What I Want in an E-Book Reader « Books Worth Reading

What I Want in an E-Book Reader

February 9, 2009 at 3:24 pm | In In the News, On the Web | 9 Comments
Tags: E-book

I see all over the news today that Amazon has announced a new version of its e-book reader, the Kindle 2. The Kindle has not tempted me yet, mainly because of its hefty price tag. But this announcement got me thinking of what I, as an avid reader and a natural target for e-books, would really like to see in an e-book reader. Amazon or Sony or Apple or Google — whoever — feel free to take my suggestions and run with them, no charge. And you’re welcome.

Indexing via tags – Let’s say I’m researching. I’d love to use tags to mark up the book as I’m reading, so I can quickly locate all the related, relevant sections later.
Dog-earing — Similiarly, I’d like to “dog-ear” a great quote or other section to return to later.
Annotations and highlighting — One advantage e-books should have over paper books is the ability to write notes in the margins without guilt.
Bookmarking — Obviously, I’d want the reader to keep my place in multiple books without me having to think too hard about it.
Massive storage — If I had an e-book reader, I’d want to reduce my physical library, so I’d want the ability to store a large number of books, much more than the 200 or so books the Kindle holds. The ideal solution would be Internet access to unlimited storage and the ability to download a large number of those books for offline reading.
Long battery life – I want a battery that lasts at least a cross-country plane ride, plus airport waiting time. And I don’t want a degrading battery to doom my device (a la the iPod).
Extras — Obviously, I’d want to access newspapers and magazines, play videos and audio, and connect to the web. I would love to be able to link from phrases in the e-book to dictionary definitions, Wikipedia entries, translations or company websites.
Lower price — I’m not going to buy an e-book reader if I can get an iPhone or NetBook for cheaper. Just ain’t gonna happen.

So there you have it: a specs list for an e-book reader I would actually buy. What is your wishlist for an e-book device?

Kindle 2.0: Thinner, More Storage…But Is It Enough? (mashable.com)
Amazon Kindle 2 announced: $359 on February 24 (engadget.com)
More Thoughts on Kindle 2 (technologizer.com)

9 Comments »

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I still don’t get why I would pay $359 for a device to read books on AND still pay for the books. My eyes are free. I think your ideas are really good and interesting, but do I need a separate device to do those things? They sound more like software improvements for existing devices.

Comment by Marty Molloy — February 9, 2009 #
I’d like the screen to also work like the screen to work like a touch/writing screen, so that your favorite author can autograph your book on your kindle.

Comment by zawan — February 9, 2009 #
All interesting points. I heard that there’s a lot more storage space in the new Kindle, but I have a feeling it’s still limited to Amazon only purchases…

Comment by Biblibio — February 10, 2009 #
I know I’m shooting for the moon, but I’d like a waterproof e-reader so that I could take it in the bathtub! And of course I agree with all of your points too!

Comment by Alyce — February 12, 2009 #
I love traditional books, and so far the very concept of e-readers hasn’t interested me. But you do mention some features that I hadn’t thought of before, that would be useful (such as indexing, notes, etc). If anyone listens to your recommendations and builds one like that, hey, I might reconsider someday.

Comment by Bill the sci-fi guy — February 12, 2009 #
Wow, Alyce, a waterproof ebook reader is a great idea. I’d probably still be afraid to take it in the bathtub, though.

Comment by Shannon — February 14, 2009 #
[...] nice review of the Kindle 2. I’m not ready to spring for an e-book reader, as I explained in a recent post, but I do think it’s the inevitable future of books, so I’m glad some people are stoked [...]

Pingback by Book News and Views: The Kindle 2 Edition « Books Worth Reading — February 21, 2009 #
[...] my blog, you have been reading my musings on what I want in an e-book reader and my little discouse on the books of [...]

Pingback by Monthly Reading: February 2009 « Books Worth Reading — February 28, 2009 #
1. Color screen
2. Touch screen / keyboard – (why would you put those ugly buttons there, kindle ? Wanted to sell smaller screen?)
3. At least 100 Gb
4. Web /email access at least on the iphone level
5. Ability to subscribe for newspapers / magazines for $
6. get rid of that read out loud function – useless
7. Ability to send / upload directly to the device
8. Multi-format support.
9. Under $200

I will be first in line )

Comment by Alex — March 4, 2009 #