amazon discovered that the publishers of those particular editions were not authorized to sell them. Amazon was roundly criticized for its Orwellian move, and it apologized and compensated the affected consumers. After a lawsuit by a student who also lost notes that he had made on his Kindle, Amazon changed its terms of service to include a more limited book-deletions clause that allows Amazon to delete e-books due to failed credit-card transactions, judicial orders, malware or a user’s permission—if any consumer would grant such a thing.

But the bottom line remains that when you buy an e-book from Amazon, you are more or less renting it—ideally in perpetuity. That’s not an issue with Sony’s e-book readers, because these models don’t have the wireless connectivity that enables Amazon to swoop into your Kindle. In other words, an e-book purchase that’s downloaded onto a Sony e-book reader likely is yours for as long as you use the device, but whether the e-book could be plucked from your computer is unclear. (We hadn’t heard from Barnes & Noble about its plans regarding this issue by press time.)

It’s obvious to us that recalling consumers’ purchases from their e-book readers—particularly if it’s done without their knowledge—would curtail the e-book revolution somewhat. So, publishers and retailers are seeking a sensible DRM model to balance profit-saving restrictions and consumer transparency and openness. Some in the e-book business advocate following a restrictive DRM course that is similar to that of the digital-music industry, which was designed to inhibit piracy but ultimately confused and annoyed law-abiding customers. Other e-book executives believe that e-books require a more open approach that would allow you, for instance, to loan an e-book to a friend just as you would a real book, such as Barnes & Noble allows.

It appears to us that, unlike the Apple/iTunes-vs.-everyone-else division in the e-music business, the less restrictive ePub format is likely to become dominant. Unlike Apple/iTunes, Kindle’s e-book head start has been whittled by a publishing industry that is determined to create an open publishing standard. Already there are more than twice as many ePub book titles as there are Kindle-formatted books available. Even now, the number of publishers  that support ePub and the number of ePub-compatible e-book readers are beginning to dwarf the Kindle. This ePub flood will force Amazon to make a choice—remain iconoclastic and lose its dominant place in consumers’ minds, or join the ePub pack and remain relevant.  

Regardless of how it turns out among e-books that are purchased, the e-books that are available from a growing number of public libraries will continue to be tightly controlled by DRM. Despite the ability for libraries to potentially hold unlimited numbers of digital copies, libraries will “stock” only a handful of each title, and borrowed e-books won’t open after their expiration date is reached, which typically is 2 or 3 weeks.

GRAY DAYS. But if DRM issues divide the marketplace, one area where you won’t see any difference is in how your e-book looks on an e-book reader’s screen. One company—E Ink—has cornered the market on e-book reader screen technology.

After 7 years in development, E Ink introduced electronic paper, or e-paper, in 2004. By using a process that is called electrophoresis, electronically charged microscopic globules of ink-like titanium dioxide form letters or images under a plastic or glass screen. (All e-book readers let you adjust text size.)  

Unlike LCD (liquid crystal display) screens that require constant power to operate, electrophoretic screens require energy only to disassemble and reassemble the charged ink molecules—in other words, only when you press a button to “turn” an e-book page. After the e-ink image is formed, no power is required to keep it there. E Ink’s Sri Peruvemba says an image could stay on an unpowered e-book reader screen for years.

Because e-book reader displays don’t emit light like an LCD screen does, you can read them only when there’s enough ambient light—just like a real book. Right now, e-paper technology is monochromatic and low contrast, so the dark-gray text on a grayish background often can be difficult to read in conditions other than bright light. Although reading an e-book on an e-book reader is easier on your eyes than reading one that is on an LCD screen, we found that the constant field of gray on an e-book reader made us bleary-eyed.   

The good news is that because they have no constant power needs, e-book readers last for weeks without needing to be recharged. Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are rated to last between 6,800-10,000 page turns between charges and can be recharged hundreds of times. This means that an e-book reader can display your books for decades.   

E-book reader manufacturers are trying to move beyond the shades of gray. E Ink is working on both higher contrast technology and color capability. IREX announced plans to apply its own color technology to its readers in 2011. However, we suspect that e-paper color will appear drab and unnatural—like a colorized black-and-white movie—but we’ll reserve judgment until the technology arrives.