Comments on: Sony’s flawed Reader launch in Germany

By: Attwood

Attwood — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:34:54 +0000

@Yuli: Exactly - that’s why I’m saying ‘The first big flaw which can’t be blamed on Sony is DRM’. The reader supports different foemats as opposed to the Kindle’s much more rigid system. It doesn’t help, however, if the content provided by the publishers comes DRM-protected, as this is making the process for their customers as cumberxome as mentioned above - and as reflected in Sony’s implementation of their software.;

By: Yuli

Yuli — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:27:15 +0000

In Russia they moved one step forward.
They officially sell ebooks for 1-2$, open format
whit the agenda of “it is easier to by from us that to download or steal”.

so far, it seems that it is working.
http://www.litres.ru/

http://books.stream24.ru/

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:29:20 +0000

@Yuli - no worries; I concure with you, the device itself is not what’s flawed, although we’ll need a couple of more generations of improved devices. What’s flawed is how all the levers that make up the offering for the customers are set in the way I described it. Therefore the headline reads as well ‘Sony’s flawed Reader launch’ and not ‘Sony’s flawed Reader’.

By: Yuli

Yuli — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:33:06 +0000

I am sorry, I guess i misinterpret yore meaning.
(and sorry fow my tone, i didnt meen to be rude despite the way it sounded)
I think the real q is why to call the product a “flawed” one.
The system of book supply is problematic and flawed, but not so the product. While the DRM and friends make the all proses cumbersome, the reader alows the user to find a way around the blockage. sony reader is the devise of choose in Russia and few other countries where it is not even sold yet and maybe wouldn’t be sold at all (Israel for example).

So the system and the asses to the books is flawed and hopefully would change with time, but as far as the reader goes, it does it work.
I guess the real flaw is that in order to really enjoy the reader one need to “pirate” the books, but them again, I think it would be wiser and more fair to divide the devise from the book industry when criticizing, rather than trow the baby away with the wash water.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:59:15 +0000

@Yuli: Exactly - that’s why I’m saying ‘The first big flaw which can’t be blamed on Sony is DRM’. The reader supports different formats as opposed to the Kindle’s much more rigid system. It doesn’t help, however, if the content provided by the publishers comes DRM-protected, as this is making the process for their customers as cumbersome as mentioned above - and as reflected in Sony’s implementation of their software.

By: Yuli

Yuli — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:30:43 +0000

Do you know how to read?
Seriously.
The sony reads RTF, PDF and text file.

What DRM?
It practically supports pirate file sharing.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:13:53 +0000

Good post Alex!

By: Birte

Birte — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:51:45 +0000

Thanks for that! They will never learn that DRM is totally dead. Still if I just get books with DRM I want them really easy to download. There the kindle wins. The kindle will have the same success in Germany as it has in the US. It’s just the better device.