Sony Reader vs. Amazon Kindle

NY Times technology columnist David Pogue likes the new Amazon Kindle e-book reader.

I think that it’s incredibly ugly compared to the beautiful Sony Reader which costs only $300 compared to the more expensive $400 Kindle. And according to what I’ve read on internet forums, the Sony is the better reader. Thinner, an ounce lighter, easier to flip pages, longer battery life, theoretically they both contain the same screen technology but people say the Sony text is easier to read.

What does the Kindle have going for it? Wireless connectivity. Essentially there’s a cell phone built into it, so no matter where you are you can use the Kindle to shop the Amazon Kindle store and spend money on more e-books.

A big advantage to the Kindle is that it will automatically download the entire New York Times or Wall Street Journal in the middle of the night. That’s really useful. But you have to pay $9.99/month for the Journal and $13.99/month for the New York Times. I think it’s a good deal because they are less expensive than the paper versions and an e-book reader takes up a lot less space in your briefcase than a newspaper.

I previously wrote about how e-books have rip-off pricing. Amazon has improved this somewhat. From glancing around the Kindle store, the most expensive e-books seem to be $9.99, which is a nice discount from the price of new hardcover books which tend to have a discount price between $15 and $20. But there doesn’t seem to me much of a price discount for paperback books. Thus you only get the price savings if you read the latest books that aren’t out yet in paperback. Furthermore, you must remember that you are really renting the book rather than buying a permanent copy, which is something that this guy is furious about. When you buy a book for the Kindle, you will never be able to read it on another device such as the Sony Reader.

I believe that the correct price for an e-book is about 25% of the price of a print-book. Such a price would adequately take into account the savings to the publisher (no printing, storage, or shipping) and the fact that you can’t resell, lend, or give away your copy after you read it.

The Amazon Kindle store seems to have a better selection of books than the Sony Connect store. For people too lazy to download copyright-free books from free online e-book libraries, Amazon has a much better selection and better prices on such books. For example, Amazon has large collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels (one of the most popular authors on free e-book sites), most priced below $2.00, but the Sony Connect store has only A Princess of Mars and Sony wants $7.20 for it.

Comments

[Peter]

A big advantage to the Kindle is that it will automatically download the entire New York Times or Wall Street Journal in the middle of the night. That’s really useful. But you have to pay $9.99/month for the Journal and $13.99/month for the New York Times.

Of course you can read the Times online for a goose egg. And supposedly online access to the WSJ may be free soon.

One thing that might be useful about an e-book reader is that it solves the problem of used-book clutter. I never seem to find room to store the books I've finished reading - there must be at least 15 books in the back of my car - and don't like throwing them out.

[Cody]

If you have a used bookstore nearby, you might be able to drop those books off in exchange for store credit.

[APH]

I like having hard copies of books - even the ones I never pick up again after reading once. Makes me feel important I guess. In the back of my head I also think, "Gee if I'm ever making bank and living in a big place, I'll have a study or library room and display all these books." Hmm, confessions of a beta male?

[Days of Broken Arrows]

Yes, but can you download Playboy? For the articles, of course.

[colin laney]

I've had a Sony Reader for a year now . . . and I'll be buying a Kindle.

The eConnect (Sony) store has an awful interface and book selections are virtually non-existent. 3/4 of the books on my Reader come from http://manybooks.net//, a site that thoughtfully makes available the huge resources of public domain digited texts to the user of the Sony Reader - something Sony was too lazy to do (Manybooks.net converted the texts into Sony's proprietary format).

I don't think I can say enough about how awful selection is at Sony. It's like an airport gift shop . . . literally.

I don't need a Kindle for the wireless download, that's a gimmick. But if you check out the selection at the Kindle bookstore, there are almost 90,000 titles.

I don't think that there's any question that Sony had the superior physical product . . . but what good is an eBook you can't read anything on?