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Comment by mcantelon | Hacker News Reader

I'm pretty amazed that noone has released a cheap, open e-reader with an e-paper screen. Seems like such a beast would be an easy sell.

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There is also the fact that you quite simply cannot do a combination of "cheap" and "e-ink screen" right now. Manufacturing is still too expensive, even in volume.

There's basically one manufacturer for all e-ink-esque screens (PVI). The consequence of that fact is that there's not a ton of room for price flexibility: everyone's using pretty much the same screens sold at pretty much the same price, and so there's not a ton of leeway to combine e-ink with a "cheap" device.

This may change over time, as other e-ink-alike technologies come online, but it is the current state of affairs, and it's why everything is in such a narrow price band.

Buying "open" e-ink reader devices isn't that hard: just about every but the kindle has .pdf compatibility, for example.

There is no "open" ebook format the way .mp3s are "open": all major publishers that sell ebooks sell in drm-ed formats, and only independents and small-timers and oddballs sell legit content in unprotected .pdf.

Edit: http://www.pvi.com.tw/en/index/index.php is PVI.

It's because the reader is only as good as the content and an open reader has limited content.

That's just simply not true - Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page) begs to differ.

Amazon's offerings dwarf Project Gutenberg to a degree that it's not even worth discussing. The iPod wouldn't have gone anywhere if it could only play out of copyright music. Sure, there are a few dorks out there that would go for it but the vast majority of the public has no interest.

Let me help you figure this out:

-----------------------------------------

The Project Gutenberg "Top 5":

The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) by J. Arthur Thomson (531)

Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period by P. L. Jacob (453)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (324)

Illustrated History of Furniture by Frederick Litchfield (303)

Searchlights on Health by B. G. Jefferis and J. L. Nichols (270)

-----------------------------------------

The Kindle "Top 5"

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark R. Levin

First Family by David Baldacci

The 8th Confession by James Patterson

Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 9) by Charlaine Harris

I think the problem is one of market... You could sell the device but you wouldn't have a lot of content to sell with it (which is where the money is). Amazon also has wireless deals to make content even easier to access.

It would have a tough time being a sustainable business given the costs of prototyping, making deals with wireless providers, etc. and the alternative of just offering the device just doesn't seem worth the time.

There are many, many sites that sell legit ebooks. Check out booksonboard and fictionwise, to name just two. Unfortunately, like Amazon's ebooks, most of these are DRM'd.

The wireless thing is cool, but ereaders existed for a long time without them. I think it would be cool to have whispernet, but it is by no means essential to the enjoyment of my ereader. The next gen bebook will have wifi access to read rss reads etc. as well.

There is the bebook, lbook, hanlin v3. These are all the same system, based on open source components. They read many open formats, plus doc, pdf, chm and even DRM'd mobipocket files. I am surprised that they are not more widely known. They are not exactly cheap if you live in the US, that's because of the low dollar and the high cost of the e-paper screen, I think.

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/ebook/

I guess someone did. :)

Although, I got the Sony when it first came out ( the lack of DRM in it attracted me) I am very satisfied with it

Especially if it includes a torrent client!

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