You may have heard of the Kindle and its use for reading books. Big-screen e-readers are being produced to provide similar options for other media. Go to the link below and read the article. Write a reflective comment that shows you have read the article, expresses your views, and addresses my questions. Note that I expect more from you than just answering my questions to get full credit.
How much do you think that the new big-screen e-readers should sell for? The article mentioned the possibility of having textbooks on Amazon’s larger version of its Kindle. What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of having textbooks in this form? The article states that “The move by newspapers and magazines to make their material freely available on the Web is now viewed by many as a critical blunder that encouraged readers to stop paying for the print versions.” Do you agree? What should newspapers and magazines have done instead? What can publishers do to get people to pay for subscriptions to newspapers and magazines that they would read on big-screen e-readers?
E-Reader Article
12 comments:
Although I need to learn more about these new big-screen e-readers, maybe they could sell at the same price as the Ipods were sold at, or somewhere in that range. It is an interesting idea to have textbooks in this form, and it would save space and time for students, however I think that while it solves many problems, it would also create problems such as eye issues. And there will also be issues, instead of “the dog ate my homework,” it’ll be “the dog ate my Kindle.” I do agree that making newspapers freely available on the Web was not a money-making move for the companies, however it is easier for the consumers. I think that newspaper and magazine companies should have made people do online subscriptions to be able to see articles online. They can do the same for big-screen e-readers, as well. I don’t know how they would enforce this, but if done correctly I think it could be successful.
Although, its my first time to know about the E-reader, but in my opinion they could sell them at no more than $100, to encourage people to buy such product. The advantages of having text books on this hardware, it consumes less space and it is easy to use although it may cause eye infections and it costs more. I do agree that it is a good idea for having the online newspapers instead of the ones you buy from your local dealer because it’s for free. I’m thinking of how do companies make profit out of this online newspaper? They should include an online membership for readers.
Publishers should include interesting articles for people to encourage them to subscribe, and maybe include some offers for the E-readers at low prices.
I wouldn’t buy this e-book with a price equivalent to that of an ipod because the newspaper clearly states that this gadget is black and white! It should be cheaper than ipods since its capabilities are limited which just reading newspapers and books. If textbooks come as an e-book form, I seriously welcome it since that will just take off a huge load of weight from by backpack. Also, it probably facilitates stuff like finding a word from a text book or turning to a random page which I find most tedious in thick normal textbooks. I disagree with the quote since if the newspaper companies had failed to follow the transition to a new digital age by not posting their articles free on web then they would’ve lost their competitiveness and eventually fall apart from the press field. On top of that, they can get paid for the advertisements they post on their site which makes it beneficial for both the readers and the press company. Advertising is a way, but e-books with newspaper don’t seem so attractive to me. If they want lots of consumers, probably advertising it with a slogan that is environmental would gather lots of nature lovers.
I think that this gadget has to be sold under the cost of a standard i-pod since they can subscribe to newspaper post to get the daily newspaper on the kindle by paying more than 10 dollars. The product is a good idea but it not developed enough to be sold at a price that is higher than an i-pod's price.It is much easier than having to carry 10 huge books that weigh 10Kg. It is a success when it comes to students or workers. There are some disadvantages for the product, if broken or lost, you lose all your data and books saved in there and would have to buy a new one and upload the same books you had before. It might be easier for all the people to get their information and daily newspaper online but this only makes us more dependent on technology that leads us to be very lazy. Looking at screens everywhere we go is really bad for the eyes too. If companies don't want to lose any profit they can always make it as an application that can be subscribed to with a certain or limited price. Even though it is much lighter and easier for a person to carry, someone can not be dependent on such a product.
I think that these e-readers should sell for at least 150 dollars. The advantages of having textbooks in this form is that they will not be as heavy or as many. And there are no disadvantages so textbooks in this form would be a lot better. I agree that the newspaper on the net is not good because they will not get as much money as they could when people purchase it. Newspapers and magazines should stay on paper and be purchased or else we will not have anything on paper anymore, everything will be electronic. Publishers could sell you your own password to enter the site online to read the newspaper. I think that this e-reader has a lot of benefits to people, but not so much to the people who work with paper. For example, newspapers and magazines.
