Diane, I agree that I wouldn't want to sacrifice the quality of the device as a book reader first and foremost. And I do know what you mean about devices trying to do too many things and therefore sometimes failing to do any of them well.
I'm also constantly amused by the features included in some products simply because they were available on one of the chips used in making the device-- color identifiers which have games, clocks and memo recorders, for example. The combination of functions is sometimes baffling, but makes more sense when we know that these functions all come on the same chip. But will I ever play a game or record a memo on my color identifier? Doubtful. I just don't see that anything which would make the BookSense a better book reader wouldn't also make it better for use as a music player and I don't think features which make it good as a music player detract from the quality of the book-reading functions. Development time obviously has to be prioritized, and I'm sure we both think that priority should be placed on features related to the reading of books. But for me, that includes all kinds of books-- text-to-speech, NLS, commercial audio, etc. And once we're looking at commercial audio, additional time for music-related features is minimal. But I do understand where you're coming from. That's how I feel about my cell phone. I don't need my phone to be an MP3 player and a video camera and so forth. And I sure don't want to use up valuable battery charge scanning books, using GPS software or identifying money with my cell phone. I would also prefer to have separate dedicated devices for scanning books or GPS navigation if a different device can do a much better job at these tasks. At the same time, I do rely on my phone's calendar and contact information features and would be lost without them, now, though I might well have thought them superfluous ten years ago. What limits my cell phone's usefulness for these other purposes isn't anything which makes it a better cell phone. It's battery life, plain and simple. Increasing the battery life on my phone would make it practical to use for these other purposes while not detracting from its usefulness as a phone. And that's the way I think of using my book reader for other audio purposes, be it as a radio, a recorder or a music player. --Carla [email protected] If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list andyour message is related to GW Micro or the BookSense, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. To manage your subscription to gw-booksense, visit: http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv
