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Reading Becomes Electric
E-book readers probably aren't the next Walkman, but they are worth a look
Alan Cohen
The Mobile Lawyer
December 11, 2001
While DVD players and digital cameras get the buzz -- and the sales -- electronic book readers have maintained so low a profile that, should you buy one, you won't just be the first person on your block -- but probably the first in your ZIP code. The devices are sometimes clunky and always expensive. The content, or "e-books" you load into them, is often scarce and always expensive. In fact, "expensive" is a term that constantly seems to pop up in regard to this fledgling technology. But if cost is no obstacle -- and if you don't mind a convenience device with a few inconveniences -- an e-book reader can prove addictive, especially if you like to read on the road, or in bed.
Keep in mind that you don't actually need an e-book reader to read an e-book. Many electronic books can be downloaded and read right on your computer, thanks to software like Microsoft Reader, which uses razor-sharp type and lets you highlight, annotate and search text. But for reading away from the desktop, dedicated readers offer significant advantages.
The latest models top out at just over 2 pounds, lighter than the lightest laptop. Battery life is also better than you'll find on any PC (since these aren't full-fledged computers and the screens are smaller, there's less to power). And the small footprint -- the beefiest reader is roughly the size of a hardcover -- makes for less cumbersome reading on the go. But there are disadvantages, too. If you're already traveling with a laptop, an e-book reader simply becomes one more thing to lug around. And then there's the cost. The three devices we looked at ranged in price from $229 to $699. Cheaper than a laptop, but more than your biggest binge ever at Barnes & Noble.
RCA REB1200
Thomson Consumer Electronics
Retail price: $699
Let's get one thing straight: There's no way you'll ever be able to justify the cost of this device. It's simply not going to happen. At $699, RCA's REB1200 -- manufactured under a license from Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. -- isn't just expensive; it's insanely expensive -- particularly for a device that does nothing but display books. There's a modem, but you won't be able to surf any site other than Gemstar's e-book network (where you buy content). There's a touch-sensitive screen, but no useful features like an address book or calculator (then again, you probably don't want to calculate how much you've just spent). You can't even read Microsoft Word files. The unit is compatible only with specially formatted Gemstar e-book editions, which are specially priced, too: high. Electronic versions of best-sellers often sell for more than their paper-based counterparts (we downloaded David McCullough's "John Adams" for a whopping $28 -- a hard copy was available at Amazon.com for $21).
But who can justify a Porsche, either? And this is certainly the muscle-car of e-book readers. The 8.2-inch color screen is bright and dazzling, boasting crystal-clear fonts (you can adjust the size) and a terrific backlight that makes this reader ideal for bed or cross-country red-eye flights. You can scribble notes right on the page and have them automatically saved. You can jump from one section to another, highlight text, look up words, underline passages. The software is well designed, letting you search for terms without ever losing your place. Battery life is decent, lasting five-plus hours even with the backlight on full blast, and recharging is quick, just two hours to bring the battery back to full strength. As with any e-book reader, you can place bookmarks at will in the text. With its great display and intuitive interface, the 33-ounce REB1200 will quickly win you over, even if you do need to borrow against your retirement fund to finance it.
Provided, that is, that you can put up with some not-insignificant quirks. For one thing, some users may find that RCA has taken ease of use a bit too far. The REB1200 requires no PC -- to buy content, you simply plug the unit into a phone line and press the "bookstore" icon on the main menu (alternatively, you can plug in to any LAN, cable modem, or DSL modem via the unit's Ethernet jack). This connects you to Gemstar's e-book network. From here, you can browse and purchase selections, which are automatically transferred to your own online bookshelf, a private space on the network where all of your titles are stored and ready to be downloaded to your reader. The online bookshelf is essentially a holding ground for all of your purchases, past and current. Since the REB1200 can store only a finite amount of material (it comes with an 8 MB CompactFlash card, enough for 5,000 pages, but can be expanded to 128 MB), you'll want to pick and choose what you load onto it at any one time. Anything that doesn't fit remains on the online bookshelf. The beauty of this is that you can access your entire library from any phone. So if you purchase a Stephen Ambrose title and a year later get an urge to read it, you can simply connect to the network and pull it off your online bookshelf.
But there just isn't enough content. Many best-sellers and classics are available, and even some newspapers and magazines (though again, none of this is cheap; a year's subscription to an abridged version of Newsweek costs $40.95, compared with a print subscription of $42.66). What title cries out for the e-book treatment more than Robert Caro's "The Power Broker," coming in at more than 1,200 pages? But it's AWOL on the Gemstar network, as are many thousands of other popular titles.
Sure, this e-book reader has plenty of frills. But for $699, a couple more seem warranted.
