Charles Stross' Diary (RSS Feed)
10-15-2007, 02:49 PM
When it comes to talking about tech gadgets, I confess to a poor track record: I have a low saving throw vs. shiny!, and so I fall into that category so beloved of the IT industry, the early adopter who'll buy anything. (I'd even buy a Palm Foleo .... if they hadn't paid more attention to all the skeptics and cancelled the thing.) You should therefore consume the rest of this post with an appropriate sprinkling of sodium chloride.
I spent last week bouncing from signing to reading to interview like a demented flea, trying to cram as much promotional work into six days as was humanly possible. Along the way, somehow my luggage expanded — one of the occupational hazards of being a bibliophile on a signing tour is that grateful bookshop proprietors will sometimes offer you a discount on purchases — and when I woke up back home, I discovered I'd acquired a Sony PRS-505 ebook reader (http://digital-lifestyles.info/2007/10/03/sony-prs-505-ebook-reader-announced/).
Let's get one thing out of the way first: Sony used to be a really kick-ass consumer electronics and design company. But since their merger with a film conglomerate, they've widely become seen as Evil™ among those of us who take an interest in technology-as-legislation and openness; they're relentless champions of DRM and closed standards, even when it amounts to shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly. (The big irony is that their media division accounts for a much smaller proportion of their turnover than their hardware side; it's very much a case of the tail wagging the dog.) As debacles like the great rootkit scandal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_prevention_scandal) demonstrate, this seems to be a matter of company policy and until they learn better all their products are going to be tainted by this nonsense to some degree. But their electronics and design still kicks ass. What to do?
Back in the dark ages of the early 2000's, Sony produced an early ebook reader called the Librie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Librie).
Now, ebook readers are an interesting category of device. Nobody has yet built a perfect one. The Librie was unusual for its time in eschewing the traditional liquid crystal display (which requires current as long as it's displaying an image) and using E-Ink's electronic paper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper) technology. Electronic paper is very slow and unresponsive, black and white only ... but only draws current when it's changing state. It's also flexible, has a contrast ratio similar to paper, and in mass production should be cheap. The selling point of the Librie was that you could load books into it, and turn several thousand pages before it needed a re-charge (equivalent to reading for several tens to hundreds of hours). Other ebook reader display technologies, or PDAs, tend to require re-charges after 2-8 hours, which is somewhat annoying.
The Librie, not to put it too pointedly, sucked. It could only read ebooks in one, proprietary format, available only from an ebook store run by Sony. You bought a book ... and it expired after 60 days! So it sold like last year's day planner, even in its launch market, Japan.
Someone at Sony was at least willing to put good money after bad. So in early 2006, they emitted Librie 2.0, the PRS-500 ebook reader. They dropped the tiny keyboard (used for annotations), improved the Windows-only host software so that it could import PDFs and RTF files (but you still needed a Windows PC) and some of the content no longer expired. More importantly, the display was a little better, the ebook file formats were documented, and hackers got their hands on the PRS-500 and wrote tools (notably libprs500 (https://libprs500.kovidgoyal.net/)) that allowed Mac, Linux, and UNIX users to convert files into something the PRS-500 could read, and to load and unload them from the device over a USB cable. It turns out that the PRS-500, like other ebook readers (such as the iRex Iliad (http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad) and the forthcoming Bookeen Cybook 3 (http://www.bookeen.com/specs/ebook-specs.aspx)) runs an embedded Linux kernel and custom software and is to some extent customizable.
I took a look at the PRS-500 and rolled the dice. I made my saving throw: the piggy bank breathed a sigh of relief. But then, last Friday, I saw a PRS-505.
The PRS-505 is Sony's third attempt at a consumer ebook reader, and it's pretty good. It's not ready for the mass market, but it'll convince bleeding-edge enthusiasts like myself to part with their money. It's not only got a Memory Stick slot for storing books, but a real SD card slot — a tacit admission that Memory Stick is a proprietary turkey that nobody uses — and all the storage areas (internal memory running to 192Mb, plus both cards) show up as ordinary USB mass storage devices when you plug the gizmo into a computer. It charges over USB, too, meaning there's one less wall wart to carry. The display is improved, with higher contrast and faster page transitions.
And ... it can read PDFs and RTF files natively. Just dump your files onto a memory card and stick it in; the spinning cursor will run for a while as the reader (which has a relatively gutless CPU) scans it, and then the files will all show up. Formatting a novel in RTF for display takes several seconds (as I said, it's not fast), but it works. PDFs are faster, although I'm not terribly happy with the PDF viewer's zoom. For the first time Sony have emitted an ebook reader that you can plug into a Mac or Linux box and use right away.
