Comments on: eBook Readers: Very Nearly Almost There

By: Martine

Martine — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 05:33:58 +0000

I agree with you Jule. I have been reading e books for years on my Palm and suddenly no one wants to sell them in Australia (except Dymocks whose system doesn’t seem to support iPhone). I am really, really disappointed and don’t understand what the copyright issues are if you are actually paying for the book. I look forward to hearing about an easy way to legally buy ebooks that I want for my just acquired iPhone,

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:35:24 +0000

I too have been reading ebooks for about 5 years now and have been using fictionwise almost religiously. I have probably purchased less than 10 paper based books in that 5 years and probably 150+ ebooks. However, like Ian above, I am now forced to start looking for a legal way to obtain books in Australia. Does the publishing industry have rocks in its head or what? What on earth are all these “geographical restrictions” on about?
In the meantime, I love having my phone, audio books, ebooks, music, calendar and everything else i need (for pleasure & work) all in one handy gadget.
and yes i back it up religiously, but touch wood i never loose it!

By: debbie

debbie — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:16:31 +0000

I would love to buy ebook or have it on the phone to save me carry the book in my bag it is hard enough to lug shopping bags on overcrowded bus I recond that is a great idea for students to save them to lug hugh amount of books with them it is time to have it in Australia at a reduced price I have checked Sony and they do not have it here (aust)

By: Ian Hamilton

Ian Hamilton — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:26:47 +0000

Does anyone know where I can purchase ebooks in Austarlia.
I was buying from Fictionwise but with these interational restrictions in place I am struggling to find a site where I can buy a book.

By: Fiona Mowat

Fiona Mowat — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:36:55 +0000

I would love to buy an ebook reader, of whatever brand – but the ebooks I want to buy are only available in the UK or the US.

What’s the point of owning a device and not being able to access content? I don’t want to steal ebooks, I want to buy them legally and not rip off the author.

By: CaptainReality

CaptainReality — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:05:39 +0000

Ugh. If there was ever an industry capable of killing the nascent eBook market stone dead by fragmenting it and frustrating their customers, it’s the publishing industry. These people make the music industry look like a group of forward-thinking visionaries.

Irrespective of the technical capability of eBook readers, these clowns will probably kill the whole industry. They’ll all end up backing different, incompatible DRM formats, thus driving their customers back to paper.

The only hope is that the newspapers, sensing their impending doom, make a last ditch effort to make digital readers easy to use, and make the formats universal to increase their customer base. The newspapers may just drag the publishers kicking and screaming into an open market.

If that doesn’t happen, eBooks are doomed (except the pirated ones).

By: dennis

dennis — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:30:56 +0000

I have been reading Ebooks for about 10 years, my first ebook reader being an early PALM, later I -went up the ladder ( with palm) in their Pilots and Zires which had E-Reader available free.
There were many suppliers of good eBooks in fiction and non fiction as well as reference, mostly in the States. These were and still are cheap to buy. There are even rebates anywhere from 20% to 100% for buying promoted books.
Being an avid reader I discarded my Paperback book collection and started to accrue digital versions. I was also a member of a P2P site where books are shared and cost nothing. I see this as being like the music share groups. Not good for the writers, and used the genuine sellers more and more to stay on the right side of the law and thus encourage the authors to write more books.
These suppliers also had more recent releases at affordable prices

The entrance of other large format readers is a waste of technology as far as I am concerned they are not portable in the sense of being convenient. Many people would think that a Palm 750 screen be too small to read books. However, not for me, all my technology is contained , phone, music, notes and Ebooks. Even my GPS now supports Ebooks and is easier to carry around than these mini laptop readers. I can read in a dark place because of the back lit screen, at the fish n chip shop while waiting, during travel and even in the loo. My reading at night does not affect my partner as I do not need to have the light on.It is small and light and is not an extra burden to carry around, it is always with me

If you want an Ereader, use one that has convenient size and weight …Palm ,,Ipod Blackberry etc unless you are whelchair bound and have poor vision then don’t buy these dinosaursat sky high prices!
I love the Ereader on my phone.. check out the options and give those cumbersome units a wide berth they are far too expensive for what they offer.

By: Robert van Geest

Robert van Geest — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:03:18 +0000

Good news for ebook lovers to follow up on your post. I think the Australian Ebook readers market is changing rapidly, with more ebook readers becoming available. We will be selling the Bebook ebook reader soon, available for around AUS$400 on http://www.bookhampers.com.au.
Keep us posted on your thought about the ebook readers.
Robert

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:47:04 +0000

Thanks for the post – I would really love an eBook reader as I generally devour books and a reader would cut down on trees, weight, costs (in the long term), It’s clear from your post that the US is leading the charge in this particular technology; I’m curious, what is the UK and Europe doing?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:58:24 +0000

Nice post. I am disappointed to hear that many of these eReaders aren’t available in Australia (I was unaware) since I was very tempted to buy one. The huge price is definitely the main reason why I’d hesitate to buy one, but as a university student I feel they’d be a huge assist.

Personally, I see them replacing a large percentage of the paper book arena in the near future as prices come down. And I’m happy to see that happen.