News - Sony quits the eReader device market

[MrRockliffe]

Sony had an e-reader?

Yup, and they're pretty good, too. It was touch and go for me between the Sony and Kindle, for my first. What swung it was mainly that the Sony was dearer, and I just couldn't see what I was getting that justified that. What didn't help was, having been burned by atrocious customer service in the past from Sony, I wasn't exactly motivated to give them preference over an alternative, and convincing offering.

But Sony never seemed to be exactly marketed in the EU, certainly not in the UK. They were available, but never seem to have been pushed. I suspect that, being pretty popular (surprise surprise) in Japan, they thought they could rest on that, and the 'Sony name' and not 'lower' themselves to actual compete with upstart Amazon.

Oops.

All that said, I'm sorry to see them pull out, at least of the non-Japan market. Sorry, but not surprised. The more competition there is, the more honest it'll keep the big players. Now, effectively, we can choose ... Kindle or Kobo. At least, until the next technical innovation comss along and blows things wide open. Again.

Thanks to recent customer service from Sony I'd never buy one of their products again

[crossy]

As long as they have e-ink screens and regular tablets don't, they're a separate device to me. Reading outdoors is simply unpleasant without e-ink.

+1 on this. For reading I find the backlight-less e-ink screen a lot more pleasant than an LCD that's reliant on a backlight in most lighting conditions.

Of course there's also the technical argument - the power draws of those LCD's would have to drop by a massive amount to be able to approach the kind of runtimes that a Kindle owner expects. Plus, I'm told that the Kindles are pretty low-spec devices - something that perhaps your typical quad-core-totting monster tablet is going to struggle to match - even with low power mode settings.

I've got to wonder how long it'll be before Sony also pulls the media players - although in that case that also means retiring the "Walkman" brand, which would be a big deal to some. I've got an old A800 series Walkman and it beats the spots off any of the equivalent iPods for sound quality. And it's got an OLED screen, so it's also better for viewing films on. Last time I checked Sony's Walkman range consisted of either tiny-memoried "budget" models or Android-powered models that are basically smartphones with the 3G/4G phone bits removed. What I'd want is something like a Fiio X5.

[Saracen]

+1 on this. For reading I find the backlight-less e-ink screen a lot more pleasant than an LCD that's reliant on a backlight in most lighting conditions.

.....

Whike I entirely agree, I go further than that. It's not just that e-ink is "more pleasant", for me. It's that an e-ink device is useable for a protracted reading session, and backlit LCD screens simply are not.

I can use a tablet, or LCD monitor, or even a TV for a while, but if I stick my face in one for too long, I wind up with itchy etes, streaming eyes and, at a minimum, a screaming headache.

I KNOW what works, and doesn't work for me, but that's probably got as much to do with my eyes as anything. But because I'm very sensitive to this suggests that while the same thing is likely true for other people, if others don't have the same eye sensitivity, it's true to a much lesser extent, and perhaps, not even to an extent where they'd notice, never mind it being a problem.

Of course, I'm an avid bibliophile, so it's a decent chance that in my spare time, you'll find me with my face stuck in a book. I'm quite capable of an 18 hour reading session, emerging only for a sandwich, and an occasional .... erm .... 'comfort break'. At least, I'm capable of it with an e-reader or an actual book, with pages, on paper. But a tablet? Not a chance. An hour, maybe. Two hours would put me in bed for a couple of days with a migraine.

For extended reading, an e-reader works for me. Tablets don't. So when I go anywhere I need portable devices, I take either the Kindle, or Kindle and tablet. If I could only have one, but not both, it'd be the Kindle. I can easily go without being 'connected' for days, weeks at a time. And regularly do. But be without books? I'd go nuts. Or, more nuts.

And with the Kindle, I can carry a vast collection with me.

[DanceswithUnix]

+1 on this. For reading I find the backlight-less e-ink screen a lot more pleasant than an LCD that's reliant on a backlight in most lighting conditions.

Of course there's also the technical argument - the power draws of those LCD's would have to drop by a massive amount to be able to approach the kind of runtimes that a Kindle owner expects. Plus, I'm told that the Kindles are pretty low-spec devices - something that perhaps your typical quad-core-totting monster tablet is going to struggle to match - even with low power mode settings.

I've got to wonder how long it'll be before Sony also pulls the media players - although in that case that also means retiring the "Walkman" brand, which would be a big deal to some. I've got an old A800 series Walkman and it beats the spots off any of the equivalent iPods for sound quality. And it's got an OLED screen, so it's also better for viewing films on. Last time I checked Sony's Walkman range consisted of either tiny-memoried "budget" models or Android-powered models that are basically smartphones with the 3G/4G phone bits removed. What I'd want is something like a Fiio X5.

Technical arguments are only valid for a short snapshot in time, then things move on.

When I was growing up, LCD displays were only used on things like digital watches. I remember reading in supposedly informed places like electronics magazines that LCD is on/off, so colour lcd displays are impossible. Didn't take long for them to become reality.

I still think Pixel Qi have shown LCD is far from done developing. But for now, I am happy with my e-ink Nook. Unfortunately for B&N, while I have bought a few e-books they do a 13000 page SciFi book for a few quid and a year on I am still mainly reading that so I am not helping their profits much. On page 3500 or there abouts atm