We only played with it a little while but it didn't take us long to realize this thing was very different.



What we liked:
Compact size
Easy to use
VERY easy on the eyes


Quirks:
Screen refresh was slow (but not a big deal since you're not playing Halo or anything)
Slow to respond to your commands (by virtue of slow screen refresh)
Where do I get books? (oh no, not Sony Connect again...)

What I'm hoping is that Apple gets into the game with Starbucks (or Peets for those of you Berkeley anti-establishment folks) and builds a cool eBook device that automagically joins to the AppleBucks café network when it detects it and lets you browse ALL books while you suckle the caffeine monster's teet. Then you click "check out from library" and boom...you've got it in your eBook reader.

Wouldn't it be awesome if all of the world's knowledge were that accessible? I mean the Internets and the Google is great and all, but sometimes you want to read a novel or Wired or what have you. I can carry thousands of songs in my pocket....why not books? I truly hope I live to see the day when writers can make a decent buck while not tying us to dead trees.

Oooooh how about an Audible eBook reader? You would download the audiobook AND the text. The device would have to virtually flip pages for you automagically too. Add wifi/wimax/evdo/whatever and you'll have every student's wet dream. And if you are Google you would add a separate 'ad screen' that would be the size of a standard ad tower to the left of the main screen. Then you'd give the device away free and figure you'll make about 50,000 bucks or so over the life of the device. If you were Apple. The device would be white and chrome (with colors and more battery life in the next revision of course). You'd sell all of the books for $25.99 for either the audiobook or the text or $40 for both. You'll also be able to watch Cars on it (natch). If you were Yahoo or Ebay, you'd pay $3 billion for the company that OEMs the device then try to figure out how to monetize it later (or maybr after) the site is way past it's prime. If you were Microsoft, you'd release a platform for others t hack at it for a while (and fail miserably), then after several years of watching half-assed attempts, you jump in with both feet and make sure the name Microsoft is no where to be found on the device and oh yeah ship Vista AND Office (finally) in the same week (woohoo the stock has cleared $29 for once).

I don't mean to go on a rant, but there you have it....boy are my thumbs tired.

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