On the down side: they're still trying to make money through their walled garden of an ebook store. The PRS-505 sells for $350, and comes with a voucher for $200 of ebooks in the company store. That's $200 of books that you can't read on another device or do anything useful with, and you can't get the credit outside the US, and you have to use a Windows application to get it ... it's all rather annoying. But at least there's a back door now, and the door's open wide; with libprs500 (https://libprs500.kovidgoyal.net/) I can convert files to the native BBeB format the PRS-505 uses (which display faster), and it's usable as-is.
As for why I bought it?
I spent an 11 hour flight from Heathrow to Seattle reading ebooks on my trusty old Palm TX. After six hours I had to recharge the battery; the recharger gizmo weighs twice as much as the PDA. And my eyesight is beginning to succumb to middle-aged bit rot; the four inch screen was a bit of a strain. Then, when I arrived, I was expected to do a whole bunch of public readings from Halting State (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441014984/charlieswebsi-20). Now, I don't generally read from the book itself; I abridge and tweak the text, to make it flow more smoothly when I'm speaking, so I don't have to stop and gasp for breath halfway through a long sentence. I hit those readings with a subnotebook computer in hand, and I was constantly worried that I'd have battery problems, or that an unforseen software whoopsie would cause a kernel panic and I'd have to stop to reboot in the middle of things. I also had no fun at all with overhead lights reflecting off the backlit screen. In principle I could have prepared my reading drafts and printed them out on paper before I set off ... but in practice, I left it too late.
Being able to dump those files onto the PRS-505, formatted for reading on a device that has a battery life measured in months and can be read outdoors in direct sunlight or on a podium under spotlights, would have been really useful. (Alas, I didn't buy it until the last day of the tour, and this use didn't occur to me until I was on the flight home.) And indeed, I think this is what I'll be doing in future. Even if it doesn't do much else, the PRS-505 is half the weight and half the size of an A4 folder full of papers. (And it can play MP3s. Did I say it could play MP3s?)
So what's wrong with it?
As a basic ebook reader, I'd have to say nothing. But it's not going to take the market by storm, or get much love beyond the already-extant ebook afficionados, for a simple reason: to get books onto it you need a host computer. Even if you've got Project Gutenburg mirrored on a Linux box, rather than relying on Sony's DRM-locked company store, you need a host computer. What we really need is an ebook reader with Wifi or a phone subsystem, and Amazon — or better still, a reader's account at the Library of Congress or the British Library — on tap. There are strong rumours that Amazon are working on such a device, but if so, it hasn't surfaced yet. Meanwhile, the PRS-505 is a got-it-right-at-the-third-attempt success; Sony finally got a clue about what the customers wanted and, however grudgingly, gave them a flash of the old brilliance that made Akio Morita's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akio_Morita) firm what it was in the 1980s.
(Original Post) (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/10/third_time_lucky.html)
I spent last week bouncing from signing to reading to interview like a demented flea, trying to cram as much promotional work into six days as was humanly possible. Along the way, somehow my luggage expanded — one of the occupational hazards of being a bibliophile on a signing tour is that grateful bookshop proprietors will sometimes offer you a discount on purchases — and when I woke up back home, I discovered I'd acquired a Sony PRS-505 ebook reader (http://digital-lifestyles.info/2007/10/03/sony-prs-505-ebook-reader-announced/).
Let's get one thing out of the way first: Sony used to be a really kick-ass consumer electronics and design company. But since their merger with a film conglomerate, they've widely become seen as Evil™ among those of us who take an interest in technology-as-legislation and openness; they're relentless champions of DRM and closed standards, even when it amounts to shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly. (The big irony is that their media division accounts for a much smaller proportion of their turnover than their hardware side; it's very much a case of the tail wagging the dog.) As debacles like the great rootkit scandal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_prevention_scandal) demonstrate, this seems to be a matter of company policy and until they learn better all their products are going to be tainted by this nonsense to some degree. But their electronics and design still kicks ass. What to do?
Back in the dark ages of the early 2000's, Sony produced an early ebook reader called the Librie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Librie).
Now, ebook readers are an interesting category of device. Nobody has yet built a perfect one. The Librie was unusual for its time in eschewing the traditional liquid crystal display (which requires current as long as it's displaying an image) and using E-Ink's electronic paper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper) technology. Electronic paper is very slow and unresponsive, black and white only ... but only draws current when it's changing state. It's also flexible, has a contrast ratio similar to paper, and in mass production should be cheap. The selling point of the Librie was that you could load books into it, and turn several thousand pages before it needed a re-charge (equivalent to reading for several tens to hundreds of hours). Other ebook reader display technologies, or PDAs, tend to require re-charges after 2-8 hours, which is somewhat annoying.
The Librie, not to put it too pointedly, sucked. It could only read ebooks in one, proprietary format, available only from an ebook store run by Sony. You bought a book ... and it expired after 60 days! So it sold like last year's day planner, even in its launch market, Japan.