RCA REB1100
Thomson Consumer Electronics
Retail price: $299
RCA's other e-book reader, the paperback-size REB1100, won't lighten your wallet -- or weigh down your carry-on bag -- nearly as much as its bigger sibling. At $299, this 18-ounce unit is a more realistic option for most users, although you lose some of the REB1200's best features -- namely, that big color screen -- and are still limited to reading proprietary, pricey Gemstar content.
Like its big brother, the REB1100 comes with 8 MB of memory, expandable to 128 MB via an add-on SmartMedia card. The monochrome screen is smaller -- just 5.5 inches -- and isn't quite as sharp, or bright (even with the backlighting set to maximum), but text is perfectly readable, and the display still a huge improvement over Franklin's ebookMan or any handheld computer. Oddly, the REB1100 fared well in bright sunlight, proving to be more suitable for beach reading than its more costly sibling. And battery life is excellent, 20-plus hours. Gone, however, is the Ethernet port. To access Gemstar's e-book network, you need an analog phone modem.
Gone also, are some of the REB1200's better software features. While you can change the font size and add bookmarks and notes, you can't highlight words and passages. And navigation is more awkward. Both units feature an on-screen scroll bar that lets you quickly move around the text. But the REB1200 lets you jump to a particular page, while the REB1100 only lets you enter percentages. (When was the last time you jumped to the 20 percent mark in a book?) The smaller unit also didn't seem quite as sturdy as its color counterpart. Several times, it suddenly shut down while downloading content. But once we got it up again -- and got used to its limitations -- we were hooked on the bright screen and light load. Not to mention the less stratospheric price tag.
FRANKLIN EBOOKMAN EBM-911
Franklin Electronic Publishers
Retail price: $229.95
At first glance, the 16-MB Franklin eBookMan seems the perfect compromise. It's reasonably priced (an entry-level model, with 8 MB of memory and no backlighting, lists for $129.95), and, unlike the RCA models, has such functions as an address book, calendar and to-do list. Instead of shunning your PC, the 6.5-ounce unit embraces it (thanks to a USB connection), enabling you to download content from your PC to your reader (via the familiar synchronization process that handheld computer users know well). The eBookMan also has a built-in music player, so you can listen to MP3 tunes, and it lets you download and listen to spoken-word material (such as audiobooks) from audible.com. But in its quest to be all things to all users, eBookMan doesn't get enough right to truly satisfy anyone.
First, there's the small screen. At 4.25 inches it's slightly larger than a Palm, but far smaller than either of the of RCA models -- and not nearly as sharp. Worse, the backlight is weak, giving the screen a greenish tint that's fine for looking up a phone number in bed but lousy for reading "Pride and Prejudice." For an e-book device, that's a serious deficiency. Not that you'd want to mess much with the backlighting, anyway: To turn it on, you need to press and hold down the on-off button, which, half the time, shuts down the unit.
As the eBookMan runs on Franklin's own operating system, you can't use any Palm-compatible applications. And the handwriting recognition software is different from the Palm's, too, meaning that if you've already mastered Palm's Graffiti language, you'll have to learn a whole new one. The audio player is virtually useless unless you add more memory (the 16-MB model can hold approximately 12 minutes of music -- nice if your taste veers toward one-hit wonders). There are a few third-party applications designed for eBookMan -- but put a heavy emphasis on "few" (you can synchronize your eBookMan with Microsoft Outlook). One promising note, however, is the anticipated arrival of a customized version of Microsoft Reader, which will allow eBookMan to display -- and manipulate -- a growing roster of electronic books. But the software, promised for 2001, is not yet available.
Franklin's own reader software is limited. You can search text, adjust the type size, set bookmarks, and jump from one chapter to another, but that's it -- no highlighting, no underlining, no annotations. Worse, there's an extremely limited array of content, mostly specially formatted versions of classic literature you can buy at Franklin's site for three or four bucks a title (a few other sites also offer a limited array of titles, often little-known works).
However, the eBookMan does contain a viewer program that lets you read -- if not manipulate -- any text file, meaning that you can read your own work (or that of your colleagues) on the road, something that's greatly missed on the RCA units (though easily accomplished on any Palm running file-viewing software). If all you want to do is read best-sellers and news stories, the RCA units are far easier to use. There are no computer connections to worry about, and your entire library is available from the nearest phone. Filling up your eBookMan is a multistep process. First, you need to download content from the Web to your PC. Then you need to synchronize from your PC to your eBookMan. But if you want to do a bit more than read the latest Stephen King novel, the eBookMan line bears watching. Franklin has the right idea cramming many functions into one device. It just doesn't have the right device. Yet.
Alan Cohen is a free-lance writer based in New York. E-mail: alanc31@yahoo.com.
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Franklin Electronic Publishers' eBookMan-911 |
