Are you keeping up with new developments in electronic readers?  Every once in a while I check in on what’s happening, hoping to soon be able to afford one of these nifty devices and see how I like reading the electrons.  It just seems like the logical next step for the publishing industry:  Create an appetite for downloadable books in audio formats; then, offer a comfortable handheld reading platform for people (like myself) who will always prefer the written word.  Pubic libraries should be part of the mix, a la Overdrive-type services, when these pieces fall together into place.

 

The Sony Reader and the iRex Iliad have been non-starters commercially largely because the devices are expensive.  They have some physical drawbacks as well, but competition is driving improvements.   Amazon’s “Kindle” and Bookeen’s “Cybook” will be vying for consumers’ attention and dollars, supposedly in the near future.   New e-ink technology is said to be as easy on the eyes as paper; response time and maneuverability are improving as well.  The so-called “second paper revolution” is one of those transformations that is always just around the corner but never seems to materialize.  Now, predictions are for generally affordable, satisfying readers to hit mass marketability around 2012. 

Read a great article here on the history of e-paper technology, with current status of the industry and forecasts for use of the format.