Someone at Sony was at least willing to put good money after bad. So in early 2006, they emitted Librie 2.0, the PRS-500 ebook reader. They dropped the tiny keyboard (used for annotations), improved the Windows-only host software so that it could import PDFs and RTF files (but you still needed a Windows PC) and some of the content no longer expired. More importantly, the display was a little better, the ebook file formats were documented, and hackers got their hands on the PRS-500 and wrote tools (notably libprs500 (https://libprs500.kovidgoyal.net/)) that allowed Mac, Linux, and UNIX users to convert files into something the PRS-500 could read, and to load and unload them from the device over a USB cable. It turns out that the PRS-500, like other ebook readers (such as the iRex Iliad (http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad) and the forthcoming Bookeen Cybook 3 (http://www.bookeen.com/specs/ebook-specs.aspx)) runs an embedded Linux kernel and custom software and is to some extent customizable.
I took a look at the PRS-500 and rolled the dice. I made my saving throw: the piggy bank breathed a sigh of relief. But then, last Friday, I saw a PRS-505.
The PRS-505 is Sony's third attempt at a consumer ebook reader, and it's pretty good. It's not ready for the mass market, but it'll convince bleeding-edge enthusiasts like myself to part with their money. It's not only got a Memory Stick slot for storing books, but a real SD card slot — a tacit admission that Memory Stick is a proprietary turkey that nobody uses — and all the storage areas (internal memory running to 192Mb, plus both cards) show up as ordinary USB mass storage devices when you plug the gizmo into a computer. It charges over USB, too, meaning there's one less wall wart to carry. The display is improved, with higher contrast and faster page transitions.
And ... it can read PDFs and RTF files natively. Just dump your files onto a memory card and stick it in; the spinning cursor will run for a while as the reader (which has a relatively gutless CPU) scans it, and then the files will all show up. Formatting a novel in RTF for display takes several seconds (as I said, it's not fast), but it works. PDFs are faster, although I'm not terribly happy with the PDF viewer's zoom. For the first time Sony have emitted an ebook reader that you can plug into a Mac or Linux box and use right away.
On the down side: they're still trying to make money through their walled garden of an ebook store. The PRS-505 sells for $350, and comes with a voucher for $200 of ebooks in the company store. That's $200 of books that you can't read on another device or do anything useful with, and you can't get the credit outside the US, and you have to use a Windows application to get it ... it's all rather annoying. But at least there's a back door now, and the door's open wide; with libprs500 (https://libprs500.kovidgoyal.net/) I can convert files to the native BBeB format the PRS-505 uses (which display faster), and it's usable as-is.
As for why I bought it?
I spent an 11 hour flight from Heathrow to Seattle reading ebooks on my trusty old Palm TX. After six hours I had to recharge the battery; the recharger gizmo weighs twice as much as the PDA. And my eyesight is beginning to succumb to middle-aged bit rot; the four inch screen was a bit of a strain. Then, when I arrived, I was expected to do a whole bunch of public readings from Halting State (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441014984/charlieswebsi-20). Now, I don't generally read from the book itself; I abridge and tweak the text, to make it flow more smoothly when I'm speaking, so I don't have to stop and gasp for breath halfway through a long sentence. I hit those readings with a subnotebook computer in hand, and I was constantly worried that I'd have battery problems, or that an unforseen software whoopsie would cause a kernel panic and I'd have to stop to reboot in the middle of things. I also had no fun at all with overhead lights reflecting off the backlit screen. In principle I could have prepared my reading drafts and printed them out on paper before I set off ... but in practice, I left it too late.
Being able to dump those files onto the PRS-505, formatted for reading on a device that has a battery life measured in months and can be read outdoors in direct sunlight or on a podium under spotlights, would have been really useful. (Alas, I didn't buy it until the last day of the tour, and this use didn't occur to me until I was on the flight home.) And indeed, I think this is what I'll be doing in future. Even if it doesn't do much else, the PRS-505 is half the weight and half the size of an A4 folder full of papers. (And it can play MP3s. Did I say it could play MP3s?)
So what's wrong with it?
As a basic ebook reader, I'd have to say nothing. But it's not going to take the market by storm, or get much love beyond the already-extant ebook afficionados, for a simple reason: to get books onto it you need a host computer. Even if you've got Project Gutenburg mirrored on a Linux box, rather than relying on Sony's DRM-locked company store, you need a host computer. What we really need is an ebook reader with Wifi or a phone subsystem, and Amazon — or better still, a reader's account at the Library of Congress or the British Library — on tap. There are strong rumours that Amazon are working on such a device, but if so, it hasn't surfaced yet. Meanwhile, the PRS-505 is a got-it-right-at-the-third-attempt success; Sony finally got a clue about what the customers wanted and, however grudgingly, gave them a flash of the old brilliance that made Akio Morita's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akio_Morita) firm what it was in the 1980s.
(Original Post) (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/10/third_time_lucky.html)