

Move over, Kindle. iriver Story HD is Google's e-Reader, $139.99 - uberstart
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gadgetreviews/move-over-kindle-iriver-story-hd-is-googles-e-reader-13999/26083

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JonnieCache
Unless things have changed, I can vouch for the quality of iRiver's kit,
particularly the high quality of their firmware. I have owned a number of MP3
players from them over the years, and all were superb products.

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acabal
That is one ugly-looking device. But if we're trying to compete on e-ink
readers, I think the device to compete against now is the Nook Simple Touch. I
loved my Kindle when I had one, but after using the NST I realized how rough a
lot of the edges on the Kindle are. It really is a clear and solid step above
the Kindle, and it's the device you need to compete with for e-ink. Wifi vs 3g
doesn't matter; nobody buys books often enough to really truly NEED 24/7
connectivity across the globe. The NST touchscreen is shockingly responsive
and totally obviates the need for a physical keyboard.

As for integration with Google Books--while I haven't used GB myself, I read a
lot of Project Gutenberg books, and I'm assuming the two are similar
platforms. The problem with PG books is that the formatting is just awful for
a lot of the ebooks. Sometimes the person compiling the book will slavishly
stick to a print edition, going so far as putting page numbers in or other
print ephemera; or sometimes the internal coding is so bad that it only looks
good on a small subset of readers; or sometimes the book is OCR'd and thus
riddled with typos. What I'm saying is, you get what you pay for--and a lot of
the free public-domain ebooks are just awfully compiled.

Hell, even some books I've bought from the Amazon store have been very
obviously OCR'd with no second thought to ebook presentation or editing--a big
example is one of Stephen King's Dark Tower books, which are huge sellers that
you'd expect to have been ported to digital with at least a little attention
to detail. Not so: the one I bought from the official publisher was obviously
OCR'd and so riddled with typos and errors that I returned it to Amazon
without finishing it.

So I guess what I'm saying is, I'm not impressed with this device. It's a
generation behind the Nook Simple Touch, and integration with Google Books
isn't enough to interest me given the awful or non-existent editorial
oversight in most public-domain ebooks.

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merryandrew
"Wifi vs 3g doesn't matter; nobody buys books often enough to really truly
NEED 24/7 connectivity across the globe."

Totally agree, personally. Some people use the 3G for other stuff, but I only
read books. Btw, purchased Google eBooks are not like PG, though, they are
formatted like purchased Amazon and B&N eBooks.

"It's a generation behind the Nook Simple Touch, and integration with Google
Books isn't enough to interest me given the awful or non-existent editorial
oversight in most public-domain ebooks."

I'm interested in the new nook too. I saw it in the store, but didn't bother
with checking it out. Next time I will. Integration with Google is also
irrelevant to me, but access to Google eBooks (and all the other ePUB books
with DRM via Adobe) totally matters to me, and this is why I won't buy a
Kindle, yet.

When it comes to well-formatted public domain eBooks, I like Feedbooks.

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moskie
I used to have a 3G Kindle, but it was stolen, and now I have a WiFi Kindle.

I agree with what you guys are saying, but without the 3g, my impulse
purchases have really gone down. For example, I used to buy periodicals while
on the train with some regularity, but now I hardly ever do.

So providing 3g on an e-reader might be a good investment in that sense.

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davidw
Nothing jumps out at me as a Killer Feature that would make me want to own
this rather than my Kindle.

I can see Google competing with Facebook, but Amazon? Seems like they should
rethink that battle - going head to head is not going to be a winning
strategy.

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camiller
Yeah, but I don't own a Kindle. If I owned a Kindle I probably wouldn't be
inclined to switch either having invested in books locked (albeit easily
unlocked) to that platform. I had been considering the Kobo reader since Kobo
is the only vendor that also offers an app for my phone as well. I might also
consider this iRiver reader since I know that the Google Books website works
fine on my phone.

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kenjackson
_I had been considering the Kobo reader since Kobo is the only vendor that
also offers an app for my phone as well_

What phone do you have?

