I recently got a Sony prs 600 e reader from 2009. The battery is at the end of its life (It lasts about 3 days with heavy reading, and a couple weeks without reading). No backlight, no Wi-Fi, just an SD card that I can load epub files and small PDFs. The screen is slow and the contrast isn’t the best. The “touch screen” is the old resistive type where you really need to press with your nail or a stylus. Despite all those flaws, it’s fantastic. It’s just good enough for reading books.

I read with large text so I don’t even need to put on glasses, and it’s easier to read than an actual book. Combined with Anna’s archive, I’m reading more than I ever have before. No Wi-Fi nd slow screen make the experience feel closer to an actual book than a smartphone. It’s great to just have a device do one thing without distractions popping up every minute.

It’s all old technology, but it’s so rare to see anyone with an e-reader. Probably because they’re still expensive and designed to microtransact the fuck out of you.

So do you think there could be a simple open source e reader? I see pine64 is making the “pinenote”, but it’s still just the developer version, it’s expensive, doesn’t have an sd card, and looks like it’s trying to be a lot more than an reader. Maybe it’ll come down in cost, or they’ll release a simpler version? The biggest obstacle for making an e-reader seems to be the screen, so maybe the pinenote’s screen could become something of a standard.

Or maybe I’m overthinking it, because there’s already so many old Kindles and nooks out there that could be improved with a new battery and maybe new firmware too.

Thoughts?

  • glimse@lemmy.world
    46·
    7 months ago

    The reason e-readers are still so expensive is because the company that makes the displays (E-ink) has a patent on them. The Pinenote website says it uses an E-ink panel so I’m assuming that’s where they’re sourcing from

    A few years ago there was a potential competitor in the space (ClearInk) but…it looks like their website is gone and their Facebook page hasn’t been updated in 5 years

    • Schorsch@feddit.de
      291·
      7 months ago

      You see, parents are a motor to innovation. (/s)

      Hopefully the patent runs out soon…

      • Atemu@lemmy.ml
        23·
        7 months ago

        parents are a motor to innovation

        Absolutely. No parents -> No children -> No innovation.

      • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
        162·
        7 months ago

        To be fair, e-ink has been reinvesting hard into RnD. That’s why there have continued to be new generations of panels, with color capabilities and faster refresh-rates etc.

        And yeah, the larger panels aren’t cheap, but small cheap ones have already been used for years as re-usable price tags and product information displays in stores. They don’t even need a battery as the image will stay on the screen without power until the next time they need to be programmed to show new product prices and details.

        They might be charging a lot for the panels, but they are also not a patent troll, sitting on a technology without doing squat with it.

        • JustEnoughDucks
          2·
          7 months ago

          Yeah, but small, low res, slow-refresh ones without partial refresh (absolutely essential for ereaders and tablets) have not had patent limitations for a while I think.

          They are simply called e-paper and there are many chinese manufacturers of them that sell them for “cheap”.

      • glimse@lemmy.world
        71·
        7 months ago

        I think basic patents are good for inventors but the way the system is set up to allow “evergreen” patenting is ridiculous. It heavily favors big businesses and pushes out the people the system was “supposed” to protect

    • doubtingtammy@lemmy.mlOP
      5·
      7 months ago

      Ah, thanks. That makes sense. I knew it was the screens, but didn’t realize it’s a whack patent issue

      • glimse@lemmy.world
        3·
        7 months ago

        Yeah…I guess the original patent expired in 2018 but you know how patents go… “We changed one tiny thing and patented it again”

    • Corroded@leminal.spaceEnglish
      3·
      7 months ago

      Do you know of any articles that talk about the patent aspect? This is the first I’m hearing of it and I’d be interested to learn more.