I think the new big-screen e-readers should cost around a hundred dollars and should not cost more than hundred-fifty dollars, because the product only provides the screen for reading, which means people have to subscribe or buy newspapers or books. There are advantages in having textbooks with this product. One most significant advantage is that students do not have to carry heavy books. Another advantage would be the fact that the product might provide some useful functions like searching a word in a given text. Its disadvantages would depend on the method of getting the file of the text. If they use wireless connection to fetch the textbook file, the problem is that students have access to the textbook only when there is wireless server available. If the product uses chips that include textbook data, students might lose chips very easily, especially when it’s very small. Personally, I do not agree with the statement that criticizes news or magazine publication on the Web, because companies can still earn sufficient money using the web, such as advertisement banners. If publishers want people to pay for subscriptions to newspapers and magazines, they should allow accessing their articles everywhere. That means that the companies should provide two ways to access their publications; one through wireless connection, and the other by writing the file in the memory of big-screen e-reader, by inserting its memory chip into other machines that will probably look like a vending machine which will write the file into it.
Well the kindle is a pretty big invention and it is useful, in my opinion it’s the future of all reading. I think it should sell for about 500 dollars. The advantages of having textbooks on the kindle would include the possibility of mobility, meaning you could carry all your textbooks on one light device everywhere. Disadvantages would be the annoyance of having to read of a screen. Your eyes might start to hurt.
I agree that the newspapers and magazines should be available on line, but that way the companies would lose money since no one would pay for the print version anymore. The newspaper and magazine companies should start charging for electronic copies, for example they could have people subscribe, and pay in advance.
Noor Mansur
I really like the e-readers. Applying this to school textbooks would be incredible, because it would save so much space, and I wouldn’t have to worry about all that extra weight. Reading can be much more efficient because of this. This is a fairly new product, and I would expect it to be around $2000 dollars, because they have not perfected the technology, and it is not quite available for the public yet. I do not completely agree that putting newspapers on the web was such a smart move for newspaper companies. I think the companies should have people pay for magazine/newspaper subscriptions, so they don’t get ripped off. They should not make newspaper available online any other way.
I think that these E-readers are very pointless because I could just go and buy a newspaper for cheaper. It may be more effective but it is very hard to store it. It creates lots of problems like eye sight problems, it may also cause people to like technology more than normal writings scriptures. I think that if there is a smaller E-reader it would better than the huge one that they have on sale.
E-readers will probably be expensive at first but if they gain popularity they will become cheaper. It think eventually the cost will counterbalance the cost of the paper that it does not consume. It would be an advantage because it would make it easier to carry multiple textbooks but would take away students ability to mark in textbooks, add humorous comments to pictures and such which really give each textbook personality. I mean, with the Kindle I would never find a crushed cockroach on the page of my chemistry textbook that my homework is based on. The article states that “The move by newspapers and magazines to make their material freely available on the Web is now viewed by many as a critical blunder that encouraged readers to stop paying for the print versions.” This is something I have to agree with but that does not mean it is a bad thing. I think that it is great that newspapers and magazines have their stuff on the web. I’m sure newspapers at least recoup some of the lost profit though banner adds. Magazines don’t seem to be as open on the web, that’s why I subscribe to so many of them. They don’t have much of an option, and by putting themselves out there they are actually competing with television and other media in another way. Publishers could make people subscribe to magazines or newspapers on their readers to make money, but that wouldn’t be very cool in my opinion and many people would resent it.
Hello Mr Beyer:
I think e-readers will be expensive at first, just like bibles were then they became less expensive after the printing press when more were made, the same pattern will happen with the e-readers. I think text books in that form will be easier and better for students who use them. Saves time, space and will decrease back pains.
I do agree. Well they should promote e-readers so they can get paid what the e-reader companies make (a certain percent).
The End
I think that big-screen e-readers should sell around or less than that of an Ipod since the owners would also have to pay to get any documents on the readers. The advantages that I see is that a student would have less books to carry around since they could have all of their textbooks on the e-readers. However, if the e-reader is easier to break than an actual textbook and would cost more to replace. I agree with the newspapers that putting online articles gave people the opportunity to get the news they want without having to pay for a subscription or buying a newspaper/magazine at a store. The newspaper/magazine companies, instead, should have advertised to people to buy more of their product and not put it on the internet, which would force the people to pay for getting the information they want from that company. Another thing that they could have done was to force people to pay for online articles so they wouldn't lose money in that area. I think that the publishers should create some form of software that is similar to I-Tunes so that people can subscribe and pay for their newspapers/magazines that they want on their e-readers.
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