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camiller
Palm Pre

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davidw
Ok, so that's a killer feature for you and two other guys...

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davidw
Joking aside, there are serious economic issues: the Google device needs some
Big Advantage over the Kindle in order to win market share, and compatibility
with a phone no one owns is not it.

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merryandrew
Google's eBook strategy is excellent. Google licenses eBooks at prices that
rival Amazon and B&N, and the eBooks can be read in browsers, on cell phones,
on eReaders from B&N, Sony, and now iRiver, etc., and if and when Amazon
enables the Kindle to read ePUB eBooks that employ Adobe Content Server DRM
(e.g., eBooks that Google, B&N and Sony sell, and public libraries lend), then
Google eBooks will be accessible practically anywhere. Pretty shrewd move on
Google's part.

The iRiver device looks pretty good, but as duiker101 points out, the Kindle
has the unique 3G advantage.

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nickpp
Is Google the least innovative high-tech company? I cannot think of a single
Google product that wasn't either an improved copy or a takeover of another
company's product.

From search to gmail, maps, android, latitude, g+, tv, and now this.

I AM glad they usually make them better and more polished competitors, but
still... not an ounce of originality?

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capnrefsmmat
This isn't a Google product -- it's designed by iriver. What's new is that it
uses Google Books as its online bookstore, which potentially gives you access
to the millions of books they've scanned from university libraries and such.

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winsbe01
is it just me, or does it look shockingly similar to the Kindle (overall
shape, screen size, etc.)? I am a Kindle owner, and love it, my only quibble
being the DRM they use. on that front, the 3mill+ public domain books on
Google Bookstore is a winner. But I don't think it will be a "Kindle killer".

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moskie
Is there a hope that with more (successfully) competing e-book vendors, more
DRM-free books will be in the works? As a Kindle owner, the biggest thing
preventing me from considering buying a Google books based device would be the
fact that I couldn't read the books I previously purchased through Amazon on
it.

Is there any hope that DRM'ed e-books will have a similar trajectory as MP3s
did?

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winsbe01
I have thought about this as well, and I hope (and think) there will be. The
Kindle DRM wasn't a problem initially, because it was one of the first widely
sold e-readers with a huge company backing it. however, as more devices come
out that can compete with the quality of the Kindle, a change will need to
happen.

I was about to type "No one will buy Amazon e-books without a Kindle, and no
one will buy a Kindle if they can't read the books elsewhere", but I'm
backstepping. The current Kindle business model reminds me of Apple/iTunes,
something that makes me shudder. If they can still make enough money off DRM
content, then maybe the incentive to make it open is small.

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moskie
And the problem with saying "No one will buy Amazon e-books without a Kindle,
and no one will buy a Kindle if they can't read the books elsewhere," is that
it's already untrue. With the Kindle app on iOS and Android devices, plenty of
people are doing just that. Don't really have numbers to back that up,
though...

So another option came to mind: E-readers that can run apps. Apps like Kindle,
or Google Books. That might just be wishful thinking, though.

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CrazedGeek
The Nook 2nd Edition is apparently really easy to root and install apps on:
<http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1138564>

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moskie
Right, that's true, but I was thinking just of e-ink devices. It's a tough
sell, though, since e-ink devices are really only good for reading, so there
might not be much incentive for creating an open e-ink device that can run 3rd
party apps.

Amazon has started to allow 3rd party apps on the Kindle, but I don't think
it's been very effective or popular, and I don't expect a Google Books app on
there any time soon.

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CrazedGeek
The N2E is an e-ink device :)

<http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp?PID=35699>

I agree on the openness. I don't get the impression that many manufacturers
are interested in an e-ink Android device though- B&N and Notion Ink are
basically the only ones, IIRC.

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duiker101
As long as Kindle has free 3g there is no way i'm going to change it. It can
be bugged as hell, but the possibility of browsing my email or HN and
someother sites from almost _everywhere_ for _free_ cannot be easilly
replaced.

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iloktr
They call it Google's ebook reader, but did Google have anything to do with it
other than providing the content?

