To E-ink Or Not To E-ink. That's the Question

Scribd and Oyster Books are missing out on an opportunity to put one over on Amazon.com.

In case you don’t know, Scribd and Oyster Books are book subscription services. More than a few media sources are calling them the Netflix for books. Amazon recently jumped on the book subscription service bandwagon and has to be looked at as a major competitor for the incumbent start-ups.

Now, just the idea of a Netlix for books that is not run by Amazon makes me drool with delight. But I’m brought back to earth when I see how Scribd and Oyster Books are going about their business of getting people on board.

Someone explain to me why they don’t support e-ink. Why in the world don’t they make their store searchable with dedicated e-readers?

Here’s the deal. When I’m reading a paper book for entertainment, in no way do I want it printed on bright white paper. That’s just me. Plenty of people would argue that they like the black ink on bright white paper. Not me. When in the sun I get those green spots. I prefer books with a crème shade to them. I think similarly about reading e-books on an e-ink device versus a device with a neon background. Why in the world would I choose the neon for reading a novel? Magazines, sure. Comic books, why not? Short reads at the DMV, maybe. Sitting down and reading for about an hour? Hell no, man. Just no.

Scribd and Oyster e-book subscription services, to my surprise do not offer a way to read e-books on e-ink devices. I asked them both, at first, about the Amazon Kindle. My thought was that they would allow you to use the internet on the e-ink device and peruse their stores and be able to read that way. The thought seems silly now but I figured that they must have really put some thought into it and were able to make it happen. To me it made sense. But both said their respective services aren’t compatible with the e-ink Kindle device. The Kindle Fire, yes. The dedicated e-reader, no. My thought was that, well, it must be because the Kindle uses different formatting, but the Barnes and Noble Nook device still used epub, which is most likely what the service is compatible with.

If it was compatible, I was ready to switch over to the Nook. No question. It’s cheap enough and with the subscription service it would have far more titles that I would want to read than Amazon and its new service.
Nope. Both services said they would do nothing with the Nook e-reader.
Why not? Again, I figured they could work something out with Barnes and Noble. Somehow.

Instead, you can read the books off the website, which for me is a flat out hell no. Or you can use the app, which is actually kind of an average to lame reading experience. I mean, why would I choose a glow in the face over no neon in my eyes?

In another post I’ll talk about how publishing companies are failing at selling their own books. Right now I’ll focus on how it’s probably better to just keep getting your e-books from the library. I currently use Overdrive for plenty of e-book reads. Sometimes I have to wait for a book but it’s free and I can get it to whatever device I want. Kindle or Nook, e-ink or not. Isn’t that what Scribd and Oyster should be doing?
Amazon on the other hand, well, as much as I don’t want to like them, they have the right idea. Although they won’t start off with the selection I would like, I can still get library books through them and be appeased by reading on my e-ink device.

Not trying to only support the really big, huge company, but when they simply have the better idea, how in the world do you not?

And, um, don't forget about the new novel