Reflections of an “e-reader” on the usage of e-paper version of Les Echos

Since the embargo was lifted on the occasion of this morning’s announcement of its availability, we can now discuss our experience of the e-paper version of Les Echos. There is so much to say on the editorial, technological and economical aspects of this project which I have accompanied at Tebaldo, as adviser to Ganaxa. But let’s start with what is most important: usage.

For a month now, I have been “e-reading” Les Echos on a “light” e-paper device (elegant, leather cover, 174 grams). As a subscriber to Les Echos, I would almost never read its print version (although it was available at our Regus offices) and would hardly ever read its Internet version. However, someone would do a selection of articles for me, which saved me time. Thus, once every two weeks, I would have at my disposal a set of editions annotated according to my areas of interest. I would also sometimes receive a phone call urging that I consult a specific article.

Now all of this has changed. Before leaving home, I download the morning edition of Les Echos to my SD card (I prefer this method to the direct USB link which requires the e-reader device to be switched on). It has become a habit to take the e-reader with me, as I would a newspaper purchased at a kiosk. I read it whenever I have a little spare time. And the opportunity to do a little discreet reading presents itself quite often in the course of a day: time spent in public transport, waiting for appointments, between meetings, etc. I go straight to my priority categories (information technology, communication), then I browse through the other news items, and I read in-depth articles, as permitted by my spare time. With very few exceptions, this is something I would never do with the paper edition. I even discovered a section dedicated to cinema with film releases of the week.

Furthermore, searching and selecting articles will become much easier thanks to a new semantic analysis function. And alerts will no longer be necessary.
I now prefer Les Echos to free newspapers that I used to accept without thinking, because I barely have enough time to read everything of interest to me in the daily e-paper edition!
Not bad, for a start; more to follow…