Apple iRead

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Ok so here's the deal. I want an Apple brand e-reader, and in the interest of building interest I would like to stir up a lively conversation on the matter to theoretically coax Apple into making what I want. So, lets hear some pros and cons to a potential digital book reading device produced by our favorite hardware manufacturer, thank you kindly.
 
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Why exactly do you want an Apple branded one? What is it that Apple can offer in an e-reader that you can't get from the Amazon Kindle? If you simply want it to have the Apple logo then just buy a Kindle, which looks like an Apple product, and slap an Apple sticker on it.
 
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Rest assured I think Apple will merge an iPod and E -Book in the near future.
 
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I want an apple reader for several reasons. The possibility of having it easily sync-able to my existing Apple products (the expansion of itunes to include a digital bookstore would aid in this). Also, Apple has a knack for manufacturing the thinnest most durable products. If I'm going to load something up with hundreds of dollars in books from a chemistry text book to the entire series of Harry Potter I want to know it's going stand up to being shuttled around. I got my hands on the Sony versions and while the display looks like an actual page out of a printed book, I felt like if a strong gust of wind swept through Staples that thing was done.

So, I guess my desire is born from two lacking features in present e-readers, Apple integration and a product I can have confidence in. (Also, I think the Apple touch interface, and the classic scroll wheel would bode well for e-book technology). What say you?
 
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The two reasons you described are exactly what the Kindle offers. Actually, the Kindle is even better since you don't need to physically sync with a computer, you can download whatever you like wirelessly. Have you seen the new Kindle? Very unlikely that Apple could make something thinner than that. I don't know how durable the Kindle is, but if you think about it, how durable can you really make something that thin? Plus, there are cases available for it.

A scroll wheel on an e-reader? Multi-touch? Neither of those would work with e-ink. I think you're confusing yourself with an Apple tablet and not an e-reader.
 

cwa107


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Rest assured I think Apple will merge an iPod and E -Book in the near future.

They did it already. It's called an iPod Touch (or iPhone for that matter). There's a number of eReader apps and I'm told they work very well.
 

bobtomay

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Amazon even has a Kindle reader for the iPhone (and I assume the Touch as well). It works great.

Stanza is another great app for ebooks on the iPhone and Touch.
 
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Ha, so there you go. I don't (and won't) own an iPhone, so don't keep up with that stuff particularly.
Still an iPhone is a tad dearer than the Kindle, which looks ok, but there are many other alternatives now too.
 
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Yeah, I'm aware of the alternatives. I've heard of the new kindle and here's what I don't like. Amazon doesn't have physical stores so they would like you to invest $300+ in a product you may or may not enjoy. Thats a fairly big leap of faith for me. Also, and while this capability may already be reality, say I want to use some excerpts from a textbook on my kindle for an essay, how do I get those onto the computer? Seems relatively limited to me.

The iphone apps are swell and all, but who is going to read a lengthy novel on a 3 inch screen? And as far as touch technology for e-readers, it's been done. Sony has a touch version but it's been done pretty poorly. It felt terrible and unresponsive to me. What would the benefits of touch capabilities be? Highlighting, underlining, copy and paste, bookmarks etc.

And on strength, pick up a pc notebook and then pick up a unibody macbook pro and tell me that the thinner Macbook doesn't feel stronger. It's all plausible and I would consider it an excellent Mac product addition but apparently everyone else is content with the Kindle and that's just swell.
 
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You can return a Kindle for a full refund within 30 days. So you've essentially got yourself a trial period. If you like it, then it was worth the $279. If you don't, then you get your money back. No restocking fee. Easy as pie.

As for getting the text onto a computer. Really? Do it the old fashioned way the rest of us do when quoting a text, do it manually.

Keep in mind that with a touch screen you need to add in either a capacitive or a resistive layer. This costs money. It also sucks power. So you can say goodbye to cheaper e-readers, not to mention the extraordinary battery life that is one of the biggest features that draws people to e-ink displays. Plus, you can highlight and bookmark on the Kindle without a touch screen, so that just goes to show that it's not necessary.

Copy and paste? It's a reader, what would you be copying and pasting? From where to what? Other applications on the reader? You're seriously getting into tablet territory here my friend. You have a certain set of needs that an e-reader is not aimed at, whereas a tablet would satisfy your needs perfectly. All you would need is e-reader software on a tablet and you're set.

We're not saying that we're content with the Kindle. B&N just released their own reader and it's a very impressive device. So there is certainly room for competition. However, based on what you've stated, you're clearly not looking for an e-reader but rather some sort of tablet device that touts an e-reader as one of its functions. Your ideas for what you want in an e-reader are unrealistic when it comes down to the most important features of an e-ink reader: simple to use, easy to read, and most importantly, long battery life. Adding in tablet-like features would totally kill the battery life of such a device. Hence why people are skeptical of what you're proposing, it simply isn't practical.
 

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