Thursday, October 22, 2009

What I want to see in my e-reader!




B&N has announced its new e-reader. Looks like its going to give a tough competition to Amazon’s Kindle. But I guess it still lacks a few things which I would like to see in an e-reader before I buy one:

  1.  There should be a standardized book format like MP3 is to music. I should be able to buy books from any online store and read them on my e-reader. I don’t want to be tied to any single vendor for buying my e-books.
  2. There should also be a facility to have someone read the books to me. For instance, if I am reading the book at home and I leave it at some point; then I travel to work in my car, I should be able to plug-in my reader to my car speakers and have someone read the book to me from the point I left off. 
  3. There should be a facility to  browse books online, compare the prices and then I should be able to choose where I want to buy the book from.
  4. It would be great to have some sort of online public libraries from where I can borrow books, read them and return them like we do in case of a normal library.
  5.  Of course I would also like to be able to use my e-reader as an internet device, music player and watch a few movies. I guess I am looking for more of a pocket computer rather than just an e-reader. But that’s what I need. An all in one device.
  6.  If not for (5), I would be ready to pay up to $100 for the device. The books should be priced lowered too. After all its saving publishers and retailers a lot of money by taking out any printing, retail and transportation costs.
  7. External memory support, 3G and WiFi connectivity etc. are few other things but I guess B&N reader Nook already has these facilities.


 Till some of these things appear in e-readers, I guess I will have to be content with my i-phone!

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