The E-Book Encyclopedia

Keeping up with emerging tech can be tough, and most recently I found myself a little confused about who’s who in the burgeoning e-book scene. So I made a nano-E-Book Encyclopedia for your enlightening and viewing pleasure.

After saying goodnight to your smartphones and laptops, here are the E-Book Superstars to curl up with:

Sony Reader Touch ($299): While it was one of the first e-books to his the market (2006) and also the first to take down the Kindle in price, but the turtle seems to have won in the end. In addition to its relatively high price tag, customers frequently complain about its eye-burning glare. It includes now-standard features like access to Google Books, an instant touch dictionary (think NYTimes but with your finger not the mouse) , touch screen, Memory Stick / Duo and SD card slots. But the long story short: Sony Reader is not a page turner.

iRex ($750): Ah, you can take your sunglasses off, the eye-burning glare is gone. But what you see may not look novel; with its Wacom touch surface it looks like the baby version of what my graphic designer friends carry around. But this means you can take handwritten notes, if you like to doodle while you e-read and it has built in speakers and a headphone jack if you like to listen to music while you e-read and doodle. Funny enough, you can buy it used on Amazon, but I wouldn’t.

Kindle 2 ($259): The grandfather of E-Books. Like a dinner host forgetting to provide a knife and fork, the Kindle failed at its international launch, forgetting to provide web access to those outside of the U.S. 

And don’t blame AT&T (this time) because according to this 3G coverage map, they are capable of carrying the Kindle. Perhaps Amazon will negotiate with local providers once its product ships? But that seems a little backwards. (Sprint is still being used on existing Kindles) So, what was Bezos thinking? If he doesn’t wake up from short sighted dreaming in local black and white, a full color e-book beauty could dwarf Kindle sales in early 2010.

Archos 9 ($499): On the plus side: 1.1 GHz processor! On the downside: it weighs almost 2 pounds and has four hours of battery life. Due out October 22nd with Windows 7. Nachos 1. Archos 0.

Nook ($259, WiFi, 3G): Barnes and Noble stole the e-book scene today like the hot, new girl in high school. 4 words: Color LCD touch screen. 1 word: ANDROID. Other features include battery expansion and a SD card reader. This seems to be the winner so far, but I’m surprised they didn’t drop the price just a few dollars below the Kindle for that extra 1-2 punch. But Nook no further. Ships 11/30

On Deck

Crunchpad: TechCrunch’s tablet made especially for blogging and web apps. I want. TechCrunch’s John Bigg’s article on Tablet Wars is great and provides insightful historical background.

Courier: Made by Microsoft so expect mediocre results and a two year wait time. And on a personal note, I loathe the courier font.

Plastic Logic Que: To debut at CES 2010. It’s current nickname: Kindle Killer.

APPLE TABLET/iPAD: Let’s just say I bet Steve Jobs is taking notes on every minor techno faux pas occurring in the E-Book world right now… now exactly what he is taking notes on is the question.

About two months ago, I sat down for dinner with futurist and Singularity Institute President, Michael Vassar to talk about the biggest upcoming tech trends and he said, “Right now, technophiles are the only ones playing with e-Books, but in 5-7 years they will be ubiquitous.”  I believe the man is onto something!