E-readers: yuck.

I’ve sort of given up on privately daydreaming about what the perfect e-book reader would look like. For a person in my position (a non-influential nobody) it’s kind of a pointless act, since I don’t have the resources to produce any kind of technological product, nor do I have the ear of anyone who could.

I have been paying attention to what others say, of course. Mostly, they’re complaining. Which is fine! Part of understanding what we want is knowing what we don’t want. And, while reliance on counter-examples can often lead to results that are just barely adequate rather than insanely great, but hey, we’re still at the beginning of an incipient ebook revolution (and we’ve been there for more than a decade now, but never mind); refinements will come in time.

But the main complaint I’ve been seeing has to do with the screens current ebook readers have, and the consequences that come from choosing one type of screen technology over another.

So: e-ink limits the overall functionality of a device, and other screen technologies either are too hard to read, or use too much battery life.

It seems obvious that a big sticking point is the tech used for the device’s screen. Well, what are we going to do about it? E-ink was created because — well, because somebody had a good idea about how to do it, but it was widely seen as being a just the thing to use on ebooks. Other screens, while more versatile, either use too much power, or they are difficult to read for long stretches.

The screen, then, is the major stumbling block (and here I thought is was because it’s hard to find an ebook reader for under $299, but what the hell do I know). That’s kind of a shame, because, about 12 years ago, when I first heard about e-ink in a Nicolas Negroponte essay in Wired, I immediately thought that it would finally allow us to clear the last hurdle between the general public and the widespread adoption of ebooks as a viable alternative to paper.

Oh well.